Lionel Fontagné is an advisor to the Directorate for Economic Affairs and International Cooperation at the Bank of France, a Chaired Professor of economics (on leave) at the Paris School of Economics, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. He has been the Director of the Centre d’Etudes Prospectives et d’Informations Internationales (CEPII, Paris) from 2000 to 2006.

He is also a scientific advisor to CEPII.

He served as a Part-time Professor at the European University Institute (Florence) and at the Free University of Brussels. He also served as a Professor at the University of Nantes, as well as a consultant for the Bank of France, for the International Trade Center (UNCTAD-WTO, Geneva), for the OECD Development Centre, for the OECD Directorate for Science Technology and Industry, for the World Bank, for the Ministry of Finance of the Luxembourg, and for the French Ministry of Finance. He has been a member of the Council of Economic Analysis to the French Prime Minister from 2001 to 2010 and 2012 to 2016.

He has written numerous studies on international trade and integration issues. He has been awarded the Research Fellowship of GTAP 2018-21 (Global Trade Analysis Project, Purdue University).