The French-Azerbaijani University (UFAZ) has long been working to enrich its ranks with world-renowned professors and professionals to better serve its students. We take immense pleasure to announce that Prof. Philippe Turek recently started his new position at UFAZ as Senior Scientist to launch and lead the Research Department of UFAZ. Prof. Turek has been a member of UFAZ Community since 2016. He has had teaching activities at UFAZ. Furthermore, he is a Co-chairman of the Pedagogical Committee and the scientific expert of UFAZ. From 1^st January 2021 to 31^st July 2021, Prof. Turek will be the Research representative of the University of Strasbourg (Unistra) and its presidency. He will also carry out activities of scientific responsibility within UFAZ.

Within the framework of scientific responsibilities, Prof. Turek’s missions will consist of:

·       Liaise between the UFAZ, Unistra and the members of the French consortium, for the research activities of master students and French staff working at UFAZ;

·       Define, organize and evaluate the operating conditions of the UFAZ research department as a research and service unit within the framework of a public-private partnership;

·       To set up collaborations aimed at developing UFAZ research and offering internships and professional opportunities to UFAZ master's students;

·       To set up a scientific animation within the future research department of UFAZ

·       To develop and promote the international partnerships of UFAZ;

·       Support fundraising activities for the benefit of the Foundation in Strasbourg and the UFAZ Foundation in Baku.

Prof. Turek has a wide international experience. He had been Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) fellow at Institute for Solid State Physics at the University of Tokyo in Japan in 1990. Furthermore, he had worked at the RIKEN Scientific Research Institute in Japan as an invited professor in 2000.

Prof. Turek gained his PhD in Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Strasbourg (Unistra) on the topic “Electronic Structure of Binary Transition Metal Alloys” in 1982. Later on, he graduated in 1989 from the Unistra in D.Sc. in Physics (Condensed Matter Physics specialty) on the topic “Electrical and Magnetic Properties of the Radical of Phthalocyanine Lithium”.

Since 1999, Prof. Turek has been leading a research group of 5 permanent researchers and 1 research engineer, specialized in Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Spectroscopy and being a national node for advanced EPR. Since 2015, Prof. Turek has been working as Scientific Director of the Cryogenic facility of the University of Strasbourg. Since 2017, Prof. Turek is Deputy Vice-President for International Relations at the University of Strasbourg, while being in charge of coordinating research-training abroad.

Prof. Philippe Turek has a long list of scientific publications and more than 100 refereed papers in international journals. Furthermore, he has authored 4 book chapters. His H-factor is 32 and he has totalized 3926 citations as nowadays Google Scholar ranking.