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Human resources
1,837 researchers in the life sciences, materials science and human sciences, 2,590 engineers, and 4,061 technicians and administrative staff working for a unique research system. nearly 2,000 PhD students and more than 1,800 foreign students and researchers.
14 research divisions
Over the decade 2010-2020, INRA will develop metaprogrammes – research programmes with a broadened scope of study which combine several disciplines. Such an integrated approach is essential to making progress on global food, agricultural and environmental issues.
19 regional centres, at the heart of regional activities…
INRA is characterised by its strong regional foundations, resulting from the very active decentralisation policies adopted since the 1980s as part of government policies for regional development. With 74% of staff based in the provinces on more than 150 sites, the Institute is present in almost all French regions, including those overseas.
The Institute has 213 research units and 49 experimental units.
… and involved in the European Research Area and international relations
INRA centres are involved in projects focused on major European or international issues such as emerging diseases, food safety, climate change, bioenergy and innovative agricultural systems for sustainable development.
INRA has representatives in the European Union, in China and Brazil. It is involved in joint research laboratories in other countries, for example in China and India.
A pooling of resources with other research agencies and higher education institutions
INRA has a deliberate policy to encourage collaboration with other establishments.
More than half of its research units are Joint Research Units where INRA researchers work in collaboration with 40 universities, 15 national agricultural or veterinary schools and research institutions: principally, the CNRS, INSERM, CIRAD, IRD, Institut Pasteur and AFSSA.
There are 43 Contract-Based Units working mainly in collaboration with universities.
Structures which enable the pooling of technical resources complete this system. INRA is thus involved in thirty Research Federations, that is one third of all such federations in France, and in inter-agency network platforms, called RIO platforms.
INRA is involved in 4 thematic networks for advanced research bringing together high-level researchers to conduct scientific projects of excellence on a precise topic: agronomy and sustainable development (network launched by Cirad, INRA and Supagro), economics, therapeutic innovations and infectious diseases.
INRA is also a partner in more than fifty Scientific Interest Groups.
Unique experimental resources open to the scientific community
INRA has 49 experimental units (UE) which manage the experimental farms and breeding units or collections which serve its research activities. These experimental resources are unique with respect to livestock (cattle, goats, sheep, pigs) and enable fundamental research on animal models other than the mouse. In addition, INRA conserves and manages numerous collections of genetic resources for agricultural or horticultural plants and micro-organisms, which constitute the memory of French farming and food industries and today provide an opportunity for innovative research.
New structures have also been developed, such as Environmental Research Observatories (ORE) which associate several natural experimental sites, or "workshops". INRA is involved in seven such ORE.
Federative Research Programmes
For many years now, INRA has been involved with other agencies in joint incentive actions. So as to better federate research programmes involving different research divisions within INRA and outside partners, in 2004-2005 INRA set up three major Federative Research Programmes: Agriculture and Sustainable Development, Food and Nutrition, and Ecology for the Management of Ecosystems and their Resources (Ecoger). Their orientations were defined after consultation with all interested parties: government agencies, representatives from industry, managers, representatives from non-profit organisations, etc., and they are open to the entire scientific community. The first two programmes now come under the aegis of the National Research Agency which was set up in February 2005. INRA is responsible for the management and scientific organisation of these programmes, along with five other programmes in the field of plant and animal genomics and GMO.
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