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Visiting Scholars / Students - 2007
Year 2007
General
October 26 Fifty French students from the Jamnabai Narsee School of Mumbai visited the Institute as part of an educational tour of India. They went through the different posters exhibited in the galleries, which explain many of the projects led in the ecology, indology and social sciences departments of the Institute.
August 29 Prof. KUPPUSWAMI, Director of Studies, Educational Innovations & Rural Reconstruction at the Pondicherry University, visited the Institute. He was given a short presentation of the activities of the Geomatics Laboratory and the Ecology Department by their respectives Heads, Dr. Frédéric BORNE, and Dr.Pierre COUTERON and briefly discussed with them on the possibilities for strengthening and developping the already existing collaborations between the two institutions.
August 1 20 teachers from different parts of India, participating in the Refresher course at the UGC-Academic Staff College of the Pondicherry University, visited the Institute. They were given an overall presentation of the activities in the Ecology Department by Dr. B.R. RAMESH, and of the library by Mr. NARENTHIRAN. They showed special interest to the manuscript collection of the IFP presented to them by Mr. R. SATHYANARAYANAN of the EFEO.
July 21 Dr. Srinivas KAVERY, Director of the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), unit 681, visited the Institute and interacted with the Director and the staff. He was here within the framework of a scientific exchange programme with the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India.
July 20 Mr.Vasudeva RAO, Deputy Inspector General of Police of Puducherry, visited the Institute, and was guided through by his friend and researcher at the IFP, Dr. LAKSHMINARASIMHAN. He interacted with the Director, Dr. Jean-Pierre MULLER, and expressed, both in oral and written form his most profound admiration for the quality of the work done at the Institute, the extent of its resources and its role in the advancement of human culture as a whole.
June 28 Mr. Pandurang ASHRIT, professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Moncton, Canada, came to the Institute and discussed with the Director, Dr. Jean-Pierre MULLER, on possibilities for recruiting some of the numerous French-speaking students in Pondicherry to his university, in view of broadening the student population countries of origin.
February 28 Mrs. Brigitte MAURY from the Embassy of France in India and the two Presidents of the University of Grenoble,visited the Institute and met the director, Dr. Jean-Pierre MULLER. They had come to Pondicherry in the framework of an MoU with the Pondicherry University regarding exchange of students between both Institutions.
February 23 Fifteen students of DL1 Level from the Alliance Française of Pondicherry, visited the Institute in order to discover the activities of French Institutions in Pondicherry. They had a tour of the different departments and an overview of the activities undertook here through the different posters exhibited in the halls of the Institute.
February 20 Mr. Gérard DUVALLET, Professor at the Centre of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE) of the University Paul-Valéry, Montpellier, France, and Mr. Alain BLAYAC, Professor of English language and litterature, and Vice-President in charge of International Relations of the same university, visited the Institute. They were given an extensive presentation of the activities of the Ecology Department by Dr. Pierre COUTERON, Head, and of the Social Sciences Department by Dr. Bernard MONDET, more specifically on his area of research dealing with spatial epidemiology. They discussed on potential futur collaboration with the IFP, notably with regards to some of the ecology projects led here, and fertile and promising grounds were found in that respect.
January 19 Mrs. Marion MARCEAU, French teacher at the International American School in Chennai, visited the Institute along with 12 of her students.
January 2 Mr Frederic J. KAPLAN, Public Affairs Officer from the American Council General in Chennai, visited the Institute and met with the Director, Dr. Jean-Pierre MULLER. They discussed specifically on the possibilities for linking the library of the US Consulate in Chennai to that of the IFP (exchange of information on received publications,...) and to co-organise conferences.
January 2 Prof. D.K. BATTACHARYA, Retired Professor at the Department of Anthropology of the University of Delhi, and his wife Dr. Pratibha BATTACHARYA, visited the Institute and were given a brief presentation of the activities by the Director , Dr. Jean-Pierre MULLER and the Chief Librarian, Ms. Anurupa NAIK.
Department of Ecology
November 2 Mrs. Diana COOPER-RICHET, Vice-President of International Relations at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-En-Yvelines, France, and her colleague, Mr. Jean-Yves MOLLIER, Directeur of the Doctoral School of Cultures of the same University, visited the Institute in the framework of an assignement to develop collaboration ties with universities in India. They met with the Director, Dr. Jean Pierre MULLER and the Head of the Ecology Department, Dr. Raphaël PELISSIER, in order to discuss possible collaboration between both institutions, in their common field of ecological studies. They presented at the same time their university and visited the Ecology Lab (see photo).
