Mathilde Hary has been awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowship

A European project at the intersection of photonics and sustainable artificial intelligence

Mathilde Hary has been awarded a prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) postdoctoral fellowship, one of the European Commission’s most selective funding programs for research and innovation.

This distinction recognizes the scientific excellence of her research project, conducted at the FEMTO-ST Institute, as well as the quality of the scientific environment and the support she has received.MSCA grants are designed to support the most promising researchers on an international scale by fostering the acquisition of new skills through international mobility, interdisciplinarity, and cross-sectoral collaboration. In this way, they help shape scientific careers while strengthening the excellence and appeal of European research.

In the latest call for proposals, 1,610 researchers were selected from among 17,066 applicants—a success rate of 9.6%—for a total of €404.3 million in funding. The grantees, representing nearly 80 nationalities, will conduct their research in 45 countries around the world. Among these projects of excellence, 130 will be based in France.

The project led by Mathilde Hary, under the supervision of Daniel Brunner, a CNRS researcher in the Optics Department at FEMTO-ST, is part of a high-impact research initiative at the intersection of photonics, neuromorphic computing, and resource-efficient artificial intelligence.

Toward a New Generation of Photonic Components for Artificial Intelligence

Mathilde Hary's research aims to develop a new generation of photonic devices capable of processing information using light rather than electrical signals. This approach makes it possible to explore computing architectures that combine the intrinsic parallelism of artificial neural networks with that of optical systems, thereby opening up significant opportunities for reducing energy consumption and miniaturizing artificial intelligence systems.

Conducted at FEMTO-ST in collaboration with Cornell University (United States), this project fully illustrates the importance of international collaboration in the development of disruptive technologies and in building the next generation of energy-efficient, adaptive, and sustainable artificial intelligence systems.

A support ecosystem designed to help secure funding from European calls for proposals

Receiving this grant also underscores the effectiveness of the researcher support strategy implemented at FEMTO-ST to enhance their competitiveness in European calls for proposals.

As part of this initiative, Mathilde Hary participated in the internal “Boostcamp” program, which is designed to help researchers prepare their MSCA applications.

This achievement thus demonstrates the excellence of the scientific project led by the awardee, the quality of the scientific guidance provided by FEMTO-ST, and the institute’s ability to position its researchers within the most competitive European programs.

Contacts :

Mathilde Hary (Scientific project)

Laurent Oreiller (European project manager))