Bangkok--25 Mar--AIT
Responding to a request from Prof. Said Irandoust, President of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), for post-flood assistance, Agreenium has agreed to host nine AIT students in research laboratories of their affiliated partners, which are all top research and higher education institutes in France.
Agreenium was founded by six of France’s major research and teaching organizations and is one of the world’s largest agricultural and veterinary research and education organizations.
The offer was communicated in a letter delivered by Dr. Jean-Charles Maillard, CIRAD Regional Director for Continental South East Asia on behalf of Dr. Marion Guillou, President of Agreenium. Dr. Maillard visited AIT at its Bangkok Office on 16 March 2012, and was joined by Dr. Philippe Girard, the new CIRAD Representative for Thailand. He said the research laboratories are located at CIRAD, INRA, Agro Paris Tech, Agro Campus Ouest, Supagro Montpellier, and INP Toulouse. CIRAD is a French agricultural research organization.
Meeting with President Irandoust and Mr. Olivier Drean, Interim Head of External Relations and Communications Office and Advisor to the Administration, the CIRAD officials reported that a number of laboratories within its consortium in France would soon send letters of acceptance to identified AIT students who are still available and willing to be temporarily housed in various labs of the Agreenium network. The offer does not cover travel or other expenses, he said.
AIT was flooded on 21 October 2011 under two meters of water, and suffered considerable damage to all ground level facilities, with almost 50 per cent of its infrastructure for education and research destroyed, including a number of laboratories.
Extending his sincere thanks to CIRAD and Agreenium on behalf of AIT, President Irandoust said it was a very good opportunity for AIT students in need of lab facilities, and as much as possible the administration would try to find the resources to assist their overall studies in France.
Noting AIT’s advantages as an international organization of higher learning with connection to the whole region, Dr. Maillard told the president to “be sure of the strong interest of CIRAD for this initiative and for working with AIT.”
He added that the students to be offered lab facilities hailed from countries outside of CIRAD’s traditional areas of engagement, such as Afghanistan. “AIT is very important for us due to its regional impact that goes beyond bilateral relationships,” he said.