Supervisors
In this ambitious undertaking, I am extremely privileged to be guided and counselled by two amazing supervisors. I am of course deeply thankful to them. Please find below a few brief words on who they are.
SEBASTIEN DESCOURS
During his distinguished career at BNP-Paribas, which led to him becoming the bank's Global Deputy Head of Cash Management, Sébastien Descours gradually turned his focused towards the study and practice of entrepreneurship.
As early as 1993, Sébastien became a lecturer at HEC - Paris in their Entrepreneurship Master's Program where he gradually held various positions during more than a decade. Since 2005, he has been the President at D&A Ventures, a French consultancy specialised in venture capital fund-raising. More recently in 2010, he co-founded Etires, a Philosophy Master's Program at the Sorbonne in Paris, focused on questioning our contemporary environmental and social responsibilities.
As a supervisor, Sebastien Descours' main focus will be on content.
VINCENT DAHIREL
Vincent Dahirel, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Université Pierre et Marie Curie, in Paris. Since 2010, his research has focused on highly multidisciplinary topics at the juncture of chemistry, physics, biology and computer sciences. These projects range from basic physical chemistry of soft matter to the modelling of epigenetics, or even the design of an HIV vaccine.
In 2011, having already developed and run different multidisciplinary-based courses, Vincent’s proclivity for this teaching philosophy led him to join the Centre for Research and Interdisciplinarity’s faculty (see below), where he participated in designing new courses in the Frontiers of Life undergraduate program .
Set to begin in fall 2016, Vincent has recently co-created a new and novel diploma at the CRI focused on student engagement: CREER (CREativity, Entrepreneurship and Research). This very innovative graduate program will be specifically tailored for students and professionals wishing to undergo their own self-designed study projects but also wanting to benefit from the learning and collaborative ecosystem offered within a major university.
As a supervisor, Vincent Dahirel's main focus will be on pedagogy and methodology (see below for details on the partnership devised with the CRI).
The Centre for Research and Interdisciplinarity (Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaires – CRI) was founded in 2005 in Paris. It is an innovative higher education institute providing various undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate diplomas at the crossroads of multiple traditional disciplines. The CRI’s main role is to promote new educational techniques and strategies to empower student initiative and the development of their own research projects. Mentors, research institutions, private companies, and foundations provide the support for the student-created research projects and activities.
CRI Partnership: What.Matters.Now independently stems from the same educational intuition, need and philosophy as CREER (see above, Vincent Dahirel's Bio). Thus a partnership was struck between the CRI and myself to mutually strengthen both endeavours. In exchange for pedagogical supervision and mentoring - given by Vincent Dahirel - I will join the Programme’s Pedagogical Team as an External Pilot Consultant and help enrich the design and implementation of this new diploma.