People

Stéphane LE CALVE

Coordinator of the Project

CNRS

Stéphane Le Calvé is research Director at CNRS. He received his PhD degrees specialized in atmospheric sciences at University of Orléans (France) in 1998 and spent his post-doc in UCD University of Dublin (Irland). Since 1999, he is a scientist at CNRS in Strasbourg and his work is focused on the development of new microfluidic analytical tools in order to monitor indoor air quality.

Daniel NILSEN WRIGHT

Principal Investigator

SINTEF

Daniel Nilsen Wright is a senior research scientist ad SINTEF Digital in Oslo, Norway. He received his Ph.D from the Physics Institute at the University of Oslo in 2008 on anti-reflective coatings on solar cells done at Institute for Energy Technology in Kjeller, Norway. After nearly four years at Renewable Energy corporation, he started at the Advanced packaging and Interconnect Group at SINTID in 2012 and started at SINTEF Minalab in 2019. He is the project coordinator for the EU project COMPAS, which will develop a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) waveguide interferometer waveguide sensor that will be integrated into the senseApest PDU.

Damien BAZIN

Principal Investigator

AIRMOTEC

Dr. Damien Bazin is Analytical and R&D Manager at airmotec. He is specialized in continuous and automatic characterization of gases and liquids by chromatographic techniques. He has a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Bordeaux I. He is involved in several European projects and co-director of the Labcom anaVOC developed with ICPEES – CNRS.

Andrea FICKE

Principal Investigator

NIBIO

Dr. Andrea Ficke completed her Ph.D in plant pathology at Cornell University in New York, USA. As a postdoctoral researcher, she worked on Pytium diseases in cucumbers at Wageningen University and was a prebreeder at Rijkzwaan, The Netherlands. Since 2009, she has been working at the Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy Research as a cereal plant pathologist. Her main research focus is on pathogen detection and monitoring, determining crop losses and disease epidemiology. She has an applied and practical research approach to address current and future challenges in plant production.  As an epidemiologist by training, she has worked with monitoring disease inoculum and development over the last 15 years. The spatial variation of diseases in the field inspired her to look for site specific solutions for pathogen management, which led directly to the work on volatile organic compounds to detect diseases.

Justus WESSELER

Principal Investigator

Wageningen University

Prof. Dr. Justus Wesseler holds the Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy chair at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He has a degree in agricultural, environmental, and natural resource economics from the University of Göttingen, Germany. His research work is on bioeconomy economics and policies. The primary focus is on the contribution of value chains to improve sustainability and the impact of new technologies and regulations on the value chain in this respect. His research work has been widely published in peer-reviewed journals and books. He is the past president of the International Consortium of Applied Bioeconomy Research (ICABR). He has been involved in many small and large-scale international research projects as a team member and/or coordinator and served as an adviser in academia and research.

Luca CAPPELLIN

Principal Investigator

UNIPD

Prof. Luca Cappellin is an associate professor of Analytical Chemistry and founder of two spin-off companies, Suber Lab srl (2021) and 3SLAB srl (2016). He obtained a PhD in Physics from the University of Innsbruck (Austria) and a postdoc in Environmental Chemistry from Harvard University (USA). Main research interests: mass spectrometry for VOC detection.

He has been the PI of various EU funded projects: 2025-28 HORIZON-CL6-2024-FARM2FORK-02-3-two-stage [local PI]; 2024-27 HORIZON-CL6-2023-CircBio-01-8 [local PI]; 2023-26 HORIZON-CL6-2021-FARM2FORK-01-04 [local PI]; 2023-26 PRIN2022 [RU Coordinator]; 2015-18 EU H2020-IF-GF [PI]

Marina COLE

Principal Investigator

Warwick University

Biography

Erik WISCHERHOFF

Principal Investigator

Fraunhofer

Biography

Pufinji OBENE

Principal Investigator

Oliveris

Dr. Pufinji Obene, an accomplished engineer with a BEng Hons degree in Engineering Science from Warwick University, UK, and a PhD in Non-Parametric Spectral Analysis, is a Six Sigma Black Belt and seasoned innovator with over 25 years of experience in advanced sensing technologies. Since January 2024, Dr. Obene has served as CEO of Oliveris Tech Incubator Ltd (OLV), where he is leading groundbreaking research and development in renewable energy and advanced manufacturing. Under his leadership, OLV is pioneering innovations in geothermal energy systems, focusing on high-temperature heat extraction, advanced thermal storage solutions, and industrial heat pump technologies. The company’s research emphasizes leveraging cutting-edge tools like AI, digital twins, and advanced sensor systems to optimize geothermal processes, improve efficiency, and drive industrial decarbonization. Prior to his role at OLV, Dr. Obene contributed significantly to the success of PVI, where he invented the GMR non-contact sensor range and pioneered Electrostatic Jet (ESJET) printing technology. These achievements laid the groundwork for his leadership at OLV, where he continues to combine technical expertise with a forward-thinking approach to innovation.Management Systems.

