French think tank seeks partnerships with Philippine institutions
MANILA, Philippines – A French think tank is hoping to work with similar Philippine institutions to produce research work on a range of subjects, such as higher military education, climate change, maritime security, political warfare and information warfare.
Dr. Marjorie Vanbaelinghem, the acting director of government-funded Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM), was in Manila last week on a “fact-finding mission” in hopes to identify institutions to work with for future projects.
“The idea was to try and forge relations with similar Filipino research centers and also with the National Defense College and see how we could work together to have joint activities, maybe joint publications later on, and also benefit from Philippines’ expertise on issues that we tackle on a daily basis in our research,” Vanbaelinghem told reporters at the French ambassador’s residence on Wednesday last week.
While in the country, she met with representatives from the National Defense College of the Philippines and Ateneo School of Government, and other research centers.
IRSEM, which has 30 researchers all with doctorate degrees, provides publications which the French government and its military can use for its perusal. France released its Indo-Pacific strategy in 2017 and Vanbaelinghem said the institute is looking to collaborate with scholars in the Philippines for added perspective.
“We need to pay attention to the viewpoints and realities, not just of the biggest countries like the US, China, or Japan, but also pay attention to very important players in the same arena,” she said.
She added that IRSEM also hopes to produce literature on the Philippines in French.
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