[EDUCATION] Official launch of the AIBSI project

On 13 November, the Amazonian Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainable Innovation (AIBSI) was officially launched, a project led by the University of French Guiana in partnership with:

- the Local Authorities in French Guiana;
- Guyane Développement Innovation (GDI);
- 7 research centres (LABEX CEBA, CNRS, IFREMER, Institut Pasteur, IRD, CIRAD, French space agency);
- coastal hospitals;
- universities from the Guiana Shield.

This 10-year project will make it possible to:

- train skills in biodiversity and its areas of development;
- respond to major societal challenges;
- create a platform for scientific outreach in the northern Amazon basin;
- develop science by strengthening the triangle: research – development – outlets.
 

The French space agency, a member of the AIBSI consortium and the Steering Committee, will provide its expertise by:

- providing human resources (French space agency experts, depending on the subject);
- conducting remote sensing training modules (2 modules per academic year);
- organising master classes on space applications (once a year for 5 years);
- co-funding two doctoral grants for theses related to the use of space applications. 

In June 2023, two French space agency engineers from the OT laboratory gave an initial introduction to remote sensing to students at the Kourou IUT.