Andrea ADAMI

Principal Investigator

Fondazione Bruno Kessler

Andrea Adami is currently senior researcher in the MST Research Unit at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK). He received the Master degree in Materials Engineering in 2003 and the PhD in Information and Communications Technologies in 2010, both at the University of Trento, Italy. His main research interest is the development of microsystems, MEMS sensors and microfluidics, in particular for integrated sample preparation in analytical systems and sensors for industrial and space applications.

Ted TURLINGS

Principal Investigator

UNINE (Associate Partner)

Ted Turlings is an emeritus professor of chemical ecology at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, a foreign expert professor at Henan University in China, and has a part-time teaching appointment at Penn State University in the USA. Throughout his career, he has made various contributions to the understanding of plant-insect interactions, particularly the role of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in plant defense and pest management. His current research aims to have an impact on sustainable agriculture, advancing technologies for detecting and mitigating agricultural threats.

Johanne DESBIEF

European Project Manager

CNRS

Johanne Desbief joined ‘SenseApest’ as European Project Manager. Following her graduation from Sciences Po Strasbourg with a degree in European politics, law and governance, she developed a keen interest in the management of European projects.
She is also the project manager of another Horizon Europe project called “Melomanes”, a Doctoral Network Project coordinated by IBMC, a training-by-research project on an innovative immunotherapy treatment enhanced by nanoparticles.

Mourad ELHABIRI

Senior Scientist at LIMA lab

CNRS

Mourad ELHABIRI obtained his Ph.D. at Strasbourg University in 1997 in Prof. R. Brouillard’s group. During this period, he was interested in the chemistry of anthocyanins and their interactions with metal ions. In 1997, he joined the group of Prof. Jean-Claude Bünzli at EPFL in Lausanne (Switzerland) and worked on the synthesis and photophysical characterization of bimetallic lanthanides triple-stranded helicates. In 1999, he was recruited by the CNRS and focussed his interests on the physicochemical characterization of natural, biomimetic and bioinspired chelators as well as functional supramolecular edifices. During the last 10 years, he has been developing redox-active drugs against viral/parasitic pathogens and elucidating their mechanism of action. He is currently developing innovative functional Vis.-NIR fluorescent dyes for bioimaging.

Anaïs BECKER

Research Engineer

CNRS

Dr. Anaïs Becker is currently a research engineer at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). She obtained her PhD in analytical sciences in 2022 at the University of Strasbourg. Since 2018, she has been working within the Analytical Chemistry for Materials, Environment and Health team of the Institute of Chemistry and Processes for Energy, Environment and Health (ICPEES) in Strasbourg. Her PhD focused on the development of miniaturized gas chromatography systems and associated components for formaldehyde detection. Her current research interests include microfluidics, microfabrication, as well as the development and validation of miniaturized analytical instruments and methodologies for air quality and environmental monitoring. As part of this project, she will contribute to WP3 and WP4 by developing calibration tools for all analytical methods designed and/or used, as well as fluorophore-based, quenched-fluorescence, and D-PID sensors intended for integration into the senseApest platform.

Axelle FILLINGER

PhD student for senseApest Project

CNRS

Axelle Fillinger joined senseApest as a PhD student. She graduated from ECPM Strasbourg (chemistry engineering school) in 2025 and developed a great interest in analytical chemistry and its various applications.

Kutay CINGIZ

Team Member

Wageningen University

Dr. Kutay Cingiz is an Assistant Professor in the Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy group at Wageningen University, specializing in bioeconomy, sustainability, real options, and game theory. His research examines the economic and policy implications of new genomic techniques, sustainable innovations, and bio-based transitions, with publications spanning agricultural economics, sustainability, regulation policy, and mathematical social sciences. He contributes to multiple EU Horizon projectsand work on economic impact assessment, regulatory modelling, and bioeconomy measurement. His work aims to support evidence-based policymaking for sustainable and inclusive bioeconomic growth.

