Juliette Cayer-Barrioz graduated in physics in 1998 and in engineering from the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in 2000 before obtaining her PhD in Materials Science from Centrale Lyon in 2003 and her habilitation in 2011. Since 2005, she has been associated with the CNRS. Her research activities at the Laboratoire de Tribologie et Dynamique des Systèmes (LTDS) focus on the dynamics of lubricated interfaces, integrating surface phenomena, topography and physico-chemistry. Her multidisciplinary approach - based on unique experimental devices, numerical simulation and theoretical modelling - combines physics, interfacial chemistry and mechanics, rheology and friction. Now editor of Tribology Letters, prime journal addressing the fundamentals of tribology, she develops many international collaborations and co-organises the International Nanotribology Forum.

Her teaching activities at Ecole Centrale de Lyon, and beyond, address the physics and chemistry of interfaces and the rheology of complex media.