Seminar

¡Abajo el césped! Una mirada a los talleres de formación sobre jardinería seca en el sur de California y algunos enfoques teóricos para interpretar la política del césped

November 11, 2025

In this presentation, Sophie Didier explores dry gardening training workshops in Southern California, an innovative response to environmental challenges related to the excessive use of lawns. She will also offer a reflection on the political and social dimensions of lawn maintenance, drawing on theoretical approaches to understand the relationships between urban space, ecology, and cultural practices.

Event

Watershed Soundscape

November 9, 2025

Experience a unique musical event in the historic Adobe Hay Barn at Empire Ranch. This concert explores the sounds of our watershed through a multidisciplinary approach, offering an immersive sonic journey into our natural environment.

Call

Chateaubriand Fellowship

Application Deadline: January 10, 2025

The Chateaubriand Fellowship Program for 2025-2026 is now accepting applications! If you're a PhD student at an American university involved in scientific research, take this opportunity to conduct research in the heart of Europe's cultural and scientific excellence! 

Annual Seminar 

Onsite presentations of current research programs within the OHMi Pima County 

 October 3rd, 2024

Marshall Building, University of Arizona, 5th floor Conference room 531

The event will cover various important topics, including a debrief of field visits and a summary of approved grants. There will be presentations on the use of soil charcoal analysis to understand past fire regimes in arid ecosystems, recent advances in fire research in the Sonoran Desert, and a photodocumentary discussing water shortages in Arizona's semi-arid climate. Additional discussions will focus on evaluating potential groundwater contamination from munitions, stakeholder participation in watershed management, plant surveys for phytoremediation strategies, and the impact of soundscape fragmentation on bird diversity. The day will conclude with a discussion on the insights gained and future perspectives.

Guest Lecture

The French and American Independence 

  September 24, 2024

 University of Arizona,  

 Student Union, 3rd Floor Kachina Lounge

The Embassy of France in Washington DC, in cooperation with America 2026, is pleased to announce an upcoming guest lecture on the French role in the American Revolution. Join us as historian Dr. Iris de Rode shares her research on the eminent Chevalier François- Jean de Chastellux. As a Major General in the Expédition Particulière, de Chastellux played a crucial role in the American War of Independence. Dr. de Rode's presentation will reveal new perspectives on the Battle of Yorktown and shed light on the broader scope of the Franco- American alliance during this time. 

UA-CNRS conference :              Environmental Justice and Cultural Resistance: Africa and Polynesia 

 September 3–7, 2024
 

 University of Arizona, ENR2 Bldg, Room N604
 

 The most important contribution this research makes is to show how culture operates and the vital role cultural resistance plays in moving forward differently. As our environment is increasingly endangered, literature and popular culture are playing a vital role in raising awareness and shifting the terms of the debate. 

 Many of the environmental crises in Africa today are not of their own making, most derive from extraverted economies of colonial extraction and climate change due to industrial pollution elsewhere. Our team has explored how African actors resist environmental injustice through relevant and compelling forms of cultural expression.

CNRS doctoral contract offer, UMR TREE, Pau (FR) / IRL Iglobes, Tucson (AZ)

Christine Bouisset (UMR TREE, U. de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour) and Sophie Didier (Iglobes, U. Gustave Eiffel) are offering a 3 year international doctoral contract funded by the Mission Initiatives Transverses (MITI) of the CNRS. The contract, on the theme of tree policies in cities in the West of the US, will be based in Pau and will include field trips to Tucson to host Iglobes. It will begin on October 1, 2024.

Welcome Sophie Didier, Our New Deputy Director!

We are pleased to announce that Sophie Didier will join the Iglobes Laboratory as the new Deputy Director, effective September 1, 2024.

Sophie Didier is a researcher with expertise in geography and urban planning. From 2008 to 2012, she led the French Institute of South Africa in Johannesburg (IFAS-Recherche, UMIFRE n°25 CNRS/MAE), advancing its research initiatives. She also served as Deputy Director at Lab’URBA from 2019 to 2023, where she contributed to the development and coordination of urban research projects.

New website

Welcome to the Iglobes new website! To access previous archived articles from our previous website please follow the link below:

Exposition Natures Mortes - Exposition Itinerante “Desert Vert”

This book is based on an investigation conducted since 2019, particularly involving the study of unpublished archives from the astronomical observatories of Mauna Kea volcano in Hawai'i, as well as meetings with opponents of the TMT giant telescope project. It is likely to interest specialists in the history of science and political anthropology of the Pacific, astronomy and environmental history enthusiasts, and labor sociologists. It is also, I hope, a good story, following the principle of historian William Cronon.

Exposition Natures Mortes - Exposition Itinerante “Desert Vert”

From March 10 to April 10, in the hall of ENS at 45 rue d'Ulm. Created by Gaëlle Ronsin during a stay at the IRL Iglobes, in collaboration with CERES.

In the Sonoran Desert in the United States, the Saguaro cacti, symbols of Arizona, are dying. Gaëlle Ronsin's photographic series documents the end of the life cycle of these plants while questioning the methods of alert and awareness regarding the extinction of nature.

Workshop MARCH 25th & 26th march - Human Auditory Ecology. Foundations of an interdisciplinary field

A two-day workshop to offer hearing scientists - i.e. psychoacousticians, auditory neuroscientists, bioacousticians/neuroethologists and audiologists - a unique opportunity to meet and discuss with soundscape ecologists, environmental acousticians and geographers. It will take place on Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 March 2024 on two sites: in Tucson Arizona (USA) at the Biosphere 2 research station, and at the Ecole normale supérieure-PSL in Paris.

Transatlantic Research Partnership

The 2024 call for applications for the Transatlantic Research Partnership is now open! This program aims to encourage forward-looking collaborative research that addresses current issues. It offers $20,000 grants to support two-year projects conducted by two early-career researchers—one based in the United States and the other in France. These funds will support the transatlantic mobility of researchers and doctoral students, collaborative research activities such as organizing workshops or conferences, and the publication of joint articles.