Team

Prof. Florent Barbecot, from Université du Québec à Montréal, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, is the nominated co-principal investigator of this project. He holds the research chair in urban hydrogeology and has relevant expertise in geochemistry, hydrogeology and water resources.More specifically, he has developed isotopic and geochemical tracer methods to determine the origin andage of water and ultimately to quantify and predict the response of groundwater resources to land use

and climate changes. He has conducted research and worked as a consultant for the UN (International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA]) and the World Bank [WB], including in the Pacific region. He has extensive experience in leading and implementing cutting-edge research projects on water access for vulnerable communities as well as in leading scientific committees (French Natural Parks, Hydro Sciences, Geotop, WB). In 2019 and 2023, IAEA selected him to organise training courses on isotopes hydrology for the Pacific region. He is currently conducting a UN research project on Vanuatu’s water resources in collaboration with the Vanuatu Department of Water Resources. He is involved in all phases of the project, with a strong focus on the water resources assessment, climate change impacts on water resources and adaptation methods based on hydrologic technologies.
https://professeurs.uqam.ca/professeur/barbecot.florent
https://www.geotop.ca/fr/membres/reguliers/F_Barbecot
barbecot.florent@uqam.ca

Prof. Philip Brunner, from University of Neuchatel (UNeuchâtel), Centre for Hydrogeology and Geothermics, has a strong track record in numerical modelling of hydrogeological processes using physically-based numerical models such as HydroGeoSphere. He has contributed to hydrogeological science and modelling by exploring data types and methods from a wide range of fields, including remote sensing, inverse- and data-assimilation methods. He will help assess the impact of sea-level rise and frequent extreme climate-related events on freshwater resources of Vanuatu, and identify and evaluate mitigation and adaptation measures based on hydrologic technologies.
https://www.unine.ch/chyn/biography/philip-brunner
philip.brunner@unine.ch

Dr. Krishna Kumar Kotra is a senior lecturer and the science program coordinator at the Emalus Campus (Vanuatu) of the University of the South Pacific. He specializes in research on water quality, groundwater and climate change. He has experience on water resources in Vanuatu and a strong history of collaboration with the Department of Water Resources of the Government of Vanuatu. In Vanuatu, he has a key role in facilitating scientific, academic and recruitment activities as well as logistics throughout the duration of the project.

krishna.kotra@usp.ac.fj

Prof. Marie-Claude Savard, from Université du Québec à Montréal, École des sciences de la gestion, has 20 years’ experience as project management professional in the not-for-profit sector. She is interested in the impact of Western management practices on civil society organizations in developing countries, including Vanuatu, where she worked for many years. She is making her network in Vanuatu available to the team to participate in the project and disseminate its results. She also acts as interpreter, as she speaks the local language, Bislama. Marie-Claude is the Scientific Director of the Canadian Research Institute on Humanitarian Crises and Aid, two of whose research axes (resilience to crises and disasters, and critical and emerging approaches to international aid) are aligned with the objectives of this project.
https://occah.uqam.ca/team/marie-claude-savard/
https://professeurs.uqam.ca/professeur/savard.marie_claude/
savard.marie_claude@uqam.ca

Dr. Morgane Rosier is a postdoctoral fellow at the Canadian Research Institute on Humanitarian Crises and Aid at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Her research interests include international cooperation policy and practice, development assistance, foreign aid, humanitarian action, disasters, climate change and island states and territories. Her doctoral thesis focuses on aid effectiveness in Vanuatu, a Pacific island country. She currently works on perceptions of climate-related and geological risks and on water resources on island territories, as well as on Canadian foreign policy.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgane-rosier-ph-d-314a759
rosier.morgane@courrier.uqam.ca

Prof. René Therrien, from Université Laval, Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, has a recognized expertise in the development and application of integrated hydrologic models to assess the impact of climate change on water resources. He is the main developer of the integrated surface and subsurface hydrologic model HydroGeoSphere that will be used in this project. He will be involved in numerical modeling throughout WP3 and WP4 to help forecast the impacts of climate, land use and water uptake changes on water resources, as well as to test long-term adaptation solutions.
https://www.fsg.ulaval.ca/corps-professoral/rene-therrien
rene.therrien@ggl.ulaval.ca

