Institut français d'Afrique du Sud (IFAS)

IFAS-Research, established in 1995 in Johannesburg, is one of the French Research Institutes Abroad (UMIFRE),  under the joint supervision of the French ministries for Europe and Foreign Affairs, for Higher Education and Research, and the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research).

The mission of IFAS-Research is to initiate, support and carry out research projects in the social sciences and humanities, in conjunction with its many partners in southern Africa, France and Europe. Its activity is carried out within the framework of its regional mandate, which includes twelve countries in southern Africa: Angola, Botswana, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

As both a research laboratory and an institutional and logis­tics support platform for research, it particularly supports young researchers and bilateral or multilateral scientific cooperation projects.

IFAS-Research organizes its activities around three main research areas:

• Area 1: archaeology, palaeoanthropology, prehistory;
• Area 2: history, history of art, heritage;
• Area 3: contemporary dynamics.

IFAS-Research is also part of the academic network Groupement d’Intérêt Scientifique des études africaines en France (GIS).