I grew up in Brussels, Belgium, where I did all my studies, all the way to the PhD, which I obtained from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in 1999. My PhD was concerned with nonlinear optics in passive optical fibre resonators. From May 2000 to October 2001, I visited the Physics Department of The University of Auckland as a post-doctoral fellow and worked with Prof. John D. Harvey on the topic of supercontinuum generation, using the newly available photonic crystal fibres. I went back to ULB (Brussels) in November 2001 to complete my Belgian fellowship. In December 2003, I was appointed Lecturer in the Physics Department of The University of Auckland, where I have been ever since. While in Auckland, my research has focused again on nonlinear optical cavities, both in optical fibres but also in microresonators, studying temporal cavity solitons, optical frequency combs, and spontaneous symmetry breaking.

Outside of work, I enjoy the great outdoors, hiking, mountain biking, and sailing.