INSTITUT SENEGALAIS DE RECHERCHES AGRICOLES

Their core work

ISRA is Senegal's national agricultural research institute, focused on improving food production, livestock health, and natural resource management across West Africa's Sahel region. Their work spans animal disease control (trypanosomosis, bluetongue), sustainable farming systems that integrate crops, shrubs, and livestock, and climate-resilient agriculture for dryland environments. They also contribute regional expertise to marine fisheries management and climate modeling efforts, serving as a critical knowledge hub for tropical African agricultural science.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

ISRA's early H2020 work (2017–2019) centered on sector-specific applied research: bluetongue virus epidemiology in livestock and fisheries stock assessment for EU-Africa partnership agreements. From 2020 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward climate resilience, sustainable land use, and the social dimensions of environmental change — including climate-driven migration, nitrogen cycling, and integrated agro-pastoral systems. This evolution reflects a move from disease/resource management to systemic thinking about how Sahelian communities adapt to climate disruption.

ISRA is increasingly positioning itself as the go-to African research partner for projects that connect climate science with on-the-ground agricultural adaptation and rural livelihoods in the Sahel.

How they like to work

ISRA never coordinates H2020 projects — they consistently join as a participant, partner, or third party, providing essential African field expertise and local research infrastructure to European-led consortia. With 159 unique partners across 46 countries, they operate in very large international consortia and are clearly valued as a regional knowledge provider rather than a project driver. This means partnering with ISRA gives you direct access to Senegalese and West African field sites, local research networks, and on-the-ground implementation capacity.

ISRA has built an exceptionally wide network for its size: 159 unique consortium partners across 46 countries, spanning Europe, Africa, and beyond. Their partnerships bridge European research institutions with West African field realities, making them a connector between these two research ecosystems.

What sets them apart

ISRA offers what few European research centers can: deep, on-the-ground expertise in Sahelian agriculture, livestock systems, and climate adaptation backed by decades of institutional presence in Senegal and West Africa. For any EU project targeting African food security, dryland farming, or tropical disease control, ISRA provides both scientific credibility and practical field access. Their breadth — from animal epidemiology to climate modeling to fisheries — makes them unusually versatile for an African research partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SustainSAHEL
  ISRA's largest funded project (EUR 619K) and most representative of their core mission: building resilient crop-livestock systems for Sahel communities through participatory research.
• COMBAT
  Major livestock health initiative (EUR 340K) tackling trypanosomosis across Africa — combines epidemiology, vector control, and risk mapping at continental scale.
• HABITABLE
  Signals ISRA's expansion into climate-migration research, linking environmental science with social tipping points and policy-relevant displacement scenarios.