The first Lorraine University was created in 1572 in Pont-à-Mousson in the Duchy of Lorraine and was transferred to Nancy in 1758. In 1970, the Université de Nancy was split in 3 different institutions:
- the Université Nancy II,
- the Institut national polytechnique de Lorraine and
- the Université Henri Poincaré - Nancy I.
The Université Henri Poincaré - Nancy I (a.k.a. UHP) is a public research university located in Nancy, France that has been selected by the French government as one of the 12 french Campus d’excellence. UHP covers all scientific fields.
Within UHP, the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) created in 1854 has 2 410 Bachelor students, 1 326 Master students and 418 PhD students. 540 Professors and Assistant-professors are working at FST.
The University is involved in several European projects in the field of Fusion Sciences such as FUSENET but also the European Erasmus Mundus Master European Master in Nuclear Fusion Sciences and Engineering Physics - FUSION-EP, the European Erasmus Mundus Doctoral College in Fusion Sciences and Engineering - FUSION-DC and the European Doctoral Federation in Fusion Science and Engineering (EDF-FS).
On January 1st, 2012, the Université Henri Poincaré merged with its neighboring universities from Nancy and Metz (Université Nancy 2, Institut national polytechnique de Lorraine and Université Paul Verlaine-Metz) into the Université de Lorraine.
The Université de Lorraine is now the legal representative for the 4 merging universities with about 54 000 students.
The Institut Jean Lamour (IJL: http://www.ijl.nancy-universite.fr/) was created in 2009 is in Nancy after the merging of 5 existing laboratories as a research mixed unit. The research activity in the laboratory is supported by 20 teams spread in three departments:
- (i) Physics of Matter and Materials
- (ii) Physics and chemistry of Solid and Surfaces;
- (iii) Science and Engineering of Materials and Metallurgy
These teams have access to services and workshops for commonly shared activities. To develop interdisciplinary studies linking departments, federative projects were initiated to support science at interfaces between topics.
STEFI "Science and Techniques for Fusion – ITER" is the federative project that coordinates all Fusion relevant activities at IJL. Research activities related to magnetic fusion, combining theoretical, numerical and experimental approaches, have been carried out at IJL for many years in close collaboration with IRFM-Cadarache and other French teams, and now in the framework of the French Research Federation for Magnetic Fusion (FR-FCM: http://www.fr-fcm.fr/) under contract LRC-EURATOM CEA-CNRS number DSM-99-18.
The main topics at IJL are:
- (i) the kinetic modeling of hot plasmas, with the development of innovative methods for the numerical simulation (Vlasov and gyro-waterbag codes)
- (ii) the experimental study of turbulence and transport accompanied by the development of innovative diagnostic tools and analysis (e.g. position reflectometry for ITER), signal processing methods for reflectometry and probe diagnostics, and ultra-fast imaging;
- (iii) wave-plasma and plasma-wall interactions, in particular with the study of the sheaths near heating antennas and studies on dust formation and dynamics.
These activities involve participation in campaigns conducted on various large installations at the international level (Tore-Supra tokamak in Cadarache, CASTOR at IPP-Prague, ASDEX Upgrade in Garching, JET at Culham, Globus-M in St. Petersburg, etc. ...), but also on our own laboratory plasma devices, in particular the MIRABELLE experiment. Our activities also include direct participation in the design of ITER under EFDA contacts (position reflectometers of ITER and antennas, for example).
Education:Almost all participating members of IJL are involved in teaching activities (representing about 400 hrs/year) related to the scientific project at Master level. Since 2007 seven PhD have been delivered and most of them got a Post-Doctoral position. Ten PhD students are presently supervised by the 6 HDR of the plasma physics group, three of them making their doctoral work in IRFM-Cadarache or in joint Ph.D. programs.
As the only French University participating both in the national master "Sciences de la Fusion" ( http://www.sciences-fusion.fr/ ), and the European Erasmus Mundus Master programme "FUSION-EP" (http://www.em-master-fusion.org/), UHP-Nancy constitutes a special node in European Fusion Education networks, and a leader or core partner in recent initiatives at doctoral level:
- (i) PPF 20051410 "Physique des Plasmas pour la Fusion” aiming at developing and coordinating formation at the doctoral level, (Ecole Polytechnique, Marseille, Nancy) was started in 2005 and coordinated by Nancy. Two workshops for doctoral students were organized in 2006 and 2008.
- (ii) Nancy is coordinating the new a European Doctoral Federation in Fusion Science and Engineering (EDF-FS) that has been started in 2010.
- (iii) FUSENET, the European Fusion Education Network, in which UHP is a core partner leading the Workpackage 10 devoted to Funding of organization and coordination of joint educational activities in support of European Doctorate and Master level education.
