On November 27, 2025, Benjamin Avakian obtained the academic degree of Doctor of Science with the thesis "Fluid circulation in crystalline-hosted shear zone - application to geothermal system for energy production".
This is a joint PhD funded by the Eutopia project, in collaboration between CY Cergy Paris Université and AMGC-VUB.
The EUTOPIA PhD co-tutelle program supports high-quality PhD projects in all research areas co-supervised by academics of the EUTOPIA member universities .
Benjamin will obtain two PhD degrees, one from CY Cergy Paris and one from the VUB
The private defense took place at the VUB in Brussels on 12 November 2025, and the public defense at CY Cergy Paris on 27 November 2025, with most jury members present and a few online.
In January, Benjamin will start a post-doctoral position in Nancy at the Université de Lorraine to continue working on fluid circulation in the Rhine Graben region. Look for more outstanding work on this topic, as he research will now also expand to the sedimentary part of the sequence. We wish him luck in this new adventure. It was a pleasure hosting him at AMGC - Always welcome to use AMGC analytical facilties, Benjamin,
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Béatrice Ledésert (Cergy), Prof. Dr. Philippe Claeys (AMGC), Prof. Ronan Hébert (Cergy), Prof. Steven Goderis (AMGC)
- Examination board:
- Prof. Dr. Marc Elskens (AMGC-VUB, Chair)
- Dr. Hannah James (AMGC-VUB)
- Dr. Inigo Müller (AMGC-VUB)
- Dr. Geoffroy Mohn (CY Cergy)
- Prof. Dr. Frank Bourdelle (CY Cergy)
- Prof. Dr. Benoît Valley - Examiner (Univ. Neuchâtel)
- Dr. Déphine Charpentier - Examiner (Univ. Franche-Comté)
- Dr. Chrystel Dezayes (BRGM)
- Prof. Dr. Alan Bischoff (University of Turku)
- Prof. David Bruhn (TU Delft)
- Dr. Eva Schill (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab)
- Dr. Johanne Klee (Lithium de France)
- Dr. Emmanuel Gaucher (Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology)
