Nuclear scientists in India and France will be working more closely together after several agreements were signed on 25 January during French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to New Delhi.

Indian researchers will participate in the construction of the Jules Horowitz research reactor, being built in Cadarache, France. They will also work with scientists at the GANIL heavy-ion accelerator in Caen.

Under another agreement, a neuroscience laboratory will be set up in India by India's National Brain Research Centre, the University of Paris and French medical research centre INSERM.

Delhi University and Grenoble University will set up two new joint master's programmes, in nanosciences and nuclear engineering. And additionally, India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and its French counterpart the CNRS will partner in green-chemistry approaches to find therapeutic agents for cancer and neurological disorders.