Qualifications 

PhD (Wood Science)

M.App.Sci. (Wood Science)

Wood technology engineer (ENSTIB, France)

Background

Henri has been working in forestry and forest products since 1984, first as a forest technician, then as an engineer and finally as a researcher with CIRAD. He has gained extensive knowledge and experience as leader of a research team evaluating wood quality for tropical and Mediterranean plantations since 1994.

Role in the Cocowood Improvement project

Henri is the technical coordinator and activity leader for the cocowood project.

 Interests

Henri is interested in:

-the relationships between mechanical, physical properties and chemical properties of wood,

-developing methods and tools for rapid wood quality screening, particularly vibration analysis and near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS),

-developing metrology and specific instrumentation to characterise wood and wood-based products,

-consequence analysis of growth characteristics,

-environment and genetic selection on product quality and

-new technologies and products for wood evaluation.

Cocowood is a challenging material and a new field of R&D for wood scientists. Any basic knowledge developed for cocowood may open new avenues for innovative products with profitable, niche markets.

In his spare time Henri is kept busy with his family, surfing, rugby and travelling. He likes eclectic music, books and computing.