charlotte.heinzlef [at] uvsq.fr
Co-director of Master 2 Adaptation to Climate Change (University Paris-Saclay)
EUROPE and INTERNATIONAL correspondent of the Observatoire Versailles Saint-Quentin (OVSQ)
(mise à jour 04/2026)
Charlotte Heinzlef is an associate professor in Climate Risk and Resilience Strategies at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin since 2021. In 2019, she completed her PhD thesis « Modeling indicators of urban resilience to flood risk. Co-construction of a spatial decision support system to contribute to the operationalization of the concept of resilience » in co-supervision between Avignon University (France) and the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning of Mons (Belgium). After defending her PhD, she did a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at the University of French Polynesia. She participated in the development of an observatory of resilience in the Pacific Islands. Her research focuses on the resilience of vulnerable territories (urban, insular, coastal, etc.) to risks in a context of climate change.
Key words: Climate risks, climate change, resilience strategies, spatial decision support systems
TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Master’s Degree – University Paris-Saclay, UVSQ
Etude de risque, Master 1 EDE. Parcours : Transition vers la soutenabilité
Transition to Sustainability: Human Systems, Master 2 Adaptation to Climate Changes
Risk Management, Master 2 Arctic Studies
Aménagement et Urbanisme, Master 2 Mobilité Durable, Transition et Société
Pratiques participatives, Master 1 Gestion de l’environnement, parcours Responsabilité sociétale des entreprises et environnement
Mémoires de M1 et M2, Master 1 Gestion de l’environnement, parcours Responsabilité sociétale des entreprises et environnement
SUPERVISION OF PHD STUDENTS & MASTER STUDENTS
Co-supervision of PhD students
2024-2027: Hugo Comes: Développer des stratégies de résilience face aux risques climatiques sur le long terme: L’enjeu de l’intégration des résiliences intrinsèques des communautés locales dans les outils d’aide à la décision – Application à l’Archipel des Marquises (Polynésie Française)
Previous PhD Students
2020-2023: Jérémy Jessin, « Methodological developments for the evaluation of the resilience potential of insular coastal territories to risks – Application to French Polynesia and Charente-Maritime ». PhD thesis. University of French Polynesia (UMR-EIO) and University of La Rochelle (LIENSs Laboratory).
2019-2022: Bastien Bourlier, «Operationalizing flood resilience in Tahiti by modeling local governance and spatialized indicators to co-determine the interest of a risk observatory ». PhD thesis. University of French Polynesia (UMR-EIO) and INRAE Aix-en-Provence.
Soutenance: 31/01/2023 https://www.upf.pf/fr/actualites/soutenance-de-these-de-bastien-bourlier
Supervision of master students
2022: Fiona Schmid, « What governance of the residual risk of marine submersion hazard in flood risk management: Thinking risk as a system-a multiscalar study of the Charente-Maritime: fieldwork and reflection on the island of Oléron. » Master 2 thesis Adaptation to climate change. University Paris-Saclay
2022: Emilie Malice, « The flood risk in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) in a context of climate change ». Master’s thesis, Development and Environmental Studies, Transition to Sustainability. University Paris-Saclay
2022: Victoria Duranton, « Risks and resilience strategy of the city of Paris in the face of urban heat islands ». Master’s thesis, Development and Environmental Studies, Transition to Sustainability. University Paris-Saclay
2022: Alexia Charles-Charlery, » Le déploiement de la Stratégie National Bas Carbone au sein de la S.A SNCF Gares et Connexions « . Master 2 RSEE thesis. UVSQ
2022: Léa Gribel, « Bilan Carbone: what are the stakes of its constitution and its implementation through the concrete cases of Ubitransport and Padam mobility ». Master 2 RSEE thesis. UVSQ
2022: Manon Richard, « The ecological transformation of cities: the role of CSR in a real estate development organization ». Master 2 CSR thesis. UVSQ
2022: Ophélie Puissant, » Optimisation d’une démarche RSE dans une ETI du secteur verrier pharmaceutique. The case of SGD Pharma ». Master 2 RSEE thesis. UVSQ
2022: Maxime Chagnat, « How can the policy of collective catering be included in the CSR/sustainable development policy? Master 2 RSEE thesis. UVSQ
2018-2019: Arist Sambou, « Resilience in the face of urban flooding: the case of road infrastructures in the Vaucluse », Master 1 thesis, Avignon University
Co-supervision of master students
2021: Lyne Grizeau, « Development of a culture of resilience in Tahiti ». Master 2 internship. University of French Polynesia.
