Two Inria researchers awarded L’Oréal - Unesco grants

Publish on 15/01/2020

Set up to recognise female researchers and help them get their careers off the ground, L’Oréal - Unesco grants are awarded each year to PhD students and postdoc researchers in all scientific fields. 35 grants are to be awarded in 2019, including 5 to researchers directly affiliated with or linked to Inria teams.

The haul is particularly good this year at Inria! Floriane Gidel, a postdoc researcher working in the MONC project team at the Inria Bordeaux Sud-Ouest centre, and Marie Kerjean, a postdoc researcher working with the Galinette team at Inria Rennes, have been awarded L’Oréal - Unesco grants “For Women in Science”.

Three more researchers working in joint project teams between Inria and other research institutes are also set to receive grants: Alice Pellet-Mary from the École Nationale Supérieure in Lyon (69), Geneviève Robin, who is affiliated to the École Polytechnique, and Mélissa Rossi, from the École Nationale Supérieure in Paris.

Each year, more than 9,500 applications from young female scientists across 117 different countries are whittled down to 275 winners, each of whom is awarded a grant ranging from €15,000 for PhD students to €20,000 for postdoc students.

The aim is to kickstart the careers of young female scientific researchers, helping them to develop not only their communication skills, but also their networking: two key attributes when it comes to breaking through the glass ceiling that still seems to stand in their way.

Aside from recognising their talent, L’Oréal - Unesco grants also go towards funding research trips, giving researchers the opportunity to meet and collaborate with the world’s very best scientists. The researchers also receive training in leadership, public speaking and popularising science, all of which should help them showcase their scientific talent in the course of their careers.

Floriane Gidel, taking on “incurable” tumours:

A postdoc researcher working within the NUM4SEP team, which brings together expertise in oncological modelling from the MONC project team (Inria Bordeaux - Sud-Ouest centre) and expertise in scientific calculation from the UCSB (the University of California Santa Barbara), Floriane Gidel’s work involves developing digital models simulating the effects of protocols combining brief electrical impulses and chemotherapy. This is called electroporation or electropermeabilisation, an alternative treatment that uses electricity in order to make cancerous cells porous for medication. These protocols are currently used only for local treatment of surface tumours, but could be extended to tackling tumours currently considered to be incurable owing to the risk of surgery or radiotherapy causing damage to vital organs.

In her research, Floriane Gidel works in close collaboration with radiologists at the Jean-Verdier University Hospital in Bondy (93) and biologists from the IPBS (Institut de pharmacologie et de biologie structurale - The Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology) in Toulouse (31).

“For Women in Science”: a programme dedicated to the achievements of women in science

Each year, the International Prize of the L’Oréal - Unesco programme for Women in Science is awarded to five female researchers currently active in each of the 5 regions of the world (Africa and the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America). Running parallel to this, some thirty or so grants are awarded to young female PhD students and postdoc researchers across the world.

Since the programme was created in 1998, no fewer than 3 winners of the International Prize have gone on to win a Nobel Prize. Meanwhile, this grant has helped shine the spotlight on more than 3,100 female scientists.

About Marie Kerjean

Photo Jean-Charles Caslot

Marie Kerjean: Developing the use of proof assistants in mathematics and in industryA postdoc researcher working in the Gallinette team, which brings together researchers from both Inria and the LS2N (the Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes) at the Inria centre in Rennes, Marie Kerjean’s work involves adapting the Coq proof assistant for use in complex analysis.

Created at Inria in 1984 by the IT researcher Gérard Huet, Coq is a software tool for assisting with mathematical proofs, used not only to verify theorems, but also to test the reliability of computer programs. Under the watchful eye of Assia Mahboubi, Marie Kerjean is developing libraries, meaning collections of new features dedicated to complex analysis.

The aim is to open up new applications strictly in the field of mathematics, but also to develop new uses for proof assistants in industry: “What I’m most interested in is developing libraries that are accessible and can be used by lots of people”, explains Marie Kerjean.