AFSIN 2026 workshop launch: the Swiss Centre organised a high-level international workshop

Researchers and students from a variety of backgrounds took part in a high-level workshop held on Monday 19 October 2026 at the headquarters of the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS) in Adiopodoumé. The work focused on the challenge of moving from the study of the properties of light to the development of appropriate instruments that meet the real needs of local communities.

In his opening address, the Director of the CSRS, Professor Jérémie T. ZOUEU, told his colleagues that their participation in the high-level workshop reflected a shared commitment to “ to advance knowledge and put science at the service of society ".

For the Director, the meeting has two aspects. In his view, it is, of course, a ‘ scientific event ’, but it also marks two significant milestones. In fact, it is a double anniversary. That of ‘ ‘fifteen years of scientific collaboration through AFSIN’ and that of “Seventy-five years of research excellence at the CSRS” ". According to him, over the course of its 15-year history, AFSIN has trained around a hundred Master’s and PhD students.

The next challenge is for Africans, in Africa, to develop tools and instruments that are better suited to their circumstances. This is to avoid a disconnect between the training of certain researchers, which takes place in Europe and the United States using state-of-the-art equipment, and the more outdated instruments they work with once they return home. 

It emerged from Professor Zoueu’s inaugural lecture that the Swiss Centre was established in 1951, initially as a research station before evolving into a fully-fledged research centre covering the entire West African sub-region and beyond.

The Centre’s mission is to contribute to scientific research into issues relating to the sustainable transformation of the societies concerned. According to the director of the CSRS, its areas of research include, amongst others, health, agriculture, nutrition, biodiversity and the interactions between communities and their environment.

The CSRS has around 160 affiliated researchers and operates seven research stations. It has chosen the village of Bringakro and the town of Taabo as the settings for its research and engagement with local communities, in the fields of agriculture and health respectively.

It is worth noting that Professor Adoudramane Bamba secured the support of the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research for the project.

A guided tour of the Centre’s premises brought the meeting to a close.

Théodore Sinzé/Opera News