Prix du Collège de France - 2022 Edition

The 2022 Collège de France Prize will be awarded in the field of Mathematical, Computer, Experimental and Natural Sciences.

The theme of the 2022 prize will be "Biodiversity and Evolution"

Entries will be received from April¹ to May 30, 2022.

The 2022 jury is made up of four Collège de France professors and one external member.

President: Françoise Combes, Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Galaxies and Cosmology.

Members: Timothy Gowers, Professor at the Collège de France, holder of the Combinatorics Chair; Lluis Quintana-Murci, Professor at the Collège de France, holder of the Human Genomics and Evolution Chair; Jean-Marie Tarascon, Professor at the Collège de France, holder of the Solid State and Energy Chemistry Chair; Hélène Morlon, Director of Research in Evolutionary Biology at the Institut de biologie de l'École normale supérieure.

Candidates currently working in a public research laboratory in France are required to contact an active university professor or research director, who will support their application with a letter of introduction and recommendation. The application must be submitted by the candidate via a dedicated digital platform.

The closing date for applications is midnight on May 31, 2022.

Every year, the Collège de France awards the Prix du Collège de France to a young researcher chosen for the excellence of his or her career and the innovative nature of his or her contributions to public research. The prize is worth 20,000 euros and includes an invitation to give a public lecture at the Collège de France.

As a leading player in French research, the Collège de France wishes to reward excellence and the most daring research among the next generation of scientists.

Article 1 - Eligible candidates

Eligible candidates must, at the time of submitting their application, have their administrative residence in France and be employed, on a permanent or contract basis, in a laboratory, unit or research team located within the French public higher education and research establishments. They must have successfully defended their thesis less than 7 years previously, and have an outstanding research record as evidenced by publications and contributions to scientific events.

If candidates :

• have direct family ties with one of the members of the jury ;
• have collaborated or published jointly with a member of the jury within the last 7 years, either as part of their thesis or since obtaining it;

The jury member concerned will withdraw while the dossier is examined.

Article 2 - Prize

The prize is awarded at a public ceremony by the Administrator of the Collège de France and is endowed with €20,000. It also includes :

• a public lecture by the winner at the Collège de France;
• communication and promotion of the winning research on the Collège de France website and social networks;
• the award of the Collège de France medal engraved with the winner's name.

The prizewinner undertakes to attend the award ceremony and to respond to any communication requests from the Collège de France.

Article 3 - Eligibility requirements

• The thesis must have been defended less than 7 years before the closing date of the call for applications, i.e. May 31, 2022.
  The stated eligibility period may be extended beyond 7 years in the following duly documented circumstances: maternity leave (extended by 18 months for each child born after obtaining the doctorate), paternity leave, adoption leave, long-term illness (extended by the period of the leave).
• Reside in France and be employed (tenured or contract) by a laboratory of a French public higher education and research institution;
• The application must be accompanied by a detailed letter of recommendation from a university professor or research director working for a public research or higher education establishment in France.

Article 4 - Evaluation criteria

• Fit of the research work with the annual theme proposed by the Collège de France: For the 2022 prize, the theme will be: "  Biodiversity and evolution "
• Scientific excellence (track record and publications)
• The innovative nature of the work

Article 5 - Submission of applications and selection procedures

Completed applications must be submitted by the deadlines indicated, and must be accompanied by a letter of recommendation from a current university professor or a current academic staff member belonging to a body assimilated to university professors within the meaning of the Arrêté du 15 juin 1992 fixant la liste des corps de fonctionnaires assimilés aux professeurs des universités et aux maitres de conférences pour la désignation des membres du Conseil national des universités (Decree of June 15, 1992 establishing the list of bodies of civil servants assimilated to university professors and lecturers for the appointment of members of the National Council of Universities).

The application is submitted by the candidate on a dedicated platform, open during the annual application deadlines.
The link to the application platform will be available from April^1, 2022.

The following documents must be enclosed, in French or English only:

• curriculum vitae ;
• letter of motivation (2 pages maximum) from the candidate, describing the main contribution of his or her work to the award criteria and the theme of the year;
• list of publications, patents and prizes;
• thesis summary (1 page maximum);
• letter of introduction and recommendation from the nominator, a university professor or active research director (1 letter, 2 pages maximum). This person may not be a member of the selection panel, nor be related to the candidate;
• document attesting to the position held within a laboratory or research unit (employment contract, certificate from laboratory director, etc.).

No other documents will be taken into consideration.

A university professor or research director may submit only one application.

Applications are accepted exclusively via the digital platform. No paper applications will be considered. In the event of multiple applications, whether intentional or accidental, only the last application submitted will be considered.

At the time of submission, all candidates acknowledge that they have read the present regulations and accept their provisions in full.

An internal committee at the Collège de France checks the administrative admissibility of applications against these rules. Applications that do not meet the conditions of these rules will not be evaluated. Any application that is incomplete, completed after the closing date or submitted after the deadline will likewise not be evaluated.

Article 6 - Jury composition

A scientific jury will examine the eligible applications and select this year's winner.

The jury is made up of five members: four Collège de France professors appointed by the Administrator on the recommendation of the Extended Bureau of the Collège de France Assembly, and one outside personality appointed by these four professors.

In 2022, the jury will be chaired by Françoise Combes, professor at the Collège de France and holder of the Galaxies and Cosmology Chair. The full composition of the jury will be announced on the Collège de France website on the opening date for applications.

Candidates will not be informed of the assessments of their applications. The jury is sovereign and does not justify its decisions.

Article 7 - 2022 Prize timetable

• Submission of applications: between April^1, 2022 and May 31, 2022 before midnight, Paris time, the date of submission of the complete file on the platform being taken as proof.
• Announcement of winner: October 2022
• Awards presented by the Collège de France Administrator at a public ceremony: November 2022.

Article 8 - Contact and information :

Mrs Anne Dumas
Collège de France
11, place Marcelin-Berthelot
75231 Paris Cedex 05

• Contact

APPENDIX - PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA

The information collected in this form is recorded in a computerized file by the Administrator of Collège de France.

The legal basis for the processing is the contract between Collège de France and the applicant, via the eligibility rules for applications.

Data marked with an asterisk on the form must be provided. Otherwise, the application will not be considered.

The data collected will be communicated only to the following recipients: administrative staff responsible for processing applications, staff responsible for operational and IT monitoring of the application management platform, and the jury.

The data will be kept for 6 years, to enable comparisons to be made between data from three years of the Collège de France prize in the field of Mathematical, Computer, Experimental and Natural Sciences, and three years of the Collège de France prize in the field of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Visit cnil.fr for more information on your rights.

To exercise these rights, or if you have any questions about the processing of your data under this scheme, please contact: dpo.dgs@college-de-france.fr. If, after contacting us, you feel that your "Data Protection" rights have not been respected, you can submit a complaint to the CNIL.