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01/11/2020 News

A Laureate for the 2020 l'Oréale-Unesco for women in science awards at the PERL!

  • The L’Oréal-UNESCO award recognizes women’s excellence at the cutting edge of scientific research. 
  • Gaëlle Rondepierre, a CIFRE PhD student at the PERL, was given the award for her research work on the wetting of oil on a solid in water in the presence of surfactants.
  • Gender diversity at work is a key issue for Total in particular in the science and technologies sector.

Gaëlle is one of the 10 award winners selected from among 700 applicants for the excellence of their studies, the originality of their scientific project and their keenness to pass on their enthusiasm to younger students. 

The French Rising Talents L’Oreal-Unesco “For Women In Science” Award, aims to encourage more women to pursue careers in the scientific world. Gaëlle noticed that women were under-represented in laboratory directorship jobs. “In lectures at the École Centrale Paris and Imperial College London, barely 20% of the students were female”. A marked case of under-representation that reduces the number of role models for female students at college and high school to look up to. 

IN THE FIELD

The young PhD student worked with the laboratories at the Total Platform for Experimental Research at Lacq, directed by Catherine Leroi. Her work focused on the way oil droplets mixed with water adhere to surfaces, a key issue in the treatment of wastewater in particular. The thesis funded by Total has already proven of interest in the sector for reinjecting produced water into the rocks in oil reservoirs. The results obtained soon helped extend the range of applications to other issues.

Twice, Total’s network for womenes

Our human resources policy is based on strong values: diversity, equal opportunities, mobility, dialog, and competency development. Professional equality between women and men has been one of the Group’s challenges for several years now. Giving women their rightful place is not doing them a favor: it’s a crucial factor in our company’s success.

The aims of the inhouse network TWICE are to support the career development of women at Total and to raise awareness and provide training on gender diversity for both men and women. The network now has 3,000 members in over 30 different countries. It is firmly anchored locally too at the CSTJF/PERL. Participants (it’s open to men too) can benefit from advice, training, workshops and conferences. It’s a network where solidarity prevails, experience is shared and where you can meet lots of different people from all walks of life.

Through Twice, Total is also a partner of the association “Elles bougent” (Girls on the move).

 

 

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