Conference “Beyond Binaries. Global circuits of influence, exchange and knowledge production”, 18-19 September 2025
Organized by the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), through Laurent Vidal (Director of the joint CNRS–IRD–CIRAD office) and the University of the Witwatersrand, this 3-day conference aimed to reflect on North–South relations in the production and circulation of knowledge.
During this event, Dr Annael le Poullennec, Director of IFAS-Research, addressed the epistemological and practical issues raised by fieldwork and its funding, highlighting the central role of this key component of research in the humanities and social sciences within a pragmatic approach to decolonial ambitions.
The event, as well as the collaboration between IRD, the University of the Witwatersrand and IFAS-Research, led to the creation of a joint programme of fieldwork grants and writing workshops for South African doctoral students (see the call here). The call for applications and the selection of the 11 awardees (see list here) took place between September and November 2025, for fieldwork conducted during the first half of 2026.