Bernadette Thomas is  Deputy General Delegate for IFAP (Insertion, Formation et Activité Professionnelle) at Universcience, Head of the international network of the Cités des Métiers  (40 centers for lifelong orientation  and  guidance www.reseaucitesdesmétiers.com. Holder of a PhD in Economic Sciences (University of Grenoble II, 1997), she was in previous functions successively teacher at the University of Oran (Algeria) then Madagascar, and researcher at the Universities of Lille then Grenoble. She managed also several European projects of lifelong learning for trade unions and since 2004 for the international network of Cités des métiers, as for example QuADEC (Quality Assurance and Development in Educational Guidance and Counselling, LLP Grundtvig, 2009-2011,http://quadec.citedesmetiers.org/QuadecRF.pdf.) She won the Gold medal of Solidarnosc for the European project, Tempus, she coordinated between 1992 and 1995, gathering France, Poland, Belgium, Sweden and United Kingdom, in Universities & trade Unions, to offer a vocational education & training for professionals working for firms and trade unions of the firms.