📰 Le Fil | Julia d’Astorg (PGE06) - “Repair today, protect tomorrow”

Lire l'article original en français dans le magazine Le Fil #7

Julia d’Astorg (PGE06), Director of Science & Nature, AXA Fund for Human Progress 

Repair today, protect tomorrow

In 2025, AXA Group marked a major shift in its philanthropic strategy with the launch of the AXA Fund for Human Progress, a new endowment that brings together its longstanding commitments to science, nature, social impact and culture under one umbrella. Leading the Science and Nature divisions of this new fund, Julia d’Astorg brings a distinctive blend of expertise spanning global health, insurance and sustainability.

Career path 

2001 First responder, French Red Cross

2003 Master’s degree in Geography and Geopolitics, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University

2005 Master’s degree, Grande École program, emlyon Business School

2005 Joined International SOS, working in Asia, then Europe & Africa

2014 Joined AXA as Director of the International Medical Network, AXA Assistance

2018 Global Chief International Medical Services Officer, AXA Partners

2023 Director, AXA Research Fund

Now Director of the Science and Nature divisions at the AXA Fund for Human Progress, Julia also serves as a French Foreign Trade Advisor and teaches at Sciences Po Paris

How did you move into scientific philanthropy after hands-on experience in healthcare and crisis management?

After graduating in geography and geopolitics from the Sorbonne, I began my research career with a topic that was as unexpected as it was defining: mapping human trafficking networks linked to sex tourism in Southeast Asia. At the same time, I volunteered as a first responder with the French Red Cross, worked shifts with the fire brigade and Paris emergency services, and carried out several humanitarian missions in Asia. It was at emlyon that I was introduced to an entrepreneurial, international mindset that would shape the rest of my career.

A single conviction connects all of these experiences – academic, nonprofit and professional – namely caring for others and innovating to better support people who are ill or in distress. The Red Cross gave me exposure to the full spectrum of emergency response and care professions and it was in the field, at the end of 2004, that everything changed. While helping with the emergency evacuation of French nationals from Côte d’Ivoire, and later on the repatriation of tsunami victims from Thailand, I came across a plane chartered by International SOS – the global leader in health and safety services for organizations, then in rapid expansion – on the tarmac at Charles de Gaulle Airport. Six months later, before I had even graduated, I found myself working in a clinic in Hanoi. I stayed there for ten years, gaining early experience in crisis management during the 2005 avian flu outbreak in Vietnam, before traveling across Europe and Africa to map healthcare networks and build comprehensive medical systems for corporate clients.

What led you to join AXA?

In 2014, AXA Assistance recruited me to develop its own “Michelin Guide” to healthcare networks – this time on a global scale. Two years later, I relocated to Asia to strengthen the networks and expand our operational capabilities in health insurance and travel assistance.

Back in France in 2018, I took over as head of Global Medical Assistance, overseeing medical networks, international operations, coordination among doctors and nurses, and crisis management. I also launched the first multilingual, multi-country teleconsultation service, an innovation that proved critical during the forthcoming respiratory crisis. I’d like to pay tribute to the extraordinary healthcare professionals and logistics teams I had the privilege of working with. Together, we were able to assist, support and care for hundreds of patients and their families during COVID, across every region where we operated.

What took you from medical assistance into philanthropy with the AXA Research Fund?

At the end of 2023, I was entrusted with one of AXA’s most remarkable assets by Ulrike Decoene, Chief Communications, Brand and Sustainability Officer and former head of the AXA Research Fund. It was a powerful example of the boldness and trust embedded in AXA’s DNA – to hand this ambitious scientific philanthropy mission, and its contribution to our sustainable development commitments, to someone with a hands-on, field-based background.

What was the purpose of the AXA Research Fund?

AXA launched its scientific philanthropy initiative in 2008 to support science that helps better understand, anticipate and prevent the risks of tomorrow. Since then, more than 750 research projects have been launched across around 40 countries, representing over €260 million in investment, and covering critical areas such as climate, health, social risks and major societal transformations.

Its defining feature was a readiness to back visionary ideas – supporting researchers and teams at a very early stage as they explored emerging risks: extreme climate events, pandemics, digital vulnerabilities and threats to biodiversity. The goal was to give society a head start through independent, high-level science that can inform decision-making and strengthen prevention strategies. The fund also placed a strong emphasis on gender balance, with 43% of supported projects led by women researchers.

The spirit that embodied the AXA Research Fund now lives on within the AXA Fund for Human Progress.

In partnership with Tara Ocean, AXA supports the study and preservation of coral reefs in Asia, which are vital to marine biodiversity and coastal protection. As part of its 14th mission, Tara Coral, the research schooner will be sailing across Southeast Asian waters from 2026 to 2028, studying how coral reefs can better withstand rising ocean temperatures.

