It is a great pleasure to become the new Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Limnology and thank work performed by my predecessors. I thank in particular former Editor-in-Chief Pascal Lafaille who has initiated me into the workings of the journal over the past months, along with the EDP Sciences team. I look forward to editing the best research in fresh waters from all parts of the world.

Although there is a large variety of journals made available to researchers in limnology, I am convinced that International Journal of Limnology can still offer important opportunities to young researchers but also to senior scientists to publish original work and review articles. My challenge is to go on providing a good generalized limnological journal to a large audience and increase significantly its visibility and impact in the forthcoming years. I hope you will help me to make it.

IJL has a long history. It was founded in 1964 as “Annales de Limnologie” by University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France. The English subtitle “International Journal of Limnology” was added in 2003, and the journal was known until now as “Annales de Limnologie - International Journal of Limnology”. From January 2022, the French part of the title disappears and the full title of the journal becomes “International Journal of Limnology”. This change in the official title positions IJL more clearly as an international journal. Thank you for your understanding while this change is being communicated to the various databases. I have also been inviting many great researchers around the world to join the board of Associate Editors and the Editorial Advisory Committee. Along with practical help with the peer review process of the journal, I hope they will be ambassadors of the journal and help make the journal known across all continents.

I was recruited at INRA (now INRAE) in Thonon-les-Bains (France) as a young scientist in 2001 after a doctoral thesis (1996–2000) carried out at the Roscoff Biological Station (France) on the dynamics of marine picophytoplankton (PhD supervisor: Daniel VAULOT) and a post-doc (2000–2001) carried out at the University of Bergen (Norway) on microalgal viruses (supervisor − Gunnar BRATBAK).

Authorized to supervise PhD students since 2005, I am today and since 2010 Research Director.

My current work at the Alpine Center for research on trophic networks and limnic ecosystems (CARRTEL, Thonon-les-Bains, France) focuses on the ecology of aquatic microorganisms (viruses, bacteria, archaea and phytoplankton) and certain invasive species (e.g., Hemimysis anomala) that I try to make better known through their dynamics, distribution, diversity and roles in ecosystems especially lakes.

In addition to this fundamental research work, I also participate in a more focused field of research as the scientific leader of the environmental monitoring of Lake Bourget (the largest natural and deep lake in France) leading to reports and syntheses on the evolution of water quality and the ecological functioning of this lake, the development of indicators, etc.

Since 2021, I chair the French Association of Limnology (AFL), which had historically a strong connection to this journal. As an active member of AFL since 2009, I organized in 2010 the International Days of Limnology (JIL-2010) in Thonon-les-Bains and I have been in the organizing and/or scientific committees of the conferences organised and/or sponsored by the Association since then (JILO-2012 Clermont, JILO-2014 Marseille, JILO-2016 Saint-Malo, SEFS-2015 Geneva, JILO-2018 Strasbourg, JILO-2022 Corsica). I had a film made promoting freshwater science, which can be consulted on the AFL website, and have just begun coordinating a collective book on this discipline.

The transfer of knowledge being important, I have supervised more than 30 students in Master or PhD since 2003, and I am responsible for the teaching module “lake systems” within the MASTER ECOMONT for the University Savoie Mont-Blanc since 2016. Also, I lead every two years the “Open Days” of my institute during the week of science.

I am a member of various scientific committees: Comité de bassin du lac du Bourget, Maison du lac Aqualis, Geopark Chablais UNESCO, Association Léman Passion (ALP, which I co-founded), Longitude 181 (of which I chair the scientific and ethical committee), Musée du Léman in Nyon (Switzerland), Ecomusée de la pêche et du Léman in Thonon, CEN Haute Savoie ASTERS, RNN Savoie, scientific council of the AQUA department and evaluation commission of INRAE researchers.

At last, I am a diving instructor and have been a scientific diving instructor for the CNRS from 1998 to 2012. I still use diving for science and I am the secretary of the National Committee of Scientific Diving, hyperbaric prevention advisor (representative and facilitator of the INRAE network), volunteer collaborator for the magazine Subaqua (in which I hold the “research” and “zoom” sections I have alimented every 2 months for the last 20 years). I created the species identification guide for the great peri-alpine lakes and coordinates the MYSILAC (participatory science using diving) project.

© S. Jacquet, published by EDP Sciences, 2022