Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP) / French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP)

  • Home
  • India
  • Pondicherry
  • Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP) / French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP)

Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP) / French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP) Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP) / French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP)

Established under the terms of the Treaty of Cession of French Territories in India, the French Institute of Pondicherry was inaugurated on 21 March 1955. It was initially engaged, under the leadership of its first director (Jean Filliozat), in the study of Indian civilization and culture, and more particularly in the history and the religions of South India. In the 1960s, a department of ecology was created to collect information on the conditions and evolution of the environment in South India (vegetation, soil, climate change, etc.) with its focus on the Western Ghats, one of the world’s 34 hotspots for biodiversity. With the setting up of the department of social sciences in the 1980s, the Institute also extended its interest to the evolution and dynamics of Indian society. The development of research and the necessity to support it with modern methodologies and equipment led to the creation of a laboratory of geomatics (LAIG) in the 1990s. With it, the Institute acquired modern tools for the representation and analysis of the relationships in space and time between these entities and their environment. The installation of the LAIG as a common tool greatly helped in identifying new areas for research. The IFP also has a multidisciplinary Centre for Documentary Resources (CDR), which came into being as the result of a major restructuring of three research libraries in Pondicherry. This Centre holds specialized data of the research conducted at the IFP, which is augmented every year through a dynamic acquisition policy. The CDR is open to the public within a set of rules framed by the IFP.

“From Tradition to Modernity”, a document released on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the IFP, traces the history of the Institute from its inception to the present.

📢 CALL FOR APPLICATIONS | SOCIAL SCIENCES WINTER SCHOOL 2027We are delighted to invite applications for the Social Scien...
12/08/2026

📢 CALL FOR APPLICATIONS | SOCIAL SCIENCES WINTER SCHOOL 2027

We are delighted to invite applications for the Social Sciences Winter School 2027, to be held from 1–5 February 2027 at the French Institute of Pondicherry.

This year’s theme is: Digitalisation and Development: Finance, Labour and Governance

The Winter School will bring together Master’s and PhD students and early-career scholars to critically examine how digitalisation is reshaping economies, institutions, work, and everyday life across South Asia.

Participants will work in three parallel groups, each bringing together 10–15 participants:

🔹 Working Group 1: Digital Finance
How are digital payments, app-based lending, algorithmic credit scoring and microfinance transforming household–market relations? This group will explore questions of financialisation, indebtedness, data extraction, financial inclusion and digital infrastructures through perspectives from Political Economy, STS, Behavioural Finance and innovative digital methods.

🔹 Working Group 2: Digitalisation & Governance
From digital welfare and GovTech to Aadhaar, surveillance and data infrastructures, this group examines how platforms and algorithms are transforming policy, bureaucracy and citizen–state relations. It will also explore Civic Tech, transparency, accountability and bottom-up mobilisations around data.

🔹 Working Group 3: Digital Labour
This group focuses on gig work, platform-based services, cloud work and data labour for AI. It seeks to develop integrated approaches to understanding digital labour in South Asia and is particularly suited to PhD and early-career researchers looking to critically engage with empirical material, including post-fieldwork research.

📝 We invite extended abstracts that are methodologically rigorous and theoretically innovative**, with particular attention to questions of gender, caste, class, migration and regional disparities in South Asia.

📅 Application deadline: 1 October 2026
📍 Venue: French Institute of Pondicherry
🗓️ Winter School: 1–5 February 2027
📧 Contact: winterschool [at] ifpindia [dot] org

🔗 Scan the QR code in the poster to access the application form.

Please share widely with students, researchers and colleagues who may be interested.



Umifre -Unités mixtes Instituts français de recherche à l'étranger- |Consulat général de France à Pondichéry et Chennai

As Margherita Trento, Head of Indology Department, concludes her time with us, we would like to thank her for her valuab...
11/08/2026

As Margherita Trento, Head of Indology Department, concludes her time with us, we would like to thank her for her valuable contribution to our research community and wish her every success in the next chapter of her journey.

During her time at IFP, Margherita’s research has shed new light on the history of the Caiva cittāntam monastery (ātīṉam) of Thiruvavaduthurai, an institution founded in the 16th century and still active today. While the monastery is well known as the place where U. Ve. Swaminatha Iyer studied under the renowned Tamil scholar Minakshisundaram Pillai, its earlier history remains much less explored.

