Board category: Vice-rectors of Research

On Monday 22 April 2024, Carole Hénique was elected Vice-rector of Research and of the Research Committee.

Carole Hénique was recruited as a lecturer in molecular biology (CNU64) in 2015 at the Faculty of Science and Technology of Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC), before being appointed University Professor at the Faculty of Health in 2022. She is a member of the Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale (IMRB, Inserm U955) laboratory, where she leads a research group studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms of damage to the renal glomerulus in various contexts (nephrooncology, ageing, obesity/type 2 diabetes).

Carole Hénique has been appointed to a Fundamental Chair in Biology/Medicine/Health at the Institut Universitaire de France in 2021 (2021-2026 delegation) to help develop high-level research in universities. She has a keen interest in research leadership and was in charge of the IMRB’s scientific research leadership committee from 2017 to 2022. She is also involved in doctoral policy, being a member of the Life and Health Sciences ED (ED402) board as director of studies since 2017 and an appointed member of the Doctoral Training Council – Paris-Est Sup since 2021.

Dr Morten Irgens is the Vice Dean of Innovation and Impact at Copenhagen Business School (CBS), an advisor to the senior management of Kristiania, and board member of CLAIRE (the Confederation of Laboratories of Artificial Intelligence Research in Europe), Adra (The Artificial Intelligence, Data and Robotics Association) and NORA (The Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Consortium), and sits on the Digital Advisory Board of Abelia, the Steering Board of National Defense Innovation Center, and Danish Universities’ Standing Committee on Innovation.

Dr Irgens has an MSc in Computer Science and PhD in Artificial Intelligence. He has served in a number of senior management positions in universities and university colleges in Norway, including three times as Vice-Rector and twice as Faculty Dean, where he has been responsible for establishing or acquiring a number of research labs, research centres, and research institutions. He has also been a CEO, CTO, and Research Scientist. He founded Actenum Corporation, a Canadian AI-based company with global sales, and has served on several boards in the technology and research sectors.

He is a co-founder of CLAIRE, Adra, NORA, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Center for Cyber and Information Technology, and has also been involved in establishing HousingLab (the Norwegian Center for Housing Market Economics), KAI (The Work Inclusion Competency Center).

The Vice-Rectorate for Science Policy and Interdisciplinary Projects coordinates research policy, the promotion and evaluation of research as well as scientific visibility and interdisciplinary research projects.

Professor of physics and Vice Rector for Research at the Università Federico II of Naples, Lorenzo Marrucci has co-authored almost 300 scientific articles and five patents on a variety of topics, ranging from complex materials to quantum photonics and structured light. He is known for his invention of the “q-plate”, a device that allows generating orbital angular momentum from polarization manipulations. Marrucci has coordinated several national and international research projects, including an European Research Council Advanced Grant, and held various academic-management positions.

Gregor Weihs is Vice-Rector for Research at the Universität Innsbruck, Professor of Photonics at its Department for Experimental Physics and Director of Research of the Cluster of Excellence Quantum Science Austria. He received his MSc degree from Universität Innsbruck in 1994. His PhD degree from University of Vienna was awarded “sub auspiciis praesidentis” by the President of the Austrian Republic in 2000. Before returning to Innsbruck, he held a junior faculty position at the University of Vienna, was Consulting Assistant Professor at Stanford University, Research Fellow at the University of Tokyo, and Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo, Canada, where he was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Quantum Photonics.

From 2016 to 2021 he was the Vice-President for Natural Sciences and Engineering of the Austrian Science Fund and its interim President for several months. Other major awards include a Starting Grant by the European Research Council and the Wilhelm-Exner medal of the Austrian Trade and Crafts Association. He was a member of the Young Academy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and a Fellow in the QIP program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. His research interests include fundamental physics, quantum and semiconductor optics and quantum information.