MANTA

Expertise

2021 Booklet of Chairs

Published on 7/22/21 | Modified on 5/25/22

In 2012, UPPA launched a distinctive initiative with the creation of research and education chairs.

Several aims were pursued:

to invest into significant scientific projects in accordance with the strategy of the university
to create a task force dedicated to these specific research objectives
to tighten the relationships with private and public partners, placing them within a five-years horizon instead of the traditional three-years partnership format
to provide an increased visibility, thereby promoting the outreach of upcoming results and strengthening our international network.

With E2S UPPA I-site, this framework has been significantly expanded. New chair formats have been launched, in addition to the existing format directed at established researchers.

Junior chairs for young promising researchers, and part-time international chairs hosting researchers with a very high international visibility have been created.

Facts (2020)

34 chairs in 2020

13 Junior Chairs
15 Senior Chairs with partnerships
4 International Academic Guest Chairs
2 International Guest Chairs with partnership

Teams

86 permanent employees
88 PhD
151 Post-doctorate

A considerable increase in the potential of scientific experts for UPPA

Published on 7/22/21 | Modified on 9/13/21

The objective is to drastically increase the scientific power of E2S UPPA, and at the same time, to embed – at the very starting point of the chair – research and education as the scientific team built up around a chair should have also educational responsibilities within the flagship programs of E2S UPPA.

70 doctoral positions and more than 100 one-year post-doctoral fellowships have been offered within these chairs, over a wide variety of scientific topics in line with the ambitions and missions of E2S UPPA.

Private and public partners

This unprecedented effort was made possible due to a wide participation of private and public partners. Their decisive input is acknowledged in the description of each specific chair.

Each project results from the convergence between scientific issues, stakeholders’ needs and, above all, the interest in the mutualisation of concerns and efforts. Our experience shows that it has been beneficial to everyone.

The E2S-UPPA cofunded chairs

MANTAA naturally innovative Chair

Published on 5/22/25 | Modified on 3/26/19

Susana de Matos Fernandes was recruited by the UPPA at the end of 2018 to head a new partnership-based Chair focused on biomimetics.

Biomimetics? Laurent Billon prefers the term bioinspiration. As a researcher at the IPREM, he has been developing materials inspired by nature for several years. “We have a lot to learn by observing the animal and plant world, in terms of functionality, structure, and architecture. For example, I’m thinking of the structural colors of butterfly wings, of the architecture of leaves conducive to photosynthesis, of the mechanical properties of shellfish, and so on.”

The UPPA started taking interest in the topic around a decade ago, led by the IPREM and the LFCR. A decisive step has now been taken with the creation of a partnership-based Chair headed by Susana de Matos Fernandes as part of the E2S UPPA project. Susana is recognized as an authority in her field and has a résumé as long as the tentacles of a giant squid so to speak! Specialized in the study of natural polymers, she has put her talents to good use at the University of Aveiro (Portugal), the University of the Basque Country (Spain), the Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), the University of Uppsala (Sweden again) and the UPPA that she joined in 2017 following the call for projects Tremplin-ERC (aimed at promoting French researchers at European level).

Naturally inquisitive, Susana de Matos Fernandes chooses her research topics based on the observation of her surroundings. It’s by looking at two transparent fish in an aquarium one day that she ended up coming across strange bioactive molecules with surprising properties. “I realized that these molecules had, in fact, nothing to do with transparency; that they were soluble in water, present in fish skin and eyes, and capable of absorbing UV radiation.” Without a second thought, the researcher took the bull by the horns and set out to discover the origin of these molecules synthesized by algae that fish feed on. She immediately imagined tangible applications such as natural materials for solar protection.

Algae are precisely at the heart of her new Chair called Manta (Marine Materials) which has enlisted the Laboratories of Biarritz specialized in bio-innovative solar protection. Assisted by four PhD students and post-doc researchers on a twoyear contract, Susana de Matos Fernandes now has five years to design revolutionary biomaterials with zero impact for both populations and the marine ecosystem. A project that will keep them as busy as bees!

Contact :

susana.fernandes @ univ-pau.fr