Born in 1964, Cavata has a degree from the Institut National Polytechnique in Grenoble and a doctorate in particle physics from Université Paris XI. He began working at the CEA in 1989 as head of the data analysis and processing group for the international SMC collaboration at Cern in Geneva.

In 1994, he joined the United States Department of Energy's Jefferson Labs in Virginia as head of the CEA group in the international HAPPEX collaboration.

In 2000, he served as nuclear energy officer in the French Ministry of Research. He returned to the CEA the following year for an assignment in Japan to conduct research on neutrinos in the framework of international collaborations K2K-II and T2K.

In 2004, he was appointed deputy head of the Department of Astrophysics, Particle Physics, Nuclear Physics and Related Instrumentation. In 2007, he was named Deputy Director of Physical Sciences.

From 2010 to 2012, he served as Director of the Office of the High Commissioner for Atomic Energy, and in 2012 became project officer for the French National Alliance for Energy Research Coordination (ANCRE) reporting to the CEA Chairman, head of ANCRE.

In 2013, he became head of the Department of Structure and System Modeling at the Nuclear Energy Directorate.

Since June 2017, Cavata has served as Assistant Director in the Strategic Analysis Directorate.

Christian Cavata was an auditor at the 59^th national session of the Institute of Higher National Defense Studies in 2006-2007.

Portrait de Christian Cavata © P.Dubreuil/CEA