Through an exceptionally rich range of sources, including copperplate inscriptions, didactic and literary texts, paintings and sculptures, Margherita has investigated the monastery’s role in the religious, social and political worlds of South India between the 16th and 18th centuries.

Her work highlights the institution’s educational mission, its promotion of Tamil as a language of ritual and theological instruction, the patronage it received from different dynasties and social groups, and the extensive regional networks of temples administered by the ātīṉam.

We are grateful to Margherita for the scholarship, insight and intellectual energy she has brought to IFP, and for enriching our understanding of the religious and cultural history of South India.

Thank you, Margherita, and all the very best for what comes next!

Join us for the next IFP Monday Colloquium:“Dravidian urbanization” today: an examination of capital, caste and the stat...
09/08/2026

Join us for the next IFP Monday Colloquium:

“Dravidian urbanization” today: an examination of capital, caste and the state in Tamil Nadu

This talk examines the drivers and changing character of urban growth in Tamil Nadu since India’s economic liberalization in 1991. It will explore how the state’s distinctive urban trajectory—shaped by Dravidian politics, local industry, global capital and welfare—has evolved over the past three decades.

The discussion will address the relationship between MSMEs and foreign investment, changing forms of labour and precarity, caste geographies, dispossession and resettlement, the role of welfare, and the environmental costs of contemporary urban growth.

Speakers:
Priti Narayan — Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia
Kalaiyarasan A. — Associate Professor of Development Studies, Madras Institute of Development Studies

📅 Thursday, 13 August 2026
🕒 3:00 PM–4:00 PM
📍 Nehru Room, IFP & Online

Please note: The colloquium, initially planned for Monday, has been shifted to Thursday of the same week due to a scheduling conflict.

We look forward to welcoming you at IFP and online.

The Institut Français de Pondichéry is pleased to invite you to Reel 09 of the “History of Tamil Documentaries” series.J...
27/07/2026

The Institut Français de Pondichéry is pleased to invite you to Reel 09 of the “History of Tamil Documentaries” series.

Join us for the screening of:

Yazhpanam Thedchanamoorthy: Music Beyond Boundaries”
A documentary celebrating Yazhpanam Thedchanamoorthy, the renowned Thavil maestro whose music strengthened cultural ties between India and Sri Lanka.

The 35-minute screening will be followed by a discussion with the director, Mr. Amshan Kumar, National Award-winning filmmaker and writer.

Date: July 30
Time: 2:30 PM
Venue: Nehru Hall Conference Room, IFP
Duration: 35 minutes

For further information:
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

Today, the French Institute of Pondicherry celebrates the retirement of Dr Anupama Krishnamurthy, after more than 30 yea...
20/07/2026

Today, the French Institute of Pondicherry celebrates the retirement of Dr Anupama Krishnamurthy, after more than 30 years dedicated to research, teaching and scientific collaboration.

A palynologist and palaeoecologist, Dr Krishnamurthy has devoted her career to studying pollen grains and phytoliths to better understand past vegetation, environmental change, pollination and contemporary ecosystems.

Her research has taken her from Pondicherry to the Nilgiri Hills and Angkor Thom in Cambodia, working closely with specialists in ecology, archaeology, geology and the humanities. She has also guided many doctoral and Master’s students and contributed actively to major international scientific networks, including INQUA and PAGES.

Her commitment to interdisciplinary research, scientific cooperation and the training of young researchers has greatly enriched the work and life of the IFP.

The entire IFP community warmly thanks Dr Anupama Krishnamurthy for her remarkable contribution and wishes her a joyful and fulfilling new chapter.

🐝 Les Rencontres de l’IFPDécouvrez le rôle essentiel des insectes dans la protection de l’agriculture biologique avec Ju...
19/07/2026

🐝 Les Rencontres de l’IFP

Découvrez le rôle essentiel des insectes dans la protection de l’agriculture biologique avec Julien Malard-Adam, chercheur à l’IRD.

📍 Alliance Française de Pondichéry
📅 23 juillet 2026 à 18h
🗣️ Présentation bilingue français–tamoul

🐝 IFP சந்திப்புகள்

இயற்கை வேளாண்மையைப் பாதுகாப்பதில் பூச்சிகள் வகிக்கும் முக்கிய பங்கை IRD ஆராய்ச்சியாளர் ஜூலியன் மலார்-ஆடம் அவர்களுடன் அறிந்துகொள்ளுங்கள்.

