Governance

The institute is administered by the Institute Council, which validates its main guidelines in terms of research, training and innovation.

Its main duties are to: 

• Validate the scheduling of the institute’s actions
• Validate the budget and financial accounts
• Accredit projects funded by the institute, in accordance with committee recommendations
• Give an opinion on proposed reviews and assessments
• Appoint members of the strategic training and research council as well as the Director of the institute.

The Council comprises members entitled to vote within two jointly represented colleges:

• College 1 comprises deans (or their representative) from the following faculties: Sciences (7 spokespeople), Polytech (3 spokespeople) and Pharmacy (1 spokesperson).
• College 2 comprises directors (or their representative) of the 11 institute member laboratories, each with 1 spokesperson.

The Council also includes members with an advisory capacity:

• Members of the IM2B executive office
• The Director of the university’s doctoral college
• One student and PhD student representative
• The Director and Assistant Director of the Mediterranean institute for microbiology (IMM)

The Institute Council is chaired by the institute Directors. It meets at least twice a year.

This committee proposes and implements the institute’s research initiatives.

In particular, it defines the framework of calls for projects and selects the projects to be accredited by the Institute Council.

IM2B Research Committee members - 2023-2027:

• Cristian Barca (AMU, M2P2)
• Matthieu Bergé (CNRS, LCB)
• Guillaume Blanc (CNRS, MIO)
• Laurence Blanchard (CNRS, BIAM)
• Laurie Casalot (IRD, MIO)
• Eric Cascales (CNRS, LISM)
• Pedro Coutinho (AMU, AFMB)
• Bérengère Ize (CNRS, LISM)
• Matthieu Legendre (CNRS, IGS)
• Sonia Longhi (CNRS, AFMB)
• Muriel Masi (AMU, MCT)
• Elisabetta Mileo (CNRS, BIP)
• Pierre Rousselot-Pailley (CNRS, iSm2)
• Lionel Tarrago (INRAE, BBF)

The committee that assigns IM2B doctoral contracts, chaired by the Research and Training Assistant Co-directors, comprises 4 members of the Research Committee and 4 members of the Training Committee, based on the following annual rotation: 

• 2024: Bérengère Ize (LISM), Pedro Coutinho (AFMB), Sonia Longhi (AFMB) & Elisabetta Mileo (BIP)
• 2025: Matthieu Bergé (LCB), Guillaume Blanc (MIO), Laurence Blanchard (BIAM), Laurie Casalot (MIO) & Cristian Barca (M2P2)
• 2026: Muriel Masi (MCT), Matthieu Legendre (IGS), Pierre Rousselot-Pailley (iSm2) & Lionel Tarrago (BBF)

This committee proposes and implements the institute’s training initiatives.

In particular, it defines the framework of calls for offers and selects the projects to be accredited by the Institute Council. It also plays a key role in deploying the TIGER project.

It comprises members from different laboratories who represent all master’s students under the umbrella of the IM2B:

• master’s students studying microbiology, structural biology and genomics
• life chemistry programme of the Master’s in Chemistry
• biology and environmental biotechnologies and food quality and safety programmes of the Master’s in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science and Technology
• software development and data analysis programme of the Master’s in Bioinformatics
• biological engineering programme at Marseille polytech

IM2B Research Committee members - 2023-2027:

• Laurent Aussel (LCB)
• Aurélia Battesti (LCB)
• Emmanuel Bertrand (M2P2)
• Christophe Bordi (LISM)
• Katia Duquesne (iSm2)
• Bruno Faure (iSm2)
• Elsa Garcin (IGS)
• Hélène Gaussier (MIO)
• Christophe Laloi (BIAM)
• Stéphanie Perret (LCB)
• Anne de Poulpiquet (BIP)
• Nicolas Terrapon (AFMB)
• Julie Viala (LISM)

The committee that assigns IM2B doctoral contracts, chaired by the Research and Training Assistant Co-directors, comprises 4 members of the Research Committee and 4 members of the Training Committee, based on the following annual rotation: 

• 2024: Emmanuel Bertrand (M2P2), Hélène Gaussier (MIO), Katia Duquesne (iSm2) & Laurent Aussel (LCB)
• 2025: Anne de Poulpiquet (BIP), Christophe Bordi (LISM) & Stéphanie Perret (LCB)
• 2026: Nicolas Terrapon (AFMB), Aurélia Battesti (LCB), Julie Viala (LISM) & Elsa Garcin (IGS)

This committee supports and structures the IM2B’s technology platform network.

