Carine Michotte started studying physics at the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) in 1986 and received her PhD in experimental nuclear astrophysics in 1995. Her research covered the direct measurement of the cross section of a nuclear reaction of astrophysical interest using a post-accelerated radioactive ion beam. In parallel, she received a teacher’s diploma and worked as an assistant professor at the university.
In 1996 she joined the ionizing radiation department of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) in Sèvres (France). She worked on precise gamma-ray spectrometry, dead-time corrections and made primary activity measurements using proportional counters with the radionuclide metrology team. She has been Radiation Protection Adviser of the BIPM for 6 years.
In 2008, she developed and modelled by Monte-Carlo simulations, a NaI(Tl) activity comparator which continues to travel in the five continents while maintaining its stability. This enables her to run international comparisons of short-lived radionuclides mainly used in nuclear medicine, bringing her worldwide recognition. She was elected Vice-President of the International Committee for Radionuclide Metrology in 2021 and 2023. Since 2022 she has been leader of the radionuclide metrology group of the BIPM. Among her responsibilities she leads international activity comparisons for gamma-ray emitting radionuclides using the BIPM pressurized ionization chamber, which has demonstrated stability for 50 years and is the international reference for establishing equivalence of realizations of the SI unit for activity, the becquerel.
Dr Michotte published 100+ comparison reports and scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals as well as an invited contribution to the “Measure for Measure” column in Nature on radionuclide activities in 2023. In addition, she taught radionuclide metrology at the 2003 BIPM summer school, and the organization of comparisons at BIPM and EURAMET training sessions between 2016 – 2026. Since 2001, she has been secretary of the JCGM-WG1, which is responsible for the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement, and has been rapporteur for 20+ years. She was elected to the Commission in 2026.