Thanks to their detectability up to very high redshifts, Gamma-Ray Bursts stand as a unique and exciting probe of the early Universe. In the context of the forthcoming SVOM satellite in which the IRFU is highly involved, I will review the latest progress achieved in our understanding of the galactic environments where these events take place. In particular I will show how Long GRBs, albeit strongly connected to massive star-forming activity, signpost galaxies with strikingly different properties than those of the distant and massive star-forming sources currently being studied with the most recent long-wavelength experiments (Spitzer, Herschel, PdB, VLA, …).
I will discuss why these two different views on the high redshift Universe are not necessarily antagonistic, and how the combination of the two approaches with future facilities like ALMA and JWST should enable further steps toward our understanding of the earliest stages of galaxy formation.
SAp