CNRS offices outside France
The CNRS's international cooperation initiatives are divided into 4 geographical poles: Europe, the Americas, Asia-Oceania and Africa-Middle East-India. The organisation runs a network of offices in key areas of world science. Alongside our European branch in Brussels, the CNRS has offices in Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore, Melbourne, New Delhi, Pretoria, Washington, Sao Paulo, Singapore and Ottawa.
The CNRS Representative Offices outside France are strategic locations for the promotion of scientific excellence. They support expatriate researchers or those on missions abroad, monitor cooperation agreements along with general monitoring and facilitate relations with foreign partners in liaison with French embassies' scientific and cultural offices.
The Europe sector
The CNRS Office in Brussels
CNRS laboratories are strongly involved in the European Union's research and development programmes which means the organisation is one of the leading European research stakeholders. The CNRS Office in Brussels acts as an interface between the European institutions – the Parliament, Commission and agencies - on one side and CNRS Institutes and departments on the other. Upstream, the Office helps define the CNRS's European positions which are adopted by the European Steering Committee. It then relays these positions to the European Commission and Parliament, along with other European research organisations represented in Brussels and their alliances or thematic groups. Its network of European Project Engineers (IPEs) enable the Office to support the participation of CNRS researchers in European programmes.
The Asia / Oceania sector
The Asia sector develops collaboration initiatives reflecting the diversity of a vast group of countries that are highly economically and culturally diverse.
This sector is divided into two sections and also includes the executive secretariat of the European interest group (EIG) CONCERT-Japan programme. One of these sections focuses on Korea, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. The CNRS has long maintained close relations with these four industrialised countries which are major stakeholders in world scientific research and whose economies are largely based on innovation. The other section is dedicated to scientific cooperation with China - a key partner for the CNRS given its exceptional scientific and technological development - and South-East Asia (particularly Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia), an area of the world with considerable human and scientific potential.
The Beijing Office (China)
Since the 1970s, the CNRS has been a pioneer in scientific research collaboration with China. In the 1990s, cooperation between Chinese and CNRS research teams intensified a great deal, paving the way for a representative Office in Beijing to open in 1995. The CNRS Office in China represents our European and International Affairs Department (DEI) locally and acts as an institutional link between the CNRS and Chinese research organisations. The CNRS Representative Office in China works closely with the French Embassy's scientific office.
The Tokyo Office (North Asia)
The CNRS Tokyo Office for North-East Asia acts as the institutional link between the CNRS - and French research more generally - and research institutions in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The Office's director maintains close links with the scientific and cultural offices at France's embassies in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
The Singapore Office (South-East Asia, Oceania)
The ASEAN Office opened in Singapore in 2014 and represents the CNRS with the different research stakeholders in Southeast Asia (Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and in Oceania.
The Melbourne Office (Oceania)
The Melbourne Office opened in 2022 to represent the CNRS with the various research stakeholders in Oceania. This area of the world is a prime zone for scientific collaboration projects in fields like polar research, coral reefs and radio astronomy.
The Africa / Middle East / India sector
This sector includes countries with highly different positions in the world scientific landscape. India first and foremost and also South Africa, Israel, Iran and Turkey all stand out at the regional level because of their training and research capacities and scientific output. CNRS research teams also have particularly close links with their counterparts in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon) which makes them important partners for us. Finally, in sub-Saharan Africa the research situation is not homogeneous but viable cooperation opportunities can be found throughout this area of the world. Kenya and Nigeria are the most visible scientific stakeholders but CNRS cooperation focuses on French-speaking African countries, particularly Senegal.
The New Delhi Office (India)
The Delhi Office opened in 2011 and represents the CNRS in the Indian research community. It also covers the other countries of the Indian sub-continent - Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The Pretoria Office (South Africa, Southern Africa)
The Pretoria Office is run jointly with the French Research Institute for Development (IRD) and has represented the CNRS with South African research institutions since 2011. It also covers all the countries of southern Africa - Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Americas sector
The Americas/Oceania sector covers the whole of the American continent along with Australia and New Zealand.
This geographical sector covers areas of the world with very different dynamics. North America is the driving force behind global research while large Latin American countries like Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile play an important regional role in research even though their economies may sometimes be unstable. Australia and New Zealand have close links to their neighbours in Asia but are nonetheless reinforcing their affinities with Europe which means there are very strong prospects for scientific cooperation.
The Ottawa Office (Canada)
The Ottawa Office was opened in 2022 to bolster and increase the number of scientific cooperation and innovation networks run with Canada - one of the CNRS's key partners.
The Washington Office (United States, Mexico)
The Washington Office represents the CNRS in the United States and Mexico. Its activities and initiatives actions correspond to the priorities set out in the CNRS's strategic plan and those set by our ten Institutes.
The Sao Paulo Office (South America)
The CNRS Sao Paulo Office represents the CNRS in South America. It provides support for setting up and managing scientific cooperation projects between the CNRS and its partners in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
Photo credit: © Cyril FRESILLON / ARCHAM / CNRS Images