October 8 A dozen students from the Botany Department of the University of Bangalore visited the Institute and were presented the projects led at the Ecology Department by Dr. B.R. RAMESH, senior researcher at the IFP.
October 5 Twenty four Range Forest Officer trainees from the State Forest Service college of Coimbatore along with two officers and three camp followers, visited the Institute. They were guided through their visit by Dr. B.R. RAMESH, who explained to them the various activities of the Institute and notably that of the Ecology Department.
May 29 Mr. R.K. OZHA, Chief Conservator of Forests, Tamil Nadu State, and Mr. G. SAIRAM, Forest ranger, visited the Institute, and were given a brief presentation by Dr. Frédéric BORNE and Dr. AYYAPPAN of the activities of the Institute especially with regards to forest conservation-related projects.
March 9 70 Delegates who participated to the ATBC Asia Conference on Averting Biodiversity Meltdown in the Asian Tropics visited the Institute in groups of 2. They were given a brief presentation of the activities of the Institute by the Director, Dr. Jean-Pierre MULLER, and a more in-depth presentation of the activities of the Ecology Department by Dr. Pierre COUTERON and IFP ecologists.
June 29 Andrew BAUER, PhD candidate in Anthropology from the University of Chicago, USA, joined the project from June 29, 2007 to June 01, 2008, as an affiliated student, to work on the pollen analyses component of his project Land Use and Social Differentiation in Iron Age South India under the supervision Dr. K. ANUPAMA.
May 1 D. AMUDHAVALLI, an M.Phil student of Botany from the Department of Plant Sciences, Kanchi Mamunivar centre for PG studies, Pondicherry University, joined the project from May 1, 2007 to October 1, 2007, as a trainee, to work on Pollen productivity and morphology of Euphorbiaceae members under the supervision of Dr. K. ANUPAMA.
January 5 Dr. M. PRITHVIRAJ and Dr. K. R. GUPTA (retired), both Scientists from the Depart. of Science & Technology, Technology Bhawan, New Delhi, ESS Division, visited the Institute, and were given a brief presentation of its activities and of the different departments, by Dr. ANUPAMA.K. and Dr. RAMESH, B. R. They showed much interest in particular to the projects in the ecology department, were favourably impressed and said that they look forward to receiving proposals for funding through DST from the French Institute.
January 2 Dr. N.C. MEHROTRA, Director of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany in Lucknow, India, visited the Institute and was given a brief presentation of the activities of the Institute by Mr. Anand PAKIAM, communications-in-charge. He then proceeded for a visit of the Ecology department under the guidance of Mrs ANUPAMA.K, Head of the "Palaeoenvironments in South India" project at the IFP. Dr. MEHROTRA had an in-depth discussion with the Director, Dr. Jean-Pierre MULLER, regarding possible collaboration between his Institute and the IFP, in the field of palynology and palaeoenvironments and it was decided to make a proposal for collaboration based on areas of mutual benefit, sharing of expertise and facilities. The visit concluded with a brief demonstration of the Pollen CD-ROM by Dr G. Vasanthy, that was greatly appreciated by the DIrector, BSIP as an important training and research tool for the Indian Paleoscience community.
July 30 Cheryl D. NATH, post-doctorate from the Indian Institute of Science, joined the project on July 29, 2007 to work on Tree growth and biodiversity in coffee agroforestry systems of the Kodagu District, under the supervision of Dr. Claude GARCIA.
May 14 Payal BAL, student with an M.Sc Degree in Zoology from the Pondicherry University, joined the project from May 14, 2007 to June 25, 2007, as a trainee, to work on GIS Mapping, under the supervision of Dr. Claude GARCIA.
May 3 Marie LAVAL, student with an M.Sc Degree in Rural and Tropical Forestry from AgroParisTech-ENGREF, France, joined the project from May 3, 2007 to october 25, 2007, as a trainee, to work on Community Forest Management, under the supervision of Dr. Claude GARCIA.
April 13 Margaux DECROIX and Fanny CHRETIEN, 2 students from the Centre National d’Etudes Agronomiques de Régions Chaudes (CNEARC), Montpellier, France, joined the project from April 13, 2007 to August 15, 2007, as trainees, to work on the Characterization of production sytems integrating coffee plantations in the Western Ghats under the supervision of Dr. Claude GARCIA.
January 24 NANAYA K.M, GIS Engineer, joined the project for a four-year period, to work on The Management of forests and agroforests of the Western Ghats under the supervision of Dr. Claude GARCIA.
