After a PhD thesis at the University of Rennes 1 in 1991 under the supervision of Jean-Pierre Banâtre, Valérie was recruited as a Researcher at Inria in 1992 in the Solidor team, and obtained a Habilitation Degree at the University of Rennes 1 in 1997 before joining Inria Paris Rocquencourt in 1999 where she created and directed the Arles team from 2002 to 2013. She is then Research Director with the MiMove team.

From 2013 to 2018, she was the scientific coordinator of the Inria@SiliconValley program at UC Berkeley, which promoted collaboration between Inria and California universities. In 2013, Valérie Issarny was recognised as one of the 12 “Etoiles de l’Europe”. In 2014, she received the Legion d’Honneur for her contribution to Higher Education and Research. Since 2021, she is Director of Research of Exceptional Class.

She was a committed researcher in the fields of software engineering and middleware systems with a particular focus on software systems supporting mobile distributed applications. Her latest work was dedicated to the design of participatory systems using service computing, or how digital technology can foster citizen engagement. She was keen on illustrating how middleware can overcome technical heterogeneity to foster interoperability and social interaction. She was very involved in the community and was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems and Chair of the ACM Europe Council. Valerie fought until the end to bring her vision to life.

On November 12, 2022, the Inria Paris Center lost one of its great scientists, a colleague and a friend. Inria and the Center present their most sincere condolences to her daughter and her husband, to her family and friends, and assure them of their warmest thoughts.

This book of testimonies is open to all those who wish to pay tribute to Valérie Issarny.