Kindness Isukwem, Awardee of the France Rising Talents 2024 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science

Kindness Isukwem has been awarded the Rising Talents Award France L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science 2024 for her doctoral work in fluid mechanics. CEMEF is very proud of the recognition this award has given Kindness.

Kindness is a 3rd year PhD student in the CFL team and will be defending her PhD on the impact and deformation of viscoplastic droplets at end of this month.

Her research focuses on a very complex subject: the physical mechanisms that govern the spreading of viscoplastic drops impacting three surfaces: a sticky solid plate, a thin layer of nitrogen vapour and the water/air interface. The spreading of a viscoplastic drop impacting a solid, liquid or gaseous surface is a major problem in physics.

As viscoplastic fluids can behave both as a perfect solid (non-deformable) under low stress and as a liquid above a threshold stress, their behaviour makes their spreading extremely difficult to predict. And yet this understanding is essential for the fine control of many applications.

The Rising Talents Award France L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science is sponsored by the L’Oréal Foundation in partnership with the Académie des Sciences and the French National Commission for UNESCO. This 18th edition rewards 35 promising young women researchers with the aim of accelerating their careers. This is a prestigious and selective prize. Nearly 800 candidates submitted their applications, which were assessed by a panel of around forty members of the Académie des Sciences. Outstanding expertise in a particular field of research is considered. The prize-winners embody French scientific excellence and are committed, through their research, to shedding new light on a fairer, more sustainable future.

KINDNESS AND HER FELLOW PRIZE-WINNERS RECEIVED THEIR AWARDS ON 9 OCTOBER 2024 AT THE ACADÉMIE DES SCIENCES. WE CONGRATULATE THEM MOST WARMLY.