Nicolas Gherardi

Nicolas Gherardi is graduated from Orléans-Tours University (France), in 1996, and he completed his PhD at Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse (France) in 2000, on applied physics.

During his career, he successively became research assistant at Minneapolis University, USA, postdoctorate and associate professor at Toulouse University, France, then “chargé” and “directeur de recherche” (ie senior scientist) at French National Centre for Scientific Research (French: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS), the French state research organization, and the largest fundamental science agency in Europe, during which he led a team working on Materials and Plasma Processes.

His specialty is the physics and the engineering of plasma discharges, and their applications to surface treatments and deposition of thin films.

During his research, he published more than 70 papers in various peer-reviewed international journals, participated in more than 150 international conferences, including 26 as an invited speaker, and he has 5 patents. He has been president of the plasma section of the French Physical Society from 2009 to 2011.

He is, since 2016, seconded to the French ministry of foreign affairs, first as Attaché for higher education and scientific cooperation based in China until august 2020, and since then as Deputy Counsellor for Education, Science and Culture within the French Embassy in India / deputy director of the French Institute in India.