Current positions

• 2026–present
  Deputy director of a joint research unit (UMR)
  Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Science, Innovation and Society (LISIS, Gustave Eiffel University, INRAE, CNRS)
• 2020–present
  Head of CorText Platform
  Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (INRAE) – LISIS.
  Leading the CorText Platform, a digital platform supporting open research in the social sciences and humanities on the dynamics of science, technology, innovation and knowledge production (secondment of 20% of my time to INRAE).
• 2019–present
  Assistant Professor / Senior Lecturer
  ESIEE Paris (Gustave Eiffel University).
  Teaching and research in science and technology studies, economic geography, data analysis and digital methods.

Research interests

Science and technology studies, economic geography, natural language processing, social network analysis, spatial analysis, data visualisation, scientometrics and digital research methods applied to large, heterogeneous corpora (publications, patents, press, institutional data).

Ongoing research projects

• 2025–present
  REseaux, Territoires en Interactions et interrelations Cartographiques (RETICULAR) – Université Gustave Eiffel (UGE).
  The project first aims to examine the interoperability of applications for the analysis, exploration and geovisualisation of adjacency and flow matrices already developed at UGE (mainly Arabesque and CorText) and outside UGE (Netscity).
  More information: Journée d’étude “Espace & Interactions” .
• 2025–present
  ACC – Fondation de l'Université Gustave Eiffel.
  Mapping the research landscape on climate change adaptation in France, identifying actors, themes and locations in line with the National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (PNACC).
• 2023–present
  PLAT4TERFOOD – ANR.
  Platform of data, methods and devices for quantitative analysis and assessment of territorialised food systems. Support to the lead team on regional press data sources, data extraction and structuring, and design of a relational database on stakeholders (modelling, normalisation, SQL training).

Core courses at ESIEE Paris

• 2018–present
  Mapping controversies (1st year of engineering school)
  Introduction to science and technology studies and digital methods for exploring controversies.
• 2017–present
  Social Network Analysis (5th year / Master in sociology)
  Network theory, metrics and visualisation applied to social and techno-scientific networks.
• 2012–2025
  Relational Database Management Systems (3rd year of engineering school)
  Design and implementation of relational databases, SQL practice and data modelling.

Selected courses, seminars & lectures – 2025

• 2025
  Journée d’étude “Espace & Interactions”
  Université Gustave Eiffel, Paris – 1-day seminar.
  Event page
• 2025
  Positioning a research project within its scientific domain with CorText Manager
  Graduate Program DIGIS (Digital Studies and Innovation for Smart-Cities) – 3-day course.
• 2025
  Information extraction and socio-semantic analysis for the social sciences and humanities
  EconomIA 2025, Paris – 3-hour lecture.
• 2025
  Investigating science dynamics on climate change adaptation using CorText Manager
  Bureau d'Analyses Macro Économiques (BAME), Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA), Dakar – 3-day training.

Recent scientific contributions

• Proceedings · 2025
  What do we know about work and employment in agriculture in Africa? A literature review Link
  Le futur du travail et de l'emploi dans le secteur agricole en Afrique de l'Ouest en Afrique
  Benoit Dedieu, Géraldine Enderli, Lionel Villard, Mohamed Taher Sraïri, Isabelle Avelange, Teatske Bakker, Eveline Compaore, Astou Diao Camara, Pape Bilal Diakate, Ibrahima Diallo, Dominique Fournier, Pierre Girard, Nathalie Hostiou, Guillaume Soullier.
  
• Book chapter · 2024
  Digital methods for technology assessment. Link
  in Handbook of Technology Assessment
  Pauline Riousset, Anders Koed Madsen, Nicolas Baya-Laffite, Lionel Villard
  
• Technical report · 2024
  RISIS Datasets – Final report on status and main achievements. Link
  RISIS2
  Thomas Scherngell, Bührer-Topçu, Susanne, Camerani Roberto, Frietsch Rainer, Abdullah Gok, Guerini Massimiliano, Iversen Eric, Laurens Patricia, Lepori Benedetto, Montanara Benedetta, Neuhäusler Peter, Noyons Ed, Spinello Andrea Orazio, Reale Emanuela, Schoen Antoine, Villard Lionel, Wallwaey Elisa, Zahradnik Georg.
  
• Map · 2023
  RISIS Adapted Nuts. Link
  RISIS2
  Lionel Villard, Benedetto Lepori, Massimiliano Guerini, Michael Barber.
  
• Scientific blog article · 2022
  Analysis of the scientific production that mentioned the use of CorText Manager. Link
  CorText Platform
  Géraldine Enderli, Lionel Villard.
  
• Proceedings · 2021
  Regional knowledge production across Europe: Insights from combined indicators and an innovative regional delineation. Link
  RISIS research seminars
  Thomas Scherngell, Benedetto Lepori, Massimiliano Guerini, Lionel Villard, Michael Barber.
  
• Software · 2021
  CorText Geospatial Exploration Tool. Link
  CorText Manager
  Lionel Villard, Juan Pablo Ospina Delgado, Luis Daniel Medina Zuluaga.
  
• Technical report · 2020
  RISIS DATASETS TUTORIALS: RISIS PATENT. Link
  RISIS2
  Patricia Laurens, Lionel Villard, Juan Pablo Ospina Delgado.
  
• Technical report · 2019
  Documentation of RISIS datasets: Nano. Link
  RISIS2
  Lionel Villard.
  
• Technical report · 2019
  DOCUMENTATION OF RISIS DATASETS – RISIS Patent Database. Link
  RISIS2
  Patricia Laurens, Philippe Laredo, Lionel Villard, Juan Pablo Ospina Delgado, Luis Daniel Medina, Antoine Schoen.
  

Interests

Enthusiastic traveller, I love catching colours and situations with my camera. Here-and-there-pics gather some of these shots, a kaleidoscopic view of personal moments, without filter, found here and there, along roads and cities.

I share here my thoughts about places, where my feelings and understandings are built through the lenses of my camera.

Always with passion, I am also a researcher and teacher in Paris, France: follow me on X/twitter, and see more about Cortext Platform here.