For the 2024 edition of the L'Oréal-UNESCO Young Talent Award for Women in Science, 25 female doctoral candidates and 10 female post-doctoral candidates were honored in France. They were selected from 771 applications by a jury of 43 researchers from the French Academy of Sciences. Adeline Garcia is one of the winners.
Reading time: 3 minutes
Hearing-impaired from birth, and having suffered a complete hearing loss during her second year of a degree in life chemistry, Adeline Garcia has risen to every challenge to successfully complete her university career, thanks to the support of those close to her and her teachers. Curious by nature, she first tried her hand at studying medicine, then branched out into physics-chemistry and life chemistry, before specializing in chemical and spectroscopic analysis during her Master's degree, from which she graduated top of her class. She then worked for a year as a design engineer for a company developing a partnership with the ASTRO team of the Physics of Ionic and Molecular Interactions laboratory (amU/CNRS).
A better understanding of the origin of matter in the solar system
During her thesis, Adeline investigated the origin of life on Earth and the evolution of matter during the creation of the solar system. She then won a disability post-doc contract offered by the Amidex university foundation, a first in France. As a post-doc in the same team, she is developing new methods for preparing and analyzing extraterrestrial samples, such as meteorites. Given the rarity of these samples, she is developing her methods on similar reproductions called "interstellar ice analogues". Her ultimate goal? To participate in a national research consortium to work on a sample return from one of today's space missions.
Her participation in the L'Oréal Unesco Young Talent Award for Women in Science came about by chance, after several friends and colleagues suggested she take part. Contacting one of the 2023 winners, who warned her of the difficulty of the selection process, she gave it her all, and her first attempt proved to be the right one!
Sharing her story and encouraging further study
Today, Adeline hopes that winning this prize will help her secure a permanent position following her post-doc, but above all she wants to show that regardless of social background, origin or disability, science and research remain open to all. Using her prize money to attend conferences on mentoring and leadership, she would like to get involved with schools in Marseilles' underprivileged areas to share her story, and encourage students to pursue studies that may still sometimes seem inaccessible to them.
Adeline Garcia was a doctoral student on a complementary assignment with the Cellule de culture scientifique.
You can discover her research environment in 360° via the Labo Tour developed by the Cellule de culture scientifique with the Centre de réalité virtuelle de la Méditerranée (amU/CNRS/Institut Carnot Star). She also presents her thesis topic in stop-motion film form.
Article published on October 11, 2024.
Photo credits: Richard PAK and Clémence LOSFELD.
Discover also
Share on social media or
