Hey, my name is César Leblanc, I am 25 years old and I am a third year PhD student at Inria and University of Montpellier working on artificial intelligence and biodiversity within the Pl@ntNet team. I am also a promoter of reproducible research and open science.

• 🔭 I’m currently working on GeoPl@ntNet, a tool aiming at mapping all European plant species (over 10,000 organisms) and ecosystems (over 200 habitat types) at very-high resolution
• 🌱 I’m currently learning how deep learning can help us advance our comprehension in biodiversity modeling, community ecology, and conservation biology in order to guide researchers and practitioners
• 👯 I’m looking to connect with other young researchers (e.g., MSc interns, PhD students, postdoctoral fellows) from my field to discuss about scientific ideas and collaboration opportunities, as well as to engage in conversations about other non work-related topics
• 🤔 I’m looking for help with finding a postdoctoral position abroad (e.g., Italy, Spain, Germany) starting from 11/2025 where I could use my AI skills to investigate biodiversity (e.g., the impacts of global change, the potential distribution of species/habitats, how and why plants coexist together)
• 💬 Ask me about anything, among others Artificial Intelligence (Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Computer vision, Natural Language Processing, Transformer), Programming languages (Python, R, Java), Biodiversity and conservation (Community Ecology, Macroecology and Biogeography, Species Interactions, Habitat Mapping, Citizen Science and Remote Sensing), Data (Manipulation, Analysis, Visualization), and Mathematics (Algebra, Calculus, Probability and Statistics, Discrete Mathematics, Optimization)
• 📫 How to reach me: [email protected]
• 😄 Pronouns: he/him
• ⚡ Fun fact: if you're trying to map the distribution of vascular plant species and your model reaches very high numbers around my house, don't worry, it's not a bug

If you're interested in my publications, talks, teachings, CV, and so much more, you can access my website here.

• GeoPl@ntNet is a web application in the form of EU-wide interactive maps making Essential Biodiversity Variables easily accessible and understandable for everyone
• Pl@ntBERT is a tool leveraging large language models to learn the "syntax" of species assemblages
• hdm-framework is a classification framework to enhance your habitat distribution models
• malpolon is a deep learning framework to help you build your species distribution models
• GeoLifeCLEF is a toolkit (e.g., examples, dataloaders) for the GeoLifeCLEF challenge