%0 Book
%9 OS : Ouvrages scientifiques
%A Rizzo, Davide
%A Malam Issa, Oumarou
%A Sougueh, C.
%A Léonard, Eric
%A Daher, A.
%A Mohamed, J.
%T Interdisciplinary approach to reverse land degradation and restore terrestrial ecosystems in drylands : documenting the co-design of an international doctoral course
%C Montpellier
%D 2026
%L fdi:010097827
%G ENG
%I CIHEAM
%K DJIBOUTI ; SAHEL
%P en ligne [7 ]
%R 10.5281/zenodo.21826712
%U https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010097827
%> https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/2026-08/010097827.pdf
%W Horizon (IRD)
%X Large-scale sustainable land management programmes addressing dryland degradation



demand interdisciplinary approaches, yet academic training often reinforces disciplinary silos.



This study documents the co-design of an international doctoral course utilising the Great



Green Wall in Djibouti as a case study to foster epistemic integration among early-career



researchers. Anchored in transformative learning theory, the methodology combined online



theoretical framing with immersive, shared fieldwork across three contrasting sites, engaging



sixteen PhD students and fourteen researchers in multicultural, multidisciplinary teams. The



co-design process involved forty actors over one year, culminating in field-based landscape



analysis, soil characterisation, and semi-structured interviews. Findings reveal that while



shared fieldwork successfully disrupted silos and cultivated systemic interdisciplinary



competencies, participants experienced tension between disciplinary habits and the need for



integrated problem-framing, highlighting the necessity for stronger pre-field methodological



guidelines. Crucially, the process catalysed an epistemic shift: participants moved beyond



sectoral diagnostics to reframe sustainability as an integration of biophysical degradation and



social marginalisation. Theoretically, this demonstrates that place-based, confrontational



learning can bridge the divide between biophysical and sociotechnical perspectives, offering a



relevant pedagogical model for addressing Sustainable Development Goal 15. Finally, the



course emerges as an intermediary object that can inform the cross-sectoral framing of



scientific diplomacy for land management research in the Sahel.
%B IFSA2026 : Farming and Agri-Food Systems dynamics : facing crises and trade-offs in transition pathways
%8 2026/06/30-2026/07/03
%$ 106EDUC ; 116RESCI ; 068EROSOL ; 021ENVECO