Meet Michael Lathuillière, Data Scientist

I have a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. After graduating in 2002, I worked as a chemist for six years, developing ink formulations for a digital printing company.

I went back to UBC to do a Master of Science in 2009 to study soybean deforestation in Brazil and water use for agricultural production. Then, in 2013, I began a PhD at the same university after having spent a year studying the carbon cycle in the Brazilian Pantanal.

My background is in eco-hydrology, applied to water footprinting and commodity supply chains. I am mainly interested in water resources and how deforestation affects the water cycle in South America, particularly the link between deforestation and rainfall.

I was a chemist right when the Kyoto Protocol came into effect in 2005 and felt that I could apply my knowledge in a more impactful way.

So I started a long career shift, which brought me to SEI last year. Deep down I am still a very passionate chemist, but I now apply this knowledge at a different scale, while still feeding on my experience in industrial processes to understand environmental impacts of consumption.

All the key eco-hydrology literature I read during my master’s was authored by former SEI director, Johan Rockström, and colleagues. My work since then has built on a lot of research developed at SEI.

As for Trase: my PhD research involved how to highlight deforestation impacts of soybean production to consumers. Trase explicitly shows connection between producers and consumers which was an important missing piece of the puzzle of my research. Trase felt like a natural fit considering my prior research interests and deep passion for understanding commodity supply chains.

I actually moved from Brazil where I did fieldwork for my PhD research.

There was quite some adjustment for me to move from Canada to Brazil, and now from Brazil to Sweden. Language, climate, and the overall day-to-day are very different from one country to the next. Overall, the transition happened smoothly. The winters in Stockholm aren’t as cold as in some parts of Canada. I’m originally from France, so it’s really nice to be back in Europe, closer to my family.

I’m a Data Scientist for Trase and am also part of the Trase management team.

Trase is a platform that houses an ever-increasing database to map agricultural commodity supply chains and link these supply chains to tropical deforestation. Datasets have to be prepared and checked before publication on the Trase website. My day-to-day consists of working closely with the team to go through all datasets, managing the publication process, and developing new supply chain maps.

For instance, I am currently working on the Argentinian soy supply chain, which we expect to release by the end of the year. This work will be followed by the publication of Argentinian corn, as well as other countries and commodities led by colleagues (including Brazilian pork, chicken, and Indonesian palm oil).

With Trase, we’re now able to show connections between commodity production and consumption centres better than ever before. For instance, we can connect a Brazilian municipality that produces soybean to a country of export, and link this production to deforestation. This connection is shown very explicitly on our website, together with the company involved in the trade. The platform provides information on deforestation risk in supply chains and can help highlight priority areas for action and engagement.

SEI is a lot more open and diverse than I imagined, with a lot more implementation and communication work as well. What seems to be more important at SEI are traits like commitment, passion, knowledge, experience, and creativity. You see all of these in people every day, which is extremely rewarding and makes SEI a wonderful and exciting place to work.