Curriculum Vitae

Positions

Education

Awards and Distinctions

2021	CNRS Bronze Medal (national award): CNRS annoucement, local announcement, officiel video, official ceremony
2016	CNRS prize for scientific excellence
2015	Research grant from the City of Marseille
2012	Invited researcher position at CRAL (Lyon, France) for one month
2006	Graduated with honours from Université Jean Monnet (St Etienne, France)

Grants

	2023 – 2027	PI - ANR - 730 k€
		Project MIRAGES on the multi-resolution analysis of giant exoplanets, in collaboration with OCA, IPAG, and LESIA.
	2020 – 2022	PI - CNRS/INSU/CSAA - 75 k€
		Funding hardware for HiRISE at the VLT
	2017 – 2023	PI - ERC - 1.5 M€
		Project HiRISE to couple high-contrast imaging with high-resolution spectroscopy at the Very Large Telescope
	2014 – 2016	Co-I - CNES - 56 k€
		Validation and chracterization of CoRoT and Kepler/K2 exoplanet candidates with VLT/SPHERE. 2 years postdoc funding for Roxanne Ligi.
	2014 – 2016	PI - Provence-Alpes Côte d'Azure - 60 k€
		Analyse de Surface d’Onde à haute performance pour la Recherche et la caractérisation de planètes EXtra-solaires (ASOREX)
	2013	PI - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille - 10 k€
		Design and manufacturing of a stop-less Lyot coronagraph.
	Regular	Co-I - French "national programs" (ASHRA, PNP) - several k€/year

Projects appointments

2024 – today	INSU representative in the ELT/PCS working group coordinated by ESO
2023 – today	CNES representative in the CPP (coronagraph community participate program) of Roman/CGI Lead and coordinator of the "CPP France" team (25 members)
2019 – today	Co-I of the SPHERE+ upgrade project
2017 – today	PI of the HiRISE visitor instrument at the VLT and of the associated large observing programme
2016 – today	Member of the E-ELT/HARMONI science team Coordinator of the WG5 "Exoplanets and disks"
2016 – today	Member of the PLATO consortium Coordinator of WP144 100 "Imaging Analysis Tools"
2017 – 2021	Associate member in the RST/CGI Science Investigation Team (SIT)
2015	Co-instrument scientist of SPHERE at ESO
2015	Member of the SPHERE instrument operation team
2014 – 2022	Co-I of the SHINE large observing program with SPHERE
2013 – 2022	Main coordinator of the SHINE workpackage on exoplanet characterization
2012 – 2015	Co-instrument scientist of the SPHERE/IRDIS instrument
2009 – 2014	Co-I of the NaCo-LP large observing program
2006 – 2009	Responsible for the laboratory and on-sky testing of the ZEUS sensor in the Active Phasing Experiment

Scientific and Administrative Responsabilities

Councils, committees and expertise groups

2024 – today	Coordinator of the national working group HWO-LIFE
2024	Member of the ESO Observing Programmes Committee (OPC) for 2 semesters (P114, P115)
2023	Member of the INSU scientific prospective committee Group III.4. Organisation Nationale, articulation Europe et International, lead: Vanessa Hill
2021	Member of a working group to define management guidelines at CNRS (Référentiel des Compétences Managériales)
2021	External reviewer for HST Cycle 29 proposals
2019 – 2023	Member of the CNAP national recruitment committee. Rank B assessor of the committee
2017 – 2018	Member of the ESO Observing Programmes Committee (OPC) for 3 semesters (P100, P101, P102)
2015	Proposals reviewer and technical feasibility at ESO
Regular	Member of PhD committees (J. Lannier, F. Cantalloube, P. Janin-Potiron, R. Pourcelot, K. Barjot)
Regular	Referee for astrophysics and optics journals
Regular	Review for funding agencies and programs: • Chilean national fund for scientific & technological development (CONICYT/FONDECYT) • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) • Mexican Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CANACYT) • Domaine d’Intérêt Majeur ACAV (DIM ACAV) • Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) • European Commission (H2020 programs)

Local involvement

2024 – today	Assistant Prévention at LAM
2024 – today	Member of the LAM scientific council (CS) at LAM
2023	Member of the search committee for a new LAM director
2021 – today	Member of the sustainable development group (DevDur) at LAM
2018 – 2023	Member of the laboratory council (CL) at LAM
2018 – 2023	Member of the instrumentation steering committee (CPI) at LAM
2017 – today	Member of the ERC coaching group at Aix-Marseille University (CERCle)
2013 – 2014	Co-representative of the exoplanet group at the LAM scientific council
2007 – 2009	Student representative at the LAM and OAMP scientific councils

