Irstea (National research institute of science and technology for environment and agriculture; www.irstea.fr) is a public institute under the joint supervision of the French Ministry of Research and the Ministry of Agriculture, and is holder of an agreement with the Ministry of Environment. It has about 1550 employees, working in 9 regional centres in France, within 3 scientific departments and 19 research units. Its activities focus on research with a strong technological and methodological component, in the areas of environment, land management, water-related risks and natural disasters. IRSTEA has built a multidisciplinary and systemic approach to three domains: water, eco-technologies and land. The institute boasts a dual culture of researchers and engineers, who tackle environmental matters from three angles: research, innovation and expertise.

Two research teams of Irstea contribute to the PICS project. The Catchment Hydrology team in the centre of Antony and the Hydrometeorological risks team in the centre of Aix-en-Provence. The teams lead applied research on the development of solutions to qualitatively model and forecast river flows. They particularly contribute to PICS with their broad experience in hydrological modelling in ungauged contexts, hydrometeorological ensemble forecasting and uncertainty quantification, flood inundation mapping and impact-forecasting. They also contribute with their tools developed for operational forecasting, including the GR family of hydrological models and the AIGA warning system.