TEAM FRANCO

  Find out who makes it all happen. Prof. Franco's team is made up of talented postdocs, engineers, PhD and Master students. The team composes multiple nationalities and scientific backgrounds. If you are interested to join Prof. Franco's team, send him an e-mail with your CV, motivation letter and three referees' names.

The Team

Prof. Alejandro A. Franco

Principal Investigator

Dr. Alejandro A. Franco is a Full Professor at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne in the city of Amiens, France, and an Honorary Member of the Institut Universitaire de France. He has more than 23 years of experience in the field of multiscale modeling of electrochemical energy devices. He leads the Theory Open Platform at the ALISTORE European Research Institute. Prof. Franco has been awarded an ERC consolidator grant for his pioneering ARTISTIC project, focusing on battery manufacturing digitalization through multiscale modeling and artificial intelligence. Additionally, he has received an ERC Proof of Concept grant for his innovative SMARTISTIC project, aimed at assisting battery manufacturers with mixed reality technology. He has/he is actively participated/participating in numerous European projects and bilateral collaborations with the battery and fuel cell industry. Prof. Franco serves as the Chairman of the Expert Group "Digitalization, Measurement Methods, and Quality" in the European LiPLANET battery pilot lines network. In 2019, he was honored with the French Prize for Pedagogy Innovation for his utilization of Virtual Reality in teaching battery sciences. He has an extensive publication record, including over 168 publications, 12 invited book chapters, 3 edited books, and 23 patents. Prof. Franco is frequently invited to deliver plenary, keynote, and invited oral presentations in international conferences, totaling more than 148 invited lectures, as well as over 69 invited seminars in prestigious universities, institutes, and companies. He also coordinates the Erasmus+ i-MESC International Master Programme (Interdisciplinarity in Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion). He is the recipient of the 2025 Battery Division M. Stanley Whittingham Mid-Career Award Lecture of the Electrochemical Society. Moreover, he is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of a startup under creation that offers unique digital solutions, leveraging the pioneering research and expertise of his research group, to strongly support the battery manufacturing industry.


Present supervised Postdocs, PhD students, MSc. students and engineers

Dr. Diego Galvez

Postdoctoral researcher

Diego (Peru) develops advanced deep learning models of battery manufacturing processes.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Abdali

Postdoctoral researcher

Mohammed (Yemen) develops physics-based and AI models for solid state battery manufacturing optimization.

Dr. Hari Raj

Postdoctoral researcher

Hari (India) performs experimental manufacturing and characterization of battery technologies, in strong collaboration with modeling.

Dr. Francisco Fernandez

Postdoctoral researcher

Francisco (Argentina) combines physics based simulations with machine learning models for accelerated optimization of battery manufacturing. 

Dr. Abhilash Valisammagari

Postdoctoral researcher

Abhilash (India) develops multiscale models to assess battery manufacturing processes.

Victor Ramirez Camacho

PhD student

Victor (Mexico) develops novel deep learning models for battery electrodes and their manufacturing (funded by the Ampère company).

Maxence Desnoyers

PhD student

Maxence (France) develops innovative polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell aging models combining physics and AI (funded by the Symbio company).

Amina El-Malki

PhD student

Amina (Morocco) works in the development of machine learning models for the lifetime prediction of industrial lithium ion battery cells (funded by the Ampère/Renault companies).

Lei Qin

PhD student

Lei (China) utilizes physics-based modeling and AI to design high power battery cells (co-supervised by Dr. Margret Wohlfahrt-Mehrens -ZSW-)

Tan Le Dinh

PhD student

Tan (Vietnam) develops machine learning models of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell electrode manufacturing (co-supervised by Prof. Olivier Guillon -FZ Jülich-).

Utkarsh Vijay

PhD student

Utkarsh (India) combines AI with physics-based simulations to optimize lithium ion battery electrode manufacturing (MCSA fellow).

Siwar Ben Hadj Ali

PhD student

Siwar (Tunisia) works in the modeling of electrochemistry-mechanics in operating solid state battery electrodes (MCSA fellow, co-funded by Umicore).

Soorya Saravanan

PhD student

Soorya (India) combines physics-based simulations with AI to optimize the manufacturing process of Sodium Ion and Solid State Battery electrodes (collaboration with IFPEN).

Rashen Lou Omongos

PhD student

Rashen (Philippines) develops physical and machine learning models of the assembly process of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (MCSA fellow; collaboration with the company AC2T, Austria).

Xingyu Zhang

PhD student

Xingyu (China) develops physics-based simulators of the membrane aging in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (MCSA fellow; collaboration with the company AVL, Austria).

Sourab Barath

PhD student

Sourab (India) develops advanced physics-based models to simulate and optimize the manufacturing process of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell electrodes (MCSA fellow; collaboration with the company Freundenberg, Germany).

Imelda Cardenas

PhD student

Imelda (Mexico) develops advanced electrochemical models of Sodium Ion and Solid State Battery electrodes and cells (collaboration with IFPEN).

Pei Sun

PhD student

Pei (China) develops physics-based models of dry manufacturing processes of  battery electrodes (co-supervised by Prof. Paul Vigneaux -LAMFA, UPJV-).

Emmanuel Yerumoh

PhD student

Emmanuel (Nigeria) develops physics-informed AI models to assess battery cell aging (funded by the Ampère company).

Mengda Xing

PhD student

Mengda (China) develops advanced AI models for battery cell performance optimization. Co-supervised with Prof. Jean-Marie Laignez (CRIL, Université d'Artois). 

Saad Ali

MSc. student

Saad (Pakistan) works in the multiscale modeling of lithium ion battery manufacturing processes.

Sophie Tran

Engineer

Sophie (France) develops innovative pedagogic activities (e.g. based on Virtual Reality) to support lectures and practices within the Erasmus+ i-MESC MSc. programme coordinated by Prof. Franco.

Arjun Sankar Nivas

PhD student arriving soon

Arjun (India) will work on AI for assessing multimodal characterization data of Redox Flow Batteries (MCSA fellow, collaboration with Fraunhofer ICT, Germany).

Avaneesh Balasubramanian

PhD student arriving soon

Avaneesh (India) will work on AI for optimizing the synthesis of materials for Redox Flow Batteries (MCSA fellow, collaboration with Fraunhofer ICT, Germany).

Student arriving soon

MSc. student

Information to be disclosed soon.

Student arriving soon

MSc. student

Information to be disclosed soon.

Past supervised Postdocs, PhD students, MSc. students and engineers

(move the mouse over the photos)

Some team photos

  • Titre de la diapositive

    March 2025

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    July 2024

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    October 2023

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    September 2022

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    November 2021

    Bouton
  • July 2020

    July 2020

    Bouton
  • December 2019

    December 2019

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    April 2019

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    July 2018

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    February 2018

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    February 2017

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    July 2016

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    February 2016

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    January 2016

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    June 2014

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    March 2014

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    2011

    Bouton
  • Titre de la diapositive

    2010

    Bouton