Since 2014, I am Professor of Data Science, Statistics (Mathematics of AI) at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). I am mainly teaching Mathematical Statistics, Statistical Learning and High-dimensional techniques. My main research fields are directional statistics, high dimensional statistics and dimension reduction techniques. In general, my research interests also include nonparametric methods such as rank-based methods or more recently methods based on optimal transport. I am currently serving as Associate Editor of the Electronic Journal of Statistics and the Journal of Multivariate Analysis with prior Associate Editor roles for Bernoulli, Computational Statistics and Data Analysis and Statistics and Probability Letters. In 2013, I have been elected as a member of the International Statistical Institute and elected in the Collegium of the Royal Academies of Belgium in 2024. I received in 2011 the annual prize in Mathematics and the Adolphe Wetrems prize in 2021 both from the Belgian Academy of Sciences. I am currently the president of the jury of the specialized master in Data Science, Big Data at ULB and the secretary of the Master in Statistics. You can download my CV here.





Selected recent publications (2020-…)



  • Testing for principal component directions under weak identifiability, Annals of Statistics, Vol. 48, 324-345 (2020) (coauthors: D.Paindaveine and J.Remy).
  • Detecting the direction of a signal on high-dimensional spheres: non-null and Le Cam optimality results, Probability Theory and Related Fields, Vol. 176, 1165-1216 (2020) (coauthor: D.Paindaveine).
  • On new Sobolev tests of uniformity on the circle with extension to the sphere, Bernoulli, Vol. 26, 2226-2252 (2020) (coauthors: S.R. Jammalamadaka and S. Meintanis).
  • On optimal tests for rotational symmetry against new classes of hyperspherical distributions, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 115, 1873-1887 (2020) (coauthors: E. Garcia-Portugués and D. Paindaveine).
  • Testing for positive expectation dependence with application to model comparison, Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Vol. 101, 163-172 (2021) (coauthors: M. Denuit and J. Trufin).
  • Preliminary Multiple-Test Estimation, with Applications to k-sample Covariance Estimation, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 117, 1904-1915 (2022) (coauthors: D. Paindaveine and J. Rasoafaraniaina).
  • Power enhancement for dimension detection of Gaussian signals, Statistica Sinica, Vol. 34, 2161-2182 (2024) (coauthor: G. Bernard).
  • Nonparametric measure-transportation-based methods for directional data, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B, Vol.86, 1172-1196 (2024) (coauthors: M. Hallin and H. Liu).
  • On runs tests for directional data and their local and asymptotic optimality properties, Statistica Sinica, to appear (2025+) (coauthors: M. Boucher, C. Francq and Y. Goto).







Editorial activities



  • Associate Editor of the Electronic Journal of Statistics (2023-…)
  • Associate Editor of the Journal of Multivariate Analysis (2016-…)
  • Associate Editor of Bernoulli (2022-2024)
  • Associate Editor of Statistics and Probability Letters (2014-2022)
  • Associate Editor of Computational Statistics and Data Analysis (2020-2022)





Distinctions and Awards


  • 2024-2029: Elected member of the Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium Collegium (classe des Sciences).
  • 2021: Adolphe Wetrems Prize of the Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium. Created in 1926, this prize is awarded each year to the researcher who has made a significant and recent scientific advance in Mathematics or Physics.
  • 2021: Laureate of the Fonds Thelam.
  • 2013: Elected member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI).
  • 2011: Annual price in applied Mathematics (prix du concours annuel) of the Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium.





Academic services at ULB



  • President of the jury of the specialized Master in Data Science, Big Data (2018-present)
  • Secretary of the jury of the Master in Statistics (2017-present)