The AXA Foundation for Human Progress announces four new AXA Chairs to advance health, climate, and global risk research

The AXA Foundation for Human Progress is pleased to announce the four laureates of the 2026 AXA Chair call, launched in fall 2025. These 4 new AXA Chairs were selected through a rigorous, independent peer‑review process, and will each receive up to €1 million over 5 years to develop research programs within leading academic institutions. 

The selected projects reflect a shared commitment to tackling some of the most pressing challenges of our time - from human health to planetary sustainability - through innovation, technology, and scientific rigor.

Spanning two major thematic pillars, these initiatives demonstrate how cutting-edge research can drive meaningful, real-world impact:

• Health, with projects focused on improving the safety of cancer treatments notably through artificial intelligence, and on protecting vulnerable displaced populations from vector-borne diseases - both placing equity and patient well-being at their core.

• Climate & Environment, with efforts to build more accurate next-generation climate models and to develop precise tools for measuring greenhouse gas emissions locally - both addressing the urgent need for better data and smarter solutions in the fight against climate change.

Several common threads emerge across these diverse fields: a reliance on advanced technologies, particularly artificial intelligence and innovative sensing tools; a focus on concrete outcomes at both the individual and global scales; and a drive to move beyond traditional approaches toward hybrid, adaptive methodologies.

These Chairs embody our conviction that high‑quality science, conducted in full independence and in dialogue with society, is instrumental to building a more just, resilient, and sustainable future.

Discover the 4 projects

• SAFE-PATH - Enhancing Cancer Treatment - Prof. Mohamad Mohty (Sorbonne Université, France)
  Making cancer treatment safer, more personalized, and more humane by preventing complications before they occur and enabling patients to spend more time living, and less time in hospital.

• Vector Control for Displaced and Hard to Reach Communities - Prof. Natacha Protopopoff (Swiss TPH, Switzerland) 
  Developing and evaluating tailored vector control interventions for displaced and hard to reach communities to prevent vector borne diseases in humanitarian settings.

• Next Generation Climate Models - Prof. Pierre Gentine (ENS PSL, France*)
  Building hybrid climate models combining physics and artificial intelligence to provide more accurate forecasts and support the fight against climate change.

• Greenhouse Gas Measurement - Prof. David Bastviken (Linköping University, Sweden) 
  Developing sensors and drones to accurately measure local greenhouse gas emissions, facilitating more effective reduction actions at the local scale. 

*Pierre Gentine will remain co-affiliated at Columbia University