The Lorraine I-SITE and, more broadly, the scientific policy of the Lorraine site are jointly steered by CORIS (Coordination Recherche, Innovation et Société), bringing together Université de Lorraine and all its partners. The goal is to support and strengthen research excellence by prioritizing:
- excellence in research, both at the individual and collective levels, in line with an open science approach;
- the doctorate, which lies at the heart of the site’s momentum;
- international and European development through a robust partnership strategy;
- innovation—understood in a broader sense than purely technological innovation—and entrepreneurial methods;
- cutting-edge research infrastructures that aim to align with national and European coherence.
The Unys-Projects Committee manages funding and coordinates the major cross-cutting programs (ORION, SIRIUS, Education & Territories, REIL, POLARIS, ENACT).
An Advisory Board composed of leading international figures ensures strategic alignment and European visibility. Regular reflective seminars enrich the long-term vision.
Taking a critical look at the Initiative’s actions and assessing the initial results achieved through the implementation of the proposal’s programs, the members of the Advisory Board have contributed their expertise to this program and significantly informed the initiative’s strategic thinking.
Members of the Advisory Board
Rolf TARRACH
Chair of the Advisory Board
- President of the European University Association (Brussels, 2015–2019)
- Rector (Rector Emeritus) of the University of Luxembourg (2005–2014)
- President of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC, Madrid, 2000–2003)
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Rolf Tarrach earned his PhD at the University of Barcelona. He was a postdoctoral researcher at CERN in Geneva and a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Barcelona. He has published around one hundred papers on high-energy theoretical physics, quantum field theory, quantum mechanics and quantum information theory, and has written five books. He has supervised 12 doctoral theses. He has given over 150 talks and seminars on physics and more than 200 lectures on other topics. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by Saint Petersburg University in Russia and the University of Liège in Belgium. He has received around fifteen prizes and decorations in Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Luxembourg. He served as Vice-Rector of the University of Barcelona. He was a member of the European Union’s Research Advisory Board, the group of European directors of research councils, and the expert group charged with the five-year evaluation of the European Commission. He has served on the board of Telefonica of Catalonia. He co-organized the first three Euroscience Open Forum meetings in Stockholm, Munich and Barcelona. He chaired the international expert committee for Estrategia Universidad 2015 (Spain) and was a member of the international jury for the Initiatives d’Excellence (ANR, France). He sits on the board of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology. He advises a major Barcelona-based company on innovation and is a member of several think tanks and advisory boards. He has taken part in evaluations of universities and research systems in Spain, Kuwait, Austria, Germany, France and Finland.
He recently served on the ESA Director General’s Research Committee and has joined the boards of two private universities.
Marc Chaussidion
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Marc Chaussidon, a geological engineer, graduated from ENSG in 1985. He earned a PhD from INPL (Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine) in 1988 and an HDR from INPL (1998). He was appointed CNRS Research Fellow (CR2) in 1988, then CNRS Research Director (DR1) in 2008 at the Petrological and Geochemical Research Center in Nancy. He was subsequently appointed CNRS DR1 on January 1, 2014 at IPGP (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris) and took over as Director of the institute on March 26, 2016.
Elsa Cortijo
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CNRS Research Director, Elsa Cortijo has been a senior research director at CEA since late 2019.
The first part of her research career focused on past climates, particularly the rapid climate events of the last 150,000 years, using isotopic geochemistry of biogenic carbonates. She has published over 60 articles in international journals.
Elsa Cortijo has held various national and international scientific leadership roles and served as Director of the Laboratory for Climate and Environmental Sciences. Alongside her scientific and managerial activities, she participates in numerous steering committees and working groups across different government departments and research organizations.
Sophie D’AMOURS
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Professor Sophie D’Amours is the first woman to serve as Rector of Université Laval in Quebec City. Elected in 2017, she was re-elected for a second term in 2022.
Sophie D’Amours is a mechanical engineer. She holds an MBA and a PhD in engineering mathematics.
Her career has been marked by major contributions to research in business engineering and planning, notably in the forestry sector.
She is the immediate past Chair of the Board of Universities Canada, Chair of Quebec’s Innovation Council, and Chair of the International Evaluation Committee of the French High Council for the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education.
Sophie D’Amours has received numerous awards and distinctions throughout her career. She is an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec, an Officer of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the Ordre national du Mérite of the French Republic, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and an International Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Forestry and Agriculture.
Gabrielle Halpern
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With a PhD in philosophy from the École Normale Supérieure, Gabrielle Halpern worked in various ministerial cabinets before co-directing a startup incubator and advising companies and public institutions. For more than ten years, her research has focused in particular on the notion of hybridization. She is the author of the essay “Tous centaures ! Éloge de l’hybridation” (Le Pommier, 2020).
Marja Makarow
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President of Academia Europaea; former Vice-President for Research and Innovation at the University of Helsinki and Director of Biocenter Finland; former member of the Finnish Prime Minister’s Research and Innovation Council and of the Governing Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).
Marja Makarow has served as President of Academia Europaea since January 2022, after completing her term as Director of Biocenter Finland. She has been Vice-President of the Finnish Research Council – Academy of Finland, Chief Executive of the European Science Foundation, Vice-President for Research and Innovation and Professor of Applied Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Helsinki.
She played a leading role in university mergers in Finland that led to the creation of Aalto University and Tampere University. She chaired Technology Academy Finland, which awards the global Millennium Technology Prize for groundbreaking innovations. She has advised the European Commission as a member of the European Research Area Board and the Finnish Government on the Prime Minister’s Research and Innovation Council, and evaluated research and innovation systems for national governments.
