Research Interests -- Hydroinformatics and Sustainable Agriculture

Dr Celicourt's research interests in Hydroinformatics, developed during his doctoral degree at The City College of New York, have been recently influenced by his postdoctoral research work on agricultural water resources management in the department of soils and agri-food engineering at Laval University. Having involved in several research efforts aiming at the development of irrigation water methods (precision irrigation) for cranberry and potato production in Quebec, he came to develop an understanding of the hydrology of agricultural systems, which had served as a springboard for an extension of Hydroinformatics to the agricultural sector. Thus, he had led the development of a new field of applied research at the interface between Hydroinformatics and Agriculture called Agricultural Hydroinformatics. This emerging field of research emphasizes the relevance of applying the social and technical dimensions of Hydroinformatics in Agriculture to achieve integrated and sustainable agriculture. Consequently, his current research interests lie at the intersection between Hydroinformatics and Sustainable Agricultural Development.

Research Goal -- Agricultural Watersheds Sustainability

His research work aims at mobilizing agricultural producers to implement sustainable water management practices that will contribute to agroecosystems resiliency in light of increasing socio-economic pressures and climate change. His long-term goal is to develop an understanding of agroecosystems management practices and approaches to promote a justifiable balance between crop productivity and environmental sustainability. Towards this goal, his research focuses on the following five main areas:

• An understanding of the challenges to the adoption of sustainable farms and watersheds management practices and technologies;

• The application of the knowledge on above challenges to inform the development of accessible and relevant intelligent in-situ sensors, along with proximal sensing systems embedded in farm management equipment and remote sensing systems for integrated agricultural water management;

• The development of collaborative, open, replicable, and interoperable farm management information systems and data-driven modeling tools (Web-based GIS) to inform agronomic decision-making processes (e.g., irrigation and fertilizer application, soil management);

• The monitoring and assessment of agronomic decisions impacts on the environmental health of agricultural watersheds;

• The integration and encapsulation of acquired knowledge in the form of intelligent tools and/or equipment (novel sensors, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence applications) for integrated and collaborative management of agricultural ecosystems.

Research Themes