Francois Girod
With a lifelong passion for geology, mountain exploration and mineralogy, Francois Girod pursued a Master’s degree and then a PhD in Earth Sciences. His professional journey began in the analytical equipment industry as an application scientist. In 2004, he joined Holcim as Laboratory and Quality Manager, progressing to become Director of the Eclepens cement plant in 2010. Since 2021, he has been actively involved in circular economy and decarbonisation projects, and as of the beginning of this year, he is fully dedicated to these critical strategic initiatives.
Anna Fontcuberta i Morral
Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, a Full Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Physics at EPFL, became the school’s president in January 2025. With a PhD from École Polytechnique in Palaiseau and leadership experience at institutions such as Caltech, TU Munich and EPFL, she has advanced sustainable semiconductors and quantum technologies while co-founding Aonex Technologies to bridge scientific innovation and entrepreneurship. She actively served on the Presiding Board of the Swiss National Foundations’ Research Council. She is a member of the EPFL-WISH foundation, whose goal is to support female students in accomplishing their professional goals.
Professor Fontcuberta i Morral has received numerous prizes and accolades, such as the Emmy Noether Distinction of the European Physical Society, the ERC Starting Grant, the Marie Curie Excellence Grant and the prize for the best teaching from the engineering students at EPFL. Of Spanish and Swiss origin, she is fluent in five languages.
Michele Ceriotti
Michele Ceriotti is a professor at EPFL, where he leads the Laboratory for Computational Science and Modelling and directs the Institute of Materials. His research interests are rooted in the atomistic-scale modelling of matter, bridging quantum mechanics, statistical physics and machine learning.
Xavier Caro
Xavier Caro possesses over 25 years of expertise in packaging and sustainable design within the FMCG industry. After starting at Nestlé in 1998, Xavier has held diverse leadership roles within the company across operations, R&D, and corporate functions. He has cultivated a robust international profile through assignments in Australia, the United States, Singapore, Brazil and Germany. Xavier also gained experience serving as Senior Director of Packaging R&D for EMEA at KENVUE focusing on the development and deployment of new product launches as well as providing support to marketed products across all franchises and channels within the Essential Health, Skin Health, and Self Care categories. Now heading the Nestlé Institute of Packaging Science, he and his team are focusing on the research and development of novel materials for the Nestlé Brands.
Federico Zipoli
Dr Federico Zipoli is a Senior Research Scientist at IBM Research Europe in Zurich. His research activity focuses on leveraging foundation models and generative AI to accelerate discoveries in chemistry and materials science. Before this, he applied atomistic simulations to different types of materials, for example phase-change materials for storage applications and solid-state electrolytes for batteries.
Vanessa Wood
Professor Vanessa Wood is a full professor and Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations at ETH Zurich. In 2011, she was appointed a professor in the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich. Her research group is the Materials and Device Engineering Group. Since 2018, she has been Chair of the Institute for Electronics. From 2018 to 2020, she was also head of the department. In 2021, she was appointed Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations. She won the 2014 Science Prize in Electrochemistry awarded by BASF and Volkswagen Group, and the Outstanding Young Investigator Award from the Materials Research Society in 2018. Vanessa Wood holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics from Yale University (2005), a Master’s in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (2007) and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from MIT (2009).
Maria Zivcec
After studying materials science, Maria Zivcec earned a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, focusing on alternative manufacturing methods for hard metals and their characterisation. Ten years ago, she began her career at Hilti in Liechtenstein as a project manager for powder metallurgical manufacturing technologies, followed by a role as a technical project leader in product development. For the past three years, she has led the Materials Research team in Corporate Research and Technology at Hilti.
Camp de vacances Swiss TecLadies à Martigny du 20 au 24 octobre 2025
Swiss TecLadies organise pour la première fois un camp STL4IT en Suisse romande, du 20 au 24 octobre 2025 à Martigny.
Ce camp a pour objectif :
- d'encourager les jeunes femmes à s’orienter vers des professions dans les domaines de l’informatique et de la technique
- de renforcer leur confiance en elles et leurs compétences
- et de favoriser la création de réseaux entre participantes
Le camp s’adresse aux filles de 12 à 15 ans (entre la 9H et la 11H), domiciliées et scolarisées en Suisse. Il propose :
- Un projet de recherche
- Des excursions, des rencontres et des activités en plein air
- Une ambiance bienveillante et un encadrement professionnel
Lieu : Auberge de jeunesse de Martigny (privatisée pour l’occasion)
Langue : français
Tarifs : CHF 250.– avec hébergement / CHF 100.– sans hébergement
50 % de réduction avec la CarteCulture
Le camp à Martigny est organisé en collaboration avec Objectif Sciences International, grâce au soutien de la Fondation Hasler.
Toutes les informations et inscriptions sur www.tecladies.ch/fr/camps
