Portraits of UM

Tomasz Hueckel, professor emeritus at Duke University (Durham, North Carolina, USA), joins the growing community of honorary doctors at the University of Montpellier. An engineer, researcher, and teacher, he has been collaborating with teams at the University of Montpellier for over 15 years, particularly those at the Laboratory of Mechanics and Civil Engineering (LMGC). The ceremony on May 16, 2025, was an opportunity to retrace his career step by step, from his native Poland to the United States, as well as his significant contributions to the field of civil and environmental engineering.

A postdoctoral researcher at the Marbec laboratory, ecologist Noémie Coulon is one of nine young researchers selected by the Ocean Institute to cover the One Ocean Science Congress in Nice in early June. It's a perfect fit for this specialist in the impact of climate change on rays and sharks in Europe.

With the Amarok observatory, Professor Olivier Torrès has dedicated his research to improving the health of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) managers. His career has been doubly rewarded with the Julien Marchesnay Prize in 2024 and a knighthood in the National Order of Merit in 2025.

Mircea Sofonea is an epidemiologist at the Pathogenesis and Control of Chronic and Emerging Infections (PCCEI) laboratory. Although his field has only become widely known since the Covid epidemic, for him it has been a lifelong vocation. Portrait of a researcher who knows how to stay the course.

As Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at Heidelberg University and Director of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Lutz Gade has acquired world-renowned expertise in his field over the years. In addition to his academic career, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Montpellier in February 2025 for his commitment to cooperation between the University of Heidelberg and the University of Montpellier.

After studying the impact of human activities on marine biodiversity, David Mouillot is now looking at the potential impact of coastal marine resources on reducing human poverty. The professor at the University of Montpellier and researcher at the Marbec laboratory has just been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant to conduct transdisciplinary research on this new topic.