EADS N.V. - 2007 Irène Joliot-Curie Prize

The French Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the EADS Corporate Research Foundation are launching the call for applications for the sixth edition of the Irène Joliot-Curie Prize.

The 2007 Irène Joliot-Curie Prize includes four categories each allocated €10,000:

The "Top female scientific company career" category rewards a woman who has dedicated her remarkable scientific and technical skills to a career in research within a company or who has contributed to the creation of an innovative firm.

The "Young female scientist" category recognises and encourages a young woman noticed for her exemplary career and work.

The "Female scientist of the year" category rewards a woman who has made a remarkable personal contribution to public or private research.

Any woman carrying out a research or research-related activity in France, meeting the call for application criteria, can apply to receive a prize.

The "Mentoring" category rewards a person or a legal entity for an outstanding initiative supporting one or several young women in their career as young researchers or at the beginning of their scientific career.

Candidates can be put forward by a third party (organisations, institutions, laboratories, associations, the media, companies, NGOs, etc.).

Applications forms are available online at: http://www.recherche.gouv.fr/parite/action/index.htm
A panel of judges will examine the applications received and choose the award winners.

Deadline for applications: 15 June 2007.

The Irène Joliot-Curie Prize aims to promote the place of women in research and technology in France. The Prize was created in 2001 and highlights the exemplary careers of scientific women who combine excellence with dynamism. The Mission for Parity of the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research is responsible for the organisation of the Prize.

To fully extend the call for applications in both the public and private research sectors, the Irène Joliot-Curie Prize has been organised in partnership with the EADS Corporate Research Foundation since 2004. The EADS group carries out an active policy to attract women in the aerospace research field.

A reminder of the 2006 prize winners:

Cecilia CECCARELLI, winner of the “Female Scientist of the Year” prize
Cecilia Ceccarelli has gained international recognition for her research in astro-chemistry and more particularly into the formation of polar-type stars. She works at the Astrophysics Laboratory of Grenoble (LAOG) where she is in charge of the WAGOS group (Working Astronomical Group on Star Formation).
Cecilia is the author of many publications. She also plays a very active role in the scientific education of young women, namely as a thesis advisor.

Julia KEMPE, winner of the “Young Female Scientist” prize
Julia Kempe has a Master’s degree in Algebra, another in theoretical physics, and is also the author of a thesis on “Quantum computing”. She works at the CNRS (French National Centre of Scientific Research) as a researcher in the Computer Science Department at the University of Paris XI.
Julia Kempe was awarded the Friedman prize in 2002 for the “best thesis in applied science” and the Murray prize for the “most promising research”. She also received the bronze medal from the CNRS in 2006.

Françoise HEILMANN-PASCAL, winner of the “Top Female Scientific Company Career” prize
Françoise Heilmann-Pascal is an engineer whose scientific career has focused on research and development. She has been working for 15 years on projects such as Ariane 4 and Ariane 5.
In 2005, she set up her own business, Zepp y Vents, and works on the development of the use of “lighter-than-air gas”, symbols of respect for the environment.

Furthermore, a Special Mention rewarded the “EDF group’s women’s network” and Véronique Lizan-Esquerrétou for their outstanding initiative in mentoring. The two winners shared a prize of 5,000 euros.

Born out of the EDF group’s proactive policy to promote all its talents by diversity, the “EDF group’s women’s network” strives to promote female talent and develop diversity. This is how the idea of mentoring emerged, initially in the form of cross and then inter-branch mentoring. The concept is currently fast expanding within the company and a “mentoring” workshop was set up in June 2005.

Doctor of mathematics, Véronique Lizan–Esquerrétou is currently senior lecturer at the Midi Pyrénées IUFM. In spring 2006, she set up the “Gender and Education” group and works relentlessly to promote scientific education among girls.