He was a professor at the University of Montpellier from 1998 to 2008, when he moved to EPFL.In 1999, Michel was awarded the Peccot-Vimont Prize and gave the Peccot Lecture at the Collège de France.
In 2006, he was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians.
In 2011, he was elected to the Academia Europaea.
In 2012, he became one of the inaugural fellows of the American Mathematical Society.