The former Deputy Director for Research at Mines Saint-Étienne has been appointed Director of the Aix-Marseille Provence Campus for a renewable three-year term. He succeeds Maëtte Guldener.
When did you take up your new position, and what are your main responsibilities?
“I officially took up my new duties on October 1st. Since then, I have been defining and coordinating the missions of Mines Saint-Étienne on this campus, namely: developing high-level training programs, promoting research, ensuring the transfer of skills to socio-economic stakeholders, boosting technological innovation entrepreneurship, and encouraging the promotion of scientific culture. One hundred and thirty people work alongside me to carry out these missions, which contribute to the 2023-27 strategic objectives of Mines Saint-Étienne and Institut Mines-Télécom.”
Were you familiar with the Provence campus before this appointment?
“I visited regularly, about every six weeks, when I was Director of Research and based at the Saint-Étienne campus. In 2022, when Philippe Lalevée, Director of the Provence Campus, left, I served as interim director for a few months. This allowed me to become familiar with certain issues related to student life, human resources management, and the local ecosystem. This period was very enriching and formative. As Vice-President of the SCS (Secure Communicating Solutions) competitiveness cluster, the deep tech hub of the southern region, I simultaneously deepened my knowledge of the industrial landscape in this area. This network of collaborations, which the School has been building for 20 years, is a real asset for creating bridges between training and research, on the one hand, and economic development, on the other. I am not entering unfamiliar territory.”
I am not entering unfamiliar territory.
David Delafosse, Director of the Provence Campus
What do you remember from your years in Saint-Étienne?
“To speak only of the last seven years, I am proud to have supported and contributed to the professionalization of contractual research. We have increased from less than 6 million euros to over 10 million euros in annual own resources in just a few years. This result is the fruit of significant work, which involved the creation of a dedicated unit and the signing of more than 300 contracts with our various teaching and research centers. This activity fully benefited from the establishment of Institut Mines-Télécom since 2017 and its collective strength.”
QUICK CV – DAVID DELAFOSSE
- Born May 19, 1967, in Grenoble (38)
- Resides in Aix-en-Provence (13)
- Married, 2 children
- Ingénieur Civil des Mines (1990)
- Master of Science in Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK (1991)
- Doctorate from École Centrale Paris (1995)
- Habilitation to Supervise Research (HDR) from INP Grenoble (2001)
JEAN-PAUL VIRICELLE (below) succeeds David Delafosse as Deputy Director of Mines Saint-Étienne, in charge of research.
Appointed by Jacques Fayolle, Director of Mines Saint-Étienne, for a renewable three-year term, he takes over with the desire to “continue and sustain the organization of the department, strengthen ties between the various centers and the Partnerships and Innovation Department (DPI), and also represent the School in major structuring projects related to digital transition, artificial intelligence, and health.” A research-lecturer specializing in the development of gas and particle sensors since 1998, Director of the Georges Friedel Laboratory since 2018, the native of Feurs is now exclusively dedicated to his new missions with a team of about ten people.