Prof. Philippe Lucas-Picher, from Université du Québec à Montréal, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, is an expert in meteorological and climate hazards, climate change, hydrology, climate modeling, and atmospheric science. With the collaboration of stakeholders from the Ministry of Climate Change of Vanuatu, he is responsible for the production and analysis of regional climate model projections at the kilometer scale for the entire Vanuatu archipelago.
https://professeurs.uqam.ca/professeur/lucas-picher.philippe/
lucas-picher.philippe@uqam.ca

Prof. Janie Masse-Dufresne, from École de technologie supérieure, Construction Engineering Department, has an expertise focussing on managed aquifer rechargesolutions, including bank filtration systems, and water resources management at the watershed scale.She has research experience in field hydrogeology in highly dynamic environments and uses a multimethodapproach integrating various techniques, including classical hydrology, geochemical and isotopictracing methods and remote sensing. She contributes mainly to assess waterresources and to implement and test adaption measures for abstraction.
https://www.etsmtl.ca/etudier-a-lets/corps-enseignant/jdufresne
janie.masse-dufresne@etsmtl.ca

Prof. Yannick Hémond, from Université du Québec à Montréal, Department of Geography, is a specialist in disaster management and resilience in the face of climate change. He is a scientific member of the Canadian Research Institute on Humanitarian Crises and Aid. He conducts research on populational and socio-economic vulnerabilities in relation to climate change. He will focus on assessing the resilience of water infrastructures and major organisations involved in water management to the impacts of frequent extreme climate-related events in Vanuatu.
https://professeurs.uqam.ca/professeur/hemond.yannick/
hemond.yannick@uqam.ca

Prof. Caroline Coulombe, from Université du Québec à Montréal, École des sciences de la gestion, is a scientific member of the Canadian Research Institute on Humanitarian Crises and Aid and of the Project Management Chair. She specializes in organizational behaviour within international and project management contexts. She works on change management process to guide and inform large and diverse ecosystems of stakeholders in facing extreme/crisis contexts in a collaborative manner. She brings to this project her expertise on collaboration, knowledge and experience sharing.
https://professeurs.uqam.ca/professeur/coulombe.caroline/
coulombe.caroline@uqam.ca

Dr. Christin Müller is researcher from Université du Québec à Montréal, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. She has expertise in hydrogeochemical processes and nutrient fluxes with a special focus on utilizing various stable isotopes to assess landscape and climatic changes. She brings resources to this project for utilizing a short life radioactive isotope (Sulfur-35) to assess the short-term residence time of groundwater and surface water.
https://www.geotop.ca/fr/membres/etudiants/CM%C3%BCller
muller.christin@uqam.ca
+49 176 30750951

Dr. Roland Purtschert leads a research group at University of Bern, Physics Institute. Over the last 30 years, he has developed methodologies using noble gas radioisotopes to date groundwater on timescales ranging from days to millions of years, that notably found applications in the determination of flow dynamics in perturbated coastal aquifers. On short timescales relevant for the present study, he proposes a new method based on Argon-37 to deal with recent recharge and groundwater-surface water exchange. He will focus on the isotopic and geochemical assessment of groundwater recharge- and flow- dynamics.
https://www.climate.unibe.ch/about_us/team/dr_purtschert_roland/index_eng.html
roland.purtschert@unibe.ch

Dr. José Antonio Corcho Alvarado is a researcher at Spiez Laboratory, Nuclear Chemistry Division. He is an expert in isotope hydrology, water chemistry and groundwater resources characterization using environmental tracers. He has contributed to numerous IAEA-led technical cooperation projects in different parts of the world, including in the Pacific. In particular, he has conducted fieldwork in the Marshall Islands, a Pacific island country sharing similar challenges with Vanuatu. He is mainly involved in the assessment of freshwater resources in Vanuatu.
https://applicationspub.unil.ch/interpub/noauth/php/Un/UnPers.php?PerNum=1107153&LanCode=37
jose.corcho@babs.admin.ch

