Our Team

Dr. Matthieu Aureau co-founded Vai Natura in 2011. He holds a master’s degree in Applied Mathematics and Information Technology from the University of Angers (France) and a PhD in Hydrological Modelling from the University of French Polynesia (UPF). With approximately 20 years of experience as a hydrologist, he has worked on a wide variety of consulting assignments across the Pacific region, including surface and groundwater modelling and monitoring, water availability assessment for hydropower, agriculture and drinking water, flood risk management and hydrological database development.

He is proficient in several programming languages, including PHP, Python, JavaScript, Java, SQL (MySQL) and HTML, as well as GIS software (ArcGIS). He also has in-depth expertise in univariate and multivariate statistical analysis.

Anne Caillaud joined Vai Natura in 2024 as co-manager. She brings nearly 20 years of experience as an environmental professional. With dual training in international development (master’s from Sciences Po Paris, France, 2006) and natural resource management (James Cook University, Australia, 2011), she has worked at the interface between science and policy across the Asia-Pacific, Caribbean and Indian Ocean regions, in both the public and private sectors at local, regional and international levels.

Throughout her career, notably as a federal government employee in Australia (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority) and then with the French IUCN Committee as Overseas Territories Programme Manager, she has managed technical dossiers (environmental impact assessment reviews) as well as diplomatic ones (Secretariat of the International Coral Reef Initiative), and organised numerous capacity-building workshops and events covering technical, operational and institutional topics in both French and English.

Nicolas Dubois joined Vai Natura in 2022 as a project officer. His multidisciplinary skills, acquired throughout his career in Canada, France and French Polynesia, include conducting technical studies, maintaining measurement equipment (including in challenging terrain!), geomatics, data management and processing, graphic design (illustrations, design, video editing…), and even landscaping!

Axel Matai was recruited to lead the rehabilitation project for cultivation pits (maite) in Nukutavake. Based on the atoll, he coordinates all field operations: management and maintenance of hydrological measurement equipment installed on site, seed collection and nursery cultivation of indigenous and productive plants, and rehabilitation, planting and upkeep of the maite. He has been supported by the Nukutavake municipality’s PIAC team since mid-2025.