Engagement

finres builds resilient food systems by enabling informed decision-making

Expertise

finres was founded with the vision that farmers must be able to prosper and feed the world while the climate is changing. Farmers directly feel the effect of climate change on their yields and incomes, with knock-on impacts across agricultural value chains. Finres was founded by Florent Baarsch, building on his experience at the World Bank, United Nations, and renowned research organizations analyzing how economies, and in particular farming, will be affected by climate change.

There is a growing realization of the need for climate adaptation, but decisions about preparing the agricultural sector for climate change are frequently made without sufficient data on which adaptation solutions would be most effective. Different solutions are better in different contexts. Solving the problem of knowing how to measure risk and optimize yields in each location, finres supports the acceleration of climate-resilience in farming through data.

Leveraging the expertise of its team of world leading climate scientists, advanced agronomists, adaptation specialists, and digital innovators, finres is making data available to inform decisions about the future of farming.

Clients of finres have included the World Bank, the Green Climate Fund, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, over 25 commercial and development banks, and the tens of thousands of farmers we have supported through our work.

By making climate risk and the opportunities of adaptation widely accessible, finres is transforming the ability of the agricultural sector to prepare and protect itself from climate change.

Are you interested in joining us in our mission to bridge the gap between the most advanced science and the implementation of solutions to make farming more resilient? Join Our Team: Explore our range of job opportunities here.

Team

Experience+Science+Technology

Florent Baarsch

Founder & CEO

Florent completed his doctoral studies at Ludwig Maximilian University and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Cited more than 1,400 times for his academic work, he began his career as an environmental and climate economist at Climate Analytics gGmbH, IFAD and the World Bank. He founded finres in 2019.

Michiel Schaeffer

Chief Scientist

With a PhD in meteorological sciences and over 10,000 citations, Dr. Schaeffer has extensive experience in multidisciplinary research and applied science. He was Chief Scientist of the Global Center for Adaptation between 2020 and 2022. Alongside his work at finres, Michiel also holds the position of Lead Science Advisor at Climate Analytics and teaches climate science at the International Islamic University of Indonesia.

Mike Girling

Head of Marketing and Communications

Joining finres from the Global Center on Adaptation, Mike has extensive experience working with and for companies, governments and international organisations. With degrees from the University of Oxford and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Mike has a focus on the power of communication for achieving social impact.

Caroline Guyot 

Product & Design Lead

Caroline has a Master in Management from HEC Paris. As an experienced Product and Design Lead in the start-up field, she focuses on creating practical and user-friendly solutions that support growth and meet business needs.

Mathilde Duvallet

Agronomist

Mathilde graduated from AgroParisTech as an agricultural engineer and holds a master's degree in economics from the Université Paris-Saclay. She completed a PhD on rice production risks in West Africa at the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD).

Joe Freeman

Senior Software Engineer

With an academic scientific background from Imperial College London, Joe brings a wealth of experience building software at innovative companies, including working on climate-irrigation control systems and crop modelling.

Vhiny Mombo

Data Scientist

Engineer in Applied Mathematics from ENSIIE and graduate of a Master's degree in Data Science with a minor in Finance from Université Paris Saclay, Vhiny has built several machine learning models during his past experiences in the transport and healthcare sectors.

Dan Xie

Behavioral Scientist

Dan brings a wealth of expertise in user behavior and decision-making processes. Dan's specialization in qualitative and quantitative methods support her work analyzing how farming investment decisions are made and how the agricultural sector plans for the future.

Caroline Vu

Administrative Coordinator

With over a decade of diverse professional experience, Caroline has managed projects across various sectors, including banking, insurance, real estate, and finance. Her versatile skill set encompasses compliance control, quality management, accounting, HR, and commercial operations, complemented by a background in private law.

Ben Martineau

Senior Software Engineer

With a strong scientific background, Ben brings a wealth of experience in programming and machine learning, honed through his Master's and PhD at Cambridge University, and most recently within various fintech and AI start-ups.

Mohamed Alkassem

Agricultural Modeling Scientist

Mohamed has a PhD in predictive modeling in agro-hydrology systems from the French national research institute for agriculture, food and environment (INRAe), and has extensive expertise in advanced agricultural modeling, including hydrodynamic soil parameters and remotely sensed data from satellites.

Raj Rani

Climate Scientist

With a PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, Raj has extensive experience across multinational research laboratories with statistical downscaling and analysis, managing big datasets, and climate modelling, with a focus on the extreme climate events that are so damaging to the agricultural sector.

Sidiki Sanogo

Climate Scientist

Sidiki has expertise in atmospheric physics and climate modeling. His PhD work with MeteoFrance focused on extreme precipitation events and he did post-doc work at Sorbonne University. His work at finres includes analyzing climate data and enhancing our downscaling and forecasting models using AI and Machine Learning.

Yann Bouffanais

Climate Data Scientist

As a Data Scientist. Yann uses his wealth of expertise in data exploration, mathematical modeling, Bayesian analysis, and machine learning implementation at finres. Yann has a PhD in Modelling and Data Analysis from University Paris Diderot and a Master’s in Physics from Imperial College London.

Jeehanne Reboud

Computer Vision Scientist

Jeehanne has a background in physics with a first year master’s degree in Meteorology, Oceanography, Climate, and Spatial Engineering, complemented by a master’s in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science from Sorbonne Université. She's worked for institutions such as LMD, LOCEAN, and LIP6.

Louis d'Hautefeuille

Business Development and Partnerships Lead

Coming from strategy consulting, Louis also brings a wealth of experience in entrepreneurial projects ranging from fintech to wildlife conservation. With a Master's Degree in Finance and Management from ESADE and St Gallen, Louis works on creating lasting partnerships with key players in the sector to achieve finres’ mission.

Yona Uzan 

Data Scientist

After graduating as an engineer in medical imaging, Yona complemented it with a Master's in MVA (Mathematics, Vision, Learning) at ENS Paris Saclay. She has experience with Machine Learning and Deep Learning and enjoys using this to develop solutions for important societal issues.

Wassim Yahyaoui

Marketing and Communication 
specialist

With a Master from the European Communication School, and a Bachelor’s in Information and Communication from the Université catholique de l'Ouest, Wassim uses his experience across established entities to  translate science into actionable insights on strengthening agricultural resilience.

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