2021: Zoe Daireaux, « Data modeling in a climate change risk observatory ». Master 2 internship. University of French Polynesia.
2021: Anne-Lou Schaefer, « Performance of the coral reef in the Pacific against the risk of flooding in a climate change perspective ». Master 2 internship. University of French Polynesia.
2020: Jérémy Jessin, « Potential of aerial geo-referenced data to supply a resilience observatory in Tahiti and Moorea ». Master 2 thesis. University of French Polynesia.
2020: Yoann Lamaury « Territorial resilience to flood risk in the Punaruu Valley ». Master 2 thesis. University of French Polynesia.
01/2017-06/2018: Ingrid Dananaï, « Environmental inequalities in the management of coastal amenities and risks », INEGALITO project, Master 2 thesis, Grenoble University.
2016-2017: Laura Abadie, « Analysis of View Exposed, VisAdapt & ClimRes software », thesis of Licence 2 CMI Géographie et Aménagement, Avignon University.
PUBLICATIONS
Papers in scientific journals (peer-reviewed)
Bourlier, B., Taillandier, F., Heinzlef, C., Serre, D. and Curt, C. (2025), Spatial Assessment of Territorial Resilience to Floods Using Comprehensive Indicators: Application to Greater Papeete (French Polynesia). J Flood Risk Management, 18: e70005. ⟨10.1111/jfr3.70005⟩. ⟨hal-04960119⟩
Jessin, J., Heinzlef, C., Long, N., Serre, D. Conceptualization of territorial resilience potential indicators to coastal hazards through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. Ocean and Coastal Management, 2024, 257, pp.107350. ⟨10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2024.107350⟩. ⟨hal-04692591⟩
Heinzlef, C., Serre, D. Improving a resilience observatory with a post cyclonic event resilience assessment: Application to the 2010 OLI cyclone in three Pacific islands. Ocean and Coastal Management, 2024, 250, pp.107044. ⟨10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2024.107044⟩. ⟨hal-04444715⟩
Heinzlef, C., Lamaury, Y., Serre, D. Improving climate change resilience knowledge through a gaming approach: Application to marine submersion in the city of Punaauia, Tahiti. Environmental Advances, 2024, 15, pp.100467. (hal-04353914)
Jessin, J.; Heinzlef, C.; Long, N.; Serre, D. A Systematic Review of UAVs for Island Coastal Environment and Risk Monitoring: Towards a Resilience Assessment. Drones 2023, 7, 206. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones7030206
Heinzlef, C., Barroca, B., Leone, M., Serre, D. (2022). Urban resilience operationalization issues in climate risk management: A review, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (2022), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.102974.
