VIETNAMICA: Deepening Vietnam-France academic relations

The Project launching ceremony was attended by guests: Mr. Jean-Michel Vernider - President of the Institute for Advanced Studies; Mr. Jean-Paul Gaudemar - General Director of the Francophone University Organization AUF; Mr. Giorgio Aliberti - Ambassador of the European Union to Vietnam; Mr. Nicolas Warnery - Ambassador of France to Vietnam; Prof. Philippe Papin - Professor of Vietnamese History, Faculty of History and Texts, Institute for Advanced Studies of the French Republic, Head of the Vietnamica Project.

On the Vietnamese side, there were VNU President Nguyen Kim Son, Prof. Nguyen Quang Thuan - Vice President of the Central Theoretical Council, former President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences; Dr. Nguyen Tuan Cuong - Director of the Institute of Han Nom Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences; VNU Vice President Pham Bao Son; Prof. Vu Minh Giang - Chairman of the VNU Council of Science and Technology; Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh - Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Official signing ceremony between VNU and the Institute for Advanced Study

Vietnamica is a European project on historical research and digitization of Vietnamese stele documents - one of the projects funded by the European Research Council of the European Union. The project aims to research the history of Vietnamese offerings through stele documents, digitize Vietnamese social science documents archived in Europe and Vietnam; participate in training graduate students and doctoral students; establish an electronic library, translate and publish monographs and conduct comprehensive research on the history of Vietnamese offerings.

The project was initiated by Prof. Philippe Papin - Professor of Vietnamese History, Faculty of History and Texts, Institute of Advanced Studies of the French Republic. The project's managing unit is the Institute of Advanced Studies of the French Republic. The coordinating units to organize and implement the project are the Vietnam National University, Hanoi through the University of Social Sciences and Humanities; the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences through the Institute of Han Nom Studies. The financial management unit is the Francophone University Organization.

Prof. Philippe Papin (middle)

The project is expected to be implemented within 5 years, from 2019 to 2024, and in a large area including Vietnam, France and several other European countries.

Director of Hanoi National University Nguyen Kim Son: Vietnamica is a valuable and meaningful project with great prospects in many aspects; it is a bridge to help deepen and tighten academic relations between Vietnam and France.

Speaking at the Project launching ceremony, VNU President Nguyen Kim Son expressed his honor when VNU became a partner to implement the Vietnamica Project - a valuable and meaningful project with great prospects in many aspects.

Vietnamica aims at original texts, sources of materials that can bring the highest quality research results, including:Hau Beeris the subject of special attention. The project includes both research and training organization, technology transfer, to sustainably maintain research directions and create long-term influence. The project is implemented in a modern way, suitable for digital technology and new technological trends for social sciences and humanities. And especially, Vietnamica attracts the participation of many prestigious scholars and scientific agencies from both Vietnam and France. With these aspects, Vietnamica will contribute to creating a valuable Big data on Vietnamese studies, and at the same time be a bridge to help deepen and tighten the academic relationship between Vietnam and France.

VNU President Nguyen Kim Son also expressed his appreciation to Prof. Philippe Papin - the scientist who initiated the project. As a famous Vietnamese studies researcher with many contributions to Vietnamese studies, Prof. Philippe Papin has established many relationships and group activities in the Vietnamese studies research community, aiming at large projects with academic depth.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Thuan - Vice Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council, former Chairman of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, assessed: This is an important and typical event in the field of social sciences of Vietnam in 2019.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Thuan - Vice Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council, former Chairman of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, commented: This is an important and typical event in the field of social sciences in Vietnam in 2019.

This project is special whenHau Beeroccupies a particularly important position in it. In the warehouse of 70,000 stone stele texts currently kept at the Institute of Han Nom Studies,Hau Beeraccounting for no less than half of the above number. This is a unique and one-of-a-kind type of stele, different from any other country in Asia. Existing continuously in Vietnamese history from the 17th to the 20th century,Hau BeerIt contains important information about Vietnamese history, society, economy and culture, but this source of documents has not received due research attention.

The Institute of Han-Nom Studies and the Academy of Social Sciences under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences will have a plan to closely coordinate with the Vietnamica Project to focus on training experts in stele research through Master's and Doctoral training programs, thereby building a successor force for the Vietnamese epigraphy industry.

President of the Institute for Advanced Study - Mr. Jean-Michel Vernider

President of the Institute for Advanced Study - Mr. Jean-Michel Vernider shared information: Research on topics related to Vietnam began in 1990 and plays a very important role in the Institute's international cooperation development policy. Although it is a historical research project, the special feature of this project is the participation of modern technology in the implementation stages. Currently, the Institute has about 6,000 documents related to Vietnam. Through this project, scientists and researchers of the two countries can not only access this huge source of documents but it also contributes to promoting the Institute's cooperation in other fields with Vietnamese partners, especially with VNU Hanoi.

Mr. Jean-Paul Gaudemar - General Director of AUF Organization

Mr. Jean-Paul Gaudemar - General Director of AUF said that this agency will support in promoting research results and achievements so that scientific values ​​can be spread first in the AUF community with nearly 1,000 member universities and research institutes.

Mr. Giorgio Aliberti - Ambassador of the European Union to Vietnam

Mr. Giorgio Aliberti - Ambassador of the European Union to Vietnam assessed: The Vietnamica project has a large and very important scientific content. This project is also in line with the current cooperation development strategy of the European Union with Vietnam. It can be seen that Vietnamica is a scientific project that is both traditional and modern in nature when applying digital technology to the field of historical research.

Mr. Nicolas Warnery - French Ambassador to Vietnam

Mr. Nicolas Warnery - French Ambassador to Vietnam said that this is a project that represents the pinnacle of scientific research. The project has been closely evaluated and approved by the European Council for Scientific Research; with the participation of leading agencies, training and research units in each country. In terms of digital documents, the Project will provide researchers with a directory of old books about Vietnam, mainly in French, which will be useful for future specialized research.

Launch of Project Management Board

President of the Institute for Advanced Studies - Mr. Jean-Michel Vernider presented the Institute's commemorative medal to Director of VNU Nguyen Kim Son, Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan - Vice Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Professor Dr. Nguyen Quang Thuan - Vice President of the Central Council of Theory, former President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Dr. Nguyen Tuan Cuong - Director of the Institute of Han Nom Studies

The official signing ceremony between VNU and the Institute for Advanced Study and the opening of the Cooperation Office between the two sides also took place in the morning of the same day. The office will be a place to welcome Vietnamese and foreign students, researchers, and collaborators; and is expected to be the venue for seminars, conferences, and group workshops within the framework of the Project.

After the launching ceremony, also within the framework of the Project, there was a professional discussion of Vietnamese-French scientists with 3 topics: topic onPosthumous stele and the issue of offerings in Vietnamese history; topic aboutApplication of information technology and electronic maps in research and digitization, publishing and translation of Vietnamese social science documents; topic aboutMaster and Doctoral Training within the framework of the Vietnamica Project.