This month EPWS gives the floor to Prof. Anne Charmantier, Directrice de Recherche at CNRS in Montpellier.
Anne Charmantier is a CNRS evolutionary ecologist. She manages a long-term project on blue tits and great tits; data from this monitoring contributes to her research on local adaptation, plasticity, senescence and ecological genomics. She has pioneered quantitative genetic approaches in wild populations, to study adaptive and non-adaptive responses to climate change and urbanisation. She promotes equity and diversity in Science via involvement in scientific societies. She is chair of the Equal Opportunity committee for the European Society for Evolutionary Biology, President of the Society for the Study of Evolution, and a co-coordinator of a Femmes & Sciences (Women & Science) mentoring program. In 2024 she received the CNRS Silver Medal (Médaille d’argent) awarded to mid-career researchers for the originality, quality and importance of their work, recognized both nationally and internationally.

Contact:
email: anne.charmantier@cefe.cnrs.fr
institute website https://annecharmantier.weebly.com/
EPWS: What made you want to go to science? How did you decide to choose your discipline and your particular field of research? Did you have an inspiring model (parent, relative, teacher, literature, etc.)?
Both my parents are scientists and although they never talked much about their work at home, they did however bring me to their field sites, and most importantly we went three times on sabbaticals in Canada when I was a child. In the great wilderness of this immense country that we crossed from east to west, my fascination with nature grew and I came back to France convinced I would spend my life studying the secrets of whales and polar bears (which I didn’t, but I was hooked on animal behavior, biodiversity and ecology!). From a young age, I asked lots of questions and loved to travel, and a career in Science was aligned with these activities!
EPWS: What do you work on? How important is your research topic for science development or society?
My research is rooted in fundamental science questions around natural selection and the evolution of wild populations. In particular, I study the inheritance of traits and how natural selection shapes the morphology, behavior and life history of birds. My group uses bird records and monitoring over decades to understand how birds adapt to climate change, and to urbanization. In this Anthropocene era, understanding whether, and how quickly, wild organisms can adapt to these human-imposed challenges is a crucial issue. I also link my field research with local stakeholders, for example through an educational science project based on observing the great tit life cycle using spy nest-boxes in primary schools.

EPWS: What is your greatest success as a researcher (and as a teacher if you teach), the one you are most proud of? ? Could you share the memory of a great personal satisfaction during your research career with us?
I am very proud that we have built in my lab an inclusive collaborative group where I hope everyone feels safe and welcome, and I’m amazed at what we have achieved collectively in the last two decades. I strongly believe that Science is at its best when conducted in collaborative groups with a wide diversity of scientific cultures and expertise and I strive to promote fairness and respect among the young scientists I work with. This year I have been awarded a CNRS Silver Medal which I consider a great recognition of our collective efforts which have led to important results that none of us could have obtained alone.
EPWS: In which country/countries have you been doing research?
France, the UK and Canada.
EPWS: What is your agenda for the coming months?
I am still searching for a good balance between my involvement in research admin and societies, and my research. I want to spend as much time as possible with my students and on the field, particularly as we are launching new projects with a strong physiological component. This means a lot of new learning for me, in close collaboration with my colleague Samuel Caro, and I am very excited by the novel perspective it will bring to our research on how birds can adjust to life in our (overheating) cities.
EPWS: Did you meet any barriers (personal/social/structural) during your career as a scientific researcher? Did you benefit from mentoring?
.: As a strongly determined and focused young academic, it took me a very long time to realize that women were still highly discriminated against in Science. It was the French Women and Science network and the Australian Homeward Bound project leadership program that truly opened my eyes. I had not paid much attention until then to the fact that men undervalued my ideas during meetings, or to the common remarks on the fact that I was lucky with my grant funding because I was a woman (I was actually convinced it was true!). One day I reacted a little strongly to a colleague who pointed out to me that my attempts to reconcile a family life with a successful career were doomed to failure (i.e. I had to make a choice), and from there, I decided that it was time to be pro-active to promote gender equity in the academic world. Getting involved in the Montpellier Femmes & Sciences (Women & Science) mentoring program for PhD students is one of my most satisfactory action in this sense: I got to meet many amazing women, and it is a highly beneficial program for both mentees and mentors.

EPWS: What is the situation of gender equality in your working field? In the countries where you have been working, were there gender equalities policies and did you experience their effects?
In evolutionary ecology, there is a good balance in the number of men and women, but the leaky pipeline is still very much in process, which means there are much fewer women in more senior academic positions. Gender equality policies are common, and some have had positive impact, but the rules that promote diversity can sometimes unintentionally lead to overexertion of women scientists who are often disproportionately tasked with activities related to diversity and inclusion, such as serving on committees, mentoring underrepresented groups, and participating in outreach programs. I sometimes feel visibility fatigue and have recently been frustrated by funding agencies highlighting their progress in having half of their jury members female, when less then 20% of applicants are women. Spending so much time serving in panels and evaluating their pairs means women have less time to write their own grants!
EPWS: What do you suggest for a better implementation of gender equality in science?
Academic institutions should aim at distributing service work fairly among faculty members, recognizing and rewarding diversity efforts in evaluations, providing support structures such as childcare and mentoring programs, and developing systemic shifts rather than relying on individual women to shoulder the burden of equality initiatives.
EPWS: Did you experience networking between women scientists? Can you comment your answer and explain why yes or not?
One of the best boosts for my self-confidence was following the Homeward Bound leadership program which aims to heighten the influence and impact of women in making decisions that shape our planet. It made me part of a global network of like-minded women committed to demonstrating a model of leadership that will influence outcomes for men and women towards a sustainable future. Homeward Bound is a super powerful and supportive network for me. I’ve also mentioned above the Femmes & Sciences (Women & Science) association that is very active in my hometown of Montpellier and offers a local support group that is truly amazing.
EPWS: If you could start again your life, would you choose again to be a scientist? What would you change?
The first question is quite easy, as yes, I am quite convinced I would choose again to be a scientist, it feels like it is in my DNA. The second question is much harder as there are so many fields in biology that I could become passionate about, for instance in medical sciences. However, I feel so good when I am in natural spaces, that I would like any professional career in my alternative lives to allow me to spend time in pristine mountains or in the sea!

EPWS: Could you leave a message to young European women scientists?
You ARE good enough. Follow your dreams! If you are scared, take baby steps to move forward, find an ally to share your doubts with and to hold yourself accountable to your goals, and have fun during your professional adventures.
Favourite Links
https://homewardboundprojects.com.au/