PASTEUR2030
Mental Health of Scientists – The Institut Pasteur’s Commitment
A World Under Pressure
In a world marked by accelerating climate crises, geopolitical tensions, and economic and social uncertainty, mental health has emerged as a major public health issue and has been declared a National Priority (Grande cause nationale) for 2025 and 2026.
The research ecosystem is particularly exposed: intense competition, uncertain career paths, pressure to publish and secure funding. These challenges are documented across the international academic research landscape. They are not unique to the Institut Pasteur, but they concern us directly.
Early-career scientists are at the heart of research; yet they are among the most vulnerable in this context, given the uncertainties weighing on their professional futures. Providing them with an environment worthy of their commitment means investing in the quality and future of our science. Whatever the next step in their careers, they will carry the Pasteur experience beyond our walls.
A Unique Support Ecosystem
The Institut Pasteur has chosen to act. Over the years, it has built a support ecosystem that few institutions in the world can match:
Career Development Service for Scientists – CARE (2014): personalized support for scientists’ career paths and transitions at every career stage;
Doctoral Tutoring (2015): individualized follow-up of doctoral students by a tutor throughout their doctoral contract;
Doctoral Student Office (2024): comprehensive support, community cohesion, improved supervision;
Postdoctoral Affairs Office (2025): integration, follow-up, community cohesion, and training;
Occupational Health and Safety Prevention Department (SPST): medical monitoring, psychological support, risk prevention;
This ecosystem is supported by an investment of several million euros per year. It forms a solid foundation well recognized at the French, European, and international level.
A Willingness to Examine Its Own Practices
Beyond this ecosystem, the Institut Pasteur has made a brave decision: to assess the mental health of scientists within the institute and to examine its own practices with clarity, responsibility, and transparency.
This initiative drew on several complementary studies:
Quantitative surveys conducted in 2022–2023 by the Occupational Health and Safety Prevention Service among early-career scientists (doctoral and postdoctoral students);
Qualitative action-research study entrusted in 2025 to a team from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM), based on 35 individual interviews and 7 group interviews (with doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, and supervisors).
The findings from these studies confirm that the Institut Pasteur is facing a situation that international research has documented for years: stress, isolation, pressure, taboos, lack of training for supervisors and team leaders, and insufficiently known resources.
These studies also call for a broader perspective. Unit heads and supervisors are also exposed to high levels of stress. These realities affect their own well-being and their ability to support early-career scientists on a daily basis. Supporting doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers also means supporting those who supervise them.
Consult the full CNAM report (in French)
Taking Concrete Action: A Multi-Level Mobilization
To respond to these findings, the Institut Pasteur is deploying a set of concrete actions: a set of structural measures to address the issues identified by the studies; the development of a managerial culture; the implementation of a code of conduct; a reporting mechanism for sensitive situations.
In parallel, a cross-cutting steering committee (COPIL) dedicated to mental health has been created. It brings together 15 services and bodies of representations and is tasked with coordinating, structuring, and monitoring actions undertaken over the long term.
The COPIL action plan is organized around two priority areas driven by four working groups
Area 1: preventing isolation and improving information
• Map and make all existing resources on campus accessible, and strengthen information dissemination to all audiences;
• Develop training in supervision and management, and mentoring programs.
Area 2: breaking taboos and encouraging dialogue
• Integrate mental health into management training and team practices;
• Develop awareness-raising within teams and departments, and encourage open and regular exchange on these topics.
For any questions or to join a working group: COPIL-SM-coordination@pasteur.fr.
Raising Awareness and Training: Initiatives Open to All
Several concrete initiatives are already being deployed on campus.
✻ Mental Health Awareness Initiative
A group of volunteers created the Mental Health Awareness Initiative (MHAI). This community, open to everyone, aims to raise awareness about mental health and help shift the collective culture on these issues.
✻ Mental Health First Aid: A Training Program for Action
A Mental Health First Aid (MHFA/PSSM) training course is now offered at the Institut Pasteur. Like physical first aid, this training teaches participants how to recognize signs of psychological vulnerability, start a supportive conversation, and direct people to appropriate resources.
A first group of volunteers has already been trained. The goal is to gradually build a network of resource people able to contribute to prevention and daily support.
Register for the next PSSM training session in French via Talentsoft
For more information, contact your departmental HR training contacts.
✻ Awareness Sessions: A First Key Event
A plenary awareness session on the theme “Mental Health and Well-Being at Work” was held on campus. Led by the CNAM research team headed by Dominique Lhuilier, professor emeritus of work psychology, and with the participation of Rym Chaabouni, work psychologist at the Institut Pasteur SPST, this session established a common framework: understanding mental health at work, identifying what makes it fragile, and learning how to prevent issues for oneself and for others.
Watch the plenary session video (in French with English subtitles)
Save the date: first seminar in the series “Mental Health in Focus” organized by the MHAI group “Burnout: Prevention and Recovery,” presented by Aïssa Dicko of the association Les BURN’ettes On October 5, 2026, at 4.30pm in the Ágnes Ullmann amphitheatre Image 
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