BIO

Trained as a physicist, Marilyne Andersen is Director General of the GESDA Foundation, whose mission is to anticipate emerging scientific discoveries and translate them into concrete actions for the benefit of society by engaging proactively with policymakers and diplomats. A leading expert in the field of daylight in relation to neuroscience and psychophysics, she is also Full Professor at EPFL and Head of the LIPID lab, where she has been conducting pioneering work at the interface between science, engineering and design while being actively engaged in bridging the gap between art and science.

Dean of the ENAC School at EPFL from 2013 and 2018, where she notably carried the development of the EPFL Fribourg associate campus (Smart Living Lab), she initiated and led from 2022 until 2025 a Swiss-wide research consortium on the energy transition with a focus on the future of living and working.

Before joining EPFL, Marilyne Andersen has been a Professor at MIT (USA) from 2004 to 2010, and a Visiting Professor at the Berkeley Lab (USA) and at SUTD (Singapore). She has been expert to the Innovation Council of InnoSuisse and on the Boards of the global Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, the ArtTech and the Culture du Bâti Foundations