Simona Lombardo and Marine Moussu, students in Aix Marseille are winners of the L'Oréal-UNESCO Young Talent Award France 2020 for Women in Science. The 2020 edition rewarded 35 young women researchers, 23 doctoral students and 12 post-doctoral students.
Coming from a wide range of research fields (cognitive sciences, preservation of the planet and biodiversity, astrophysics, etc.), the Young Talents 2020 share their passion for science and the desire to show each woman that it is possible to break down barriers and prejudices, while building her career in the highest scientific spheres.
SUPPORTING WOMEN IN SCIENCE: A FIGHT AT THE HEART OF THE NEWS
In France, women are still under-represented in studies and research professions: they make up 28% of researchers. In Europe, 86% of senior academic positions in science are held by men and, at the global level, only 3% of women have been awarded scientific Nobel prizes.
This valorisation gap is widening even more with the crisis linked to COVID-19, destabilising the balance between professional and personal life, often to the detriment of women.
This year, these promising scientists received an endowment of €15 000 for doctoral students and €20 000 for post-doctoral students, which will give them the means to continue and consolidate their research work.
Among them, discover the portraits of two laureates studying at Aix Marseille University, Simona Lombardo, a post-doctoral student at the Marseille Astrophysics Laboratory (LAM), and Marine Moussu, a doctoral student in the final year of her CIFRE thesis at the Fresnel Institute.