Philippe Thunis obtained his PhD in Physics from the University of Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) in 1995 and has been working since at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Italy. His main experience are in meteorology, emissions, air quality and integrated assessment modeling. He co-developed the SHERPA model to support local authorities in their air quality plans. Since 2014, he chairs the European Forum for air quality modeling (FAIRMODE) that aims at harmonizing and improving modelling practices across EU Member States.