Awards, Distinctions and Medals
Throughout his schooling, Sami Souissi was always among the best students of his generation. At the age of 14, he won a medal in the 14th International Children’s Art Exhibition hosted by the Japan (free drawing, see certificate and medal on the right). At the age of 17, he was selected to take part in the National Olympiads of Mathematics. In 1989, he received a prize from the Tunisian Society of Physics for having obtained a score of 19.5/20 (97.5/100) in the physics exam of the national baccalaureate competition (high school certificate) allowing him to be in the top 5 best students in this exam.
For his university studies at the National Institute of Agronomy of Tunisia, he was a major of his promotion from the first year (preparatory class) to the last year of the engineering cycle. In 1993, he graduated as an Agronomic Engineer in Marine Science and Fisheries specialty with the highest distinction (16.387/20 ~81.935/100).
He also received from the Food and Agriculture Organisation via its Regional Office in Tunis the FAO Silver Medal (Memorial of the World Food Day, 16 October 1991) for his academic and research achievments, particularly with his significant contribution to study the royal shrimp fishery and its ecological and economic context in the Gulf of Gabès in the south of Tunisia. His final dissertation was greatly appreciated by the examination board, which awarded him an exceptional score of 19/20 (95/100).
In 1993, Sami Souissi received the Presidential Award for the Best Agronomy Engineer and participated to the ceremony (the day of science) organised in the Palace of Carthage, Tunisia.
Passionate by scientific research in the field of marine environment, computer science and applied mathematics, Sami Souissi joined in 1993 the prestigious French university Pierre & Marie-Curie (Paris VI), currently Sorbonne University, where he obtained in 1994 his Master degree with honors. Then he received different sholarships, including one from the European MAST II project ESOP during the first year of his PhD. In 1995 he obtained one of the 10 scholarships awarded by the CNRS at national level to realise his PhD research project at the interface between biological oceanography, fisheries and mathematical modelling. See his complete education here.
Since his first year of eligibility in 2002, Sami Souissi applied and obtained the Scientific Excellence Award also called Doctoral Supervision and Research Award without interruption. He received these Awards 5 times (4 years each term; 2002-2006; 2006-2010; 2010-2014; 2014-2018 & 2018-2022) with the highest score after national evaluation (being all time in the top ranked scientists in his field). These Awards confirmed the outstanding quality of Sami Souissi activity in terms of research, PhD and young reserachers supervision, services to the community and international reputation. The quality of PhD and post-doc supervision is exceptional, for example two of his former PhD students received in 2015 and 2020 the Award of the best international PhD student given by the college of the Doctoral studies in the North of France. Only one Award per year is given for all scientific fields (science and technologies, engineering and health sectors) after regional competition. Other PhD students of Sami Souissi received prestigeous scholarships such as the Excellence Eiffel (see here). Several former PhD students and post-docs occupy good positions in both academic and private sectors.
Sami Souissi has successfully applied to the University of Lille mobility program (3 semesters between 2005 and 2015), and the CNRS mobility program (4 semesters between 2006 and 2022).
Sami Souissi, with his collaborator Distinguished Professor Jiang-Shiou Hwang received in November 2020 the Franco-Taiwanese Scientific Grand Prize, given by the French Academy of Sciences (Institut de France) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan. Due to the sanitary situation in autumn 2020, the Academy of Sciences cancelled the annual Scientific Prizes giving ceremony. In September 2021, the Academy of Sciences in Paris organised a private event to welcome both awardees and give them the nominative medals of the Academy of Sciences.
On the bottom:
Sami Souissi and Jiang-Shiou Hwang received the book ‘350 years of the Academy of Sciences’ as a gift given by the President of the Academy of Sciences, Patrick Flandrin (shown in the photo between both awardees) during their memorable visit to the Institut de France – Paris in September 2021.
Sami Souissi, with his collaborator Distinguished Professor Jiang-Shiou Hwang received in November 2020 the Franco-Taiwanese Scientific Grand Prize, given by the French Academy of Sciences (Institut de France) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan. Due to the sanitary situation in autumn 2020, the Academy of Sciences cancelled the annual Scientific Prizes giving ceremony. In September 2021, the Academy of Sciences in Paris organised a private event to welcome both awardees and give them the nominative medals of the Academy of Sciences.
On the bottom:
Sami Souissi and Jiang-Shiou Hwang received the book ‘350 years of the Academy of Sciences’ as a gift given by the President of the Academy of Sciences, Patrick Flandrin (shown in the photo between both awardees) during their memorable visit to the Institut de France – Paris in September 2021.
