Imperial's President honoured by French learned society

Professor Gast received the honour in the Grand Palais

Professor Alice Gast has been appointed a fellow of the prestigious Académie des Technologies.

The Académie des Technologies, founded in 2000, is the newest of the French academies. Its focus is on emerging technologies and their impact on society, the environment and economic growth.

Professor Gast was one of 12 new fellows be honoured at a ceremony held at the Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées on Tuesday 7 February. It is one of the highest accolades in French academia.

Receiving the honour, Professor Alice Gast said: “I am passionate about international collaboration. Great ideas and great discoveries come to brilliant people who absorb and learn things in every circumstance and from everyone they meet."

"I am very honoured and happy to have been elected a Fellow of the Académie des Technologies in a country where research, education and collaboration are so strong. I look forward to working together to advance these values."

Alain Bravo, President of the Académie des Technologies, said: "We are very happy and proud to welcome Alice Gast to the Académie des Technologies.

The first hand expertise and experience of Professor Gast, forged in institutions of excellence on both sides of the Atlantic like Princeton, Stanford, MIT and Imperial College, and who also maintains a dialogue with the ambitions of countries such as Singapore, and Malaysia, will be very useful to us."

Imperial and France

In the past five years, Imperial has produced publications with authors at 296 collaborating institutions in France

Imperial is the UK’s most international university and has especially strong ties with France.

Over the past ten years, more than 8,000 papers have been published in collaboration between Imperial and researchers based at French institutions

The College's research and education links include relationships with French higher education institutions such as the National Centre for Scientific Research and the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, based in Paris.

French students make up Imperial’s third-largest student community, behind only the UK and China, and our fourth largest international staff community.

In a 2016 interview with Le Figaro in the aftermath of the Brexit vote,  Professor Gast said that Britain’s universities are “global institutions” and that “we want our doors to remain open to talented international students”.