Visit of a Nigerian delegation to Grenoble INP-Pagora

Séverin Van Gastel, Head of International Development & Partnerships, and Gérard Mortha, Head of the Master MSE - Program Biorefinery and Biomaterials, received a delegation from the Nigerian Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) present in France as part of a mission led by Campus France, the Embassy of Nigeria in France and the University of Grenoble Alpes.

This visit follows the meeting on January 28, in Abuja, between the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Jérôme Pasquier, and the Executive Secretary of the PTDF, Dr. Bello Aliyu Gusau. The French Embassy in Nigeria seeks to strengthen its partnership with the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and to explore more areas of collaboration in the context of grants and other educational development programs of the Fund aimed at strengthening the capacities of Nigerians to contribute to the oil and gas industry. Dr Bello Aliyu Gusau said that the Fund is ready to extend its collaboration with the universities of Lyon and Grenoble, in particular within the framework of research and training programs: "What I want to say is that, our relationship with France started just in 2016 but already it is turning up to be one of the most important relationship we have had.[ ] Actually we are looking forward to expanding this relationship because people are coming with fantastic results".

Gloria Ifunanya Ngene, who followed the Post Master Biorefinery & Biomaterials course in Grenoble INP-Pagora in 2017-2018 and who is currently preparing a thesis at LGP2, is one of the Nigerian students benefiting from a mobility grant financed by the Fund. This visit allowed the representatives of the PTDF to discover the school and the laboratory specializing in bio-based materials and biorefinery: a first contact perhaps carrying future collaborations in the fields of training and research.