Life in the lab

The HCERES evaluation committee (High Council for the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education) will visit ISTerre on 27 and 28 November in the Kilian auditorium.
This evaluation is a key moment for the laboratory. It provides an opportunity to present our achievements, organizational structure, and future perspectives to a peer committee tasked with reviewing the unit’s trajectory and providing recommendations for the years ahead.
Throughout 2024, all teams, with the support of (…)

We are very pleased to announce that Marie-Pierre Doin has been awarded the Grand Prize of the Geological Society of France.
This prestigious award recognizes the excellence and originality of her work, as well as her major contribution to advancing Earth science research.
On behalf of the entire laboratory, we extend our warmest congratulations to Marie-Pierre for this well-deserved recognition !

This year, Blandine Gardonio, a research scientist at ISTerre Chambéry, is featured in the “Women in Science 2026” organized by USMB. The initiative celebrates the work of female researchers and aims to inspire scientific vocations among young people and the general public.
A specialist in seismology, she studies the subtle signals that precede earthquakes, combining field observations, the installation of sensors in the Alps, and global-scale analyses to better anticipate natural (…)

It is with great pride that we announce that Jean-Noël Bouvier, Head of the IT Service, and Pascale Huyghe, member of the TRB team, were named Knights of the Palmes Académiques on June 3, 2025, during an official ceremony attended by Yassine Lakhnech, President of the University of Grenoble Alpes.
This prestigious honor recognizes their outstanding dedication to higher education, research, and the university community. Jean-Noël Bouvier, through his expertise, rigor, and availability, (…)

Congratulations to Léo Marconato Seismic Cycle and Transient Deformation Team 2025 recipient of the Van Straelen PhD Award from the Geological Society of France for his outstanding work on the processing of interferometric time series, which led to new insights into plate tectonics in Ecuador, notably highlighting previously unknown deformation zones. We are proud to celebrate his achievement and this distinguished recognition.

On October 17, 2025, ISTerre hosted the celebration of LGIT’s 50th anniversary. Thank you to everyone who participated in this exceptional day, with presentations from young researchers and discussions around the laboratory’s seven founding themes : structure, deep Earth, seismotectonics, tectonophysics, sources and hazards, instrumentation, and environment. A wonderful tribute to the founders and their vision, which remains alive and continues to inspire our research today !

Thomas FRASSON received the 2025 Academic Thesis Prize for his research work among PhDs graduating in 2024.

Thesis Title : Heterogeneous heat flux from mantle convection simulations : impact on the geodynamo and magnetic reversals
His research explores the link between variations in the Earth’s magnetic field and the way heat is transferred between the Earth’s core and mantle. The magnetic field, generated by the movement of liquid iron in the core, changes in intensity and sometimes reverses over time.
Using advanced numerical models, Thomas Frasson studied how temperature differences at the (…)

Catherine Chauvel honored by the Académie des Sciences
Catherine Chauvel, Research Director at the CNRS and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), has received the Léon Lutaud Prize, accompanied by the Millot Medal from the Georges Millot and Léon Lutaud Foundation.
A renowned geochemist, she studies trace elements and isotopic systems to understand the evolution of the Earth through geological time. Her research on hotspot volcanoes, continental crust, and subduction (…)

Pierre-Yves Bard honored by the Académie des Sciences
Pierre-Yves Bard, Honorary General Engineer of the Ponts, Eaux et Forêts and researcher at Université Gustave Eiffel (ISTerre), has been recognized with the Dolomieu Prize, established by the BRGM. 
His work focuses on the quantitative assessment of seismic hazards, wave propagation in the subsurface, and their trapping in alluvial valleys. He has developed methods using ambient vibrations for the non-invasive investigation of (…)

As part of the MACIV project, funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR), a team of scientists deployed in September 2025 the largest mobile seismological network ever installed by a university team. This exceptional setup of 624 sensors, covering an area of 80 × 100 km² in the heart of the Massif Central, aims to image volcanic systems in fine detail from 0 to 10 km depth.
From September 15 to 24, 2025, fourteen engineers, PhD students, and researchers from various (…)