Heinzlef, C., Serre, D., 2022. Understanding and Implementing Urban Resilience for Comprehensive and Local Risk Management, in: Eslamian, S., Eslamian, F. (Eds.), Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 103–128. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72196-1_5
Jessin, J.; Heinzlef, C.; Long, N.; Serre, D. Supporting a Resilience Observatory to Climate Risks in French Polynesia: From Valorization of Preexisting Data to Low-Cost Data Acquisition. Water 2022, 14, 359. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14030359
Yang, Z., Fabrizia Clemente, M., Laffréchine, K., Heinzlef, C., Serre, D. and Barroca, B. (2022). Resilience of Social-Infrastructural Systems: Functional Interdependencies Analysis. Sustainability 2022, 14(2), 606. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020606
Publications from 2018 to 2021
Lamaury, Y., Jessin, J., Heinzlef, C., Serre, D. (2021). Operationalizing urban resilience to floods in island territories-Application in Punaauia, French Polynesie. Water 13, 337. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13030337
Heinzlef, C. (2021). La résilience urbaine en question : Enjeux, contexte et propositions d’opérationnalisation. Risques Urbains. 20-4. https://doi.org/10.21494/ISTE.OP.2021.0601
Heinzlef, C., Serre, D. (2020). Urban resilience: From a limited urban engineering vision to a more global comprehensive and long-term implementation. Water Secur. 11, 100075. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasec.2020.100075
Heinzlef, C., Robert B., Hémond Y., Serre D. (2020), Operating urban resilience strategies to face climate change and associated risks: some advances from theory to application in Canada and France, Cities, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102762
Heinzlef, C., Becue V., Serre D. (2020), A spatial decision support system for enhancing resilience to floods. Bridging resilience modeling and geovisualization techniques. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-1049-2020
Heinzlef, C., Serre D. (2019), Dérèglement climatique et gestion des risques en Polynésie Française : conception d’un observatoire de la résilience, Les Cahiers d’Outre-Mer, 2019/2 (n°280), p.531-563. https://doi.org/10.4000/com.10666
Heinzlef, C., Becue, V., Serre, D. (2019), Operationalizing urban resilience to floods in embanked territories-Application in Avignon, Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur Region, Safety Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2019.05.003
Serre, D., Heinzlef, C. (2018), Assessing and mapping urban resilience to floods with respects to cascading effects through critical infrastructure networks, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2018.02.018
Collective books – Book chapters
Serre D., Heinzlef C. (2022) Long-Term Resilience to Climate Change Risks in French Polynesian Community. In: Brears R.C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Climate Resilient Societies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32811-5_129-2
Heinzlef C., Ganz F., Becue V., Serre D. (2021), « Améliorer la résilience face au risque inondation : de la création d’indicateurs à un observatoire de résilience urbaine », in « Résilience et adaptation aux risques « naturels » (Leone & Vinet, 2021), Géorisques n°9 2021, Presse Universitaires de la Méditerranée
Collective books – Book chapters from 2017 to 2019
Heinzlef C. (2019), Recettes de Résilience Urbaine, Comment réagir face aux inondations ? P.U Avignon; Midisciences, ISBN: 235768108X
Serre D., Douvinet J., Heinzlef C., Daniel-Lacombe E. (2017), « Les territoires endigués, quelles stratégies adopter pour y poursuivre l’urbanisation ? », dans (sous la direction de) Vinet, Pages 259–274, Le risque inondation, Edition ISTE.
Conference papers published
Bourlier B., Taillandier F., Heinzlef C., Picot O., Curt C., Serre D. (2020), Modelling long term resilience of the high islands of French Polynesia (Tahiti, Moorea): implementation of a systemic analysis. 22ème Congrès de Maîtrise des Risques et Sûreté de Fonctionnement. Lambda Mu 22, Institut pour la Maîtrise des Risques. Le Havre, France, 12-15/10/2020.
Heinzlef C., Morschell J., Serre D. (2020), Assessing resilience to floods in an holistic perspective in French Polynesia, FloodRisk 2020 Science and Practice for an Uncertain Future. Budapest (Hongrie), 08/2020.
Bourlier B., Taillandier F., Heinzlef C., Curt C., Davies N., Serre D. (2020), A flood resilience observatory and research perspectives from the ILOTS project, FloodRisk 2020 Science and Practice for an Uncertain Future. Budapest (Hongrie), 08/2020.
Conference papers published from 2017 to 2018
Heinzlef C., Ganz F., Becue V., Serre D. (2017), Eléments de conception d’un observatoire de résilience urbaine face au risque d’inondation, 7ème colloque du réseau OPDE (Des Outils pour Décider Ensemble) « Concevoir, adapter, évaluer des dispositifs pour faciliter et étendre la participation ».