Created in 2021, this committee comprises a representative from each of the host structures of the institute’s 28 platforms (UMR or research federation):

Composition of the Platforms Committee – IM2B:

• Cristian Barca (M2P2) - Olivier Boutin chaired from 2021 to 2023
• Deborah Byrne-Kodjabachian (IMM)
• Laetitia Shintu (iSm2) - Elise Courvoisier-Dezord chaired from 2021 to 2023
• Anne Favel (BBF)
• Gabriel Gras (BIAM)
• Agnès Kammoun  (IM2B)
• Véronique Sinou (MCT)
• Renaud Vincentelli (AFMB)

Plinius cursus governance

The Advisory Board is an important strategic committee. It appoints the Director of the institute on the proposal of the Institute Council, approves the guidelines and their annual update, issues opinions and recommendations concerning the coherence between the guidelines and the budget and approves investments for the year ahead.

It comprises representatives from partner research unit advisory boards:

• Aix-Marseille Université (AMU)
• French national centre for scientific research (CNRS)
• French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)
• French national research institute for agriculture, food and the environment (INRAE)
• French national institute for health and medical research (Inserm)
• Development research institute (IRD)
• Centrale Méditerranée

The Advisory Board meets annually.

The Scientific and Training Advisory Board (STAB) comprises prominent scientists of international standing. Its members are appointed by the Institute Council for a 3-year term (renewable once).

The STAB comprises 6 national and international members external to the university to support the IM2B’s educational and scientific path as well as its European and international positioning. Its members represent the laboratories’ different fields of expertise:

• Pr Nicolas Bayan, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell, Dept of Microbiology, Université Paris-Saclay
• Pr Bianca Colonna, Dept of Biology and Biotechnology “C. Darwin”, Faculty of Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome
• Pr Dr Juan A. Hermoso Dominguez, Dept of Crystallography and Structural Biology, Institute of Physical-Chemistry “Blas Cabrera”, Madrid
• Pr Bénédicte Menez, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Université Paris Cité
• Anne-Marie Perez, Capénergies competitiveness cluster
• Dr Maxie Roessler, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Imperial college London

Members:

• Jean-Guy Berrin (INRAE, BBF)
• Frédéric Beisson (CEA, BIAM)
• Laurie Casalot (IRD, MIO)
• Eric Cascales (CNRS, LISM)
• Jean-Michel Claverie (AMU, IGS)
• Etienne Decroly (CNRS, AFMB)
• Christelle Desnues (CNRS, MIO)
• Anne Galinier (CNRS, LCB)
• Bérengère Ize (CNRS, LISM)
• Matthieu Legendre (CNRS, IGS)
• Christophe Léger (CNRS, BIP)
• Jalila Simaan (CNRS, iSm2)
• Gerlind Sulzenbacher (CNRS, AFMB)

The committee that assigns IM2B doctoral contracts, chaired by the Research and Training Assistant Co-directors, comprises 4 members of the Research Committee and 4 members of the Training Committee, based on the following annual rotation:

• 2020: Laurie Casalot (MIO), Etienne Decroly (AFMB), Jalila Simaan (iSm2) & Jean-Michel Claverie (IGS)
• 2021: Bérengère Ize (LISM), Jean-Guy Berrin (BBF), Christelle Desnues (MIO) & Frédéric Beisson (BIAM)
• 2022: Anne Galinier (LCB), Gerlind Sulzenbacher (AFMB), Matthieu Legendre (IGS) & Christophe Léger (BIP)
• 2023: Laurie Casalot (MIO), Etienne Decroly (AFMB), Jalila Simaan (iSm2) & Jean-Michel Claverie (IGS)

Members:

• Carole Baffert (BIP)
• Emmanuel Bertrand (BBF)
• Sophie Bleves (LISM)
• Christophe Bordi (LISM)
• Olivier Boutin (M2P2)
• Valérie Deyris (iSm2)
• Bruno Faure (iSm2)
• Elsa Garcin (IGS)
• Isabelle Imbert (LISM)
• Christophe Laloi (BIAM)
• Chantal Tardif (LCB)
• Nicolas Terrapon (AFMB)
   

The committee that assigns IM2B doctoral contracts, chaired by the Research and Training Assistant Co-directors, comprises representatives of the Research Committee and representatives of the Training Committee, based on the following annual rotation:

• 2020: Carole Baffert (BIP), Emmanuel Bertrand (BBF), Christophe Bordi (LISM) & Chantal Tardif (LCB)
• 2021: Elsa Garcin (IGS), Isabelle Imbert (AFMB) & Dorothée Murat (LCB)
• 2022: Sophie Bleves (LISM), Valérie Deyris (iSm2) & Elsa Garcin (IGS)
• 2023: Carole Baffert (BIP), Emmanuel Bertrand (BBF), Christophe Bordi (LISM) & Chantal Tardif (LCB)