Magalie Bourblanc: Destination Arizona with Fulbright
Magalie Bourblanc is a researcher in political science, specializing in agricultural, water and environmental policies, at the G-EAU LABORATORY laboratory (CIRAD). As part of her Fulbright research grant, she will join the University of Arizona, USA, in January 2026.
Her award-winning research project is entitled: "Exploring win-win solutions within the nexus of Food, Energy and Water systems, with particular attention to the development of agrivoltaics and data centers for artificial intelligence". For six months, she will be hosted by IGlobes (Interdisciplinary & global environmental studies), a joint research center of the CNRS (international research lab) and the University of Arizona, as part of her Fulbright research grant.
Digital infrastructures and natural resources
This project will look at the environmental impacts and challenges posed by the large-scale deployment of digital infrastructures such as data centers, and the social and political tensions they can provoke, particularly with the agricultural sector in Arizona. The project will examine how these digital infrastructures can directly or indirectly increase pressure on natural resources (primarily land and water).
It will also analyze how these environmental and social concerns help shape the development of these infrastructures and the public policies that accompany or frame them. This case study is one of the priority research themes of the France-Arizona Institute for Global Grand Challenges, which aims to explore the conditions for a sustainable and equitable digital revolution.
The University of Montpellier and the Franco-American Fulbright Commission have signed an agreement establishing research grants for researchers affiliated with the University wishing to visit an American university or research institute, and vice versa. These grants cover a mobility period of 3 to 12 months, depending on the research project.