Dr. Satoshi Tajima is a postdoctoral researcher from University of Neuchatel, Centre for Hydrogeology and Geothermics, and from University of Bern, Physics Institute. With his combined expertise in coastal hydrogeology and isotopic tracers, he contributes to activities related to aquifer characterization in Vanuatu, and supports integrating these data into hydrological models and operating these models.
ash.tajima@gmail.com

Dr. Michael Schubert, from Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department Catchment Hydrology, is specialized in the determination of activity concentrations of natural and man-made radionuclides in the environment, and the use of these radionuclides as environmental traces for the investigation of environmentally relevant processes.
https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=38802
michael.schubert@ufz.de

Prof. Karine Rajoelisolo Debergue, from the Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), is a member of the Canadian Observatory on Humanitarian Crises and Action and of the ESG UQAM Project Management Chair. Her research, particularly in development aid, focuses on the experience of stakeholders and their context. She is interested in the integration of lived realities into decision-making processes, intercultural communication and the promotion of research methodologies that are sensitive to cultural and social dynamics. Her contribution to the project focuses on understanding perceptions of climate change and its impact on access to water, in order to adapt freshwater security strategies to local realities and ensure that they are acceptable to the communities concerned.
Karine_RajoelisoloDebergue@uqar.ca

Yohann Tremblay is a research assistant at Université Laval, Department of Geology and Geological Engineering. He has extensive experience in water resource project management. He supports the governing committees in project coordination. In addition to his contribution to scientific objectives regarding hydrology, his responsibilities include daily coordination, logistics, data management, student co-supervision and knowledge transfer activities.
yohann.tremblay@ggl.ulaval.ca

François Roberge is a research assistant from Université du Québec à Montréal, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He contributes to the development of climate models in Vanuatu.
roberge.francois@uqam.ca

William Nasak is the General Director of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and sits on the project’s Executive Board.

The Department of Water Resources under his supervision has a pivotal role in orienting research priorities and activities as experts on water in the Vanuatu context. It supports the identification of gaps in knowledge, skills, research as well as of relevant local Indigenous knowledge and technologies to address the present and future needs of people vulnerable to climate change impacts in terms of water availability, quality, and access.

The Department of Geology and Mines, brings local knowledge on geology, mineral extractions and geohazards affecting water resources.
wnasak@vanuatu.gov.vu

Richard Shing is the director of the Vanuatu National Cultural Centre. This institution is of prime importance, since its mission is to preserve, protect and promote the country’s cultural heritage. It is its role to define and implement national research policies, to define national research priorities, and to sponsor, regulate and carry out programs of research. Thus, it ensures all research is aligned with Vanuatu’s research-related priorities and needs, and benefits Vanuatu communities. Mr Shing contributes to co-design and guide the project to ensure it respects all the above provisions. He also supports and guide social science research aspects related to local and traditional knowledge.
shingr@vanuatu.gov.vu

Lucien Bertone is a PhD student from Université du Québec à Montréal, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, under the supervision of Florent Barbecot, Roland Purtschert and Krishna Kumar Kotra. He is actively involved in assessing Vanuatu’s water resources, using hydrochemical and isotopic tracing methods. Its ultimate aim is to develop conceptual models of hydrological and hydrogeological functioning, and to propose solutions for adapting to the risks associated with climate change.
bertone.lucien@courrier.uqam.ca

Frédéric Richard is a PhD student from Université du Québec à Montréal, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, under the supervision of Philippe Lucas-Picher. His studies focus on the analysis of future climate conditions in Vanuatu. His research objectives include assessing the added value of high-resolution climate models, studying the evolution of tropical cyclones and analyzing storm surges.
richard.frederic@courrier.uqam.ca

Malika Desrosiers is a Master’s student from the Geography Department of the Université du Québec à Montréal, under the supervision of Yannick Hémond. She is involved in assessing the impacts on freshwater resources, sea-level rise and frequent major climatic disasters in Vanuatu. More specifically, she is analyzing how these impacts affect Vanuatu’s most vulnerable populations. Malika’s objectives are to assess and find tools for post-disaster population resilience.
desrosiers.malika.2@courrier.uqam.ca