Why did the AXA Fund for Human Progress choose to keep science as one of its core priorities ?

For us, science is a cornerstone of democracy and social cohesion: it provides a shared frame of reference, enriches public debate and enables decisions grounded in evidence rather than opinion.

The reality is stark: needs are surging – climate, health, AI and social vulnerabilities – while public, private and philanthropic funding for science continues to fall short. This is especially true in Europe, where R&D investment hovers around 2.2% of GDP, well below the 3% target highlighted in the Draghi report. Yet without investing at the source of knowledge, it’s impossible to better understand, anticipate and prevent future risks.

On top of this funding gap, deeper challenges are emerging, including growing distrust of expertise since COVID, widespread misunderstandings about scientific methods, calls to cut research budgets, the disappearance of entire datasets – particularly in climate science – and even personal attacks on researchers, some of whom now require police protection. Cutting funding for a senior researcher results in the training of an entire generation being disrupted, while many scientists are already spending increasing amounts of time securing funding instead of conducting research.

In this context, we’re doing what we can at our level, namely grouping the AXA Research Fund together with the health research philanthropy program of the AXA France mutual insurance entities to form a new Science division to give those advancing knowledge the oxygen they need.

"For AXA, science is a cornerstone of democracy and social cohesion: it provides a shared frame of reference, enriches public debate and enables decisions grounded in evidence rather than opinion."

How are projects selected and how do you manage the time demands that selection places on researchers ?

The selection process is rigorous, but it leaves room for bold ideas. Our calls for proposals focus on major risk-related challenges – climate, health, technology, etc. – and applications are first reviewed by independent academic experts, then discussed by an international scientific board before final approval. We also require that results be published in open access. This competitive model, now standard in research, ensures that funding is directed toward the strongest projects. It does come at a cost, as a senior researcher may spend up to 30 or 40% of their time on applications, but once a project is selected, we operate on a foundation of trust. Researchers can then fully dedicate themselves to science. That’s what I call their “oxygen.”

How does the AXA Fund for Human Progress allow AXA to go even further ?

AXA and AXA’s mutual insurance entities created the AXA Fund for Human Progress to go beyond the traditional role of an insurer and embrace a broader social mission: using philanthropy to help build a safer, fairer and more sustainable society. The fund is structured around four key pillars. First, science and health, with a strategic shift toward transdisciplinary research focused on major risks and how to prevent them. Second, nature protection, supporting innovative projects addressing climate, ecosystems and biodiversity. Third, solidarity, inclusion and education, with a focus on supporting the most vulnerable communities. And finally, arts, culture and heritage, seen as powerful drivers of dialog, openness and social cohesion.

In partnership with the Solar Impulse Foundation, AXA backs innovation and clean technologies to accelerate the ecological transition and promote sustainable practices.

The ambition of a major philanthropic player is to build an ecosystem of solutions, bringing together researchers, doctors, nonprofits and public institutions, and creating connections that don’t yet exist. What scientists uncover about biodiversity will have an impact on human health and on how solutions are implemented in the field. It’s all part of a continuum, and we aim to be engaged across the full spectrum.

Our vision is to build bridges – and I have the privilege of leading both the Science and Nature Protection divisions. The ocean is a good example: at a time when ocean science receives less than 1% of global research funding, we have already committed more than €10 million to projects ranging from coastal monitoring to offshore data collection. At the same time, our Nature division supports expeditions whose discoveries are revealing underwater forests of extraordinary richness, which can help justify the creation of marine protected areas. Our mission is to make this knowledge possible and then to help translate it into action by supporting nonprofit-led solutions that better protect the oceans and the 1.5 billion people who live along their shores.

You oversee both the Science and Nature departments. What strategic direction are you currently following ?

Since March, we’ve made a decisive shift toward a transdisciplinary approach, bringing together science, health, social cohesion and nature protection to “repair today, protect tomorrow.” The goal is to build integrated responses to the major risks facing people, societies and the climate.

Beyond financial support, what is AXA doing to defend science ?

It’s rooted in a conviction that we state clearly: science is a pillar of our social contract, a safeguard against misinformation and a driver of human progress. In 2025, we ran a campaign in defense of science, reaching 60 million people across media and social platforms.

In the face of widespread misinformation, standing up for science has become both a social and societal priority.

€60 million

The annual endowment of the AXA Fund for Human Progress.

750

The number of research projects supported since 2008 by the AXA Research Fund across 39 countries.

Anticipate to better protect

A leading global insurance group headquartered in France, AXA employs 156,000 people and serves more than 92 million clients across 52 countries. To mark its 40th anniversary, the company chose to scale up its philanthropic efforts with the creation of the AXA Fund for Human Progress.

AXA is also committed to open access for the scientific results of the projects it funds. Since 2016, any publication stemming from supported research must be uploaded to an online repository upon release and made freely accessible within six months of official publication.