My name is César Leblanc, I am 26 years old and I am a third year PhD student at Inria and University of Montpellier working on artificial intelligence and biodiversity within the Pl@ntNet team.
For my work, I have a strong interest in applied machine/deep learning, programming in Python, and reproducible research and open science.
Other personal interests include but are not limited to plants (especially trying to keep mine alive), cinema (mostly silent black and white Hungarian independent movies from the 1930s that last 5 hours), and music (pretending to listen to everything but in reality having almost only playlists made entirely of French rap).

PhD

My PhD is entitled “Predicting future biodiversity trajectories using machine learning”.
The goal of my work is to combine multiple sources (e.g., species observations, satellite images, and environmental rasters) to predict plant assemblages in a given location and time, and then derive habitat types and several biodiversity indicators (e.g., species richness, presence of invasive or threatened species, and ecosystem health indicators).
My research leverages both computer vision (convolutional neural networks) and natural language processing (transformers) to integrate multiple biodiversity data streams.
In particular, I am focusing on the five following points:

1. training and evaluating deep learning algorithms for the (very) high resolution mapping of species (see framework and paper)
2. leveraging new approaches to accurately identify habitat types based solely on species composition (see framework and paper)
3. creating a foundation model capable of getting a syntaxic understanding of plant species patterns (see framework and paper)
4. using predicted species assemblages to map and monitor European habitats, while providing biodiversity indicators (work in progress)
5. hosting open machine learning challenges that aim to predict species in a given location and time (see framework and paper)

In addition to the papers and frameworks mentioned above, the main results of the PhD can directly be observed on the GeoPl@ntNet platform.
Since the beginning of the PhD in 2022, my results have been published in 13 articles or papers, presented in 6 conferences or congresses, and introduced in 10 seminars or talks.

Me presenting GeoPl@ntBERT in Madrid during the XX International Botanical Congress

My director is Alexis Joly and my supervisors are Pierre Bonnet and Maximilien Servajean.
My work is funded by the European Union through the GUARDEN and MAMBO projects.

Myself

Even if research in artificial intelligence and biodiversity is a big part of my life and something that I like to continue on my free time, I am also enjoying a lot of different activities.
If you see me without my headphones on, it’s either charging or I’m on my bike (my favourite means of transport!). 🎵
I’m easy to talk to, but don’t mention cinema if you’re in a hurry, because I’ll block you for hours (my second house is la Cinémathèque française in Paris). 🎬
My two favorite “sports” seem far apart but are in fact very close: boxing and chess (I’m eager to try chess boxing!). 🏆
I like to go hiking, alone or with others, and use Pl@ntNet when I see beautiful plants on the way (very corporate-friendly!). 🌱
I’m trying as much as I can to be green and make a change at my scale (not eating meat/fish, not using planes/cars, buying used/secondhand goods). ♻️
I’m currently learning Italian (a lot) and Spanish (a bit) and I want to start Arabic soon (because why not!). 🗣️
I recently got back into reading after a (way too long) break, and I’m rediscovering the joy of being immersed in books (I want to build a big bookcase with all the books from Editions Divergences!). 📚
I’m politically active, keeping up with local, national, and global changes and trying to be involved in the creation of a better world for all (I know this isn’t the best place to talk about this, but it’s an important part of my life, and if you read this page and/or know me personally, you already know what my values are, so respect existence or expect resistance!). 🏴

Me taking a shortcut during a week-long hike in the Cévennes (it lengthened the walk by 6 hours and now my best friend hates me)

What’s playing