Cultural and scientific cooperation between France and Afghanistan goes back a long way: as early as 1922, the Afghan government entrusted France with the task of researching, preserving and promoting the country's heritage, through the creation of the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (Dafa).
Since the fall of Kabul and the resumption of power by the Taliban, researchers, artists and students have been among the first targets. They are threatened and forbidden to continue their work in Afghanistan, where some are now risking their lives.
Faced with this dramatic situation, the Programme national d'accueil en urgence des scientifiques et artistes en exil (PAUSE), supported by Collège de France, is fully committed to working alongside the higher education and research community to help its Afghan colleagues.
The Collège de France and the PAUSE program are committed to providing higher education and research establishments with the means to welcome these threatened researchers and artists in a dignified manner, enabling them to continue their work in France. It's an ethical duty to save lives, and an intellectual duty to protect the world's cultural and scientific heritage.
Are you in contact with an Afghan doctoral student, researcher or artist, and would like to obtain co-financing to recruit him/her into your establishment? Submit an application under the new PAUSE program call for applications, which closes on September 24, 2021.