Heinzlef C., Becue V., Serre D. (2018), Concevoir un outil collaboratif d’aide à la décision : opérationnalier la résilience urbaine, 01 Design 11. ISBN : 978-2-87325-116-1
Oral communications in international peer-reviewed conferences
Heinzlef C., « Decision-support tools: The role of observatories at the intersection of temporal and spatial scales in climate risk management », Urban Resilience Symposium, Hafencity University 2025
Heinzlef C., Chi G., Egli P-E., Calovi M., Comes H., Gavenus E., Gherardi J., Opach T., Scherzer S., Serre D., Vanderlinden J-P., Wheeler E.L., RETRACE Project Resiliences to climate risks : lessons from arctic and pacific communities ; Society for Risk Analysis 2025
Heinzlef C., Comes H., Serre D., Climate resilience in French Polynesia: a mixed methods exploration in Bora-Bora ; Society for Risk Analysis 2025
Heinzlef C., Casault A., Thomas I., Serre D., Implementing Urban Resilience at the Local Level: Three Francophone Urban Case Studies. European Geosciences Union 2023, Vienne (Autriche), 26/04/23
Heinzlef C., et Serre, D., (2022), A serious Game as part of an observatory for climate risk resilience strategies: application in French Polynesia; SRA 2022, Tampa, 06/12/22
Serre., D et Heinzlef C., (2022), Critical infrastructure network resilience: 20 years of research for what?; SRA 2022, Tampa, 07/12/22
Bourlier B.; Heinzlef C.; Curt C.; Taillandier F.; Serre D., (2022), Towards an observatory to monitor resilience to floods in Tahiti; SRA 2022, Tampa, 06/12/22
Schmid F., Heinzlef C., da Cunha C. (2022), RREFLOOD-Resildual Risk of Coastal Flooding in France: Ile d’Oléron, Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2022 (23/06/2022) https://attend.sri2022.org/meetings/virtual/PcJBpXEbij79hces7
Heinzlef C., Davies N., Dominey-Howes D., Serre D. (2020), A Pacific islands case study: implementing territorial resilience issue. Society for Risk Analysis 2020. Austin, 13-17/12/2020.
Serre D., Heinzlef C., Bourlier B., Jessin J., Lamaury Y., Croteau R., Taillandier F., Curt C., Long N., Talbot J., Fried J., Davies N., Dominey-Howes D. (2020), A scientific resilience observatory for the Pacific islands and coasts: some results. Society for Risk Analysis 2020. Austin, 13-17/12/2020.
Bourlier B., Taillandier F., Heinzlef C., Picot O., Curt C., Serre D. (2020), Modelling long term resilience of the high islands of French Polynesia (Tahiti, Moorea) : implementation of a systemic analysis. 22ème Congrès de Maîtrise des Risques et Sûreté de Fonctionnement. Lambda Mu 22, Institut pour la Maîtrise des Risques. Le Havre, France, 12-15/10/2020.
Heinzlef C., Morschell J., Serre D. (2020), Assessing resilience to floods in an holistic perspective in French Polynesia, FloodRisk 2020 Science and Practice for an Uncertain Future. Budapest (Hongrie), 08/2020.
Bourlier B., Taillandier F., Heinzlef C., Curt C., Davies N., Serre D. (2020), A flood resilience observatory and research perspectives from the ILOTS project, FloodRisk 2020 Science and Practice for an Uncertain Future. Budapest (Hongrie), 08/2020.
Oral communications in international peer-reviewed conferences from 2017 to 2019
Serre D., Bourlier B., Picot O., Heinzlef C., Davies N. (2019), Observatories, long term resilience monitoring, a review, SRA 2019 Risk Analysis in the Data analytics Era, Arlington (USA), 12/2019.
Merad M., Heinzlef C. (2019), Insights on the conceptual and operational distinctions between risk, resilience and sustainability, SRA 2019 Risk Analysis in the Data analytics Era, Arlington (USA), 12/2019
Heinzlef C., Serre D. (2019), Assessing resilience to floods in an holistic perspective, SRA 2019 Risk Analysis in the Data analytics Era, Arlington (USA), 12/2019.
Bourlier B., Heinzlef C., Serre D. (2019). Ease Land Use Transformation in Risky Coastal Areas with Participative GIS, ILUS 2019 3rd International Land Use Symposium, Paris (France), 04-06/12/2019
Serre D., Bourlier B., Lambert M-L., Heinzlef C., Long N., A participative process to decrease coastal vulnerabilities and optimize land use transformation, 59th ERSA Congress, Lyon (France), 08/2019.