February 7 K. Geetha NAYAK, Ph.D candidate from the Department of Ecology of the Pondicherry University, joined the project from February 07, 2007 to February 21, 2007 to help in the co-organisation and abstract editing of the ATBC-Asia Conference scheduled for March 6-9, 2007, under the supervision of Dr. Pierre COUTERON.
January 22 Nila SOUPRAYEN-CAVERY, Student in Masters II of Ecology from the University of Orleans, France, joined the project from January 22, 2007 to May 31, 2007, as a trainee, to work on Factors influencing the diameter growth of individuals of the Vateria indica tree species in the Uppangala permanent site under the supervision of Dr. Pierre COUTERON.
Department of Social Sciences
November 23 A group of students, many of them from the University of California, USA, were presented the different projects led at the Social Sciences Department of the Institute, by its Head, Dr. Laurent PORDIE.
July 11 Prof.K.SRINIVASAN, statistician- demographer, Emeritus Professor and previous Senior Professor and Director of the International Institute for Population Sciences at Mumbai, visited the Institute and had detailed talks with the Director, Dr. Jean-Pierre MULLER, and the Head of the Social Sciences Department, Dr. Laurent PORDIE, regarding possible affiliation with a population study related programme led in the Social Sciences Department of the Institute.
July 30 Dr. Robin Lynn OAKLEY, Researcher at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology of the Dalhousie University, Canada, joined the project from July 28, 2007 to June 31, 2008, to work on Generational epistemologies of science and medicine among Tamil people’s science practitioners, under the supervision of Dr. Laurent PORDIE.
January 18 Pascale HANCART PETITET, Ph.D candidate in anthropology from the "Centre de Recherche Cultures Santé Sociétés", France, joined the project from January 18, 2007 to April 11, 2007, to work on her research topic titled The variations in Childbirth Practices in South India.
January 17 Calum BLAIKIE , Ph.D candidate in anthropology from the University of Kent, UK, joined the project from January 17,2007 to January 24, 2007, to work on his research topic for which he presented a lecture, titled The commodification of materia medica in Ladakh: Institutions, entrepreneurs and exchange networks
January 11 Dr. Kenneth ZYSK, Associate Professor of Indology at the Dpt. of Asian Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, joined the project from January 11, 2007 to March 9, 2007, to work on his research topic Traditional South Indian Medicine Surrounding Tranquebar.
January 8 Ritika GANGULY, Ph.D candidate in anthropology at the University of Minnesota, USA, stayed at the Institute till January 11, in the framework of her research on The workings of disciplinary power: (re)turning to biomedicalized Ayurveda, and presented a lecture on January 9, titled Biomedicalized Globalities: The Institutionalization of ‘Good Science’ in Contemporary Ayurvedic Research.
August 24 Géraldine SAVIN and Wichy MEAS, both students in Masters of Geography at the University of Provence, France, joined the project from August 24, 2007 to September 12, 2007, as trainees, to work on the remote sensing part of the project Tank irrigation in the Pondicherry area and Tamil Nadu under the supervision of Dr. P. OLIVA (University of Provence) & Dr. Olivia AUBRIOT.
March 24 Pierre MAZZEGA, research director at the Laboratory of Transfer Mechanisms in Geology (LMTG) of the French National Centre for Research (CNRS), and Denis SALLES, sociologist professor at the Centre for Studies and Research in Labour, Organisation, Power (CERTOP) of the University of Mirail, Toulouse, France, visited the Institute, and had a discussion with Dr. Olivia AUBRIOT, as part of an exploratory mission, with regards to a possible project to be implemented in the State of Karnataka with their Hyderabadi partner.
February 27 Eduardo Tarik Serrano TOVAR and Eléna Gàlan DEL CASTILLO joined the project, as trainees, from February 27, 2007 to June 08, 2007, to work on Water-users associations and traditional irrigation institutions. Taditional knowledge, under the supervision of Dr. Olivia AUBRIOT.
January 22 Mohamed EL GOUCH, Ph.D candidate from the Marrakech University , Morocco, joined the project from January 22, 2007 to February 14, 2007 to work on his research topic on WUA: Role in Water Management. A comparative study between Morocco and India, under the supervision of Dr. Olivia AUBRIOT.
January 15 Pere Ariza MONTOBBIO, student with an environmental sciences degree from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, joined the project as a trainee from January 15, 2007 to June 8, 2007 to work on his his research topic titled Water-users association and traditional irrigation institution in two villages of Villupuram district under the supervision of Dr. Olivia AUBRIOT.
