Rigas Arvanitis is Franco-Greek sociologist and research director of Institute of Research for Development (IRD) in France, director (since 2019) of the Centre Population et Développement (IRD-University Paris Descartes). He has field experience in Latin America (Venezuela and Mexico), China and Arab countries. He is a founding member of the Institut Francilien Recherche Innovation et Société and was its director (2015-2018). He was editor-in-chief (2007-2014) of the Revue d’anthropologie des connaissances. He was posted in Lebanon at the National Council for Scientific Research of Lebanon (CNRS-L) and was a visiting professor at the American University of Beirut (AUB) where he led a project on knowledge production in the Arab World with Dr. Hanafi. Previously, his work focused on technological learning in enterprises and the study of technology transfer, research and innovation policies and economic development. He is interested in research funding methods, the transformation of research systems in the South and forms of scientific collaboration. Among his publication, Knowledge production in the Arab World : the impossible promise (Routledge) (With S. Hanafi) (2016). Research collaborations between Europe and Latin America. Mapping and Understanding partnership. (co-Ed. With J Gaillard) (Editions des Archives Contemporaines).