Research

The basic mission of IFP is research. The vocation of the Institute is to involve itself in South and South-East Asia.

Research Departments

• The Department of Indology focuses its attention on a number of the historical keys to classical India, namely, its religions, its literature and its languages (Sanskrit and Tamil) in order to better understand the foundations of modern India;

• The Department of Social Sciences promotes research on the major questions of society and on the relations between human societies and their environment: the social and political dynamics of healthcare traditions, the sociological aspects of HIV transmission, the health problems related to the spread of transmittable diseases, the social dimensions of the microfinance, the territorial transformations related to economic liberalization, the dynamics of indian megalopolises, the social management of water, the demographic trends and social mobility, the diffusion of new technologies, ... ;

• The Department of Ecology conducts research on biodiversity and is particularly concerned with the functioning of fragile ecosystems (forests, mangroves), considering man as an important parameter in their evolution.

Scientific Orientations and Projects

An institution with a multidisciplinary vocation, the Institute hosts in 2005, fully or in part, 30 research projects (10 of which are directed by French and Indian researchers or teachers-cum-researchers belonging to other establishments) distributed according to 10 orientations:

• Indology :
    Indian analyses of Sanskrit language and literature
    History of religions
    Tamil studies

• Social Sciences :
    Health and societies
    Economy and societies
    Environment and societies

• Ecology :
    The Paleo-environments of South India
    Application of new information technologies for strengthening of Taxonomic expertise
    Biodiversity elements in the Western Ghats
    Usage of biodiversity and ecosystems modified by human activity