Michel Claessens is a scientist and essayist. He was the head of communication and external relations of the ITER project from 2011 to 2016. His background is physical chemistry (Ph.D.) and science journalism. He joined the European Commission in 1994 where has been acting the head of the Communication Unit in the Research Directorate-General, spokesperson for research, editor-in-chief of the "research*eu" magazine and in charge of the science and technology Eurobarometers until 2010. He is now an advisor to ITER's Director General. Michel is also teaching at the Free University of Brussels and has published a dozen of books and essays, including:At the Human scale – International practices in science communication (avec Donghong Cheng, Jenni Metcalfe, Bernard Schiele, Toss Gascoigne et Shi Shunke), Science Press, 2006Communicating European Research 2005 (M. Claessens editor), Springer, 2007Communicating Science in SocialContexts (edited by D. Cheng, M. Claessens, T. Gascoigne, J. Metcalfe, B. Schiele, S. Shunke), Springer, 2008Science communication in the world (Bernard Schiele, Michel Claessens and Shi Shunke editors), Springer, 2012
