Prof. Gilles Pécout

(LinkedIn)

Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), France

Prof. Gilles Pécout was appointed President of the Bibliothèque nationale de France on 18 April 2024.

A trained Historian specialising in 19th-century Italian and European history, he graduated from the École normale supérieure in Paris and is a former member of the École française de Rome. He holds a doctorate and accreditation to supervise doctoral research from Sciences Po-Paris. He was Head of History Department of Ecole Normale Supérieure and holded the "Political and Cultural History of 18th-19th-Century Mediterranean Europe" Chair at the École Pratique des Hautes Études until 2014.

Chief Education Officer of the Nancy-Metz regional education authority, then of Paris and the Île-de-France academic region, and Chancellor of the Universities of Paris from 2014 to 2020, he was France’s Ambassador to Austria from 2020 to 2024.

Gilles Pécout was in charge of the French contribution to the European Union’s "Building on the Past" Marie Curie Fellowship Programme, and has been visiting professor and research fellow at institutions abroad, including at the universities of Geneva, Bologna, Pavia, Naples, and Venice, at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, at Brown and New York Universities, at the universities of Gerona, Crete-Rethymno and Beida, at Capital Normal University in Beijing, and East China Normal University in Shanghai.

He has also participated in the drafting of the Grande pauvreté et réussite scolaire (Extreme Poverty and Educational Achievements) report coordinated with ATD-Quart Monde for the French Ministry of National Education, and the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (ESEC).

He is a Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, an Officer of the Ordre national du Mérite (French National Order of Merit), an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) and Commander of the Ordre des Palmes académiques (Order of Academic Palms).

He is also a Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and Commander of the Order of Honour of the Hellenic Republic.