The Fondation Bettencourt Schueller supports and encourages researchers who contribute to France's influence in the life sciences. This is the first commitment the Foundation made when it was set up in 1987. While it focuses mainly on basic research, its purpose is to improve human health.

Support for researchers

After a period of strategic reflection, the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller wanted to enhance its commitment to researchers and step up its efforts to help French research meet the great challenges facing society to ensure that France remains a key player on the world stage. In 2022, the Foundation launched a new program to support great talents in life sciences research: Impulscience. Intended for researchers in the middle of their careers, Impulscience aims to protect their freedom of innovation and offers them long-term support.

The Foundation also awards two annual prizes that encourage researchers at key points in their careers: the creation of an independent team with the ATIP-Avenir program and the recognition of exceptional discoveries with the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Life Sciences.

The Foundation also supports creative and ambitious projects on a case-by-case basis.

All of this support is shaping an area of biomedical excellence in French research. The Foundation is also developing an ambitious researcher support network to foster new collaborations and initiatives.

The Scientific Committee

The Foundation’s Scientific Committee chooses Impulscience and life sciences prizes laureates after a rigorous selection process. While each prize has its own rules, the main lines are as follows: submission of applications; examination of eligibility and shortlisting of applicants by the Scientific Committee; appraisal by in-house and outside experts; presentation of the project to the Scientific Committee by the candidate; selection of the laureates.

The Foundation's Scientific Committee is composed of fourteen leading foreign and French scientists. Assisted by the Foundation's permanent team and informed by world-renowned experts, its decisions are entirely independent.

Meet the life sciences prizes winners

Discover the projects supported by the Foundation

  • 2annual prizes
  • 1program to support research
  • 30projects supported in 2023
  • 12.7M€support in 2023

Composition

  • Professor Hugues de Thé, President

    Professor at the Collège de France, holder of the Chair in Cellular and Molecular Oncology, Paris. Member of the Academy of Sciences, Paris.

  • Professor Cédric Blanpain

    Professor of Developmental Biology and Stem Cells. Director of the Stem Cell and Cancer Laboratory, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine, Belgium.

  • Professor Paola Bovolenta

    Professor at the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad autónoma de Madrid - Spain. Chaire du programme Tissue and Organ Homeostasis, Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, CSIC-UAM.

  • Doctor Rosa Cossart

    Director of research at the CNRS. Director of the Developmental Footprint on the Adult Hippocampus team at the Mediterranean Institute of Neurobiology (Inmed) - Marseille. Director of the Inmed - Marseille.

  • Professor Edith Heard

    Professor at the Collège de France, holder of the Chair in Epigenetics and Cellular Memory - Paris. Director General of the EMBL - Heidelberg, Germany.

  • Professor Veit Hornung

    Professor of Immunobiochemistry, Genetic Center and Department of Biochemistry, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich - Germany.

  • Professor Xavier Jeunemaitre

    University Professor of Genetics and Hospital Practitioner (PU-PH), Genetics Department at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital (HEGP) - Paris.

  • Professor Gérard Karsenty

    Professor of Genetics and Development, Columbia University - New York, USA. Director of the Department of Genetics and Development, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Medical Center - New York, USA.

  • Professor Marc Lecuit

    Professor of Medicine and Hospital Practitioner (PU-PH), Head of the BIology of Infection Unit, Institut Pasteur, Inserm, University Paris Cité; Deputy Head of Department of Infectious Diseases at the Necker-enfants malades Hospital - Paris.

  • Professor Daniel Louvard

    Honorary Director, Institut Curie - Paris. Emeritus Director of Research, CNRS - Paris. Honorary Professor, Pasteur Institute - Paris. Member of the Academy of Sciences - Paris. Foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences - USA.

  • Doctor Marcel Méchali

    Director of research at CNRS. Director of Labex EpiGenMed - Montpellier. Director of the Replication and Genome Dynamics team, Institute of Human Genetics - Montpellier. Member of the Academy of Sciences - Paris.

  • Professor Miriam Merad

    Professor of Cancer and Immunology. Director of the Precision Immunology Institute and the Human Immune Monitoring Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine - New York, USA.

  • Professor Molly Przeworski

    Professor of Population Genetics, Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University - New York, USA.

  • Professor Gisou van der Goot

    Professor at the Faculty of Life Sciences. Vice President for Responsible Transformation at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) - Lausanne, Switzerland.

Impulscience

The Fondation Bettencourt Schueller supports and encourages researchers who contribute to France's influence in the life sciences. This is the first commitment the Foundation made when it was set up in 1987. While it focuses...

The Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Life Sciences

Each year, the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Life Sciences awards a researcher under the age of 45 for his or her outstanding contribution to his or her field of scientific research.

ATIP-Avenir program

The Fondation Bettencourt Schueller and Inserm’s Avenir program have been partners since 2005. In 2009, the Avenir program merged with the CNRS Biology Institute’s ATIP program.