Didier Orange

Didier Orange is a senior scientist from IRD, with Doctoral Research Habilitation ((HDR), involved in the French research unit Eco&Sols from the University of Montpellier, dealing with the functional ecology of agrosystems. Didier Orange is currently posted at Dakar (Sénégal), after 15 years posted at Hanoi in Vietnam (from 2001 to 20015), leading a research team for the Vietnamese Academy on Agricultural Science. He received the gold award from the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and he is member of the research steering committee of the Institute for Agricultural Environment (IAE). He was the Representative of IWMI (International Water Management Institute, CGGIAR) in Vietnam from 2007 to 2010. He published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers, 4 books as principal scientific editors, more than 200 oral communications; he organized several large international conferences (>100 participants). Today, Dr Didier Orange (UMR Eco&Sols/IRD) is an ecohydrologist working on ecological engineering to promote Nature-Based Solutions related to productive water in rural and urban situations, mainly in tropical zone. My research focuses on inclusive natural resources management, about 1) greening applications to human well-being (food production, clean water, healthy soils, C sequestration) and 2) multidisciplinary approaches as an innovative asset to tackle societal challenges such as water scarcity, biodiversity decrease and climate change.

Alain Brauman

The research scope of Dr Alain Brauman (UMR Eco&Sols/IRD) concerns the impact of land uses changes on soil functioning including biodiversity and soil functions driven by the soil biota community. Recently I develop a new a new set of indicators to monitor soil health named Biofunctool®. It consists of 9 in-field, time- and cost- effective indicators to assess 3 mains soil functions : carbon transformation, nutrient cycling and structure maintenance. A Soil Quality Index synthetizes the results and provide a synthetic soil functioning score.In term of teaching I led 3 international summer ecology courses (MICROTROP) on soil ecology, and organized more than 20 regional training in south east Asia between 2011 and 2016. I was involved during the last two years in an ERASMUS MUNDUS project in Thailand named PISAIE where I led a module on soil health evaluation in Khon Kaen University. I am also involved in the master BEE (Biodiversity and evolution) in Montpellier and I teach soil ecology at the engineer school of SUPAGRO on soil (25 hrs / year).Working on the impact of on land uses changes on soil biodiversity and soil functioning (C turn over, nutrient cycling, soil structure maintenance). I conduct this research in South East Asia (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam), working on the consequences of rubber plantations expansion on soil biodiversity and related functions. The aim of my study is to better assess the relationship between soil functional assemblages and soil ecosystem services. For that we currently develop a set of functional soil indicators named BIOFUNCTOOL link to the soil biota activities.

Nancy Rakotondrazafy

Nancy Rakotondrazafary is junior technician from IRD based in Montpellier (UMR Eco&Sols/IRD), involved in the French research unit Eco&Sols from the University of Montpellier, dealing with the functional ecology of agrosystems.. Her field of expertise is physico-chemicals analysis of tropical and temperate soils. She is taking part in a number of research and development projects (from internationals to nationals) in particular with partners in the south (Ivory Coast, Benin, Senegal, Brasil, Thaïland, Vietnam…), I manage the technical platform, and I supervise every year internships of graduate students (MASTER, PHD…). She works in interaction with Dr Alain Brauman for the technical aspect of BIOFUNCTOOL (set of indicators to assess main soil functions: carbon transformation, nutrient cycling and structure maintenance in field and in laboratory) She took part as BIOFUNCTOOL trainor as a technician from laboratory to the land, in some project as PISAI (10 days) and to Madagascar for 2 weeks.

Sylvain Massuel

Dr. Sylvain Massuel (UMR G-EAU/IRD) is hydrogeologist. He used to work on groundwater resource assessment, evolution and modelling in semi-arid areas. He has engaged in interdisciplinary water research and significantly contributed to the emergence of socio-hydrology as a new field of enquiry that put to the fore the co-constitutive nature of social and hydrological dynamics. Based at ITC in Cambodia since September 2019, he focuses on understanding the dynamics between groundwater and surface water resources in the upper Mekong delta.UMR G-EAU (Gestion de l’Eau, Acteurs, Usages – Water Management, Actors, Uses)
G-EAU is conducting research on the trajectories of the socio-hydrosystems and their regulation. It contributes to the design and evaluation of tools facilitating the implementation of innovative public policies concerning water and participates in multidisciplinary training for students in the water sector. G-EAU analyzes the hydrological, technical, social, economic and political processes and their consequences within a water-related territory.

Boutayna AMRI TOUDRHI