Summer Camp 2025: 100% female: science, discovery, and friendship under the sun in Sophia Antipolis

Since August 19, the adventure has been in full swing at the Pierre Laffitte campus in Sophia Antipolis. Thirty young women from all over France have come together for an immersive scientific and human experience: the Mines Paris – PSL Summer Camp 2025.

Workshops for exploration and creation

Each morning, participants immerse themselves in one of three workshops:

• Decarbonization & Data Science: developing a digital tool to analyze solutions for reducing CO₂ emissions.
• Textile & Plastic Recycling: transforming waste into useful and creative objects.
• Solar Cooking (French, English, German): designing and testing an eco-friendly solar oven.

Supervised by passionate researchers and engineers, the students experiment, invent, and build, while discovering the world of research and innovation in a practical way.

Discovering industry and opening up to the world

Afternoons are devoted to visits to scientific and industrial sites in the region. This year, participants discovered RTE, the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, and ACRI, providing opportunities to talk with professionals and envision future scientific careers.

A powerful human experience

Friendship, discovery, sharing: these are the dimensions that define this scientific and human immersion, where each day alternates between workshops, visits, and moments of conviviality.

The participants’ testimonials reflect the richness of this first edition:

• “This summer camp has actually confirmed my choice of a career in science. I wasn’t very sure before, but now I know that I want to study science. It’s motivating.” – Galatée
• “I was able to do things: learn engineering techniques while still in high school. “ – Hanfei
• ”Every day something happened at the summer camp. I learned to bond with others.“ – Florence
• ”It stimulates the imagination and helps you project yourself into the future.“ – Madeleine
• ”This summer camp is about discovering science, but also friendship.” – Jeanne
• “Being in a small group meant we could ask all the questions we wanted.” – Galatée
• “It’s both a challenging and a learning experience.” – Iktan

The Summer Camp participants collectively created a mural alongside the Place for Art association. They chose a word to symbolize their experience: “sorority.”

A strong commitment to equality and diversity

By organizing this free, girls-only summer camp, the School is reaffirming its commitment to diversity in science and engineering. This initiative is made possible thanks to the support of our partners Petroineos and RTE, who share our belief that it is essential to inspire scientific vocations from an early age.

A springboard to the future

This program is also part of a broader initiative led by Mines Paris – PSL on its Pierre Laffitte campus: to develop new training programs focused on the major challenges of tomorrow.

A look back in pictures: