About

Philippe is professor of Hydroinformatics at Polytech Nice Sophia, the graduate school of engineering of Université Côte d’Azur, France, since 1997. He graduated from Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg (France) in 1993 and started his career as hydraulic engineer in a French consulting company and was involved in projects in Europe, Africa and Asia. After joining University Côte d’Azur (former University of Nice Sophia Antipolis) as associate professor and professor in 2006, he managed a wide range of research projects on hydro-environmental modelling within different frameworks including 16 European Commission projects as member, work package leader or coordinator. In 2004, he coordinated a consortium of 5 Europeans universities, 9 international institutions, 60 water sector industrial actors for establishing the EuroAquae joint M.Sc. on Hydrodroinformatics and water management. This M.Sc. was the first jointly awarded in Europe under the Erasmus Mundus framework and has received continuous support from the European Commission for two decades. This program has welcomed about 3.500 students from more than 80 nationalities who joined the M.Sc. or attended some of the various regional activities organized by the consortium such as HydroEurope, HydroAsia and HydroLatinAmerica. In 2012, Philippe initiated the Tianjin International Engineering Institute (TIEI) at Tianjin University (TJU), China and served as French director of the school that was the first Chinese institution to be accredited by French Government for engineer title. He regularly advices international institutions, public bodies and consulting companies on water related projects and serve as legal expert for several major flood events. In 2015, Philippe was one of the founders of the Asian Water Council (AWC) promoting innovative solutions for water issues in Asia and currently serving as Vice President. In addition to IAHR activities, he is actively engaged at the national level with the Societé Hydrotechnique de France (SHF – French Hydrotechnic Society) as a management board member, division chair and initiator of the SimHydro biannual conferences since 2010. Philippe is currently serving as associate editor for the Journal of Hydroinformatics, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, River, and as co-editor in chief for La Houille Blanche / Hydroscience Journal. He has published extensively in the field of water engineering, crisis management and resilience assessment. Philippe received several awards from scientific and professional organisations including the “Grand Prix de l’Hydrotechnique” award from SHF in 2011 and he is currently invited/honorary professor in 16 universities and institutes in Europe and Asia mainly.

Career Type:

Scientist/Researcher/Academic

Organization Type:

Universities and Academia

Expertise Fields/Interests:

Philippe’s research interests are mainly focused on: • Numerical modelling for hydraulic and hydrologic processes in urban and natural environments, • ICT & architecture of modelling systems and Decision Support Systems, • extreme floods & crisis management • Water resources management • Resilience assessment and strategies • Collaborative engineering and virtual environments

Major Achievements:

From 2007 to 2017, Philippe was the first director of Polytech Nice Sophia, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. He was in charge of the development of the institution including the creation of the new campus in Sophia Antipolis, the international strategy and the cooperation with the economic actors of the largest European technopark. In parallel, Philippe was in charge of the international development for the Polytech group gathering 15 French engineering institutions and offering more than 110 engineering majors. He implemented and developed the Polytech 13 mobility scheme under Erasmus/Erasmus+ that became the largest action for graduates with 600 annual mobilities and with more than 800 industrial partners. Within Polytech Lab, a multidisciplinary research unit, Philippe has conducted numerous research projects with his team welcoming many international members. Most of the achieved projects were related to the development of hydraulic and distributed deterministic hydrological modelling systems that could be used to simulate extreme situations, to assess impacts, and to formulate mitigation strategies for resilience improvement for various environment including industrial sites such as nuclear production sites . A significant part of those activities were developed within 16 European Commission projects under the FP5, FP6, FP7, Horizon 2020 frameworks. The developed approaches and solutions have been deployed in numerous environments at the international scale (Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa) and offered numerous Ph.D. opportunities. Among many, the AquaVar Decision Support System (DSS) orchestrating several deterministic hydraulic, hydrogeologic and hydrologic models is emblematic of the research strategy followed for more than 15 years and leading to the operational implementation of the system within the information system of several municipalities such Nice Côte d'Azur Metropolis in France. In 2004, Philippe coordinated a consortium of 5 Europeans universities, 9 international institutions, 60 water sector industrial actors for establishing the EuroAquae joint M.Sc. on Hydrodroinformatics and water management. This M.Sc. was the first jointly awarded in Europe under the Erasmus Mundus framework and has received continuous support from the European Commission for two decades. This program has welcomed about 3.500 students from more than 80 nationalities who joined the M.Sc. or attended some of the various regional activities organized by the consortium such as HydroEurope, HydroAsia and HydroLatinAmerica. Within EuroAquae and water engineering curricula, Philippe has taught graduate and continuing education courses in fluid mechanics, hydraulic engineering, hydrology, computational hydraulics and modeling methods, In 2012, Philippe initiated the Tianjin International Engineering Institute (TIEI) at Tianjin University (TJU), China and served as French director of the school that was the first Chinese institution to be accredited by French Government for engineer title in 2017. The institute develops innovative multi disciplinary and project oriented pedagogic approaches in constant relationship with the economic ecosystem of Tianjin and its numerous international companies. The institute has received numerous awards for its innovative approach and its synergy with the professional sector.. Following 3 years of preparation, Philippe was one of the founders of the Asian Water Council (AWC) in 2015. The objective of the new International organization is to promote innovative solutions for water issues in Asia through projects and good practices. AWC federates 26 country members and more than 150 corporate members. AWC organizes the Asian Water Week on a biannual basis, supports projects and promotes active collaboration among its members. Philippe serves as AWC Vice President since 2015.