Sara AL HAJ SLEIMAN is a doctor of École Centrale de Nantes and prepared her thesis at GeM under the supervision of Prof. Frédéric GRONDIN, co-supervised by Prof. Ahmed LOUKILI et co-advised by Dr. Ing. HDR Syed-Yasir ALAM. Her research work was carried out as part of a CIFRE thesis financed by the Syndicat Français de l’Industrie Cimentière (SFIC) under the supervision of Dr Laurent IZORET.
Her PhD thesis focused on the evolution of the qualification protocol for concrete exposed to freeze-thaw in the presence of de-icing salts: contributions of multi-scale modelling in conjunction with an analysis of climate variability.
On 5 October 2022, Sara AL HAJ SLEIMAN received the prize for the best thesis in the “Trophées Thèses” competition awarded by the SMA Excellence foundation for the construction industry (BTP), during a ceremony at the Salon BATIMAT in Paris.
Since 1994, the Excellence SMA Foundation has been committed to defending quality, safety and risk prevention in the construction industry in order to encourage those involved to respect the rules of the trade. As a key player in the field of prevention, the foundation designs educational documents, provides training, organises meetings, finances research and encourages innovation by awarding numerous prizes. The “Thesis” Trophies encourage scientific and university research in the field of building and public works pathology.