Pierre H. Dixneuf, professor at the University of Rennes has been the head of the CNRS research Unit 6509 in Rennes (1986-1999), and he created the Institute of Chemistry in Rennes in 2000. He was research advisor at the University of Rennes (2001-04) and at CNRS chemistry headquarters (1996-99).
He obtained his academic degrees, PhD and habilitation, in Rennes was on leave of absence with professor M. F. Lappert, University of Sussex for one year. He innovated first in organometallic chemistry and then in homogeneous catalysis and conjugated carbon-rich systems. He has authored over 330 publications of which 70 in the last 5 years.
He has received several research awards : Le Bel (SFC), Grignard-Wittig (GDCh), Sacconi (Italy 2006), Académie des Sciences grand prix (2006).

Dr. Christian Bruneau is the head of the CNRS-University research group "Catalysis and Organometallics" in Rennes. He graduated in Chemistry from the Institut National Supérieur de Chimie Industrielle de Rouen in 1974, and obtained his Doctorate degree at the ENSCR national school of Rennes. Since 1986, he has been developing his research activities in the field of molecular organometallic catalysis. He is strongly involved in ruthenium-catalyzed selective transformations of alkynes, alkenes and enynes, cycloisomerization, rearrangement, and addition reactions. He is developing a topic on enantioselective reactions, mainly hydrogenation and allylic substitution with transition metal catalysts.