Then and Now

After completing my PhD in France, I was eager to step beyond the walls of my lab and to develop a new project. So, in 2001, I took the leap and decided to apply for a Marie Curie grant, as it was known then. The programme was already well-regarded and competitive. I knew securing a grant would require time, inspiration, and the right contact. 

My PhD supervisor, Jean-Claude Rage, introduced me to Professor Zbyněk Roček, who led the evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) team at the Charles University in Prague. Evo-devo examines how changes in development shape evolution over time using a comparative approach and was a field that I had explored in my PhD, though my focus had been on fossilised tetrapods. I wanted to push further, so when the idea emerged to apply the same methodology with living amphibians in Czechia, my response was: let's go!

My experience as a Marie Curie fellow was not just a springboard for my career, helping me to apply for a permanent position, it also gave me the freedom to think outside the box. I had the opportunity to work in a different lab from the one in which I completed my PhD, which was enriching both on a personal and professional level. During this time, I not only discovered new research fields but also a new culture. I went to the Czech Republic, a country which has a long history, a very rich artistic culture, but also a great lifestyle and cuisine!

I will always remember the time I went with my supervisor to visit a botanical garden, not so far from Prague, where I saw the original paintings of paleo-artist Zdeněk Burian. I've known this painter since I was a kid, turning the pages of books on dinosaurs. His vibrant reconstructions of prehistoric life inspired in part my passion for my research topic. So, finding out that the Czech Republic has his museum was a revelation. It felt like I was coming full circle.

I am a palaeontologist specialised in the evolution of stegocephalians; prehistoric giant amphibians that roamed the Earth before the dinosaurs. My research helps to answer fundamental questions like: What did our planet look like 300 million years ago? How did ancient environments shape the species that lived in them and vice versa?

I want to understand these worlds that have been lost to us. But for me, the real drive goes beyond academic curiosity. I want to bring these lost worlds to life, not just for other scientists, but for everyone. Whether through museum exhibits, documentaries, or public talks, I’m passionate about sharing both the discoveries and the methods behind them.

With my Marie Curie grant, I moved from the study of extinct fossil amphibians to living ones. Thanks to my postdoc, I learnt new methodologies like tissue clearing and staining techniques. We coloured the tissues in different amphibians, depending on their growth stages, to compare them more effectively. I had initially planned to simply apply these existing methods to a new group, but the project evolved far beyond that. In Prague, we used 3D scanning, a technique still rare in evo-devo at the time. The beauty of the Marie Curie grant was that I had the freedom to explore. In this new working environment, I found new colleagues, new friends, and new directions of the project that would be interesting to test, and this is what is really exciting.

This flexibility extended beyond the lab. During my post-doc, I split my time between Charles University in Prague and the Museum of Natural History of the Czech Republic, bridging the scientific and public sphere. Since then, talking to visitors, designing exhibits, and translating complex science into accessible stories has become just as much a part of my work as publishing papers. Today, as a civil servant in France working at the CNRS, it is essential for me to be able to explain to a broader audience what I am doing with public funding, as it enables me to carry out my research.

Excellence was already a core part of Marie Curie grants when I applied in 2001. You needed to demonstrate that the project idea was truly original and that your host is the best place in the world to do it. But excellence is not just about responding to evaluation criteria: it is a blend of inspiration and methodology.

Methodology and technology alone are not enough to make excellent science. You need imagination and creativity. This means taking the time to explore the limits of your work, to understand how you can go further. That is the most important ingredient for excellence: to keep this capacity to take distance, to analyse what we are doing, and to push beyond the obvious.

Dare to think outside of the box. This will lead to new meetings, to new fields, to new interactions. I know it is easier said than done. We can sometimes feel that we are stuck in a tunnel with articles to write, proofs to read, fieldwork to plan, and courses to organise. But this is the right time to stop, think and explore. Science is not a straight line; it is a web of connections. Once you start exploring, it is like a chain reaction, leading you, whether by choice or by chance, to new unexpected research ideas.

We need to celebrate the fact that the MCSA is providing amazing opportunities to researchers, through supporting them in developing fundamental research and producing new knowledge. In a world where science is sometimes seen as a threat to tradition, profit, or ideology, the MSCA stands as a reminder of its true purpose: to help us understand and explain the world. The programme is not just about funding; it is about using that funding to support the development of researchers and to foster a culture where rigour and imagination go hand in hand.

Wikipedia | Linkedin | Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie - Paris | Palaeoherpetology and Evolutionary Morphology Group