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The GDR RIFT

The Great African Rift concentrates, on the scale of a continent, privileged interactions between geology, life and societies. This project aims to gather a research community around this emblematic object to understand its systemic functioning.

Contact : gdr-rift[at]services.cnrs.fr

27th meeting of SAfA in Faro

Participants can submit their abstracts until January 31 2025

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Mobility grant

4 candidates are selected !

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Specific call for projects
Academic Partnerships Africa-France 3rd edition (PeA3)
Limit of applications: May 6 2025

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CNRS Africa Plan
2 calls for projects
Closing date: 14 January 2025

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GDR Rift General Assembly
Musée de l’Homme – Trocadéro, Paris
In-person or video conference

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New CNRS article:
CNRS-Afrique
8 new projects selected

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The objectives

of the GDR Rift

The main objective of the GDR is to provide the French scientific community with an inter-institute structure to federate the communities of the CNRS Ecology & Environment, CNRS Humanities & Social Sciences, CNRS Earth & Space institutes around the Great African Rift in order to characterise the interrelationships within this complex system including living organisms ( of which humans), geodynamic and climate processes.

Structure and

coordination task

To stimulate interdisciplinarity, to promote major transdisciplinary scientific questions, to remove scientific barriers.

Animation

task

To encourage and support communication

between disciplines, to encourage new collaborations, to train and transmit knowledge.

Scientific monitoring

and forecasting task

To promote transdisciplinary work on the rift, to provide the facilities to respond to national, European and international projects.

Research themes

The GDR is organised around four major research themes, each of them addressing key issues for which the contribution and cooperation of all the different institutes (INEE, INSHS, INSU) are central.

THE RIFT HERITAGES

Conservation and socio-economic issues

SYSTEMS DYNAMICS

Changes, risks and responses

NATURAL RESOURCES

Distribution and impacts

TRAINING AND EDUCATION

Transmission and development

Knowledge transfer

The GDR rift has a role in transmitting information and knowledge, not only to the scientific community, but also to students and a wider audience.

EXHIBITIONS

Temporary or permanent, they let us inform and exchange on recent interdisciplinary work with the widest public.

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BOOKS

Let’s take a tour on scientific articles in

major international journals, but also future collaborative and collective works for all audiences.

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TRAINING

Exchanges between French and African institutes, present (and future) training in relation to the rift.

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VIDEOS

All the GDR’s expertises, mission feedback and news in videos.

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The GDR Rift in figures

The GDR Rift : 3 CNRS institutes, 43 UMR, 200 members

CNRS Institutes :

INEE, INSHS, INSU

UMR

Members

The GDR Rift in pictures

The Great African Rift is therefore an object around which very
different can work together and interact.

More pictures

GDR RIFT

Great African Rift Interdisciplinary Group

Legal mentions

© GDR RIFT