ICHEC Seminar 2007

Biography: Dr. Jean-Christophe Desplat

Acting Director ICHEC

Dr. J.-C. Desplat gained a BSc (hons) from Sheffield Hallam University and later was awarded a PhD for his work on "Monte Carlo Simulations of Amphiphilic Systems" from the same university. He subsequently joined the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC) at the University of Edinburgh (UK) in 1995 as an applications scientist, and progressed through the ranks to the status of Software Architect.

The highlights of J.-C.'s ten years at EPCC include his collaboration with Prof. Michael Cates' research group which led to a number of high-profile publications, and his involvement in setting up high profile EC-funded infrastructural projects such as DEISA (Distributed European Infrastructure for Supercomputing Applications) and HPC-Europa. J.-C. was chair of the HPC-Europa Technical Executive Board in 2004-05.

J.-C. joined ICHEC in June 2005 as Technical Manager, where he used his experience of HPC Service Provision to set up Ireland's first National HPC Service. In 2006/07, he successfully negotiated a co-operation agreement with Met Éireann, ICHEC's participation in the EU Consortium Sirene (sirene.eugrid.eu), and is one of the founding members of the e-INIS initiative and co-investigator of the €9.5M HEA PRTLI4-funded e-INIS project to establish a National e-Infrastructure in Ireland.

J.-C. currently serves as Associate Director and Acting Director of ICHEC.