With a background in materials science, Marie-Stéphane Colla completed a PhD on the mechanical properties of materials at the nanoscale. After spending three years working for a steel producer, she returned to UCLouvain and became involved in several research projects focused on the mechanical characterization of various materials (e.g. metals, semiconductors, wood) at different scales, ranging from the nanoscale to the macroscale.

Within the HAPI project, she oversees the experimental measurement of fracture toughness in different metals, aiming to understand how the mechanical properties of materials, their microstructures, and their stress state at the crack tip influence the measured fracture toughness. The ultimate goal is to develop new materials with optimized fracture toughness for specific applications with defined design constraints.