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Two young researchers from Lyon win the L'Oréal Foundation "For Women and Science" award

On The October 8, 2018

On October 8, during the Science Fair, the L’Oréal Foundation revealed the names of the 30 young women winners of the French L’Oréal UNESCO For Women in Science Award. Two doctoral students in Lyon were among the winners.

Every year, the L’Oréal Foundation and the UNESCO support over 280 young women researchers worldwide. The French Académie des Sciences selection board awarded 20 doctoral students and 10 fellows during a ceremony held at the Palais de la découverte on October 8.

While 28% of researchers are women, the percentage of female Nobel prize winners in scientific fields remains unchanged at a low 3%.

This is the very reason the L’Oréal Foundation was created to “support women’s role in science so that they are given every opportunity to generate scientific innovations that will be beneficial for everyone,” said Alexandra Palt, General Director of the L’Oréal Foundation.

Two researchers from Lyon were ranked in the 2018 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards

  • Céline Pagis – Doctoral student at the IRCELYON laboratory (CNRS and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1) and at the IFP Énergies nouvelles, in the category of the “From the infinitely small”, for her work on: “Nanomaterials against food waste";
  • Delphine Geyer – Doctoral student at the Physics laboratory of the ENS de Lyon (CNRS and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1), in the “To the infinitely large” category, for her work on: “Sound wave propagation to better understand mass movements.”

The two women, who were selected from among nearly 900 applicants, each received a €15,000 scholarship that will enable them to pursue their careers and research projects.

Discover the 2018 rankings of the For Women and Science award (in French)