My research focuses on: i) the dynamics of pollutants in soil-plant systems, ii) the functioning and evolution of soils strongly affected by human activities (urban, industrial and mining) and iii) the treatment of polluted soils and degraded using Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). Initially devoted to soil-solid waste relationships (e.g. sludge), they then moved to soil-root-pollutant interactions with particular attention to the properties of root exudates and to the measurement of the bioavailability of heavy metals. Then they took two complementary paths, one being the knowledge of strongly anthropized soils and their evolution and the other the development of technologies based on plants to manage these soils (phytoremediation). Finally, considering degraded sites as a resource, my activities have focused on the restoration and development of ecosystem services that can be provided by these spaces. A branch of phytoremediation, agromine® is an SFN in which I have invested since twenty years to develop cropping systems capable of recovering metals of strategic interest present in soils and wastes.

In 1994, I created, then headed until 2012, the Laboratoire Sols et Environnement UMR 1120 UL-INRAE. From 2000 to 2019, I chaired the GISFI (Groupement d’Intérêt Scientifique sur les Friches Industrielles; www.gisfi.univ-lorraine.fr), a consortium of ten research groups, dedicated to the reconversion of degraded areas and the development of soil treatment and reuse technologies. I coordinate the international ECOLAND laboratory (LIA) established in 2015 between Sun Yat-sen University, UL and INRAE, to develop ecosystem services provided by contaminated territories. I have supervised or co-supervised more than 60 doctoral theses and published nearly 300 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, two patents and I am co-editor of a series of books.

I am or have been a member of national (Ademe, Arvalis-Institut du Végétal, Fondation pour la Recherche sur la Biodiversité (FRB), Plante & Cité) and international (RUDN University, Moscow) scientific committees. I chaired the international group SUITMA (Soils of Urban, Industrial Traffic, Mining and Military Areas) of the International Union of Soil Science (2007-2015).

I was a member of the Conseil National des Universités (2004-2012), vice-president of research of the INPL (2002-2006) then member of the board of directors of the UL (2007-2017). I have been a corresponding member of the Académie d'Agriculture de France and I am a member of the Académie Lorraine des Sciences.

I am the co-founder of two startups, Microhumus (2007) and Econick (2016), and I created a consultancy firm, Consoilting (2019).

My research has been honored in particular by the Académie d'Agriculture de France (Médaille Vermeil, 1985), the Palmes Académiques de France (Chevalier, 2005), the Lorraine Region (2006), the National Institute of Propriété Industrielle (2009), the Society Industrielle de l’Est (Grand Prix, 2010) and, internationally, the University of Agriculture of Tirana, Albania (Doctor honoris causa, 2005) and the International Society for Phytoremediation (Gordon Price, 2018).