Khalid Barkaoui is a postdoctoral researcher at the Astrobiology Research Unit at the University of Liège. He participates in the Balzan research project "Exploring the Nearest Ultracool Dwarfs for Potentially Habitable Exoplanets Well-Suited for Detailed Atmospheric Characterization", which is led by Michaël Gillon, laurate of the Balzan Prize In 2017 for The Sun's Planetary System and Exoplanets.