Denis Mathis

Denis Mathis is a Lecturer in Geography at the University of Lorraine since 2016, affiliated with a research laboratory focused on Water and Environments, Landscape and Territorial Transitions, and Transitions in Planning. He serves as Co-head of the MEEF 2D Master's in History and Geography and the Master M1 MEEF 2D Letters-History-Geography program.

His academic qualifications include:

• Thesis from University of Nancy 2 (2009): 'Agrarian geohistory of a Lorraine region: Saulnois'
• CAPES in History and Geography (1995)
• Auditor at Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defense (2013)

Mathis specializes in historical and retrospective geography, analyzing transitions in landscapes, geosystems, and anthroposystems. His work examines human interactions with hydrosystems (watercourses, ponds, flooding, canals), military geography (border legacies, garrison towns, demilitarization), and rural geography (peri-urbanization, vineyards, forests) across Grand Est, Burgundy-Franche Comté, Luxembourg, and Germany. He employs interdisciplinary approaches combining archival research with field studies to investigate material and immaterial landscape transformations.

His 2025 publications reveal strong thematic cohesion around military heritage reconversion, historical water management, and cross-border landscape studies. Key trends include analyzing post-military site transformations in the Pays de Bitche, artisanal knowledge transmission in Lorraine villages, and Solvay company town legacies. His work consistently bridges historical analysis with contemporary geographical challenges, emphasizing the Moselle region as a living laboratory for conflict heritage and territorial transitions.

Mathis has supervised 4 professional dissertations for M2 MEEF, PEPA, and PEA programs. His research engagement includes the Patrimart project (2015-2017) on 'Landscape(s) of the strange' and co-leading the 2018 OHM Pays de Bitche project on military vocation. He teaches courses on territory formation, urban geography, and CAPES competition preparation while developing pedagogical approaches using local resources.

Within the University of Lorraine laboratory, he collaborates across thematic axes with engineers, technical staff, and doctoral students. His work utilizes technical platforms for hydrometry, topography, sedimentology, and drone-based remote sensing, contributing to online databases like LOTERR (30,000 aerial photographs) and IKARE (karst phenomena mapping).