Anne Goffart has always been a great lover of the sea, boats and sailing. Because of this passion for the sea she chose to study biology. She explains: «In fact, I have a degree in oceanology, but at that time it was necessary to have done other studies leading up to this degree. I therefore chose biology, the botanic option so that I would not have to dissect little frogs»! At the end of the first candidacy there was a course organised at STARESO. «I enjoyed this and was happy with my choice. I therefore did my dissertation for my degree at the station as well. Then I did my doctoral thesis based on work done at the station, mostly on board the oceanographic vessel Recteur Dubuisson, which the university possessed at that time.» The thesis was based on the Liguro-provençale basin, a very rich hydrologic structure and the most productive zone of the Ligurian sea. Anne Goffart then took up a post-doctoral research position in Naples. «The quality of the water there is average» she recalls. In spite of all these research activities, Anne Goffart continues to keep an eye on the Stareso station and to take plankton samples there whenever she can. «It is what has allowed us to have such a long series of data: we are tenacious, even if sometimes we have had to work with pieces of string.» In 2002, she moved away from the marine environment to become director of the Aquapole in Liège. In 2007, she took charge of the scientific direction of STARESO of the University of Liège. This task involved her in all the research activities put in place by the University of Liège and its international partners on site, but also in the expert work carried out by STARESO S.A.S. to meet the needs of local authorities and national organisations such as the French water agency.

Anne Goffart and Jean-Henri Hecq (2005). Royal Academy of Science, letters and Belgian fine-art Award, issued by the Plant Biology group for the work «Composition and ecology of phytoplankton in the Mediterranean: short and long-tern development of phytoplankton colonies in the Liguro Provencal basin (Corsican sector).

Selection of publications

Goffart A., Hecq J.H. and Legendre L. (in preparation). How is phytoplankton of the oligotrophic Bay of Calvi (Corsica, Northwestern Mediterranean) responding to ongoing global change?

Vallet C., Koubbi P., Sultan E., Goffart A., Swadling K.M. and Wright S. (2009). Distribution of euphausiid larvae along the coast of east Antarctica in the Dumont d’Urville Sea (139 °E – 145 °E) during summer 2004. Antarctic Science, 3: 197-207.

Beans C. Hecq J.H., Koubbi P., Vallet C., Wrigth S. and Goffart A. (2008). A study of the diatom-dominated microplankton summer assemblages in coastal waters from Terre Adélie to the Mertz Glacier, East Antarctica (139°E–145°E). Polar Biology, 3: 1101–1117.

Elkalay K., Frangoulis C., Skliris N., Goffart A., Gobert S., Lepoint G. and Hecq J.H. (2003). A model of the seasonal dynamics of biomass and production of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica in the Bay of Calvi (Northwestern Mediterranean). Ecological modelling, 167: 1-18.

Goffart A., Hecq J.H. and Legendre L. (2002). Changes in the development of the winter-spring phytoplankton bloom in the Bay of Calvi (Northwestern Mediterranean) over the last two decades: a response to the changing climate? Marine Ecology Progress Series. 236: 45-60.

Skliris N., Goffart A., Hecq J.H. and Djenidi S. (2001). Shelf-slope exchanges associated with a steep submarine canyon off Calvi (Corsica, NW Mediterranean Sea): A modelling approach. Journal of Geophysical Research, 106 (C9): 19883-19901.