24.01.22 – Zoë Holmes, a new professor at EPFL’s School of Basic Sciences, is one of the two winners of the Sandoz Family Foundation’s Monique de Meuron Programme for Academic Promotion.

The Sandoz Family Foundation was launched in 1964 by the sculptor and painter Edouard-Marcel Sandoz with the aim to “encourage entrepreneurial commitment through long-term holdings in companies in a variety of sectors.” The Foundation is committed to projects and institutions that contribute to the development of society in Switzerland and abroad. One of the areas supported is university research and education in Switzerland.

Each year for the past two decades, the Sandoz Family Foundation chooses two winners of a competition in the framework of the “Programme Fondation Philanthropique Famille Sandoz Monique de Meuron pour la relève universitaire.” (Sandoz Family Foundation Monique de Meuron Programme for Academic Promotion).

The winners are awarded a research grant, which encourages universities to recruit young research talent by providing substantial financial support for up to four years. This support enables each of the laureates to set up their research group and integrate it into the and integrate it into their respective research institutions.

This year, Sandoz has chosen Professor Zoë Holmes at EPFL and Professor Roxana Mihet at UNIL.

Zoë Holmes, who will join EPFL’s Institute of Physics in autumn 2022, is currently a researcher with the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Her research focuses on different areas of quantum computing, and she has made important contributions to quantum thermodynamics and fluctuation theory. She is the lead author of numerous academic articles, which not only demonstrate her originality but also show that she can turn her ideas into reality.