Excellence scolarship campaign 2026
As part of the Graduate + project, the Graduate Initiative “Energy and Industry of the Future” (GI EIF) is pleased to announce the launching of an Excellence Scholarship Campaign for Masters students who wish to attend one of the master’s degree program in Mechanical Engineering, part of the Graduate Initiative “Energy and Industry of the Future”.
These scholarships are intended to train students in the fields of Engineering. These scholarships are open to foreign students wishing to enroll in the second year of one of the master degree programs in Engineering :
- master M2 MFE: Fluid Mechanics and Energetic
- master M2 DISS: Data and Intelligence for Smart Systems
- master M2 EEEA: Electronic, Electric energy, Automatic
- master M2 Robotic: Automatic and Robotics Science
and wishing to pursue a research program, during an Internship in a research laboratory, in the field of one of the following research thematics.
List of Excellence scholarships
Thematic 1 : Air trumpets
Excellence scholarship n° 1 proposed by HELENE SCOLAN (email contact)
LMFA, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
présentation : PDF file
It is very common to observe air bubbles when we pour water into a glass. However, the mechanism of air entrainment by plunging jets is still a widely open question. This study will be dedicated to study the viscous version of the problem wherein a viscous plunging jet entrains a thin film of air into a pool containing the same liquid. By controlling the viscosity of the liquid, and both the jet speed and diameter, we want to characterize experimentally the thickness and the shape of the entrained air film. Such an investigation will provide the foundation to the study the criteria of film rupture which leads to air bubble formation in viscous air entrainment flows.
Thematic 2 : Learning locomotion movements in a physical cartoon simulation
Excellence scholarship n° 2 proposed by ALEXANDRE MEYER (email contact)
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, LIRIS, Département Composante Informatique
présentation : PDF file
Physics-based character animation has seen significant advances in recent years. Optimization and reinforcement learning methods have made it possible to increase the complexity of learned movements [1, 3, 8, 9, 10]. These approaches generally aim to produce realistic movements, similar to those of humans, while respecting real physical laws based on motion capture data. However, in the field of cartoons or cinema (action, science fiction, or fantasy films), physics is often distorted [2]: the laws of motion are deliberately exaggerated or modified to enhance the humor, expressiveness, or spectacular nature of the scenes (see Figure 1).
We propose to explore a motion generation model in a “zany” physical simulation [2], where the laws of physics are adjusted to produce expressive and unexpected behaviors. We want to integrate physical parameters into the learning process, such as adding virtual forces to assist or disrupt the character. Experiments will begin on a simplified model before moving on to more complete morphologies, guided by data from movie scenes or cartoons.
Thematic 3 : Excellence Scholarship for Master EEEA
Excellence scholarship n° 3 proposed by FABIEN SIXDENIER (email contact)
Laboratoire AMPERE - Département composante GEP
présentation : PDF file
This excellence scholarship campaign is aimed at students wishing to enroll in the EEEA (Electronics, Electrical Energy, Automation) master’s program, which is part of the EIF Graduate Initiative “Energy and Industry of the Future.” Competitive funding for doctoral scholarships will be offered to the top 20% of students in the program.These scholarships are intended for foreign students wishing to develop a research topic in a partner laboratory (LAGEPP, AMPERE, INL, CREATIS) related to one of the three tracks of the EEEA master’s program (see the detailled description).
Thematic 4 : Design, Learning, and Experimental Validation of Safe Pursuit-Evasion Strategies for Multi-Agent Autonomous Robots
Excellence scholarship n° 4 proposed by AHMAD HABLY (email contact)
LAGEPP
présentation : PDF file
Pursuit–evasion games provide a stimulating framework for studying decision-making, control, and interaction among autonomous agents. They involve pursuers and evaders evolving in complex environments where speed, safety, and adaptability are critical. These problems have direct applications in mobile robotics, autonomous navigation, security, and multi-robot cooperation. The objective of this project is to design and evaluate control and learning strategies for autonomous agents engaged in pursuit–evasion scenarios.
Three main directions will be explored: (1) dynamic modeling of the agents, (2) implementation of predictive control strategies (MPC) and safety-critical Control Barrier Functions (CBFs), and (3) integration of reinforcement learning (RL) approaches to enable adaptation in uncertain environments.
The methods will first be developed and benchmarked in simulation (Python,MATLAB/Simulink), then validated in a ROS2/Gazebo environment, with possible experiments on TurtleBot platforms.
