François Massonnet
elic | Louvain-la-Neuve
LAST NAME, first name | MASSONNET, François |
Citizenship | Belgian |
Date of birth | 22nd of March, 1986 |
Marital status | Married, two children |
Work address | Place Louis Pasteur 3, bte L4.03.08 |
Tel. (work) | +32 10 47 33 04 |
francois(dot)massonnet(at)uclouvain(dot)be |
Short bio
I obtained my PhD in Sciences in 2014 from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) under the supervision of Profs. Thierry Fichefet and Hugues Goosse. During my PhD, I developed various metrics to evaluate sea ice models used in the framework of climate reconstructions, predictions and projections. I participated as a contributing author to the fifth assessment report of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). I also implemented ensemble data assimilation methods in large-scale sea ice models for state and parameter estimation. Immediately after my PhD thesis, I joined the Climate Prediction Group of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center Earth Sciences Department (BSC-ES) and worked under the guidance of Dr Virginie Guemas and Prof Francisco Doblas-Reyes. There, I explored various aspects of seasonal-to-decadal polar and extra-polar prediction, including attribution of extreme events, improved initialization techniques, novel aspects of forecast verification and linkages of the Arctic system with lower latitudes. In particular, I implemented an ensemble coupled sea ice data assimilation method in the General Circulation Model EC-Earth for initialization of near-term predictions in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. I have then been a F.R.S.-FNRS Postdoctoral Researcher at the UCLouvain. My work focused on the use and assessment of climate general circulation models for prediction at time scales from the month to the decade.
I am now a full-time permanent Research Associate with the F.R.S.-FNRS at UCLouvain, and explore, together with my group (7 PhD students and 4 post-doctoral researchers) various aspects of seasonal to decadal climate prediction in polar regions.
I am author or co-author of 84 publications from the peer-reviewed literature, have given more than 60 presentations in international conferences. I have been involved in several national and international research projects and programmes about climate prediction and predictability, including four FP7/H2020 EU projects. I have been awarded the EGU 2020 Arne Richter award for Outstanding Early Career Scientist and the Charles Lagrange award for Earth System Modelling from the Belgian Royal Academy of Sciences. I am frequently consulted by written and spoken media, both as a researcher to disseminate my works, but also as an expert on climate-change related issues. I have been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant in 2023 to work on rapid Arctic sea ice loss events.
Employment
- 2018-now: F.R.S.-FNRS Research Associate at Université catholique de Louvain
- 2017-2018: F.R.S.-FNRS Post-Doctoral Researcher at Université Catholique de Louvain
- 2015-2016: Juan de la Cierva Formación post-doctoral research fellow at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC, Barcelona, Spain)
- 2014-2015: F.R.S.-FNRS Post-Doctoral Researcher at Université Catholique de Louvain , visiting the Institut Català de Ciències del Clima (Barcelona, Spain)
- 2010 - 2014 : F.R.S.-FNRS Research Fellow at Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
- 2009 - 2010 : Teaching and research assistant at Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium.
- 2009: Master degree in Engineering, orientation Applied Mathematics at Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium (La Plus Grande Distinction). Master thesis: Trafic autoroutier: analyse, gestion et stabilité au niveau microscopique. (supervisors: G. Bastin and G. Campion). Full text (french) or Short version (french).
- 2007-2008: Exchange at the Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, Canada)
- 2007: Bachelor degree in Engineering at Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium (Grande Distinction).
- 2004: High school degree at Collège Saint-Michel, Bruxelles.
Scientific involvements
- Leader of the SIPN South project and member of the US Sea Ice Prediction Network.
- Member of the leadership Sea Ice MIP panel of CMIP6
- Work package leader in the APPLICATE H2020 EU project, scientific involvement in the PRIMAVERA H2020 project
- PI for UCL in the C3S_511 tender (Copernicus Climate Change services) on assessment of sea ice observations
- Co-convener of the SCAR Open Science Conference session "Antarctica in a Global System" (August 2016)
- Co-convener of the IUGG General Assembly session "Evaluation of the Cryosphere in CMIP5 models" (June 2015)
- CliC fellow for the Year of Polar Prediction
- Belgian National representative of the SOOS and SORP projects.
- Member of the Southern Ocean Regional Panel (SORP) of the WCRP/CLIVAR/CLiC project.
- Member of the Sea Ice Prediction Network (SIPN) Sea ice Outlook team. (See contributions here and here)
- Contributing author to the IPCC AR5 (Chapter 12, Long-term projections)
Awards and recognition
- ERC Starting grant from the EU Commission (1.5 M€)
- EGU Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists (2020)
- Admitted to Step 2 of ERC Starting Grant (not selected for final funding) (2019)
- Mandat d'Impulsion Scientifique (290 k€) (2020)
- UCLouvain Fonds Spéciaux de Recherche (37 k€, declined) (2019)
- 247 k€ through the EU Copernicus service C3S_511 (2017)
- Severo Ochoa travel Grant (1200 €) for scientific stay at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-ES) in November 2017
- 2.2 million CPU hours on MareNostrum3 (BSC-ES Supercomputer) for project on sea ice data assimilation (2016)
- ResClim Summer School Best Poster Award (2011)
- WCRP Open Science Conference Best Poster Award (2011)
- APECS third prize ($50) for presentation on data assimilation in the “New Perspectives in the Polar Sciences” conference (March 2015)
- F.R.S.-FNRS Research Fellowship (4 years of full salary)
- F.R.S.-FNRS Post-Doctoral Fellowship (3 years of full salary)
- Juan de la Cierva Formación Postdoctoral Fellowship (2 years of full salary, declined 1)
- Travel and housing grant for the 2011 International ResClim 15-day summer school in Longyearbyen, Norway
- Travel grant for the 2014 International IGS Symposium in Hobart, Australia
- Travel grant for the 2014 Arctic sea ice Prediction workshop in Boulder, USA
- Travel grant for the 2015 workshop on High Latitude Dynamics in Rosendal, Norway.
Supervision experience
I have supervised or co-supervised 7 MSc theses, five PhD students: Jean Sterlin, Steve Delhaye, Cécile Osy, Jerome Sauer, Annelies Sticker (UCLouvain), three post-docs (Arun Rana, Xia Lin, Helena Barbieri).
Teaching experience
-
2019-2020 LGCIV2056: Marine Hydrodynamics
-
2019-2022 LPHYS2163: Atmosphere and Ocean: Physics and Dynamics
-
2019-2022 LPHYS2268: Forecast, prediction and projection in climate science
-
2017-2018 Applied exercices in Physics (LPHY1212)
-
2009-2014 Teaching Assistant in Physics, 1st year classes
-
LPHY2153: Introduction to Climate Modelling
-
LPHY1212: Exercices intégrés et data processing
-
PHY1113: Physique générale
-
FSAB 1202: Electromagnétisme et mécanique (partie mécanique)
-
FSAB 1101: Mathématiques 1
Language Skills
Mother tongue: French; fluent in English (EU level: C1) and Dutch (B2); notions in Spanish.
Hobbies
- Tennis, soccer, cycling, running (3 marathons)
- Piano, photography, cooking.
2019-2020 LGCIV2056: Marine Hydrodynamics
2019-2022 LPHYS2163: Atmosphere and Ocean: Physics and Dynamics
2019-2022 LPHYS2268: Forecast, prediction and projection in climate science
2017-2018 Applied exercices in Physics (LPHY1212)
2009-2014 Teaching Assistant in Physics, 1st year classes