About
I am originally trained as an applied physicist & climatologist. I obtained a PhD about climate variability in Sub-Saharan Africa at CERFACS and at the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse in 2006. In early 2008, I moved to the University of Liverpool to study the impact of climate variability and climate change on the risk posed by several key vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, dengue, Zika, Rift Valley Fever, plague, bluetongue, fascioliasis, haemonchosis and invasive vector species such as the Asian tiger mosquito. I am a multi-disciplinary scientist with broad scientific interests (computing, physics, climate and climate change, statistics, epidemiology, risk modelling, public health, tropical diseases…). Outside of work, I tend to massacre songs in pubs with my guitar. I also enjoy playing strategy games on line, among many other things.
Research highlights:
- Our work anticipated the northward spread of Aedes albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito, in Europe and into southern UK.
- In collaboration with EU colleagues, we produced the first multi-model malaria climate change risk assessment in PNAS in 2014. This highly cited work is used by national and international governmental agencies focusing on climate change impacts (World Bank, WHO, UN bodies…) and the IPCC.
- In 2017 another study published in PNAS, using the Ross-MacDonald Ro model framework, showed that the climatic conditions related to the 2015 El Niño event favoured the Zika outbreak that had a large impact on Latin America that year.
- Our work also confirmed the impact of the 2006 heatwave on the emergence of bluetongue, a midge-borne disease affecting ruminants, into northern Europe.
- Our work highlighted that future climate change will become more conducive for the transmission of the sheep liver fluke, Fasciola Hepatica, and other helminths in temperate regions of Europe and the UK.
Prizes or Honours
- "Climate change and vector-borne diseases: an update from the trenches". First price for Best poster presentation. NIHR HPRU in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections annual conference, London, UK 12 Dec 2017 (NIHR-HPRU, 2017)
- Using climate information to forecast vector-borne disease risk, Scientific seminar, Earth Sciences Department, BSC, Barcelona, Spain, 24 May 2016 (Santander Travel grant, 2016)
Funded Fellowships
- "The first malaria multi-model inter-comparison exercise over Africa". Poster presentation. British Council Research Links Workshop: From climate Science to Climate Services for Society. Cape Town, South Africa, 3-6 March (British Council, 2014)