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 (5 PhD students and 2 post-doctoral researchers) various aspects of seasonal to decadal climate prediction in polar regions.

I am author or co-author of 70 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, 1^st 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, 1^st year classes