International Institute of Refrigeration
Women in Coolings:
After obtaining my PhD at London South Bank University (LSBU), I continued to work for three years in postdoctoral research while being actively involved in the activities of the Institute of Refrigeration (IOR) to promote the refrigeration industry and attract a diverse young audience. For example, I developed and led with Catarina Marques the IIR of students and young researcher network that take place every 4 years during the IIR congress in collaboration with the IOR. The next one will take place in the ICR2019 in Montreal.
I joined in 2013, the International Institute of Refrigeration as the Deputy Director General. Basically, my role is to promote refrigeration industry worldwide, as well as being responsible for the European and international funded projects as the dissemination partner of consortiums.
I am the secretary 2 IIR working groups: Cold Chain in Hot Countries and Careers in Refrigeration “CaRe”. The CaRe working group led by Dr Catarina Marques aims to make refrigeration and air conditioning more visible to the general public and inspire a young generation to join this exciting field. Another goal is to increase both the cultural diversity and numbers of women in refrigeration. Since its inception CaRe has had a presence at five international conferences held in Europe, Asia and the USA. I am the XXX author of the academic paper on Woman in Refrigeration presented at the ASHRAE Winter Conference 2017. This paper highlight the research carried into the state-of-art of women representation in the industry by collecting information from national refrigeration institutions and associations.
I am highly of promoting the IIR services, publications and activities in developing countries in particular in Africa. Recently, I was involved in HPMP Road Show in the Republic of South Africa organized by the RSA Environmental Affairs and the UNIDO. My role was to explain the European F-Gas regulation to the attendees from the public and private sectors.
I enjoy of making a difference in people’s lives, particularly in developing countries. Energy problems in developing countries prevent people from having a fridge which makes life very difficult. We take this for granted in Europe and forget what it would be like without refrigeration. One of the great aspects of working in this industry is the opportunity for travel and mix with different cultures. For instance, this year I have been to China, Canada, USA, Africa and over much of Europe. I never knew I would travel so much when I started my journey from Guadeloupe (French department) back 20 years ago!
