How did you start working at the ANR?I have been working at the ANR since November 2019. I completed a PhD in Neuroscience and held several post-doctoral positions in Finland, Sweden, Brazil and Paris. Afterwards, I worked for an open access scientific journal in London. Then, because of my desire to come back to France and do something else related to science and researchers, I applied for the position of Scientific Project Officer at the ANR, focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI), which suited me perfectly because I know this field very well.
Since my arrival, I was lucking enough to take part in about ten proposals - nationally excluding the Generic call for proposals (AAPG), AAPG, and internationally. My responsibilities are truly diverse: creating and writing calls according to the needs of the community; organising selection committees; in addition to the scientific monitoring, namely reading and approving reports and communicating with researchers. Between SPOs, we help one another a lot, but I also interact with other departments, such as the Directorate of Legal Affairs, to make sure that we are following the rules when we create a new call, and with the Contracting and Funding Directorate to create the contract that activates the funding for each project.
On international calls, I really enjoyed working with German and Japanese agencies, learning about their culture, how they work, and making sure we are compatible. Of course, I really enjoy working with science, attending Evaluation Panels or kick-off meetings, listening to researchers talk about the applications received or present their projects. Some of them are particularly memorable. I am thinking of HUMAAINE, a chair in AI, coordinated by Laurence Devillers. In this project, focusing on the detection of socio-affective states, I found everything I like: a bit of Neuroscience, some behavioural psychology, and lots of AI!