Serre D., Bourlier B., Heinzlef C., Lambert M-L., Long N. (2019). A participative GIS to increase resilience of coastal environments with non-structural measures, OCEANEXT 2019 Interdisciplinary Conference “Building the future of marine and coastal socio-ecosystems”, Nantes (France), 03-05/07/2019
Serre D., Claudet J., Davies N., Fried J., Gaertner J-C., Heinzlef C., Laganier R., Morschel J., Parravicini V., Tchekemian A. (2019). Pacific Island LOng Term resilience (ILOTS), OCEANEXT 2019 Interdisciplinary Conference “Building the future of marine and coastal socio-ecosystems”, Nantes (France), 03-05/07/2019
Heinzlef C., Becue V., Serre D., Thinking urban flood resilience through observatory design, Fifth World Congress on Risk – Society for Risk Analysis, Cape Town (Afrique du Sud), 05/2019.
Heinzlef C., Becue V., Serre D. (2019), Resilience indicators: a decision-support tool to assess urban floods resilience, A French case-study, European Geosciences Union 2019, Vienne (Autriche), 04/2019.
Heinzlef C., Ganz F., Becue V., Serre D. (2018), A decision-support tool to improve urban resilience: a collaboration between research and urban services, SRA-E Conference 2018 27th Annual Conference of the Society for Risk Analysis Europe, Ostersund (Suède), 06/2018.
Heinzlef C., Becue V., Serre D. (2018), Concevoir un outil collaboratif d’aide à la décision : opérationnaliser la résilience urbaine, 01 Design 11, Mons (Belgique), 06/2018.
Heinzlef C., Ganz F., Becue V., Serre D. (2018), Implementing urban resilience to floods in Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur Region: interfacing science and urban engineers of Avignon City Council, European Geosciences Union 2018, Vienne (Autriche), 04/2018.
Heinzlef C., Ganz F., Becue V., Serre D. (2017), An observatory for decision-making: measuring and advising on urban resilience, IDRIM (Integrated Disaster Risk Management) 2017, Reykjavik (Islande), 08/2017.
Poster presentations in international peer-reviewed conferences
Heinzlef C., Casault A., Serre D., Thomas I., Progress in assessing resilience to climate-related flood risks thanks to a comparative study between two francophone methods. European Geosciences Union 2023, Vienne (Autriche), 26/04/23
Heinzlef C., Hémond Y., Robert B., Serre D. (2019), A decision-support tool to increase urban resilience to flood risk: from a theoretical concept to operational urban managers re-appropriation. A France-Quebec comparative approach, Fifth World Congress on Risk – Society for Risk Analysis, Cape Town (Afrique du Sud), 05/2019.
Heinzlef C., Serre D. (2019), The operationalization of resilience, from a theoretical concept to urban re-appropriation: what progress has been made? European Geosciences Union 2019, Vienne (Autriche), 04/2019.
Poster presentations in international peer-reviewed conferences from 2017 to 2018
Heinzlef C., Ganz F., Becue V., Serre D. (2018), Coping with urban floods: a special decision-support system to improve resilience, AGILE Conference 2017, Lund (Suède), 06/2018.
Heinzlef C., Ganz F., Becue V., Serre D. (2017), An observatory for decision-making: measuring and advising on urban resilience, IDRIM (Integrated Disaster Risk Management) 2017, Reykjavik (Islande), 08/2017.
Heinzlef C., Ganz F., Becue V., Serre D. (2017), Designing a spatial decision-support system to improve urban resilience to floods, European Geosciences Union 2017, Avril 2017, Vienne (Autriche), 04/2017.
Oral communications in national peer-reviewed conferences
Heinzlef C., Serre D. (2020), La crise mondiale COVID 19 : quelles vulnérabilités locales en Polynésie Française ?, Conférence de la recherche 2020, Université de Polynésie Française, Punnuia (Tahiti), 03/12/2020. Youtube
Heinzlef C., Ganz F., Becue V., Serre D. (2019), Améliorer la résilience face au risque inondation : de la création d’indicateurs à un observatoire de résilience urbaine, 15ème Rencontre Géorisque – Résilience et Adaptation aux Catastrophes Naturelles, Montpellier (France), 01/2019.
