Raphaëlle Roy

Lecturer and Researcher – Human Factors and Neuroergonomics at DCAS

What do you do at ISAE-SUPAERO (position held, missions, department, etc.), what are you working on in general and more specifically at the moment, and what are the prospects for your research?

I’m a lecturer and researcher in the Human Factors and Neuroergonomics team in the Aerospace Vehicle Design and Control Department (DCAS). I work mainly on the monitoring of operators interacting with critical systems, using electrophysiology measurements and machine learning tools. Recently, I have also been applying these methods to human-robot interaction. The aim of these studies is twofold: to understand how humans function cognitively when interacting with critical systems, and also to propose solutions for dealing with so-called degraded states, such as fatigue or stress.

What made you choose a scientific career and pursue it (at ISAE-SUPAERO)?

What drew me to this profession was curiosity, the desire to understand, but also the contact with students and the freedom to pursue my own research and organise my day-to-day life in my own way. I came to ISAE-SUPAERO by chance, because after my thesis in Grenoble I was supposed to go to Germany. A combination of circumstances meant that my planned funding was not available in time. A friend told me about this institute and the research group that I then contacted. After a short post-doctorate, a teaching-research position opened up, which I was lucky enough to get!

What needs to be improved or demanded to increase the proportion of women in these scientific professions?

As in all professions, improving salary transparency would help to expose inequalities and combat them more effectively. What’s more, setting salaries that include a variable component has been shown to penalise women in particular, so I think it’s a method that should be avoided. Perhaps a better distribution of tasks and responsibilities would go some way to addressing these disparities and the self-censorship that may also persist. Institutes implementing such measures would send us a strong message that we will be considered equal to our male colleagues at all levels, both in terms of pay and job content.

Anaïs Chambon

Doctoral student at DAEP/DMSM

Her thesis concerns the experimental and analytical/numerical study of aeroelastic instabilities in flexible blade rotors. In other words, she is studying the instabilities generated by fluid-structure interactions in rotor blades.

What do you do at ISAE-SUPAERO (position held, missions, department, etc.), what are you working on in general and more specifically at the moment, and what are the prospects for your research?

I’m in the final year of my PhD at DAEP/DMSM, where my thesis is on the experimental and analytical/digital study of aeroelastic instabilities in flexible-blade rotors. In other words, I’m studying the instabilities generated by the fluid-structure interactions of rotor blades.

What was the deciding factor for you in choosing a scientific career and pursuing it (at ISAE-SUPAERO)?

At secondary school, you have to do a one-week work placement in a company. At that age I was fascinated by volcanoes, so I was lucky enough to do my placement at the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory in Guadeloupe, where I’m from. I then had the opportunity to meet and work with scientists and researchers, which reinforced my decision to pursue a career in science.

What needs to be improved or demanded to increase the proportion of women in scientific careers?

Encourage young girls to go into scientific fields and to stay on that path, especially around secondary school age when the choice can be altered by the social environment or society. But if we encourage younger people, we need to encourage them by giving women the same career prospects as men in these professions.

Annafederica Urbano

Associate Professor of Launch Vehicles and Space Systems at DCAS

What do you do at ISAE-SUPAERO (position held, missions, department, etc.), what are you working on in general and more specifically at the moment, and what are the prospects for your research?

I’m an associate professor in Launch Vehicles and Space Systems in the Aerospace Vehicle Design and Control Department (DCAS) in the SaCLaB research group on advanced space concepts. I teach courses on launch systems and rocket propulsion and carry out research on these subjects. I am interested in the management of cryogenic propellants in rocket engine tanks, combustion phenomena inside liquid rocket engine chambers and their design, and the optimisation of launch systems. The long-term objective of my research is to be able to study a series of physical phenomena linked to two-phase and supercritical flows in rocket engines in order to develop models for their design.

What made you choose a scientific career and pursue it (at ISAE-SUPAERO)?