Nikita DARA

PhD Student

Wageningen University

Nikita Dara is a Doctoral Researcher at Wageningen University currently working on the senseApest project . She holds an MSc in Development Economics from Université Gustave Eiffel (France), an MBA, and a BSc in Agricultural Science, complemented by over five years of consulting experience at PwC in India, where she worked extensively on projects related to new technology implementation with American and European conglomerates. Within the senseApest project, her work focuses on coordinating and expanding the Stakeholder Committee, ensuring meaningful engagement across plant-health authorities, industry, and end-users. She contributes to the assessment of how early pest-detection technologies may influence pest-management choices, regulatory requirements, and environmental outcomes. Her research interests include sustainable agricultural systems, pest-management strategies, technology adoption, and the socio-economic impacts of innovative tools in Agriculture. 

Claire DUMENIL

Postdoctoral Researcher

UNIPD

Dr Claire Duménil is a chemical ecologist with a research focus on plant-insect interactions. She began her academic career in France, receiving her BSc from the University of Caen, and then pursued an MSc. in Ecology and Evolution at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands). In 2020, she defended her PhD thesis at Cardiff University (Wales, UK). Her thesis explored the chemical ecology and neurobiology of the agricultural pest, Drosophila suzukii. As a postdoctoral researcher, she broadened her investigations on the neural coding of fruit odors in D. suzukii at the University of Trento & CIMEC (Italy) and the identification of new semiochemicals—compounds used to trap pest insects and attract beneficial insects, such as pollinators, at the University of Bolzano (Italy). She is now a member of the chemistry department at the University of Padova, contributing to the SenseApest project and she is part of the project’s ethics team

Oliver BUCHAN

Team Member

Oliveris

Oliver’s background incorporates a wide range of technical, science, project management, and education type roles. From an early career specialising in optical design, lighting measurement and product development within the luminaire manufacturing industry, these skills were soon applied to a range of R&D projects including optical systems for photobioreactors, vertical farming, and characterisation measurements for novel OLED devices.

Oliver’s R&D activities have extended to include interests in laser micromachining, micron-scale screen printing of electronic components, analogue control circuitry for portable air quality sensing system, development of Digital Material Passports, down-the-hole sensor systems for geothermal drilling, and exposure to a wide range of novel technological developments. Oliver’s career has developed to include regular lecturing at both graduate and post graduate level, including modules such as Lighting Design, Acoustics in the Built Environment, Project Management, Lifts, CAD, Energy Conversion Technologies, and Building Management Systems.

Leandro LORENZELLI

Team member

Fondazione Bruno Kessler

Leandro Lorenzelli is Head of the Microsystems Technology Unit of the Fondazione Bruno Kessler-Sensors and Devices Center, Trento, Italy (FBK). He is leading a research group on micro-technologies for MEMS, physical, bio-chemical sensors, lab on a chip technology and biosystems. He has participated to several national and international projects in the field of microsystems as a Coordinator and Principal Investigator and he has authored/edited of more than 100 articles in peer-review specialized publications and 4 patents.

Amandine ANDRE

Team Member

Unine

Dr. Amandine André holds a PhD in the field of natural products chemistry from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris (France). Her thesis, conducted in the Functional Chemistry/Chemical Ecology team of the Institute of Natural Substances Chemistry (ICSN, CNRS) focused on the structural determination of compounds isolated from plant endophytes and their activity on skin cells. In 2019 she joined the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (Switzerland) as responsible for the analysis of non-volatile compounds in the research group Food Chemistry. Currently working as a post-doctoral researcher in the Fundamental and Applied Research in Chemical Ecology (FARCE) group at the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland), her research focuses on the chemistry behind plant-insect interactions, with the ultimate objective to use sensors for odor-based, real-time detection of pest and diseases. 

Christèle BORGEAUD

Team Member

Unine

Christèle Borgeaud is a biologist holding a PhD in Behavioural Ecology from the University of Neuchâtel. Her current work focuses on the coordination of international research and innovation projects. With a background in research, environmental education, and science communication, she currently coordinates the SenseApest project, as well as multiple projects within the FARCE Lab at the University of Neuchâtel.