Oral communications in national peer-reviewed conferences from 2017 to 2018
Heinzlef C., Ganz F., Becue V., Serre D. (2018), Un outil d’aide à la décision pour opérationnaliser la Résilience Urbaine, Mardi des Chercheurs, Valenciennes (France), 03/2018.
Heinzlef C., Ganz F., Becue V., Serre D. (2017), Éléments de conception d’un Observatoire de Résilience Urbaine face au risque d’inondation, OPDE Conférence (Des Outils pour Décider Ensemble) Montpellier (France), 10/2017.
Heinzlef C., Gisclard B., Douvinet J., Serre D. (2017), Répondre au risque d’inondation fluviale : Zénobie, la ville résiliente du futur, Juin 2017, Limoges (France), 06/2017.
Oral communications in national and international conferences given at the invitation of the organizing committee
Heinzlef C., (2026),Un observatoire des risques et de la résilience: Application en Polynésie Française,Rencontres Internationales de Recherche « Learning/Speculating from Mauritius. Un observatoire de l’architecture et des territoires. Architectures des villes et des îles, entre l’extra et l’ordinaire. Héritages et bifurcation ». Ensa Nantes [Mauritius] – 23 au 27 mars 2026
Heinzlef C., Garnier, T. Opérationnaliser la gestion de crise: l’apport des jeux sérieux. Workshop « Serious Game: Paris-Saclay joue le jeu », 05/02/2024, Université Paris Saclay.
Heinzlef C., Opérationnaliser la résilience urbaine: développement de systèmes spatiaux d’aide à la décision. 14.04.23, Réseau Inondations Intersectoriel du Québec. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTDH_K3CI3k
Heinzlef, C. (2023), Opérationnaliser la résilience dans la gestion des risques : l’apport des jeux sérieux, Workshop « Serious Game: Paris-Saclay joue le jeu », 06/02/2023, Université Paris Saclay, https://www.universite-paris-saclay.fr/evenements/workshop-serious-game-paris-saclay-joue-le-jeu-0
Heinzlef C. (2021), Dérèglement climatique, quel avenir pour les villes côtières? L’exemple de venise, Séminaire, LIMEEP-PS Quel avenir pour Venise ?, UVSQ, 10/12/2021 https://www.ovsq.uvsq.fr/seminaire-limeep-ps-quel-avenir-pour-venise
Heinzlef C. (2021), Opérationnaliser la résilience face aux risques climatiques à travers la construction d’outils spatiaux d’aide à la décision, Inland Water-Adressing the planning and design of territories facing inland flood risks. Université de Mons, Belgique, 21/10/2021 https://www.louiselab.be/article/inland-water
Oral communications in national and international conferences given at the invitation of the organizing committee from 2017 to 2019
Heinzlef C. (2018), La résilience urbaine, d’un concept théorique à une (ré)appropriation opérationnelle, Mons (Belgique), 12/2018.
Heinzlef C. (2017), Amélioration des conditions de résilience des territoires bordant des fleuves endigués de la région PACA, Journée sur les coopérations européennes, Etablissement Public Loire, Orléans (France), 09/2017. https://www.eptb-loire.fr/journee-cooperation-europeenne
Heinzlef C. (2017), La résilience des territoires bordant des fleuves endigués de la Région PACA, Mons (Belgique), 04/2017.
