Research engineer

Email : eric.rigolot(at)inrae.fr

Phone : +33 (0)4 32 72 29 21

Fax : +33 (0)4 32 72 29 02

INRAE

URFM - UR629

Domaine St Paul

Site Agroparc

F - 84914 Avignon cedex 9

Research engineer at Ecology of Mediterranean Forest  Unit attached to the Ecology and Biodiversity Department (ECODIV).

A research engineer in the Physics and Ecology of Fire team, I headed the Mediterranean Forest Ecology Research Unit (URFM) from January 2014 to December 2022 and the Entomology and Mediterranean Forest Experimental Unit (UEFM) from June 2017 to May 2019.

My areas of research are fuel modelling and management, fire ecology and the impacts of fire on Mediterranean forest stands. My work applies to forest fire prevention and preventive silviculture. In particular, in the 1990s I launched the national network of prescribed burning teams, which I led for over fifteen years, contributing to its development in France. I was involved in the design and maintenance of preventive structures, and coordinated a multi-partner feedback project on the effectiveness of fuel cuts in the face of the major fires of 2003 in the Maures massif. I co-coordinated the European integrated project Fire Paradox (FP6, 2006-2010), which proposed an integrated fire management approach. In 2017, I co-authored a book published by Dunod, Feu - L'apprivoiser, le combattre.

I am now involved in a systemic approach to multiple risks in forests. As part of this, in 2018 I led the abiotic and biotic risks and crises on the resource component of the INRA-IGN expertise "What role for French forests and the forest-wood industry in mitigating climate change?".

In 2019, I co-hosted a workshop for INRAE on natural, health and environmental risks. I am currently the leader of the RisqFor scientific network "Risk assessment and management in forests: towards a multi-risk approach" and a member of the steering committee of the INRAE XRISQUES Metaprogramme: Representation, Analysis and Management of Multiple Risks and Uncertainties for Food Systems, Agroecosystems and Populations. Since January 2023, I have been co-piloting the PEPR-FORESTT project focusing on multiple risks in forests.