January 19 Tiphaine HERVE, student in Masters I of Geography at the University of Bordeaux III (UMR Ades-Tempos), France, joined the project from January 19, 2007 to May 5, 2007, to work as a trainee on The emergence of residential buildings in big metropolises : the case of Chennai under the supervision of Dr. Kamala MARIUS-GNANOU.
January 19 Amandine MOMBELLI, student in Masters I of Geography at the University of Bordeaux III (UMR Ades-Tempos), France, joined the project from January 19, 2007 to May 3, 2007, to work as a trainee on The emergence of dynamic tourism on the Coromandel coast in South India under the supervision of Dr. Kamala MARIUS-GNANOU.
January 19 Angélique BERNARD, student in Masters I of Geography at the University of Bordeaux III (UMR Ades-Tempos), France, joined the project from January 19, 2007 to May 3, 2007, to work as a trainee on The contemporary metropolitan dynamics: the case of Chennai under the supervision of Dr. Kamala MARIUS-GNANOU.
May 14 Anubhav MOHANTY, student from St.Stephens College in New Delhi, Department of Economics, joined the project from May 14 to June 15, 2007, as a trainee, to work on the Survey of Debt Situation in Select Rural Areas in Tamil Nadu under the supervision of Dr. Marc ROESCH.
February 10 Dr. Sandrine PREVOT, Researcher from the University of Paris X Nanterre, France, joined the project from February 10, 2007 to April 2, 2007 to work on the Adpatation/Transformation of pastoral societies in the face of modern changes under the supervision of Dr. Isabelle GUERIN and Dr. Marc ROESCH.
Department of Indology
November 27 A group of 25 retired teachers from Toulouse, France, led by Mr. Rémy AUDINOS, came to the Institute, where Jean Deloche showed them his exhibition entitled Old Pondicherry (1673-1824) revisited which gives a comprehensive picture of the Urban Development of the town from 1673 to 1824 (see photo).
November 1 S. PRABAVATHI, Ph.D candidate with an M.Phil Degree from the University of Madras, joined the project from November 1, 2007 to October 31, 2008, as a trainee, to work on Tamil documentation at the library, under the supervision of KANNAN. M
October 12 Archana VENKATESAN, Assistant Professor at the Department of comparative litterature and religious studies of the University of California at Davis, joined the project as an affiliated researcher, from October 12, 2007 to October 11, 2008, to work on her research topic Embodied memories: Ritual & performance culture at the Vishnu Temple of Alvar Tirunagari
August 24 Isabelle CLARK-DECES, Professor of Anthropology at the Princeton University, USA, and researcher affiliated to the IFP, joined the project from August 24, 2007 to March 2008, to work on An Ethnology of Tamil Marriage Practices.
August 15 A. PANKAJAVALLI, PhD Candidate from the Pondicherry University joined the project from August 15, 2007 to December 31, 2007, as a trainee, to work on Documentation of Tamil books and journals in the library, under the supervision of Mr. KANNAN.M
July 16 Four post graduate students from the South Asian Center of the University of Toronto, Canada, visited the Institute on July 17, and discussed with the Head of the project, Mr. Kannan. M, on their dissertation topics, and the possibility of having tie-ups with the Contemporary Tamil Culture programme.
May 14 Dr. Sivagnanam JEYASANKAR, Ph.D and Senior Lecturer from the Eastern University of Sri Lanka, joined the project from May 14, 2007 to July 14, 2007, as an affiliated researcher, to work on the topic of Reformulation of traditional theatre as an organic form of community theatre.
February 1 J. UMAMAGUESWARY, Ph.D candidate from the Pondicherry University, joined the project from February 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007, as a librarian trainee, under the supervision of Mr. KANNAN.M
March 5 Mrs. Hema PATANKAR, Executive Director of the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute visited the IFP and the EFEO as part of her trip to India, and met the director of the IFP, Dr.Jean-Pierre MULLER, and the HEAD of the EFEO, Dr. Dominic GOODALL, in charge of the Cataloguing and Preservation of Manuscripts programme.
February 10 MUTHUKUMAR.V, M.A and M.Phil Degree holder, joined the project from February 10, 2007 to April 30, 2007, to do cataloguing and conservation works, under the supervision of Dr. Dominic Goodall.
February 22 Dr. Jan HOUBEN, Research Director at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE), Paris, France and researcher at the the CNRS, "Iranian and Indian Worlds" research unit, came to the Institute to study the implementation of his research programme on Sanskrit grammar (edition of the Prâkrtasarvasva) and had talks with Dr. François GRIMAL and Prof. Bruno DAGENS as to how to optimize the work planning for this programme.
