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The 2022 INRAE Awards honour outstanding careers and exceptional team work
PRESS RELEASE - The 3rd INRAE Awards ceremony was held on Tuesday 29 November 2022 and six recipients, chosen by an international jury, were honoured. The evening was presided over by Philippe Mauguin, Chair and CEO of INRAE, in the presence of Marc Fesneau, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty and Claire Giry, Director General of research and innovation at the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. The Awards acknowledge the commitment of women and men to research and projects of excellence in agriculture, food and the environment. The six awards shine the spotlight on remarkable careers and work in the service of science and the common good in a context of upheavals caused by the climate crisis, international tensions and their consequences on energy and food security.
Published on 29 November 2022
Lifetime Achievement Award
The Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Thierry Candresse, head of the virology team in the Fruit Biology and Pathology Unit at INRAE’s Nouvelle-Aquitaine Bordeaux centre. Thierry Candresse has become one of the world’s leading experts in fruit tree viruses and was one of the first to understand the importance of virus sequencing and plant metagenomics. His research opens the way to promising alternatives to pesticides.
Scientific Breakthrough Award
The Scientific Breakthrough Award goes to Sophie Nicklaus, research director at the Centre for Taste and Feeding Behaviour (CSGA) at INRAE’s Burgundy–Franche-Comté centre. This award honours her research on eating habits and food: their foundations and how healthy and sustainable eating habits begin at a very early age. Her research contributes to food sovereignty at the regional level, through her scientific management of the Dijon, Alimentation durable 2030 project.
Promising Researcher Award
The Promising Researcher Award honours the career of Claire Berton-Carabin, research director in the Biopolymers Interactions Assemblies Unit at INRAE’s Pays de la Loire centre. Her research aims at making optimum use of the potential of plant proteins to stabilize food emulsions and to develop processing methods with a low environmental impact.
Innovation Award
The Innovation Award goes to Didier Azam, head of the Experimental Unit for Aquatic Ecology and Ecotoxicology at INRAE’s Brittany-Normandy centre. With long-term observations in three rivers (the Oir, the Scorff and the Bresle), his work contributes to defining management methods for aquatic species and their environments. His expertise is recognized at the European level.
Research Support Award
The Research Support Award distinguishes a person who has made a significant contribution to experimentation, training and transfer activities. This year it goes to Clara Tremberth, head of the Common Department for Contract Engineering at Paris-Antony head office. Clara Tremberth is a lawyer who prepares contracts of international scope for the Institute which are essential to the INRAE 2030 roadmap. Her legal expertise has recently been required for ambitious projects involving private and public partners, such as the French Gut and Ferments of the Future projects.
Science with an Impact Award
The Science with an Impact Award distinguishes the Resistant Vines team which brings together researchers from the SVQV* and SAVE** Units of the INRAE research centres of Colmar, Bordeaux and Montpellier. Together they have been working for more than 20 years on the genetic improvement of vines for sustainable winegrowing. They have developed and registered in the French catalogue 9 new varieties[1] of vines which are resistant to powdery mildew and downy mildew, leading to a significant reduction in the number of fungicide treatments.
[1]From the ResDur programme launched in 2020: official registration in 2018 of Artaban and Vidoc for red grapes, Floréal and Voltis for white grapes; and in 2022 the Coliris, Lilaro and Sirano for red grapes, Opalor and Selenor for white grapes.
*Grapevine Health and Wine Quality Unit
**Vineyard Health and Wine Quality Unit