I chose this profession because I’m passionate about rocket propulsion and the huge diversity of complex physical phenomena that govern its operation and raise a multitude of multidisciplinary scientific questions. Teaching allows me to transfer this knowledge and passion to new generations of researchers and engineers. Being a researcher means continually asking questions and trying to find ways of answering them. It’s a constantly evolving job that is very rewarding. ISAE SUPAERO is the ideal place to pursue this career in aerospace engineering.

What should be improved or demanded to increase the proportion of women in these scientific professions?

Good question… Do I really need to find an answer to this question? The only thing I can say is that example helps: so I think that the more women there are in these professions, the more young women will want to go into them. So we need to promote the position of women in these professions and communicate with the younger generations from a very early age, from primary school onwards.

Stéphanie Lizy-Destrez

Professor – Advanced Space Concepts at DCAS

What do you do at ISAE-SUPAERO (position held, missions, department, etc.), what are you working on in general and more specifically at the moment, and what are the prospects for your research?

I’m a lecturer and researcher in the Aerospace Vehicle Design and Control Department (DCAS), in charge of the Advanced Space Concepts research group (SaCLaB). I am responsible for the Design and Operations of Space Systems (COS) field in the engineering training programme and programme leader for the TAS ASTRO and TAS ASTRO SEEDS Specialised Masters® programmes.

I am also the referent for an ESA-LAB on the theme of “Responsible and sustainable space exploration”. In research, I am interested in robotic and manned space exploration, which can be broken down into three themes:

1. astrodynamics, and more specifically the optimisation of transfer and rendezvous trajectories in non-Keplerian dynamics (in the Earth-Moon system, Mars and its satellites and asteroids)
2. changes in crew performance during long-duration space missions (autonomy, man-rover interface, etc.)
3. space debris: study of long-term behaviour, quantification and propagation of uncertainties, recycling, etc.

With my research group, we want to contribute to future manned and robotic exploration missions: mission analysis, design of space systems (new transport system, fuel depot, habitat, exploration rover) and management of the debris and waste generated by these activities.

What made you choose a scientific career and pursue it (at ISAE-SUPAERO)?

From an early age, I was always amazed by the infinity of Space. When I was seven, I was lucky enough to visit the Nice-Côte d’Azur Observatory. I was fascinated by the telescopes, domes and computers I saw there. My vocation was born, but my project was not clearly defined.

I then immersed myself in the life of Marie Curie and admired her courage and determination. I realised that I wanted to do research.

So I focused my studies on this desire. After the preparatory classes for the grandes écoles, I chose to enter SUPAERO. After graduating as an engineer, I worked for 15 years in the space industry and at CNES, where I was involved in the operations of the ATV, the first European cargo ship to supply the ISS.

This was a decisive step in my career: it confirmed my passion for manned flight and reminded me of my research dreams. That’s when I applied to ISAE-SUPAERO.

What needs to be improved or demanded to increase the proportion of women in these scientific professions?

Through my involvement with OSE l’ISAE-SUPAERO and ISAELLES, I’ve been able to observe that the biggest obstacle is young women’s lack of confidence in their abilities. Some have great ambitions and dreams of a career in science. But in most cases, and from a very early age, they are told that these professions are supposedly not for women, because they are too difficult, too competitive, require autonomy, risk-taking and assertiveness…

It’s these limitations that we need to focus our efforts on, by reassuring them, encouraging them and listening to them, in particular by making women scientists more visible in society!

Mélanie Drilleau

Research Engineer – Space systems for planetology and its applications at DEOS

What do you do at ISAE-SUPAERO (position held, missions, department, etc.), what are you working on in general and more specifically at the moment, and what are the prospects for your research?

I am a Research Engineer in the Electronics, Optronics and Signals Department (DEOS), in the Space Systems for Planetology and Applications (SSPA) team. My main area of research is to use seismology to constrain the internal structure of planetary bodies, such as the Earth, Moon, Mars and asteroids, in order to gain a better understanding of the formation and evolution of our solar system.

