He is known for his research in plasma physics, thermonuclear fusion by magnetic confinement, hybrid fusion-fission reactors, Hamiltonian dynamics, and deterministic chaos.
[3] From 1981 to 1992 he was a CNRS researcher at the École polytechnique, where he held an appointment as maître de conferences (assistant professor) in physics.
In 1998 he became a CNRS researcher at the University of Provence, where he now has emeritus status as Directeur de Recherché Emirate.
[11] Escande is author or co-author of many scientific articles related to the device called the reverse field pinch (RFP)[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] [20] [21][22][23] and is an internationally recognized expert on RFPs.
[24] His former doctoral student Didier Bénisti[3] has acquired an international reputation in fusion research and plasma physics.