Director of research at the CNRS, Sandra Lavorel is a leading figure in scientific ecology. A member of the French Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences (USA), she works at the Laboratoire d'écologie alpine in Grenoble. A pioneer of the plant functional trait approach, her research focuses on the effects of climate change and land use on biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and the services they provide to society.

After a PhD in Montpellier and a post-doctorate in Australia, she published the founding concepts and methods of functional ecology and co-founded major international networks in this discipline. She applies these approaches to the quantification of ecosystem services and adaptation to climate change. With her interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work, she is one of the world leaders in the analysis of nature-based adaptation trajectories.

Highly involved in science-policy dialogue, she has contributed to international (IPBES, IPCC) and national (French Assessment of Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services) assessments. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the CNRS Gold Medal (2023), the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Prize (2021) and the Grand Prix of the French Society of Ecology and Evolution (2021).