Following the success of the LIBRA Career Development Compass, EU-LIFE Gender Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Working Group (GEDI) is relaunching the mentoring initiative to support women early career researchers at the postdoctoral level to advance their careers.
The goals of the mentoring programme are to:
- Support postdoctoral women on their paths to independence and professional development;
- Place a focus on the challenges women may encounter in their careers and possible approaches/solutions to those challenges;
- Provide EU-LIFE postdoctoral women with access to the entire pool of experienced mentors across 15 EU-LIFE institutes;
- Build an engaged and collaborative network of mentor-scientists across EU-LIFE institutes;
- Provide a platform for science managers/PIs from diverse scientific career paths to share their experiences, knowledge and advice with postdocs.
On this webpage you can find the participating mentors and their bios, as well as the programme guidelines and practical information. This programme is addressed to postdoctoral women of EU-LIFE institutes and the call for applications is open from 15 February to 15 March 2024.
Participating mentors
Please click on the profiles below for short bios of our mentors. For a compiled list of bios in PDF, please click here.

Leila Akkari
Group Leader at NKI, The Netherlands

Geneviève Almouzni
Research Director at Institut Curie, France

Maria João Amorim
Principal Investigator at IGC, Portugal

Amelie Baud
Junior Group Leader at CRG, Spain

Renee Beekman
Group Leader at CRG, Spain

Gabriele Bergers
Group Leader at VIB, Belgium

Valerie Borde
Research Director at Institut Curie, France

Florence Cavalli
Junior Group Leader at Institute Curie, France

Susanna Chiocca
Director, Viruses & Cancer Unit at IEO, Italy

Ana Cvejic
Group Leader at BRIC, Denmark

Laura de Rooij
Group Leader at CeMM, Austria

Michela di Virgilio
Group Leader at MDC, Germany

Sarah-Maria Fendt
Principal Investigator at VIB, Belgium

Ilana Gabanyi
Group Leader at IGC, Portugal

Electra Gizeli
Group Leader at IMBB-FORTH, Greece

Jacqueline Jacobs
Group Leader at NKI, The Netherlands

Helena Kilpinen
Group Leader at FiMM, Finland

Aleksandra (Ola) Kołodziejczyk
Group Leader at IIMCB, Poland

Tineke Lenstra
Group Leader at NKI, The Netherlands

Lynette Lim
Group Leader at VIB, Belgium

Saskia Lippens
Deputy Technology Director at VIB, Belgium

Reini Luco
Group Leader at Institut Curie, France

Barbara Maier
Principal Investigator at CeMM, Austria

Hilde Nelissen
Group Leader at VIB, Belgium

Evgenia Ntini
Principal Investigator at IMBB-FORTH, Greece

Leïla Perié
Group Leader at Institut Curie, France

Eliane Piaggio
Research Director at Institut Curie, France

Laure Plantard
Light Microscopy Expert at FMI, Switzerland

Panayiota Poirazi
Research Director at IMBB-FORTH, Greece

Helene Robert Boisivon
Group Leader at CEITEC, Czech Republic

Jenny Russinova
Group Leader at VIB, Belgium

Colinda Scheele
Group Leader at VIB, Belgium

Kyriaki Sidiropoulou
Principal Investigator at University of Crete, Greece

Charlotte Soneson
Research Associate at FMI, Switzerland

Katrine Sonne-Hansen
Head of Strategic Research Support at BRIC, Denmark

Daniela Thommen
Group Leader at NKI, The Netherlands

Moritz Treeck
Group Leader at IGC, Portugal

Sophie Trefely
Group Leader at the Babraham Institute, UK

Henri van Luenen
Director of Operations at NKI, The Netherlands

Isabelle Vernos
Group Leader at CRG, Spain

Sheila Vidal
Head of Research Funding Affairs Unit at IGC, Portugal

Danijela Vignjevic
Group Leader at Institut Curie, France

Sybille Vonesch
Group Leader at VIB, Belgium

Cecilia Winata
Group Leader at IIMCB, Poland