I am a full-time Researcher (Director of Research) in the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). I am the head of the Physics and Mechanics of Discrete Materials (pmDM) research group in LMGC, a French laboratory in University of Montpellier, France.

Research: My past and current research work concerns the physics and mechanics of granular materials. Granularity is a natural state of condensed matter. Solid matter occurs mainly in fragmented or granular form. For the rich variety of macroscopic phenomena observed in granular materials, the packing characteristics are as much relevant as the properties of individual grains. Dissipative interactions, absence of thermal randomness in grain dynamics and geometrical disorder are basic features that single out granular materials. My research belongs to this wonderful adventure started by the end of the last century, bringing together scientists from solid-state physics, soil mechanics, powder technology, statistical physics, geophysics, fluid mechanics and many others.