Partnership with Regions

Following on from the PSDR program (www.psdr.fr), TETRAE places emphasis on a close partnership with the Regional Councils. Three key objectives underpin this partnership :

• Strengthen the links between INRAE's research policies and those of the Regional Councils ;
• Structure scientific partnerships between regional research teams ;
• Strengthen partnerships between research units and all operators in the field, whether they be active at regional or local level.

Co-construction with partners

The participation of local partners in research projects is an integral part of TETRAE. It corresponds to a logic of co-construction at work right from the onset of the project, during the desing phase, and deployed throughout the process, at the various stages of research and development activities. This involvement of non-scientific partners aims to integrate the expectations and expertise of these actors into the research project, and to promote the appropriation and dissemination of results.

Interdisciplinarity and scientific excellence

TETRAE uses a systemic research approach to transition issues in regional contexts. This approach is based on interdisciplinary knowledge production. Indeed, the projects consist of research activities combining the methodological and conceptual contributions of different disciplines. They promote dialogue between the humanities and social sciences, life sciences and engineering for analyzing sustainable agri-food systems in the territories.

The aim of this program is to produce and disseminate knowledge that meets academic requirements and places research at the heart of transition dynamics. Scientific results must represent advances of the state-of-the-art in the INRAE's fields of research. The results of the work produced are academically disseminated and exploited through publications in national and international scientific journals, and participation in events organized by the various scholarly communities.

privilégie une démarche de recherche systémique en réponse aux enjeux de transition, dans des contextes régionaux. Cette démarche s'appuie sur la production de connaissances mobilisant des approches interdisciplinaires. En effet, les projets structurent des activités de recherche combinant les apports méthodologiques et conceptuels de différentes disciplines. Ils favorisent le dialogue entre sciences humaines et sociales, sciences du vivant et de l’ingénieur pour l’analyse des systèmes agri-alimentaires durables en territoires.

Operational exploitation and impact of research

In addition to scientific exploitation, these projects integrate an operational exploitation dimension based as much on the appropriation of tools by stakeholders as on teaching and training mechanisms. This is one of TETRAE's distinctive features. This component of the approach thus aims to produce both knowledge and tools that fit the needs of local actors. It consists, among other things, in the translation of research findings into pedagogical knowledge for secondary and tertiary education curricula, as well as vocational training programs. This particular attention to operational exploitation is applied at every stage of the project, right from the conception and definition of the research questions. In this approach, attention is paid to the impact of research and of research exploitation activities. This implies setting up a process for analyzing transformation targets and an in itinere evaluation of the impact pathways, to be adjusted throughout the life of the projects.

Open innovation and living labs

This program is a participatory research initiative that borrows from the Agro-Living Labs’ organizational model. It develops projects that promote experimentation and open innovation through the broad participation of the socioeconomic world and civil society. Thus, TETRAE projects are co-constructed with the various players in the agricultural and food value chain, right down to consumers and local populations, to better meet the challenges of sustainability transition.

The methodology encourages the involvement of local actors in the research process and reinforces the attention paid to the impact of the program's projects. Approaches of the ‘Agro- Living Lab’ type involve a wide variety of configurations. The aim is not to fit all approaches into a single model. The forms of partnership that will structure the projects shall emerge from regional exchanges reflecting the way in which researchers and local actors wish to tackle issues related to the Agriculture-Food-Environment-Health nexus.

Agriculture – Food – Environment – Health Nexus

The program's distinctive feature is that it addresses regional issues by placing the territorial dimension at the heart of research questions. The aim is to analyze how this territorial approach is relevant for identifying suitable responses to regional transition issues.

The aim is to integrate territorial considerations into the tools, analytical frameworks, methodological approaches and interpretation of results by researchers. The territorial level is the most appropriate for producing knowledge along three complementary dimensions :

• The interdependencies between the dimensions of the Agriculture, Food, Environment and Health nexus, which make the territorial scale the most relevant for designing sustainable systems
• The organization of the actors (private sector, local authorities, associations) involved in initiatives to promote sustainability transition at a local level
• The co-construction of projects with stakeholders, following an open science approach, and characterized by a strong proximity dimension.