The 2019 Bettencourt Young Researchers Prize was awarded to post-doctoral student Thomas Aubier for his research on the social networks of vampire bats.

The effect of social network structure on the development of cooperation

"My goal is to understand the organization of animal societies, including human ones. Modeling allows me to explore how the development of cooperation between individuals leads to the formation of social networks like those observed in animal societies.”To improve the theory underlying research in evolution and ecology, Dr. Aubier models the adaptation of populations and, more particularly, the development of cooperation between individuals. He studies how social structure affects the evolution of cooperative strategies and vice versa. His research is based on the observation of an animal model: vampire bats. These animals reciprocally share blood meals with unrelated individuals. His research is of interest to evolutionary biologists and researchers in the cognitive and social sciences.

Thomas Aubier in a few words

2014: Master’s in Ecology and Evolution, Pierre and Marie Curie University & École Normale Supérieure de Paris

2015: Graduate of the École Normale Supérieure de Paris, Biology Department

2018: Doctoral dissertation: “Diversity of warning signals, speciation and diversification”, under the direction of Dr Mathieu Joron, Center of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, University of Montpellier GAIA Graduate School: Biodiversity, Agriculture, Food, Environment, Land, Water - Specialization in Ecology and Biodiversity

Post-doctorate under the supervision of Professor Hanna Kokko, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers

Created in 1990, the Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers is one of the first initiatives of the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller. Until 2021, this prize was awarded each year to 14 young doctors of science or doctors of medicine, to enable them to carry out their post-doctoral stay in the best foreign laboratories. 349 young researchers were distinguished. The prize endowment was €25,000.

All the award-winners