Conference and seminars organisation

2024	Co-organizer of the conference 51 Peg b 30th Birthday: Cool Giant Planets & Their Systems (120 participants)
2024	Co-organizer of the workshop Habitability & Life on Other worlds (50 participants)
2024	SOC member for the conference Two HoRSEs (~200 participants)
2024	Organizer of the workshop Roman CPP France + Europe (15 participants)
2022	SOC member for the session Origine de l'eau et de la vie at the SF2A annual meeting
2022	SOC member for the workshop ExoELT (~50 participants)
2019	SOC member for the workshop AO4ASTRO (~60 participants)
2015	SOC member for the conference OHP 2015: Twenty years of giant exoplanets (~100 participants)
2015	SOC member for the Journées Scientifique de l'ONERA (~50 participants)
2013	LOC member for the workshop Exoplanet validation (~50 participants)
2012 – 2013	Co-organisation of the seminars at LAM
2011 – 2012	Co-organisation of the astrophysics seminars at the university of Exeter

Teaching and Supervision

PhD students

2023 – today	Allan Denis. Full supervision (100%)
	Provisional title: Exoplanet characterization at high spectral resolution with VLT/HIRISE
2022 – today	Lisa Altinier. Co-supervision (50%) with E. Choquet (LAM)
	Provisional title: Development of image processing methods for the detection of exoplanets in reflected light with the NASA Roman Space Telescope
2020 – 2023	Chen Xie. Co-supervision (50%) with E. Choquet (LAM)
	Traitement d'images avancé pour la détection directe d'exoplanètes avec les imageurs haut-contraste au sol
2019 – 2023	Mona El Morsy. Full supervision (100%)
	Development of a prototype instrument for the characterisation of young giant exoplanets
2018 – 2022	Mathis Houllé. Co-supervision (70%) with P. Figueira (ESO) & Elyar Sedaghati (ESO)
	Combining high-contrast imaging and high-resolution spectroscopy for exoplanet observations
2016 – 2019	Anne-Laure Cheffot. Co-supervision (30%) with S. Lévêque (ESO) and E. Hugot (LAM)
	Co-phasing measurement for segmented mirrors
2012 – 2015	Alice Zurlo. Co-supervision (30%) with C. Moutou (LAM) and R. Gratton (INAF/OAPD)
	Characterization of exoplanetary systems with the direct imaging technique: towards the first results of SPHERE at the VLT

Postdocs

2021 – 2023	Jean Costes. Postdoc ERC
	Preparation of HiRISE commissioning and observations
2018 – 2021	Gilles Otten. Postdoc ERC
	Performance simulation for the SPHERE/CRIRES+ coupling and support in the development of the prototype for SPHERE
2015 – 2017	Roxanne Ligi. Postdoc CNES
	Combining Kepler and SPHERE for the detection and characterization of exoplanetary systems
2014 – 2015	Graeme Salter. Postdoc ANR
	Exploitation of the first on-sky data of VLT/SPHERE

Engineers

2019 – 2023	Maxime Lopez. Optical engineer
	Final design and AIT for the HiRISE instrument
2021	Alexandre Viret. Mechanical engineer
	Final mechanical design of the HiRISE instrument
2018 – 2020	Yannick Charles. Mechanical engineer
	Mechanical design of the fiber injection module of HiRISE
2016 – 2019	Raphaël Pourcelot. Optical engineer apprentice from Institut d'Optique Graduate School
	Upgrade of the MITHIC high-contrast imaging testbed. Implementation of fiber injection on MITHIC

MSc and BA interns

Multiple students supervised or co-supervised:

M. Batista (MSc, 2012), M. Read (BA, 2012), L. Ben Assayag (MSc, 2013), R. Lucchesi (MSc, 2016), S. Tourenq (BA, 2017), E. Robert (MSc, 2018), J. Hulin (MSc, 2018), B. Rouzé (MSc, 2018), P. Cristofari (MSc, 2019), X. Devos (MSc, 2020), J. Rosain (MSc, 2022), R. Cadet (MSc, 2024).

Lectures and practical classes

2023 – today	Lecture on astronomical instrumentation at Central Mediterranée (MSc level, 4 hours)
2021 – 2022	Lecture on exoplanet imaging at Aix-Marseille University (MSc level, 4 hours)
2010 – 2015	Lecture on coronagraphy at Aix-Marseille University (MSc level, 12 hours)
2010 – 2014	Examiner for the BSc in optics at Aix-Marseille University (MSc level)
2011 – 2012	Astronomical data reduction at the University of Exeter (BA level)

Other

2015	Adaptive optics, coronagraphy and high-contrast imaging course at ESO
2015	Training on SPHERE of ESO fellows, night astronomers and Telescope and Instrument Operators
2012 – today	Multiple contributions to projects from high-school and university students

Observing Experience

PI or Co-I on more than 90 observing programmes at ESO, Gemini, CFHT or on HST since 2009, totaling more than 5000 hours of telescope time in open time or GTO programmes, inluding more than 500 hours as PI.

