User:ArthurAmelot/French National Committee on Arctic and Antarctic Research (CNFRAA)

The French National Committee for Arctic and Antarctic Research (in French: Comité National Français des Recherches Arctiques et Antarctiques or CNFRAA) is a French learned society whose aim is to promote research in the many scientific disciplines (biological, physical, geological, biomedical, human and social sciences) involved in the polar (Arctic and Antarctic) and sub-polar regions.

The CNFRAA was created in 1958, under the aegis of the French Académie des Sciences, as the national correspondent for France to the Special Committee on Antarctic Research, which later became the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (S.C.A.R.).

CNFRAA is one of five French National Committees that participate in the interdisciplinary committees of the International Science Council.

The Committee is now under the authority of the Comité Français des Unions Scientifiques Internationales (COFUSI), created in 1967 by the Académie des Sciences. COFUSI coordinates and validates the activities of the national committees and distributes grants from the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research.

The beginnings (CNFRA)
Following the success of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1957-58 and the creation, at the suggestion of the International Scientific Council, of the S.C.A.R., chaired in 1958 by Georges Laclavère, France was initially represented by the French Antarctic Committee for the IGY. That same year, the French Academy of Sciences appointed a delegate to the S.C.A.R. and decided to set up a French National Committee for Antarctic Research (CNFRA).

From 1962 to 1990, the CNFRA published its Bulletins, a record of French polar and sub-polar research in the second half of the 20th century. All the Bulletins have been digitalised and can be consulted on the French Muséum national d'histoire naturelle 's online library.

The development towards the Arctic (CNFRAA)
From 1995 onwards, the French National Committee for Antarctic Research (CNFRA) extended its field of expertise to the Arctic and gradually became the CNFRAA.

Missions
The general aim of the French National Committee for Arctic and Antarctic Research is to promote research in a wide range of scientific disciplines (biological, physical, geological, biomedical, human and social sciences) in the polar (Arctic and Antarctic) and sub-polar regions.

The primary mission of the CNFRA, laid down in 1958, was "to ensure the co-ordination of French scientific research in the S.C.A.R. area of interest with international guidelines, to set the scientific programme for planned French expeditions, and to supervise the preparation, execution and exploitation of scientific work".

In 1961, the year the Antarctic Treaty was created, Georges Laclavère, the second Chairman of the CNFRA, expressed the aim of the next French expeditions to the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF) in the newspaper Le Monde: "[o]ur aim is to create a series of stations in the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, in order to occupy an elite position there. There are many difficulties to overcome, but they are not insurmountable".

From then on, in conjunction with the CNRS and other international bodies, the French National Committee for Antarctic Research set the research programmes for the Dumont D'Urville Antarctic base.

Today, CNFRAA has many missions. As the French national correspondent for the S.C.A.R., the CNFRAA has taken over the original mission entrusted to it. At the same time, it is now acting in such a way as to :


 * "promote international cooperation and support the interaction of French research in international programmes;
 * to provide a forum for the development of scientific programmes ;
 * and contribute to communication and information on scientific research undertaken in the polar and sub-polar regions".

The Journées Scientifiques
Since 2004, the CNFRAA has been organising annual Scientific Days (in French: Journées Scientifiques) on research in polar environments, in conjunction with the Institut Polaire Français Paul Emile Victor :


 * encourage meetings between young researchers and experienced researchers;
 * enable young researchers to present innovative aspects of their work;
 * encourage interdisciplinary synergies;
 * and to take stock of current issues.

The next Journées Scientifiques will be held in Strasbourg in May 2024.

Interinstitutional links
The CNFRAA maintains close links with the Institut Polaire Français Paul Emile Victor (IPEV) and the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS France). As part of the Journées Scientifiques, the CNFRAA established a partnership with the Académie du Climat of the city of Paris. CNFRAA also welcomed Olivier Poivre d'Arvor, the French Ambassador for the Poles and the Ocean, on the occasion of its 65th birthday.

Composition
Like any association, the CNFRAA is made up of an executive elected by the members of the Committee. The Director of the IPEV is an ex-officio member. Certain members may also be co-opted to carry out specific missions.

In May 2023, CNFRAA had145 members.

Eminent members
The first members of the French National Committee for Antarctic Research when it was set up in October 1958 were all from the Académie des Sciences: Charles Maurain, Pierre Lejay, Louis Leprince-Ringuet, André Danjon, Pierre-Paul Grassé, Paul Fallot and Pierre Tardi.

The CNFRA, then CNFRAA, has had 10 Chairmen and Chairwomen since its creation.