My research mainly focusses on the understanding of galaxy formation and evolution, in particular through tidal interactions and mergers. Collisions are a fundamental process in current cosmological models. They trigger the mass assembly of galaxies and morphological transformations. I scrutinize the immediate environment of systems located in the nearby Universe in order to identify and characterize debris of past collisions. On the ultra deep images I am using, they appear as diffuse and extended "low-surface brightness" (LSB) structures. With the help of numerical simulations, I then try to reconstruct the merging history of the host galaxies.

Collisions also induce strong star-forming episodes known as starbursts, as well as the formation of star clusters, and even new galaxies, the so-called Tidal Dwarfs (TDGs), which I co-discovered as part of my PhD work. I study the genesis of these objects using multi-wavelength observations coupled with simulations.

One class of objects is specifically sensitive to its environment, the dwarf galaxies. As such they are used as laboratories to study a number of astrophysical processes. I am involved in a number of projects that aim at making their complete census and study their formation and evolution.

Past investigations include the evolution of galaxies in clusters, and the search for optical counterparts of Gamma Ray bursts and compact X-ray binaries.