I obtained the title of Doctor in Physics from the University of Perugia (Italy) in 1984, and the Habilitation in Physics (HDR) from the University “Louis Pasteur” of Strasbourg in 2005.

I spent the first part of my scientific career in ENEA, Rome (Italy), where I worked on nuclear reactor physics, and science of irradiated materials.

I first landed in Lille with an “International Research Chair” by the Région Nord-Pas de Calais in 2006, and am currently Full Professor (“classe exceptionnelle”) at the Department of Physics of the University of Lille, and leader of the Physics Division at the IEMN Cnrs Institute.

In 2010 I created, and acted as Director since, the Master School in Biophysics and Medical Physics, officially recognized by the French Government (Ministère de la Santé).

I was an Editor of “Applied Physics Letters” for 8 years (two terms) until March 2016; since 2012 I am on the editorial board of the European Physical Journal E: Soft Matter and Biological Physics, and in 2018 I also joined the team of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology.

A recognized expert in statistical mechanics theory and molecular simulation, I am the author or co-author of more than 150 scientific papers, book chapters, and Conference proceedings, and gave more than 50 invited talks in national and international Conferences, with a total of > 5,500 citations and an h-factor of 33 (Scholar).

I was a visiting scientist in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at MIT, in Boston (1993); visiting scientist at the Materials Science Department, Argonne National Laboratory, in Chicago (1995-98); invited professor at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the University of Santa Barbara (1997-98); invited professor at the Materials Engineering Department of the Rensselaer Polytechnic in Troy, New York (2003); visiting scientist at the Institute of Industrial Sciences of the Tokyo University, for several short terms between 2007 and now.