Laboratory of Applied Informatics & Geomatics
September 3 V. NANDINI, MBA graduate from the Alagappa University, joined the laboratory from September 3, 2007 to May 31, 2008, as a software developer in order to make, adapt and test software in the framework of the Historical Atlas of South India project, under the supervision of Dr. Frédéric BORNE and Prof. SUBBARAYALU.
September 1 B. MURUGAN, Computer Technology Diploma holder from the Annamalai University, joined the laboratory from September 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007, as a computer technician, to work on the installation, configuration and maintenance of desktops and servers, and on the maintenance of the network infrastructure, under the supervision of Dr. Frédéric BORNE.
July 13 Guillaume CHAMPLONG, International Civil Volunteer, and successor to Agathe GARANDEAU, joined the laboratory for a one-year period to work in the field of GIS and informatics applications, and more specifically on three projects led at the IFP namely Webmapping, Digital Database and Historical Atlas of South India , under the supervision of Dr. Frédéric BORNE.
May 8 Cédric BERTRAND, student from the Institut Universitaire Technologique de Lannion, France, joined the department from May 8 to August 31, 2007, to do a training on Systems and Networks Management and work on the Digital Database project, under the supervision of Dr. Frédéric BORNE.
April 20 Pascal DOUARD, International Civil Volunteer from France, joined the department from April 20, 2007 to April 1, 2008, as the successor of Simon GEORGET, in order to work on GIS tools and informatic applications, and to continue the works on the Webmapping and Digital Database projects, under the supervision of Dr. Frédéric BORNE.
March 27 Prof. PRITHVI RAJ from the Pondicherry Engineering College, Head of the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, visited the Institute, and had talks with Dr. Frédéric BORNE, Head of the Geomatics Lab and Dr.Pierre COUTERION, Head of the Ecology Department of the IFP, regarding some projects currently led at the Institute and that could be of interest to the Engineering College.
March 19 Dr. K.KUMARAN, Associate Professor in Forestry at the Forest College and Research Institute of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, visited the Institute along with 18 students in IV B.Sc classes, and 2 staff members, as part of a course on Remote Sensing and GIS in Forestry. They wanted to have an exposure through the Institute, on mapping biodiversity and forest cover using remote sensing. After having been given an in-depth presentation of the activities of the Ecology Department by Dr. ANUPAMA.K, Dr. Frédéric BORNE, Head of the Laboratory of Applied Informatics and Geomatics, presented them the methodology and various remote sensing techniques being applied in the field of forest management.
Centre for Documentary Resources
November 14 During his visit to the IFP on 14th November 2007, Mr. Hedley SUTTON of the British Library, first visited the Centre for Documentary Resources where the chief librarian, Ms. Anurupa NAIK, briefly explained to him about the collection, the recent reorganisation, the LIBSYS database etc. Mr. SUTTON was then shown the IFP’s manuscript collection and online database of transcripts by the Head of the Pondicherry Centre of the EFEO, Dr. Dominic GOODALL. At the end of the visit, Mr. SUTTON held a discussion with the IFP Director regarding the possibility of getting funds for the digitization of the IFP’s manuscript collection under the British Library’s "Endandered Archives Programme" (see photo).
August 9 The Director of the American Library in Chennai, Mr. M.K. JAGDISH and his colleague Mr. PREMKUMAR, visited the French Institute, and discussed with the IFP’s library staff about the American Library’s resources and services and how the Institute could make use of the facility, for research purposes.
July 11 Aude MAYANS, student in Masters 1 of Edition and Communication from the University of Cergy-Pontoise, France, joined the CDR as a trainee, from July 11, 2007 to September 10, 2007, to work under the supervision of Ms. Anurupa NAIK.
June 21 46 school, college and public librarians, visited the Institute in the framework of a 10 day Practical Oriented (IT-Based) Training Programme for School Librarians organised by the UGC -Academic Staff college of the Pondicherry University. They were first given an overall presentation of the activities of the Institute by the communications-in-charge, Anand PAKIAM, followed by a detailed explanation on the resources and functionning of the library by the Chief Librarian, Ms. Anurupa NAIK. A walk through the manuscripts room, photo archives and finally the Geomatics Laboratory concluded this one-hour visit.
Secretariat General
March 26 Arnaud Thomas DESMAZE and Manimarane RATTINOM, 2 students in 10th Grade at the French Lycée of Pondicherry, joined the Institute as trainees, from March 26 to April 14, to immerse themselves in the daily activities of the Secretariat General, under the supervision of Mr. Williams MICHEL, General Secretary.
Visiting Scholars / Students - Current Year
See the details of Scholars / Students visited during the current year
Latest addition : 25 April 2008.