“My profession is my passion”, Elena Syerko, Ecole Centrale de Nantes

Since her school-days Elena Syerko has dreamed of a profession that would enable her to  wield acquired knowledge as a tool to solve various state-of-the-art problems in engineering. As a Senior Research Fellow of École Centrale de Nantes she currently conducts a research in the domain of mechanics of uncured works on composites in her laboratory, a Research Institute in Civil Engineering and Mechanics (GeM).

“I work in the composites manufacturing science and engineering group. We develop both the numerical modeling approaches, and original experimental and characterisation methods using our modern testing platforms. The GeM Institute has also an expertise in the durability, dynamic behaviour and damage of composites“, she explains.

A vocation for engineering

Before coming to France, Elena Syerko studied applied mathematics in her home country Ukraine, choosing to specialise in physics-based mathematical modelling. “When I was making a decision about my Master studies in Ukraine, I chose applied mathematics, because I was attracted by this exciting subject, which provides powerful tools for the solution of complexis problems  of various fields of engineering. It is very interesting to develop new methods with the help of mathematical tools and follow their direct use in practice. I felt it a vocation” she recalls. This was reinforced by experiences and encounters, such as Elena’s youthful discovery of the Mriya (meaning “a dream”), the longest aircraft in the world for transporting the heaviest weights, designed in the 1980s and manufactured in Ukraine.

Keen to continue conducting a research after her Master’s degree, Elena Syerko opted for a PhD thesis in the domain of mechanics of materials, particularly promising composite materials, which took her to the University of Lille. “I was motivated by the research topics in this field, and I was very lucky to be surrounded by such people as my PhD supervisors Christophe Binetruy, Igor Andrianov and Sébastien Comas-Cardona and other top-level researchers who passed on their passion to me. Another source of motivation was the domain of composite materials itself, rapidly developing and with great prospects in potential applications. I defended my PhD thesis in 2012 “, she recounts.

After her thesis, Elena Syerko was confronted with the question of choosing between an academic career as a researcher and new experiences in the industrial sector.

“After having defended my PhD thesis, I was suggested to continue with a post-doctoral project. The subject proposed originated directly from the needs of industry and the deliverables could be used directly by professionals, while retaining an unrestricted character of investigations as usually in academia. Besides, staying in academic environment while collaborating with different industrial sectors (e.g. transportation, energy etc.) would allow to get to know a wide range of engineering problems specific to each sector”, notes Ms Syerko, who willingly opted for research.

Invited to continue with a post-doc, she moved to Nantes. “I was delighted to come to such a dynamic city as Nantes,” she says, “and the region counts, around Airbus, a high concentration of companies from aerospace sector, and, therefore, many important composites’ players. Today, I am French, France has become my home”.

Solving problems of industry

A research engineer for 8 years now at the Ecole Centrale de Nantes in mechanical engineering, Elena Syerko is a specialist in development of multi-physics numerical models of advanced composite manufacturing processes, considering multi-scale effects.

“My principal duties within our research group are related to the numerical modelling activities. From time to time, it is also necessary to carry out experimental characterisations of materials in order to validate models or identify their parameters. Through our numerous collaborations with such industrial groups as Faurecia (now Forvia), General Electric, Airbus, to name few of them, I could gain experience in modelling of various manufacturing processes. Depending on industrial sector: automotive, wind energy, or aerospace, the processes I worked on differed: RTM (Resin Transfer Moulding), infusion, consolidation, wet pressing, wet filament winding,” explains the researcher, who also devotes a part of her time to supervising Master, PhD students or doctoral and post-docs.

She is also currently leading an international benchmark on the numerical prediction of permeability of technical textiles, “an alternative approach supported by the power of today’s computational resources, which means that real experimental measurements/tests can be potentially replaced by virtual ones. Permeability is a key parameter in composites manufacturing processes, whose determination highly influences the entire chain of composites processing: from definition of injection strategies to the prediction of defects in final parts. Thus, this benchmark has brought together 21 participants from 11 countries, including 4 non-academic participants from the industry. It’s a great part of my job to be able to collaborate at the international scale”, she says. Research work is indeed regularly presented at international conferences. In the organization committees of some of them, Elena Syerko took part as well, such as the last European Congress on Composite Materials (ECCM), which was held in Nantes in 2024.

An inspiring environment

When asked about any difficulties she may have encountered as a woman during her career, Elena Syerko, who you can guess could move mountains with her determination, says she is lucky “to have always been well surrounded, by highly professional colleagues. When you’re motivated by what you do, you have the energy to overcome anything, and you no longer see the obstacles. The driving force is inside us and I’ve tried to follow what I’m passionate about. I’ve never felt particularly constrained concerning my academic surrounding and the scientific subjects I must study. On the contrary, it provided many resources for further development. It was the vocation that guided me. I made the right choice of profession, and I want to keep deepening my expertise in it, ” she notes.

Elena Syerko was inspired by multiple colleagues, including two professors she met during her PhD, with whom she still works today. “These high-level professionals have passed on their passion and commitment to work to me. This also makes me think with gratitude of my other colleagues CNRS researchers and faculty members with whom I used to work”, she says. To progress in this field, she advises that, as well as listening to your desires and intuition, you need to know how to adapt, be open to new challenges and be prepared to learn constantly, “because this sector is evolving very quickly”.

And she cites the contributions of 3D modelling, multi-scale and numerical  methods and digital twins that can replace real tests, more costly and less sustainable, artificial intelligence to automate processes, the emergence of eco-materials and the recycling of composites as current trends to follow. “In general, as long as the objective is formulated as defining the right materials and manufacturing processes for the right applications, we will continue to have new and new challenges to address because there is a constantly growing range of areas of applications of composites,” she notes.

It was with this in mind that she co-founded the start-up Quantiflex Simulations. “In our domain there’s often a big distance between scientific developments and their direct application in industry. With my two colleagues co-founders, Dr. Paris Mulye and Prof. Christophe Binetruy, we therefore set ourselves the mission of addressing the needs of composites industry by providing advanced engineering sustainable solutions through the development of easy-to-use scientific software and high-level customer support. Within the start-up, we brought together both our expertise in scientific computing and numerical developments, and our in-depth knowledge of materials and processes. With an optimistic outlook on the future, I can say that the field I work in, paves the way for new opportunities for development”, she concludes.