Hugo Lavenant

Hugo Lavenant is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Decision Sciences at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. His academic journey includes a PhD in mathematics from Université Paris-Sud under Filippo Santambrogio (2016-2019) and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia (2019-2020) working with Young-Heon Kim, Brendan Pass, Geoffrey Schiebinger, and Dave Schneider.

Professor Lavenant's research spans theoretical and applied aspects of mathematical analysis, with a focus on optimal transport theory, calculus of variations, and Bayesian statistics. His work explores the geometry of the Wasserstein space, numerical solutions to dynamical optimal transport problems, and applications to biological data analysis. He has made significant contributions to understanding harmonic mappings in the Wasserstein space, connections between optimal transport and nonlinear elasticity, and the application of optimal transport to trajectory inference in biological systems.

Analysis of Professor Lavenant's recent publications reveals a strong trend toward interdisciplinary applications of optimal transport, particularly in statistics and biology. His work bridges pure mathematical theory with practical computational methods, with increasing focus on developing tractable statistical tools based on optimal transport distances. The research spans theoretical mathematics, computational methods, and applications to real-world data analysis problems.

Professor Lavenant actively supervises graduate students, currently advising PhD candidates George Kanchaveli and Francesco Mascari (both co-advised with Marta Catalano), as well as Master's students Mathis Hardion and Niccolò Bargellini. His teaching portfolio includes Mathematical Analysis 2, Real Analysis I, and Advanced Analysis and Optimization 1 at Bocconi University.

His scholarly contributions demonstrate a consistent focus on advancing both the theoretical foundations and practical applications of optimal transport, with growing emphasis on statistical methodology and biological applications in recent years.