Henni Ouerdane

Biography

Henni’s postgraduate education is in theoretical physics, with a Master’s degree in statistical physics (Université de Cergy-Pontoise, France, 1997) and a PhD in physics (Heriot-Watt University, UK, 2002), focused on the modeling of ultrafast pump-and-probe experiments with spin-selective excitation in semiconductor quantum wells, and on two-dimensional scattering theory to study photon emission via exciton recombination. He now has a research experience of over fourteen years at postdoctoral level in four countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, and Russia. His works fall within the broad category of theory and numerical modeling of condensed matter and dilute systems, mostly addressing problems pertaining to coupled transport theory, scattering theory of excitons and of ultra-cold atoms, and light-matter interactions. In the recent years, he developed a strong interest for energy-related problems and theories of irreversible thermodynamics, with a particular focus on thermoelectric systems. His experience in research thus covers different fields of theoretical physics that have a close relation to experimental activities. Many of his works were performed as part of international collaborations with theoreticians and experimentalists, and more recently with industrial partners, including EDF, a major French electric utility company. As of now (early 2017), he is principal and key co-author of 54 research publications on a wide range of topics in the physical sciences. Some of his recent works were highlighted by journals and in the Europhysics News. He is also an active referee for several major international peer-reviewed physics journals, and he served as a referee for the French National Research Agency for the Physics Committee to evaluate the progress of the funded projects of the 2009 programme “Theoretical Spectroscopy and Radiation-Matter Interactions”, and for the Sustainable Electricity Production and Management programme of 2012. Henni has a significant experience of teaching in higher education systems, primarily as a first-year tutor at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, during his PhD studies, and as a temporary lecturer at the University of Caen, France (2004-2006) covering a wide range of topics of the physics curriculum essentially at undergraduate level. He also taught and personally supervised students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels while he was employed as a senior research associate (in 2007 and in 2011-2014). Moreover, he was actively involved in the daily supervision of one PhD student (2011-2013) and one junior postdoctoral researcher (2012-2013). To complement his education and gain valuable and useful transferable new professional skills, Henni undertook a one-year training and gained a first-class postgraduate Master’s of Art (Université de Caen, France, 2016) to qualify as a European project manager. At Skoltech Henni has joined Prof. Aldo Bischi‘s group to work on the project “Integration and control of heat and power systems with variable loads” led by Prof. Aldo Bischi (Skoltech) and Prof. Konstantin Turitsyn (MIT). This project is funded by the Next Generation SkT-MIT programme.

Research Interest

condensed matter physics; classical, irreversible, finite-time, quantum, and statistical thermodynamics; scattering theory: ultra-cold atoms, carriers in solid-state systems; applied physics: energy systems.