More than 110 nights of operational experience at the VLT as ESO staff astronomer. More than 40 nights of commissioning on APE, SPHERE and HiRISE.

Invited seminars and talks

07-2024	talk; conference Two HoRSEs; Berlin (Germany) [slides]
04-2024	seminar; IPAG (France) [slides]
11-2023	seminar; Physical Research Laboratory of Ahmedabad (India, remote) [slides]
10-2023	seminar; LAM general seminar [slides]
02-2023	seminar; STScI (US) [slides]
11-2022	talk; workshop ExoELT, co-presented with Xavier Bonfils; Fréjus (France) [slides]
04-2022	seminar; ULiège (Belgium, remote) [slides]
05-2021	seminar; NASA ExEP Technology Colloquium Series (US, remote) [slides, recording]
05-2021	seminar; Uppsala University (Sweden, remote) [slides]
11-2020	seminar; ETH Zürich (Switzerland, remote) [slides]
10-2020	seminar, Exoplanet Research Centre; Cambridge (UK, remote) [slides]
03-2019	talk, workshop AO4ASTRO; Marseille (France) [slides]
01-2019	seminar; University of Göttingen (Germany) [slides]
01-2019	seminar, CEA Department of Astrophysics (DAp); Saclay (France) [slides]
06-2018	talk, workshop high-dispersion spectroscopy; Caltech (USA) [slides]
01-2018	seminar, R&D seminar at Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille; Marseille (France) [slides]
12-2017	seminar, University of Exeter; Exeter (UK) [slides]
11-2017	seminar, California Institute of Technology; Pasadena (USA) [slides]
09-2015	seminar, Centro de Astrofisica de Valparaiso; Valparaiso (Chile) [slides]
07-2015	seminar, Space Telescope Science Institute; Baltimore (USA) [slides]
12-2013	seminar, Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope; Weimea (USA) [slides]
05-2012	seminar, Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon; Lyon (France) [slides]
11-2009	seminar, Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon; Lyon (France)
09-2009	talk, workshop Measuring the Atmospheric Spectrum of Extrasolar Planets; Exeter (United-Kingdom)

Press releases

List of press releases for astrophysical or instrumental results where I have made a significant contribution

2024	Imager des planètes lointaines : la France coopère avec la NASA pour un démonstrateur embarqué sur le télescope Nancy Grace Roman: CNES, CNRS, OSU Pytheas
2023	First light for HiRISE, an innovative instrument designed for the study of exoplanets: CNRS
2021	ESO telescope images planet around most massive star pair to date: ESO
2021	Celebrating two decades of SPHERE challenges and achievements: CNRS, LAM
2017	HIP 65426 b, the first exoplanet discovered by SPHERE: CNRS, LAM
2014	First light of VLT/SPHERE: CNRS

Outreach

2023-2025	Scientific committee member of Festival d'Astronomie de Provence. Organization of a public night of observation for 1000 people.
2023	Chapter for the outreach book Étonnante physique, edited by CNRS
2022-08	Public conference for the yearly Nuit des Étoiles national event, (Martigues, France)
2022	Discussion with high-school classes on exoplanet science with JWST in the context of the national event Les Cordées de la Réussite (Marseille, France)
2021	Intervention in the science show La Méthode Scientifique on national French radio France Culture (phone interview)
2021	Intervention in the science show CQFD on national Swiss radio La 1ère (phone interview)
2019-07	Participation to an outcreach event for the total solar eclipse in La Silla (Marseille, France)
2019-03	Outreach conference for Association Andromède (Marseille, France)
2019	Intervention in the science show La Méthode Scientifique on national French radio France Culture (phone interview)
2018-05	Pint of Science (Martigues, France)
2018-03	Presentation in front of elementary school classes (Bourgoin-Jailleu, France)
2018	Invited to the science show La Tête au Carré on national French radio France Inter (Paris, France)
2018	Participation to the Looking for new Earth documentary produced by BBC and France 5
2014	Conference on the first images of VLT/SPHERE (St Michel l'Observatoire, France)
2012-12	Conference for an association of amateur astronomers (La Ciotat, France)
2012-11	Conference at a national event Recontres du Ciel & de l'Espace (Paris, France)
2011	Astronomy and optics presented to children in elementary school (Exeter, United-Kingdom)
2006	Guide in a museum exhibition dedicated to astronomy (Marseille, France)
Regular	Public conferences in France (associations, amateur astronomy meetings)
Regular	Participation to outreach events for the French Fête de la Science
Regular	Presenting the work of an astronomer to classes (from elementary school to high-school)

• © Arthur Vigan