La Grande conférence 2026: At the Heart of Rocky Planets

An illustration of planet Earth's interior layers. (Credit: forplayday/Getty Images)
An illustration of planet Earth's interior layers. (Credit: forplayday/Getty Images)

How can we probe the interior of our planet Earth? And can it serve as a template for studying other rocky planets in our Solar System and beyond?

Join us for the 2026 edition of the IREx Grande conférence, “Au coeur des planètes rocheuses” (At the Heart of Rocky Planets), to gain a better understanding of what lies beneath the surface of our planet Earth and other rocky worlds like it. The public talk will take place on April 8th 2026 at 7 p.m. It will be presented in French by Charles-Édouard Boukaré, Professor at York University and former member of IREx!

This event will take place at the Université de Montréal’s campus MIL (1375 Av. Thérèse-Lavoie-Roux, Montréal, QC, H2V 0B3) in Amphitheater A1502.1 (1st floor).

Admission is free, but seating is limited, so arrive early! The lecture will start at 7:00p.m.

Can’t make it in person? The conference will also be broadcast live online on our social media channels, thanks to our valued partner, AstroPoly :

No prior knowledge of science or astronomy is needed—this talk is designed for everyone interested in space and science. Feel free to invite your family, friends, and colleagues to join you.

Don’t hesitate to share the Facebook event!

Summary

Rapid advances in exoplanet research and exploration of the planets in our Solar System are blurring the traditional boundaries between physical sciences, Earth sciences, and astronomy. Although the interior of a planet remains difficult to access, it plays a fundamental role in determining its surface conditions. For example, on Earth, plate tectonics and the presence of a magnetic field are direct manifestations of its internal dynamics.

The interior of the Earth, the planet we know best, has been extensively studied over the past century using seismic imaging, geochemistry, petrology, and geodynamic modelling. This work has revealed the major processes that have shaped – and continue to shape – the Earth. The question now is: do these processes also apply to other rocky planets in our Solar System and beyond? Can studying other planets help us to better understand Earth itself? In this presentation, I will offer an updated view of the structure, composition, and dynamics of the Earth. Through a few selected examples, I will illustrate how processes initially identified on Earth are now being explored in the context of exoplanet research.

Our Speaker

Charles-Édouard Boukaré‘s research focuses on understanding the structure and evolution of the deep interiors of rocky planets. His work lies at the intersection of fluid mechanics and the physics and chemistry of minerals under high pressure. In 2012, he obtained a double degree in geological engineering and a master’s degree in planetary sciences from the École Nationale Supérieure de Géologie de Nancy (France), before completing a PhD in geophysics at the Université Claude Bernard de Lyon (France) in 2016. He then conducted postdoctoral research at Brown University (United States), the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland), and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (France), where he collaborated closely with McGill University (Canada). He has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at York University (Canada) since 2023.

Charles-Édouard Boukaré is particularly renowned for his work on the dynamics of the first billion years of planetary mantles. His models combining computational fluid dynamics and high-pressure thermodynamics have shed new light on the early evolution of the Earth, the Moon, Mercury, and exoplanets. In 2022, he received the prestigious Doornbos International Award for his outstanding contributions to the study of the Earth’s interior. This award, presented by the Study of the Earth’s Deep Interior (SEDI) committee of the International Union of Geophysics and Geodesy, recognises outstanding work by young researchers.