Profile
Professor Frédéric Herman has been Rector of UNIL since 1 August 2021, a role that he carries out with the curiosity, lucidity and certainty of a scientist who is aware of the major upheavals taking place today, but who is keen to take a long-term view of his project, as one of the world's leading experts on the interactions between climate change and mountain evolution.
A native of Belgium, he has in-depth knowledge of the Lake Geneva area and knows that he has to steer the UNIL ship at a time that we would like to be post-Covid but which remains very tricky to navigate. This unprecedented situation clearly affects the management of an institution whose very meaning lies in the intermingling of diverse populations, the exchanges and encounters between teachers and students, and between researchers from all over the world. More than ever, he knows that he must and can count on all of the institution's driving forces – academic, administrative and technical – to put "people at the centre and create a human-focused environment".
He highlights a number of major societal challenges that UNIL can help to identify and address in its three key areas of research, teaching and academic collaboration. Logically, the strategic plan that he is drawing up with the members of his Rectorate concerns these issues, in particular health, the ecological transition, new technologies, humanitarianism, the role of science in society and the need to collaborate with other institutions.
Faced with urgency, he reminds us, scientists "have the right to give themselves time to think". The Rectorate's role is first and foremost to ensure that the knowledge generated by academic activity at the cutting edge in fields as diverse as environmental, health, social, economic, legal, political, artistic, ethical, psychological and technological issues is passed on in the classroom and in society. These are all areas in which UNIL excels and offers its expertise as part of its public service mission.
