Portraits of UM

Pauline Roques has had a career unlike any other, juggling her marketing thesis at the University of Montpellier with an international career as a champion artistic roller skater. She looks back on those busy years, which saw her earn a doctorate and several roller skating titles.

Thanks to his original findings on semiconductor nanostructures, particularly the physical properties of boron nitride, physicist Guillaume Cassabois from the Charles Coulomb Laboratory at UM has just been awarded the 2025 Jean Ricard Grand Prize by the French Physics Society. Although the award recognizes individual achievement, the researcher emphasizes the importance of teamwork throughout his research.

A political scientist at UM, Laura Michel has been coordinating a research collective focused entirely on social sciences and humanities related to public transition policies since 2024. This role led to her appointment as director of the Mak'it program, Montpellier's institute for advanced studies specializing in transition.

A professor at Montpellier Management University, Irène Georgescu works on the resilience of healthcare professionals. This research has earned her €5.6 million in European Research Innovation Action funding in 2025.

A professor at the University of Guelph in Canada, ecologist Madhur Anand brings science and the arts together, even in her practice. A modeler and author, she will take advantage of her stay in Montpellier in the first semester of 2025 to combine interdisciplinary seminars and book signings at the Comédie du livre book fair.

Tomasz Hueckel, professor emeritus at Duke University (Durham, North Carolina, USA), joins the growing community of honorary doctors at the University of Montpellier. An engineer, researcher, and teacher, he has been collaborating with teams at the University of Montpellier for over 15 years, particularly those at the Laboratory of Mechanics and Civil Engineering (LMGC). The ceremony on May 16, 2025, was an opportunity to retrace his career step by step, from his native Poland to the United States, as well as his significant contributions to the field of civil and environmental engineering.

A postdoctoral researcher at the Marbec laboratory, ecologist Noémie Coulon is one of nine young researchers selected by the Ocean Institute to cover the One Ocean Science Congress in Nice in early June. It's a perfect fit for this specialist in the impact of climate change on rays and sharks in Europe.

With the Amarok observatory, Professor Olivier Torrès has dedicated his research to improving the health of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) managers. His career has been doubly rewarded with the Julien Marchesnay Prize in 2024 and a knighthood in the National Order of Merit in 2025.

Mircea Sofonea is an epidemiologist at the Pathogenesis and Control of Chronic and Emerging Infections (PCCEI) laboratory. Although his field has only become widely known since the Covid epidemic, for him it has been a lifelong vocation. Portrait of a researcher who knows how to stay the course.

As Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at Heidelberg University and Director of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Lutz Gade has acquired world-renowned expertise in his field over the years. In addition to his academic career, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Montpellier in February 2025 for his commitment to cooperation between the University of Heidelberg and the University of Montpellier.

After studying the impact of human activities on marine biodiversity, David Mouillot is now looking at the potential impact of coastal marine resources on reducing human poverty. The professor at the University of Montpellier and researcher at the Marbec laboratory has just been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant to conduct transdisciplinary research on this new topic.

Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec (Canada), Armand Soldera has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Montpellier. A well-deserved honor for this Professor chemistry, who is as committed as he is adept at forging lasting ties with the University of Montpellier and its constituent parts, including Polytech Montpellier.