Bertrand Bessagnet joined ICIMOD in March 2024 as coordinator of the Air Pollution Action Area.

Previously he worked for three years as Senior Scientist at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and headed the Atmospheric Pollution, Mobility and Territories (POMI) department of Citepa (France) for one year.

In 2019, he worked in Hangzhou (China) to develop air quality management services.

Between 2001 and 2018, Bertrand Bessagnet was successively Research & Development Engineer, Unit Manager and scientific affairs manager at the National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks in France(INERIS), which he joined in 2001 after completing his PhD in the field of chemistry and physics of the atmosphere in 2000 at the University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse).

In 2015, he obtained his certification degree to supervise research (Habilitation à Diriger des recherches) in Atmospheric Sciences from Pierre et Marie Curie University (Paris) and he is affiliated to the Sorbonne University.

He is author and co-author of more than 140 peer-reviewed publications on air quality management.