She is a Commander of the Order of the White Rose of Finland and a Knight of the French Légion d’Honneur.
Hideo Ohno
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Professor Hideo Ohno received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Tokyo in 1982. He was the 22nd President of Tohoku University (2018 – 2024) and Director of Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Director of Center for Spintronics Integrated System, Tohoku University, Principal Investigator of WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Professor of Center for Innovative Integrated Electronic Systems, Tohoku University and Director of Center for Spintronics Research Network, Tohoku University. His current research interests include physics and applications of spin phenomena in semiconductors and metal-based nanostructures. Professor Ohno received the IBM Japan Science Award (1998), the IUPAP Magnetism Prize (2003), Japan Academy Prize (2005), Presidential Prize for Research Excellence, Tohoku University (2005) and the 2005 Agilent Technologies Europhysics Prize. He has been a fellow of the Institute of Physics (IOP) since 2004, an honorary professor of Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2006, a fellow of the Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP) since 2007, a fellow of American Physical Society (APS) since 2012, a fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers since 2018, an International Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) since 2021, in 2022, he was awarded a Doctorat Honoris Causa by Université de Lorraine, in 2023, a Doctor Honoris Causa by University of Warsaw, and in 2024, a Honorary Degree of Doctor by University of York. IEEE Magnetics Society named him for the Distinguished Lecturer for 2009. He was awarded the Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate (2011), the JSAP Outstanding Achievement Award, IEEE David Sarnoff Award (2012), JSAP Compound Semiconductor Electronics Achievement Award (2015), DPS Paper Award (2016), Leo Esaki Prize (2016), C&C Prize (2016), MEXT Commendation for Science and Technology (2017), ISCS Welker Award (2019), JSAP Paper Award (2019) and IEEE Magnetics Society Achievement Award (2022). He was appointed as the Distinguished Professor at Tohoku University.
Sylvie Retailleau
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After preparatory classes at Lycée Dumont D’Urville in Toulon, she entered the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan (now ENS Paris-Saclay) in the EEA department (Electrical Engineering and Automation) in 1986.
In 1988, she obtained the agrégation in physical sciences, “applied physics” option, at ENS Cachan.
A physicist specializing in components for advanced electronics (microelectronics, nanoelectronics and quantum), she defended her thesis “Study of the Si/SiGe/Si double-heterojunction bipolar transistor by Monte Carlo simulations” in 1992 at Université Paris-Sud under the supervision of René Castagné.
In 1992, she became a lecturer at Université Paris-Sud, then in 2001 a full professor.
She conducted her research at the Institut d’Électronique Fondamentale (CNRS–Université Paris-Sud), a laboratory that on June 1, 2016 merged with the Laboratoire de photonique et de nanostructures (LPN) to become the world-renowned Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, C2N (CNRS/Université Paris-Sud).
In parallel, she assumed responsibilities related to her research activities, notably in industrial collaborations and technology transfer: she took part in European projects—ICT NANOSIL “Silicon-based nanostructures and nanodevices for long term nanoelectronics applications”; REX SINANO (in collaboration with IMEP and L2MP); PI NANOCMOS (STMicroelectronics, Philips, Infineon); IST PULLNANO (6th FP, 2006–2008)—and ANR projects: “MODERN”: Modélisation de Dispositifs Electroniques en Régime Nanométrique; and as Team Lead for “HF-CNT”: Carbon nanotube–based nano-devices for multi-GHz applications (2006–2009 with CEA/LEM, IEMN, LPA).
Dean of the Faculty of Science from September 2011 to May 2016, she served as President of Université Paris-Sud from May 2016 to December 2018, then President of the COMUE Université Paris-Saclay.
From March 2020 to May 2022, she served as President of Université Paris-Saclay, of which ENS Paris-Saclay is a cofounder. In this capacity, she sat ex officio on the board of ENS Paris-Saclay, after having served from 2016 to 2019 as a representative of partner institutions and having sat on the scientific council from 2010 to 2016.
On May 20, 2022, she was appointed Minister of Higher Education and Research.
José Manuel Tunon de Lara
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Manuel Tunon de Lara served as President of the CPU (Conférence des présidents d’université) from December 17, 2020 to December 15, 2022.
He also served as President of the University of Bordeaux (2014–2022) and previously led Bordeaux Segalen University for six years (2008–2014).
A specialist in asthma and allergies, he conducts extensive research on the mechanisms of bronchial hyperreactivity.
Martin Wirsing
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Martin Wirsing studied mathematics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and at Université Paris 7.
In 1985, he was appointed full professor of computer science at the University of Passau, then in 1992 full professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where he led the Programming and Software Engineering research group until 2015.
In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from Royal Holloway, University of London.
Among his many scientific and policy responsibilities:
- Member of the Scientific Committee of Institut Mines-Télécom (2013–)
- Member of the Strategic Committee of the University of Bordeaux (2013–)
- Vice-President for Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (10/2010–)
- Member of the University Council (Hochschulrat) of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (10/2007–09/2010)
- Coordinator of the Scientific Council of IMT – Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies for the research area “Computer Science and Applications” (2008–2012)
Director of the Computer Science Institute of the Fakultät für Mathematik, Informatik und Statistik at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (10/2007–09/2010)
Chair of the Scientific Council of INRIA (Institut national de recherche en informatique et en automatique) (04/2007–12/2010)