Véronique Cortier: securing protocols

Although Véronique Cortier has very few equipment requirements, she needs more in the way of human resources. This grant will enable her to surround herself with people who she feels are the most qualified to carry out this research. Different roles are involved, although the majority are filled by PhD students and post-doctoral researchers. "I'll also be concentrating more on my research work than on grant applications so that I can complete it, " she adds. Although Véronique Cortier is responsible for producing a report on the progress of this research, she has a great degree of freedom in how she goes about matters.

Proposing methods for analysing communication protocols.

After being shortlisted in June 2010, she received official notification two months later. "For me it was the ideal time to apply. Two years ago I submitted an application that was turned down. It was Jean-Pierre Banâtre who advised me to try again ." The project submitted for the ERC grant relates to the preparation of proofs and the combination of protocols to ensure that they can be altered.

Her research work looks at protocol security, in other words proposing methods for analysing communication protocols such as those used in electronic voting and security applications that at present primarily concern the banking sector. Her work also covers the security of applications used in areas such as remote motorway toll payments and traffic congestion information.

Background

Born in Troyes in the Aube department of France in 1978, Véronique Cortier took a keen interest in resolving mathematical problems from a very young age. After graduating from secondary school, she attended preparatory mathematics classes for higher education in 1995, then joined the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Cachan two years later. The compulsory computer science courses on theory and models bore a close resemblance to mathematics, which is a real passion for Véronique. When dealing with concrete research problems, this student saw mathematics as more of a pleasure than a chore. In 2003, after her PhD, she was recruited by the French National Centre for Scientific Research as a Senior Research Scientist on 1 October 2010. As well as being one of the youngest Senior Research Scientists, she is also a mother of two young children and wants to see her family grow up at the heart of the Lorraine region. "I like the regional identity of Lorraine ," she says.