Isabelle Olivieri

1980 Olivieri began work as an agricultural engineer at the Paris-Grignon National Agronomic Institute, AgroParisTech. In 1983 she undertook postdoctoral work at Paul Ehrlich's laboratory at Stanford University in California. In 1984 she returned to France and was worked as a researcher in genetics and plant breeding at the Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) in Montpellier.^[1]

In 1993, Olivieri was appointed as the first professor of population genetics at the University of Montpellier.^[3] She taught on formal genetics and population genetics, theoretical biology, population biology applied to conservation and biodiversity management. Her research focused on genetics and evolutionary ecology of metapopulations, plant-insect interactions, biological control, conservation biology and biodiversity, evolution and consequences of dispersal, local selection, speciation. She developed a mathematical modelling approach to demographic and evolutionary processes, evolutionary interpretations based on molecular phylogenetics, evolutionary biology of invasions, biodiversity conservation, life cycles, and speciation.^[4]

In 2004 Olivieir was elected vice-president of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology, and became President of ESEB in 2007. She was elected vice-president of the American Society for the Study of Evolution the same year.^[1]

Isabelle Olivieri died of cancer on 10 December 2016 in Montpellier.^[1]

• 2004 – Descartes–Huygens Prize^[1]
• 2007 – CNRS Silver Medal^[5]
• 2009 – appointed to the Institut universitaire de France^[6]
• 2012 – Grand Prix de la Société française d’écologie^[7]

In 2026, Isabelle Olivieri was announced as one of 72 historical women in STEM whose names have been proposed to be added to the 72 men already celebrated on the Eiffel Tower. The plan was announced by the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo following the recommendations of a committee led by Isabelle Vauglin of Femmes et Sciences and Jean-François Martins, representing the operating company which runs the Eiffel Tower.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}