Rizzo Davide auteur aut IRD Malam Issa Oumarou auteur aut IRD Sougueh C. auteur aut IRD Léonard Eric auteur aut IRD Daher A. auteur aut IRD Mohamed J. auteur aut IRD IFSA2026 : Farming and Agri-Food Systems dynamics : facing crises and trade-offs in transition pathways, Montpellier (FRA), 2026/06/30-2026/07/03 text book eng text/pdf reformatted digital access 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. specialized DJIBOUTI SAHEL 106EDUC 116RESCI 068EROSOL 021ENVECO Montpellier CIHEAM 2026 en ligne [7 ] en ligne [7 ] en ligne [7 ] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010097827 10.5281/zenodo.21826712 [F B010097827] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010097827 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/2026-08/010097827.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2026-08-12 2026-08-26 fdi:010097827 fre