[Portrait] Emmanuel Petitcolas, assistant chemical engineer in the GREEN team (SQPOV)

What are your current scientific activities?

At the moment I am working on two projects which are the subject of industrial contracts and which are therefore confidential. What I can say is that one is to develop a process for intensifying the flavour of a plant extract and the other is about the study of the impact of a microwave process on the quality of a plant extract.
I have been trained very recently in the use of a membrane filtration pilot which will be used in our future research projects.

Why did you choose to work in academic research?

I discovered research when I was a student in Nancy. First, in my Master's degree (Master 1) during my three-month internship in research and development at Michelin in Clermont Ferrand, where I worked on polymer synthesis. Then the following year in the DEA (Master 2), where I did my internship for the whole year in a university laboratory on the synthesis of surfactants. I did not have the opportunity to continue with a thesis but when I arrived at the University of Avignon in 1997 as a technician, I had the opportunity, at the request of Professor Jean-Michel LACOMBE, to join the newly created UMR SQPOV between the university and INRA. At the beginning, I only devoted a small part of my working time to research activities. With the arrival of Prof. Farid CHEMAT in 2006 and the development of a new research theme within the UMR on eco-extraction, I was able to develop new skills and devote more time to it.

What advice would you give to students who want to do research?

I think that the appetite for a research career is built up gradually. I am not sure that many students dream of starting a thesis when they arrive at university. This is understandable, as the path is long and full of pitfalls. However, I believe that it is important throughout one's career in higher education and in life in general, develop curiosity, observe and seek to understand the world around usIt's not just a matter of being subjected to it, but of being an actor in one's life. In my opinion, it is only gradually that the desire to do research can become a career objective.

What object or image from your business best illustrates you?

I have chosen images that illustrate my commitment to the dissemination of scientific culture to schools and the general public.