Theoretical climatology

We can define theoretical climatology as the discipline that seeks to understand the climate system through the fundamental concepts of physics, geochemistry, and mathematics. It encompasses the study of energy and chemical balances, the application of dynamical systems theory, and the role of celestial mechanics underlying the Milanković cycles. It also involves methods for analysing climatic time series, ranging from spectral techniques to non-linear approaches.

My objective is to connect these theoretical concepts with observations. Recent and ongoing projects include identifying the causes and dynamics of climatic events throughout Earth’s history, developing methods for numerical simulations of climate spanning tens of millions of years, and probing the long-term consequences of industrial emissions on climate, up to timescales of a thousand years.

About me

I graduated in Physics in 1998 from the University of Namur and obtained a PhD in Sciences at UCLouvain in 2002. I then joined the Hadley Centre at the UK Met Office, where I continued my research on ice-age dynamics initiated during my doctoral work.

In 2006, I returned to Belgium as a Research Scientist with the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research. This position gave me the time and scope to broaden my projects, integrating elements of dynamical systems theory, Bayesian statistics, celestial mechanics, and even philosophy of science. I obtained an ERC Starting Grant in 2009 and have since maintained a small team of researchers.

In 2022, I was appointed full professor at UCLouvain, and since 2025 I have been head of the Earth and Climate research pole within the Earth and Life Institute. I also serve as a member of the Belgian Royal Acedemy of Sciences, and occupy the chair for Belgium at the European Academies Science Advisory Council.