What made you choose a career in science and pursue it (at ISAE-SUPAERO)?

There were of course a number of factors that triggered my choice, but I think I’ve always been fascinated by explaining natural phenomena that go beyond the human scale, both spatially and temporally. During my time at university, I also met a number of inspiring lecturers who helped me to make this choice.

What needs to be improved or demanded to increase the proportion of women in these scientific professions?

I think the key lies mainly in the education of girls and/or boys. The traditional binary images of the girl as the “good, obedient pupil at school” and the boy as the “transgressor and leader” are still with us today. At home and at school, let’s encourage all children, girls and boys alike, to take the initiative. Let’s encourage them to speak up, while listening attentively and sympathetically to what others have to say.

Naomi Murdoch

Researcher – Planetology and space instrumentation at DEOS

What do you do at ISAE-SUPAERO (position held, missions, department, etc.), what are you working on in general and more specifically at the moment, and what are the prospects for your research?

I am a researcher in planetology and space instrumentation in the Space Systems for Planetology and Applications (SSPA) team at ISAE-SUPAERO.

My research interests lie in understanding the physical properties and geophysical evolution of asteroids and terrestrial planets. I study the interaction between space instrumentation and the surface environment of planetary bodies in order to prepare interplanetary space missions and to enable the data to be interpreted as accurately as possible.

I am currently analysing data from three space missions (InSight, Mars2020 Perseverance and DART) and am also helping to prepare two future space missions. The Hera probe that will visit the asteroid Didymos, which will be the follow-up to the DART mission, and the MMX rover that will visit the surface of Phobos, a moon of Mars.

What made you choose a career in science and pursue it (at ISAE-SUPAERO)?

I’ve always loved physics, but I’ve been able to pursue a scientific career largely thanks to meeting colleagues who have always pulled me up by my bootstraps!

What needs to be improved or demanded to increase the proportion of women in these scientific professions?

Equal pay.

Compulsory paternity leave of the same duration as maternity leave. This would reduce the barriers to recruitment, promotion and so on, because employers would no longer feel they were taking a ‘maternity risk’ by hiring a woman.

Valérie Budinger

Professor – Aircraft Systems Control and Electrification at DCAS

What do you do at ISAE-SUPAERO (position held, missions, department, etc.), what are you working on in general and more specifically at the moment, and what are the prospects for your research?

I’m a professor in the Aerospace Vehicle Design and Control Department (DCAS). I teach and do research in the field of systems control and aircraft electrification, which is a strategy being considered to help decarbonise air transport.

For the past 5 years, I have also been in charge of the department, which has 36 permanent staff and 45 doctoral and post-doctoral students.

What made you choose a scientific career and pursue it (at ISAE-SUPAERO)? Why a career in science?

The choice of a scientific career is linked to the ability to create through this type of work. Obviously, there are several forms of creation. My source of motivation is the creation of technological objects that can be useful to society.

The choice of a career as a teacher-researcher was guided by my taste for sharing knowledge and by the scientific challenge provided by research projects. These projects generally last 2 or 3 years and regularly raise questions about current technological or methodological issues, which is very stimulating. What’s more, doing research means that you can continue to train yourself to better train your students. So, in my opinion, the job is very complete.

Why ISAE-SUPAERO?

My first motivation for joining ISAE-SUPAERO was to teach in a high-level institute offering a wide range of courses. I am in contact with students of several nationalities on a variety of training courses (engineering training in French or English and sandwich courses). The exchanges are very rewarding.

My second motivation is linked to the conditions offered at ISAE-SUPAERO for carrying out research activities. In addition to industrial contacts for working on research projects with concrete problems, ISAE-SUPAERO has high-performance testing and manufacturing facilities managed by technical teams who work with researchers to produce demonstrators to test and validate concepts. These are rare and precious working conditions for a researcher.

What should be improved or demanded to increase the proportion of women in these scientific professions?

Respect equal access to positions of responsibility and equal pay in these professions.