Presentation

The underground environment is, unlike other environments such as the mountains or the coast, still rarely studied in France as an area in its own in terms of environmental, economic or territorial issues or problems. The fields of research are numerous but often apprehending the underground environment in a disciplinary and segmented way, focusing on its characteristics (morphological, landscape, societal,…,) its resources (water, landscape, geo-patrimonial, touristic, …), its natural archives (paleogeographical, climatic, environmental, etc.) its (pre) historic heritage (archaeological, paleontological, sacred, etc.).

The current challenges lie in understanding the dynamics and evolutions of underground environments, whether by a spatial focal point (mass, cave, wall, micro-organization) and/or temporal (response time, reaction time, action time, feedback time) , and this, in order to overcome the current locks of knowledge :

  • The underground environment is a complex environment whose functioning and evolution depend on the nature of its interactions with the external environment and whose internal hygro-bio-climatic conditions themselves result from the past history of the karst system.
  • It requires thinking and acquiring knowledge in terms of dynamics, reactions to environmental characteristics (external and internal), trajectories and evolutions, on the observation / retro-observation / modeling triptych.
  • How to apprehend the effects of climate change and global change on the availability and quality of groundwater resources ?

    IFREEMIS’ wish is to contribute to go beyond underground approaches by promoting the creation of links between the different fields of knowledge and expertise.

    For this purpose, three levers were identified :

  1. Organizing of annual interdisciplinary meetings

    Interdisciplinary scientific meetings

  2. The creation of a project hotel

    Although it is neither a research structure nor a higher initial training organization, IFREEMIS, as an “outside-the-walls” structure, “outside academic constraints”, has a role to play as : A place of exchange for researchers.

    • A place of exchange with other managers or actors,
    • Place of training in an interdisciplinary approach, via modules and training materials complementary to pre-existing university training offers,
    • Home for training and research activities that would require proximity to study areas of high scientific or educational interest, or even access to school or laboratory sites.

     

    Project hotel

  3. Implementation of an integrated hosting offer for training and research organizations.

    The objective is to make this territory a “learning”, “laboratory” territory, by strengthening the links between territorial actors and those of higher education and research. The project is to experiment an integrated offer for training and research organizations, relying on remarkable natural sites, local resource organizations and rural structures and accommodation located nearby.

    Service Offer