PhD Thesis
Heinzlef C. (2019), Modélisation d’indicateurs de résilience urbaine face au risque d’inondation. Co-construction d’un système spatial d’aide à la décision pour contribuer à l’opérationnalisation du concept de résilience. Thèse de doctorat. Avignon Université (France) et Faculté d’Architecture et d’Urbanisme de Mons (Belgique). 274p. URL 1, URL 2
RESEARCH PROJECTS
Since 2026: PEPR IRIMA-Projet CORAI
2024-2027: RETRACE (ResilienceS to climate risks: lessons from arctic and pacific communities) , Belmont Forum
Since the 2000’s and in a climate change context, 2.3 billion people have been impacted by natural disasters. Faced with complex issues, risk management has evolved to analyze risks in a systemic way, integrating the resilience concept which is now an imperative for territories. However, few local actors manage to transform this concept into effective risk management strategies. Existing decision-support tools are mainly focused on technical-functional approaches. Although based on rigorous and scientific approaches, they don’t represent reality with veracity, subtlety, accuracy. Local communities are therefore struggling to deal with it. It’s now essential to find an effective way to enhance the resiliences of local communities, in order to develop more inclusive approaches to implementing resilience strategies to climate risks. The consortium believes that some elements are pillars of local resiliences: experiences, intergenerational, traditional, vernacular and local knowledge, etc. Integrating these forms of local, intrinsic, and cultural resiliencies into decision-support tools is not only a challenge for understanding resilience in its diversity but also a guarantee for the appropriation and adoption of such tools. Two geographical areas are identified as most vulnerable to climate risks: the polar zones and the Pacific islands. Communities with strong cultural dimensions have been selected: the Marquesan (French Polynesia), the Sami and Kven (Norway) and the Ahtna (Alaska). RETRACE project aims to produce a decision-support system that enables the representation, understanding and implementation of resilience strategies adapted to local issues. The methodology is based on a mixed-methods approach: qualitative data from a collaborative approach aimed at identifying resilience factors in local narratives, traditions, experiences, sensitivities, knowledge, etc., and quantitative data derived from open source data. The aim is to develop long-term resilience strategies to climate risks in these communities and to ensure the reproducibility of the methodology.
Key Words: Climate risks, resilience, adaptation, resilient communities, local narratives, local knowledge, local science, decision-support systems, arctic territories, pacific islands.
Rôle: Project Leader
2024: Résilience face au risque cyclonique en Polynésie française: les apports des méthodes mixtes et collaboratives; AFD
Les territoires insulaires du Pacifique sont particulièrement vulnérables face au changement climatique et risques associés (IPCC,2014). Pour faire face à ces risques croissants et incertitudes liées, le concept de résilience est de plus en plus utilisé dans la gestion des risques. Ce concept favorise l’innovation, l’apprentissage et le rebond et constitue désormais un impératif pour les territoires et les communautés afin de faire face aux impacts du changement climatique.
Bien qu’essentielle pour appréhender la complexité des risques climatiques, la résilience peine à s’opérationnaliser et se transformer en stratégies de gestion des risques efficaces, pertinentes et appliquées sur le long terme. La recherche scientifique cherche à répondre à cet enjeu en développant des systèmes spatiaux d’aide à la décision, ce qui comprend la production de la donnée sur les niveaux de résilience.
Ce projet de recherche s’inscrit dans les principes de construction d’un observatoire des risques et de la résilience en Polynésie française, porté par l’équipe de recherche. Il vise, dans ce cadre, à modéliser le potentiel de résilience face au risque cyclonique à Bora-Bora, à travers des méthodes mixtes (alliant données quantitatives et qualitatives) et collaboratives (permettant de travailler sur les perceptions et les savoirs des populations locales et de les associer à la définition des politiques de gestion des risques climatiques et d’adaptation au changement climatique).
Rôle: Principal Investigator
2022-2027: PREFER (Deciphering the lay ethics of terminal risks: local terminal risks as PRoxiEs For Existantial Risks), ERC Advanced Grant 2021
Rôle: Partner
2022-2023: Serious Game « climate crisis », an immersive response between territorial actors and Earth Observation Startup – Appel à projet « Jeux Sérieux », Université Paris Saclay
Rôle: Supervisor
2021-2023: RREFlood Project (The Residual Risk of Extreme Floods: A Challenge for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals), Belmunt Forum
This project proposes to create an international network of experts and a community of practice that address the residual risk dilemma in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).This project was selected in the framework of the call « Pathways2020 » of the Belmont Forum.
Role : Partner
2021-2022: CLIMACT’ILE (CLIMate impACT resILiEnce); Pacific Fund, High Commission of the Republic in French Polynesia
Flooding (fluvial, pluvial, tsunamis and submersions) is among the most critical issues for most islands. Improving the resilience to flood risks in such a region is the main objective of this project. To achieve this goal, we propose a two-step approach: i. Modeling the level of resilience to flooding and cascading effects of several Pacific islands from Hawaii to Fiji, ii. Construction of a spatial knowledge support tool. UC Berkeley (Gump Station) and U of Sydney are partners in this project.
