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My original training was in Mathematics (DEA/M. Sc. at Paris VII University on set theory) as well as in Sociology (Maîtrise at Paris V on Sociology of Art). But I branched off thereafter towards Demography (DESS, DEA and then PhD at IDUP, Paris I). For two years before my DEA, I was in India affiliated to the Delhi School of of Economics and the Institute of Economic growth and doing also work for the Ecole française d'Extrème-Orient (EFEO). The Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) welcomed me later for 18 months during my Ph.D.

When I joined IRD (then ORSTOM) in 1990 as research associate, my first assignment was in Dakar, Senegal for 3 years where I joined forces with the Direction de la Prévision et de la Statistique to conduct a migration survey in the Senegal River Valley. Learnt quite a bit on survey things and economic theory as well. I was back in Paris in 1994 and worked at Paris I (IDUP) till 1997.

To go back to India, I joined the French Institute in Pondicherry in 1997 as head of social science department on secondment. There, I worked closely with other Indian institutions on a multisite joint project (SIFP) project and got involved into fertility decline and spatial thinking. Back in France, I joined the LPED research unit and I was locally affiliated in Paris to the CEIAS/EHESS in 2002-04.

I became director of CICRED in January 2005 till September 2007. During this period, I spent most of my time as programme manager (in particular as coordinator of PRIPODE) for CICRED. Since then, I have mostly worked on sex ratio in Asia, with colleagues across Asia and also in coordination with UNFPA (Katmandu, Delhi and Hanoi offices).

I have meanwhile taught at EHESS in 2001-03 and I have been teaching a course on Population in developing countries at Paris I Institute of Demography since 2005. I also run a yearly traineeship programme on GIS, geostatistics and demography as part of the RFFD.

My research interests in population studies started with historical and contemporary demography of South India (Tamil Nadu), as well as urban geography supplemented by field work in a pilgrimage town. With IRD, I started working on migration from the Senegal River valley conducting surveys and linking research findings to recent economic literature on migration determinants and processes. Later on, I started focusing on fertility decline in South India and decided to explore tools from spatial analysis and then geostatistics. Latest research interests encompass environmental change, female discrimination in Asia and poverty mapping, harnessing innovative GIS tools to enlarge research hypotheses on demographic change. I am presently working on masculinization processes across Asia.