📍 அலையன்ஸ் பிரான்சேஸ், புதுச்சேரி
📅 23 ஜூலை 2026, மாலை 6 மணி
🗣️ பிரெஞ்சு–தமிழ் இருமொழி நிகழ்ச்சி

📢 IFP Monday ColloquiumJoin us for a presentation by Khaliq Parkar, Faculty at the Human Sciences Research Centre, IIIT-...
16/07/2026

📢 IFP Monday Colloquium

Join us for a presentation by Khaliq Parkar, Faculty at the Human Sciences Research Centre, IIIT-Hyderabad:

Whither data-driven governance? The aftermath of India’s Smart Cities Mission

Drawing on five years of fieldwork, the presentation examines how India’s Smart Cities Mission translated ambitions for digitalisation and data-driven governance into urban practice. It explores the development of digital platforms and infrastructures, the challenges posed by limited bureaucratic capacity and technical standards, and the growing influence of digital actors on the future of urban governance in India.

📅 Monday, 20 July 2026
🕒 3:00–4:00 PM
📍 Nehru Room, IFP & Online

We look forward to welcoming you.

As part of IFP’s 70th anniversary celebrations, we are pleased to present Roundtable Dialogues, bringing together former...
15/07/2026

As part of IFP’s 70th anniversary celebrations, we are pleased to present Roundtable Dialogues, bringing together former and current senior members of the Institute to reflect on the trajectories that have shaped our work in Indology.

The roundtable will feature:

Mr PB Sheshadri — Sanskrit Scholar
Dr Deviprasad Mishra — Researcher
Mr Anandavardhan — Research Assistant
Dr Ganesan — Researcher

📅 16 July 2026
🕝 2:30–5:00 PM
📍 Nehru Room, IFP

Programme

2:30 PM — Exhibition inauguration by Dr Margherita Trento, Head of Indology
3:00 PM — Director’s address
3:10 PM — Indology Roundtable
4:40 PM — Vote of thanks by Dr Margherita Trento

Join us for an afternoon of dialogue, reflection and exchange celebrating seven decades of scholarship at IFP.

25/06/2026

CONFERENCE | LECTURE 🗣

EFEO - Projet DiPiKA

📣 Lors de la prochaine conférence de la série des “DiPiKA Lectures on Manuscript Cultures”, Margherita Trento (EHESS, actuellement cheffe du Département d’Indologie de l’Institut Français de Pondichéry) propose une conférence intitulée “Monks at the Southern Frontier: Branches of the Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam in Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari, 17th–18th centuries”.

Lundi 29 juin à 15h IST (11h30 CET)

Au Vedic Research Centre, Sree Chandra Hall, Thrissur et en ligne

En savoir plus : https://swll.to/d1NolZM

-----

📣 At the next lecture in the “DiPiKA Lectures on Manuscript Cultures” series, Margherita Trento (EHESS, currently head of the Department of Indology at the French Institute in Pondicherry) will deliver a lecture titled “Monks at the Southern Frontier: Branches of the Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam in Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari, 17th–18th centuries.”

Monday, 29 June, at 3 p.m. IST (11:30 a.m. CET)

At the Vedic Research Centre, Thrissur and online

Learn more: https://swll.to/FNLimN

📚 BookMarc Series – Episode 5The Library and Publication Division of IFP invites you to the fifth episode of the BookMar...
22/06/2026

📚 BookMarc Series – Episode 5

The Library and Publication Division of IFP invites you to the fifth episode of the BookMarc series featuring Dr. Anindita Chatterjee, Visiting Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Ashoka University.

Join us for a discussion on her recent book:

Attachment, Aspiration, and Inequality in Domestic Labour in India: The Bonds of Service

Drawing on ethnographic research in Kolkata, Delhi, and Noida, the book explores the gendered dynamics of domestic labour, women's agency, identity formation, and the social and emotional dimensions of informal work relationships.

📅 26 June 2026
⏰ 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
📍 Reading Hall, IFP Library

All are welcome.

Address

11, Saint Louis Street
Pondicherry
605001

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP) / French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP) posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The School

Send a message to Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP) / French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP):

Shortcuts

Share