The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and the Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) are among the most important and enduring international cooperation actions in Earth Sciences. IODP and ICDP programs are the direct inheritors of projects initiated in 1968 and 1993 respectively. They bring together about thirty nations around a common objective: to implement the drilling when it is the only way to reach critical zones to answer fundamental questions about the dynamic and earth’s history. In addition, major societal challenges drive more and more the expeditions programming, also in both at sea and on land: changes in climate, sea level and ocean circulation; carbon cycle and mineral-living interactions; natural hazards; assessment and management of geological resources; etc. All these challenges are inextricably connected and scientific drilling, conducted in conjunction with other methods of investigation, are essential to achieve these challenges.

The French scientific community is a major contributor in IODP and ICDP, these days will be an opportunity to present the state of scientific knowledge  from the latest expeditions. Scientific drilling has allowed to deepen our knowledge: on the genesis of the oceanic lithosphere in different tectonic contexts; on high frequency climate changes and the associated risks; on the origin of life; the earth’s disturbances as giant meteorite impacts and climatic crises; on the storage of CO₂ and on the origin of natural hydrogen. Recent efforts have also focused on areas of high seismicity where the notions of nucleation, propagation, recurrence and intensity have been completely redefined following recent earthquakes and tsunamis that they have generated. These and other questions will punctuate the program of these SGF scientific days.