Frédérique Vidal (born 9 May 1964) is a Monegasque-born French-based

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

, academic administrator, and politician who served as Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation in the government of

Prime Ministers A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but rat ...

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 202 ...

and

Jean Castex Jean Castex (; born 25 June 1965) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 3 July 2020 to 16 May 2022. He was a member of The Republicans (LR) until 2020. Castex served for twelve years as mayor of the small town of ...

from 2017 to 2022. She was the president of the

University of Nice A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

from 2012 to 2017.

Early life

Vidal was born in

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

. She was educated in Monaco and earned a master's degree in biochemistry from the

University of Nice Sophia Antipolis A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

. She earned a

Master of Advanced Studies A Master of Advanced Studies (MASt or MAS), or Master of Advanced Study, is a postgraduate degree awarded in various countries. Master of Advanced Studies programs may be non-consecutive programs tailored for "specific groups of working professio ...

in molecular virology from the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (, ) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax and rabies. Th ...

, and a PhD in biology from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis.

Career

Vidal began her career as a biochemist for

Virbac Virbac is a French company dedicated to animal health located in Carros, near Nice. It was founded in 1968 by veterinarian Pierre-Richard Dick. The company is the 6th the largest veterinarian pharmaceutical group with a turnover of 1,397 milli ...

. Vidal joined her alma mater, the University of Nice, as an associate professor in 1995. She became a full professor in 2002, and she served as the chair of the biology department from 2005 to 2008. There is no evidence that Vidal officially directed a thesis; she published one scientific peer-reviewed paper as last author and has an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

of 14 (retrieved on

Web of Science The Web of Science (WoS; previously known as Web of Knowledge) is a paid-access platform that provides (typically via the internet) access to multiple databases that provide reference and citation data from academic journals, conference proceedi ...

, February 2021). She was the vice dean of its college of sciences from 2007 to 2009, and its dean from 2009 to 2012. She succeeded Albert Marouani as the university president in 2012. During her first term, Vidal founded ''Université Côte d'Azur'', a consortium consisting of the university, and local business schools and research centres, to increase the international attractiveness of the university. She was re-elected as president in 2016. Vidal was opposed to the ''

circulaire Guéant In France, Italy, Belgium, and some other civil law countries, a ( French), (Italian) or ( Dutch) consists of a text intended for the members of a service, of an enterprise, or of an administration. Within the French and Belgian civil service ...

'', a failed proposal by Interior Minister Claude Guéant whose aim was to curtail the ability of non-EU foreign students to stay in France after the completion of their studies. She suggested the University of Nice should not discriminate on the basis of national origin or financial resources. On 17 May 2017, Vidal was appointed Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation in the First Philippe Government. In March 2019, Vidal criticized the Polish

Institute of National Remembrance The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state research institute in charge of education and archives which also includes two public prosecutio ...

for its role in the disruption of Holocaust conference in Paris.Colloquium on the Shoah in Paris: France protests with Poland

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

, 1 March 2019La Pologne minimise les incidents lors d’un colloque sur la Shoah à Paris
Le Monde, 4 March 2019Behr, Valentin. "Entre histoire et propagande. Les contributions de l’Institut polonais de la mémoire nationale à la mise en récit de la Seconde Guerre mondiale." Allemagne d'aujourd'hui 2 (2019): 82-92.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vidal, Frederique 1964 births French people of Monegasque descent French women academics Living people Monegasque women Pasteur Institute Côte d'Azur University alumni Academic staff of Côte d'Azur University Women biochemists Women government ministers of France