Vietnam/Hanoi: closing ceremony for the Vietnamica project

On November 24, 2024, at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University in Hanoi (USSH-UNV Hanoi), the Vietnamica Project Steering Committee organized the certificate award ceremony for PhD students, students and young researchers who had participated in the project.

The ceremony was attended by :

• Prof. Philippe Papin, Director of Studies, École Pratiques des Hautes Etudes, Director of the Vietnamica project,
• Prof. Hoang Anh Tuan, Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities,
• Prof. Nicolas Maïnetti, Asia-Pacific Regional Director, Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF),
• Associate Prof. Nguyen Tuan Cuong, former Director of the Institut desétudes Hán-Nôm,

as well as experts, students, doctoral students and young researchers involved in the project.

Funded by the European Research Council (ERC), the Vietnamica project is led by Prof. Philippe Papin. It brings together researchers and students from the École Pratique des Hautes Études, the Hanoi Institute of Hán-Nôm Studies (Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences) and the University of Social and Human Sciences (Vietnam National University). It is led by the École Pratique des Hautes Études. Its operator in Vietnam is the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF).

The project aimed to study the history of donation practices (cung tiến) in Vietnam through steles (in particular the "Hậu" steles), to digitize Vietnamese humanities collections held in Europe and Vietnam, to contribute to the training of masters and doctoral students in epigraphy, to set up a digital library, to translate and publish monographs and review works on the history of donations in Vietnam up to the first half of the XXᵉ century. In September 2025, the closing conference of the Vietnamica project was held at the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) in Paris, France.

On behalf of the Steering Committee, Prof. Dr. Philippe Papin, project leader, presented the project's final report. Over the past five years, Vietnamica has brought together 43 members, including 12 Masters students, 6 PhD students, 3 post-docs and 22 experts from various universities and research institutions in Vietnam. All have benefited from the project's grants to complete their dissertations, theses and in-depth research projects.

One of the major thrusts of the project was the organization of specialized research activities on lapidary inscriptions. Vietnamica organized a series of scientific events (colloquia, round tables, field missions, presentations of results) in different provinces of Vietnam and in France, while ensuring the publication of numerous reference works: 39 titles saw the light of day, including several important works:

• a major monograph in French on the Hậu steles in Vietnam, entitled La chair des stèles: Enquête sur les donateurs et les Épigones du Bouddha et des divinités, au Vietnam, des origines à la fin du XVIIᵉ siècle by Prof. Philippe Papin ;

• the Tùng thư bia Hậu Việt Nam series (Anthology of Hậu steles in Vietnam, 3 volumes) ;

• the Tùng thư văn bia Việt Nam series (Anthology of lapidary inscriptions from Vietnam, 7 volumes) ;

• the Bibliographie des estampages d'inscriptions en caractères Hán-Nôm du Vietnam (11 volumes) ;

• the Collection de documents et traduction d'inscriptions de Hậu du XVIIᵉ au XXᵉ siècle (4 volumes), etc.

In addition, the project's official website, accessible at https://vietnamica.online/, has been operational since 2022. It makes available digitized reproductions of thousands of works on Vietnam, mainly in French and Vietnamese, published between the end of the XIXᵉ and the beginning of the XXᵉ century, as well as the full text or extracts of publications resulting from the project since 2020. These resources continue to be enriched, updated and supplemented, and are all accessible to readers free of charge.

To recognize the responsible commitment and efficiency of doctoral students, master's students and young post-doctoral researchers, the project's Steering Committee, awarded them certificates of recognition.

Prof. Philippe Papin receives the "Mérite de l'enseignement supérieur" medal

On November 22, 2025, the Minister of Education and Training, Mr. Nguyen Kim Son, signed the "Merit of Higher Education" award. Nguyen Kim Son, signed the decision to award the "Mérite de l'Enseignement Supérieur", a prestigious medaldaille awarded to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the development of education in Vietnam to Prof. Philippe Papin. Philippe Papin. The award was presented at the closing ceremony of the Vietnamica project.

Having come to Vietnam in the late 1980s, Prof. Philippe Papin belongs to the generation of the first foreign researchers to settle in the country and pave the way for Vietnamese studies. For almost forty years, he has devoted himself tirelessly to collecting and analyzing sources, and to researching and publishing major works on Vietnamese history and culture.

Source: www.auf.org/