Mickaele Le Ravalec studied earth sciences at EOST, Strasbourg, before obtaining a PhD in rock physics from the University of Rennes (1995) and an HDR from the University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg (2002). She also obtained an executive master's degree in corporate finance from Paris-Dauphine University (2021).
After a post-doc at Stanford University (USA) in rock physics, she joined IFPEN as a research engineer in 1997. Geomodeling, which involves geostatistics, inverse problems, the joint integration of data of various natures and resolutions, and the taking into account of uncertainties, is at the heart of her research activities. The combination of these different fields leads to the development of numerical models representative of geological formations. These geomodels are then used in petroleum engineering and hydrology to study fluid flows in the subsurface.
After working as a research engineer at IFPEN and as a reservoir engineer in a TotalEnergies operational department in 2007-2008, Mickaele has been in charge of various projects since 2005, then an IFPEN expert from 2010 before becoming head of the Geology department in 2014, of the Georesources department in 2016, then of the Soil and Subsoil Sciences department in 2021. Between 2022 and 2023, Mickaele shared her activities between IFPEN as Scientific Assistant to the Director of the Geology Department and IFPEN as Head of the Soil and Subsoil Sciences Department.
Between 2022 and 2023, Mickaele shared her activities between IFPEN as Scientific Assistant to the Director for the Earth Sciences and Environmental Technologies Division, and the Haut Conseil de l'Evaluation de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement Supérieur (Hcéres) as Scientific Advisor for the Department for the Evaluation of Organizations. Returning full-time to IFPEN in July 2023, she has since been Director of Economics and Research Watch.
Between 2016 and 2022, Mickaele was also a member, then vice-president, of the CNE2 (Commission Nationale d'Evaluation des recherches et études relatives à la gestion des matières et des déchets radioactifs). The CNE2 assesses the progress of research and studies relating to radioactive waste management in France. This assessment gives rise to an annual report, intended for the French Parliament, and forwarded to the Office Parlementaire d'Evaluation des Choix Scientifiques et Technologiques.
Mickaele has also been a member of the Board of the Observatoire de Lyon (CNRS Astrophysics and Geology laboratories), the Comité de Perfectionnement de l'Observatoire de Lyon, and the IGCP scientific board of UNESCO (2020-2024). Mickaele was also a visiting professor at INRS Québec (2012-2015). Finally, she was a member of the EAGE Awards committee from 2011 to 2014 and was appointed Vice Chair in 2013 and 2014.
Mickaële has supervised 7 PhD students and given courses at a number of schools, including EOST, Centrale Paris, ENS Paris, Mines de Nancy, IFP School, IFP Training and EAGE Education Days. She has also contributed to the organization of numerous conferences, as a member of the organizing committee, president or member of the scientific committee. In particular, she has contributed to the ECMOR conferences organized by EAGE.
She is the author of 27 patents and 116 articles. She is also the author of a book, an e-book and has co-edited a book. Since 2020, she has been on the Editorial Board of CR Géosciences, published by the Académie des Sciences.
Mickaele was awarded the Schlumberger Prize by the Académie des Sciences in 2011. She was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 2014.
Joint Industrial Projects, Condor, MC2 et MC3, supported by several oil companies of which Total, GDF Suez, Statoil, Groupement Berkine, Conocophilips, CGG, BHP Billiton, Petrobras... The purpose of these projects was to develop new methodologies making it possible to build numerical geological models consistent with both static and dynamic data, the last one including production data and 4D-seismic.
M. Le Ravalec, A. Rambaud, V. Blum, Taking climate change seriously: Time to credibly communicate on coporate climate performance, Ecological Economics, 200(7), 2022, DOI:/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107542.
L. de Figueiredo, D. Grana, M. Le Ravalec, Revisited formulation and applications of FFT Moving Average, Mathematical Geosciences, 2019, DOI: 10.1007/s11004-019-09826-4.
C. Gardet, M. Le Ravalec, E. Gloaguen, Pattern-based conditional simulation with a raster path: a few techniques to make it more efficient, Stoch. Environ. Res. Risk Assess., 2016, DOI: 10.1007/s00477-015-1207-1.
Thenon, A., Gervais V., Le Ravalec M., Multi-fidelity meta-modeling for reservoir engineering – application to history-matching, Computational Geosciences, 2016, DOI: 10.1007/s10596-016-9587-y.
M. Le Ravalec, B. Noetinger, and L.-Y. Hu, The FFT moving average (FFT-MA) generator: an efficient numerical method for generating and conditioning Gaussian simulations, Mathematical Geology, 32(6), 701-723, 2000.