He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences since November 30, 2004,[1] president since 2012. He has studied and described a number of new dinosaur species from Africa, especially from the Aptian site of Gadoufaoua in Niger (such as Ouranosaurus).[2] He also researches the Lower Cretaceous stratigraphic relationship between western Africa and Brazil by reconstructing the paleobiology from fossil floras and faunas.[1] He was president of the French National Museum of Natural History from 1985 to 1990.[1]