20 000 €
Role: Partner
2021: UAV Coastal 3D, Assessment of coastal vulnerability to marine erosion by photogrammetry; University of French Polynesia – « Supporting Actions » project call
In a context of climate disruption, coastal risk assessment has become a major knowledge issue. The need to explore, measure and understand the processes remains one of the scientific priorities whose development must be pursued within the framework of the establishment project. This project will enrich this research theme with relevant knowledge by developing a methodology to produce information necessary to feed an observatory dedicated to the evaluation of the resilience of coastal territories. Finally, important work will also be carried out in relation to local authorities and coastal managers to make this information accessible and usable for decision making. This is also a question of clearly positioning ourselves on a transfer of scientific knowledge to society. In addition, UAC Coastal 3D will test the ability of drones to provide useful data for risk management in island environments through the acquisition of aerial images and post-processing analysis of 3D models. The objective is twofold:
1. To monitor the evolution of a coastline identified as vulnerable: Matira Point in Bora-Bora
2. To carry out a 3D cartography at the scale of an atoll between two storms in order to measure the differences on a coast of about ten kilometers in Fakarava and to understand the natural protection of the reef
This diagnostic work will feed the project of a resilience observatory and will allow to establish tracks of restoration of the coastline by solutions based on nature.
8 000 €
Role: Partner
2020: PARC (PAcific islands Resilience Culture); University of French Polynesia – « Supporting Actions » project call
This project aims to work on the issue of resilience culture in the Pacific islands. Based on the observation that risk culture is often linked to local experiences and legacies of territorialized risk management, this project seeks to develop, encourage and support the integration of the concept of resilience in risk management strategies. Supported by the University of French Polynesia (UPF), this research project illustrates the tensions and needs of the Pacific islands to prepare for climate change, disasters and the uncertainties associated with these changes.
5 000 €.
Role: Project leader
2019-2021: ILOTS 1 and 2 (pacific Island LOng Term reSilience); IRD, CNRS – « Natural Hazards » call
This project aims to establish the basis for the development of an observatory of resilience to climate change and associated risks in French Polynesia. This collaborative project (UMR EIO, UC Berkeley – Gump Station, USR CRIOBE, UC Irvine, UMR PRODIG, UMR ESPACE) brings together a team that is both thematic (Risks, Oceanian Environment) and methodological (Observatory, Spatial Modeling, Resilience Assessment) and constitutes the launch of a research theme in French Polynesia to achieve useful results in the medium term in this field. The team is completed by complementary means: recruitment of an ATER (2 years) by the UPF, co-financing of a PhD contract (half grant MENRT-ED Pacifique, half grant IRSTEA Aix en Provence).
43 000 €.
Role: Partner
SCIENTIFIC IMPACT
Reviewer in international peer-reviewed journals
Reviewer pour Buildings, MDPI
Reviewer pour Land, MDPI
Reviewer pour Journal of Flood Risk Management, Wiley Online Library
Reviewer pour Environment, Development and Sustainability, SPRINGER
Reviewer for RISQUES URBAINS, ISTE Editions
Reviewer for CITIES, MDPI
Reviewer for IJDRR, ELSEVIER (International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction)
Scientific expertise
Scientific expert for the evaluation of projects submitted to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
Scientific expert for the evaluation of projects submitted to the ANR « AAP RA-SIOMRI 2021 »
AWARDS
05/2020: FINALIST of the CCR Cat Nat 2020 Thesis Award
12/2019: SRA 2019 Travel Award – 2019 SRA Annual Meeting, Arlington (USA).
06/2018: SRA-Europe Conference Scholarship Award 2018 – Best Paper Awarded by the 27th SRA Europe Annual Meeting – Risk and Uncertainty, from Critical thinking to practical impact (Suède).
08/2017: 7th paper prize of the Young Scientists Session – IDRIM 2017 Conference – Reykjavik (Islande).
06/2017: Bourse Perdiguier – Avignon Université (France). Support for the international mobility of doctoral students registered at Avignon University. 1 500 €
10/2016: Thesis grant from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region (France). 100 000 €