Campus France and the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris unveil the winners of the first “Young Talents” France Alumni prize

Prizes to honour outstanding Alumni

On Wednesday, June 25, the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris, which celebrated its 100 years of existence, hosted nearly 400 attendees for the Paris event of the 2025 France Alumni Day season. Organised by Campus France for the third year in a row, the event was held in the presence of Philippe Baptiste, Minister of Higher Education and Research, Anne-Marie Descôtes, Secretary General of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Senegalese novelist and 2021 Goncourt Prize winner Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, and opera singer Jorge Chaminé, a former resident of the Cité internationale. 

During a festive gala evening, the winners of the “Young Scientific Talent”, “Young Artistic Talent”, and “Committed Institution” prizes were announced. 

Young Scientific Talent Award: Muzhda Haem Rahimi, PhD candidate in immunology at Lyon 1 University

Crédit - Campus France

2024 L’Oréal-UNESCO Award – France Excellence Alumna - Born in Kabul, Muzhda studied pharmacy at Kabul University. Her first experience in France dates back to 2008, with an internship at the Lyon civil hospitals, focused on haematology and immunology. She later continued her academic path between Afghanistan and France, eventually specializing in immunology. In 2019, she was appointed Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Kabul University. Following the Taliban’s return to power and the severe restrictions placed on women, she applied for a doctoral scholarship at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1. Thanks to a collaboration between the Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biological Sciences (ISPB) at Lyon 1 and the Faculty of Pharmacy at Kabul University, she began her PhD in 2022 in the Pathophysiology of Immunosuppression Associated with Systemic Inflammatory Responses lab (PI3 – Claude Bernard University Lyon 1).

Her research focuses on the inflammatory and immunosuppressive mechanisms that lead to immune dysfunction in critically ill patients. In the long run, her work could help reduce mortality in intensive care units and improve the prevention of secondary infections.

Young Artistic Talent Award: Zakaria Bourouba, pianist and engineer in statistics and quantitative finance

Crédit : Campus France

Zakaria Bourouba is of Lebanese and Tunisian origins. He is passionate about music and started playing at age 4. In 2013, he won the first national award of piano, a recompense that underlined his early talent and deep commitment to music. Zakaria was influenced very early by Beethoven’s work, his favourite composer, and he developed his artistic sensitivity, marked by a powerful expression of the classical repertoire.

Throughout the years, he broadened his musical universe by exploring jazz, and blues music specifically. He is inspired by the harmonic richness of classical music, and the rhythmic freedom of jazz, and now composes original pieces mixing both worlds. This fusion illustrates a quest for a singular artistic identity, at the crossroads of several genres.

In parallel to his musical career, Zakaria studies in a high-level statistics and quantitative finance course at the University of Paris-Dauphine. He is currently in a work-study course at BNP Paris, where he develops skills in data, modelling and risk management data.

Committed institutions prize: Excelia Alumni and Fondation Université Paris Nanterre

Crédit : Campus France

The Committed institutions prize celebrates both the remarkable action in running alumni networks abroad and the deep comprehension of strategic issues in relation with this subject. In a context where relationships with higher education institutions graduates and business is growing in importance, this prize highlights the initiatives that improve the international prestige of the French higher education system.

For this first edition, Campus France and the Ciup have chosen to award two exemplary winners: Fondation Université Paris Nanterre and Excelia Alumni, for the quality of their commitment, the structuration of their network abroad and their capacity to mobilise their communities of alumni on meaningful and impactful projects.