Rabat, October 15, 2026
The reConnect Institute, a foundation operating under the auspices of theInstitut Pasteur, and the Lalla Asmaa Foundation have signed a framework agreement for cooperation to promote academic and educational exchanges, in the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Asmaa, Karim Essakalli, Deputy President of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation, Philippe Lalliot, French Ambassador to Morocco; Raji Abdelaziz of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University; and Anne-Lise Giraud, Director of the reConnect Institute. The signing ceremony took place in Rabat on the occasion of the inauguration of Lalla Asmaa University for the Deaf, the Hard of Hearing, and Hearing Sciences, which aims to bring together higher education, training, research, innovation, and hearing sciences within a single institution, while promoting the development of new expertise in the fields of audiology, speech-language pathology, auditory rehabilitation, and, more broadly, the management of hearing loss.
The signing of this framework cooperation agreement aims to lay the groundwork for a sustainable scientific and academic partnership, particularly in the fields of hearing and hearing loss research, audiology, academic and clinical training, the transfer of expertise, innovation, and the development of joint research projects.
In this context, researchers and scientific leaders involved with the reConnect Institute will, for example, be able to contribute to educational activities organized in collaboration with the university, particularly in the form of courses, teaching modules, seminars, conferences, hands-on workshops, or scientific and educational meetings. The reConnect Institute’s “Education, Training, and Communication” working group, led by Aziz El Amraoui, Saaid Safieddine, and François Simon, will play a particularly active role in organizing these activities.
“The new Lalla Asmaa University (ULA) is dedicated to education, research, and innovation in the field of hearing loss. Its activities complement those of the reConnect Institute and provide a natural foundation for developing scientific, academic, and educational collaborations,” says Karim Essakalli, deputy president of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation.
“This collaboration between the reConnect Institute and the Lalla Asmaa Foundation is invaluable for the transfer of knowledge and the sharing of expertise on an international scale, with the aim of accelerating the development of innovations for deaf and hard-of-hearing people who wish to benefit from them,” said Anne-Lise Giraud, director of the reConnect Institute.
On this occasion, discussions also took place with representatives from the University of Montpellier (France), the University of Leuven (Belgium), and Cochlear, who were also in attendance and are partners of the Lalla Asmaa Foundation. They highlighted the vitality of this newly launched international collaboration with Lalla Asmaa University.
From left to right: Anne Lise Giraud (reConnect Institute), Naima Deggouj (University of Leuven, Belgium, and member of the reConnect Institute’s Scientific Advisory Board), Jean-Luc Puel (University of Montpellier), Saaid Safieddine (reConnect Institute)
About the reConnect Institute
Founded in April 2024, the reConnect Institute brings together key stakeholders in the fields of hearing health, cognitive disorders, and speech disorders to improve their detection and management. As a center of excellence in this field, it aims to complement compensatory medicine with restorative medicine over the next decade, drawing on scientific discoveries made over the past twenty years in the fields of genetics and neuroscience. The reConnect Institute was founded by theInstitut Pasteur, AP-HP, Inserm, Université Paris Cité, and the Fondation pour l’Audition.
Press contact:
Juliette Hardy / presse@ihu-reconnect.org
