Junior research scientist on metabolomics and agroecology

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INRAE presentation

INRAE, the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment, is a public research organization bringing together 12,000 employees across 272 units in 18 centers across France. As the world’s leading institute specializing in agriculture, food, and the environment, INRAE plays a key role in supporting the necessary transitions to address global challenges.

Faced with population growth, food security challenges, climate change, resource depletion, and biodiversity loss, INRAE is committed to developing scientific solutions and supporting the evolution of agricultural, food, and environmental practices.

INRAE is recruiting researchers by open competition and offering permanent position.

Work environment, missions and activities

The Fruit Biology and Pathology joint research unit offers a multidisciplinary environment (understanding of the underlying mechanisms of plant development or their interactions with pathogens or with the environment through to the application of this knowledge in translational research). The unit has a range of experimental facilities dedicated to growing and phenotyping plants. MeTA is a highly multidisciplinary team using approaches combining experimentation and modelling to study plant metabolism. Moreover, the team hosts the Bordeaux Metabolome platform that provides the tools necessary to explore metabolomic diversity. You will also benefit from its affiliation to the INBS MetaboHUB (metabolomics) and PHENOME (phenomic and phenotyping) networks.

The metabolome gathers information about metabolic functioning that is at the heart of all living processes. Consequently, metabolomic analyses of biodiversity combined with artificial intelligence show the highly predictive nature of the metabolome, particularly during adaptation to extreme habitats. Metabolomics has been used to predict yield and understand the basics, and study plant/pest interactions and multi-stress responses. Your role will be to study agroecosystems using approaches combining metabolomics and modelling to update the mechanisms governing the relationships between organisms (plants, insects, microbiota, etc.) and/or determine ecosystem services. The ultimate purpose will be to develop predictive models dedicated to the ecological transition of agriculture.

The project extends the understanding of links between metabolism programming and trade-offs with plant performance to agroecology, from plant to ecosystem scale.

Your short-term objective will be to formulate a strategy drawing on the bibliography and to establish a network of national and international collaborations to identify high-performance agroecosystems adapted to different contexts or, on the contrary, to imbalanced agroecosystems. This is an essential step to fine-tune the project objectives. It concerns more particularly the identification of ecosystem services that will be targeted by modelling. 
Your medium-term objectives will be to conduct experiments on agroecosystems comprising various compartments (plants, microorganisms, soil, air, etc.) to obtain climatic and physiological data, assess ecosystem services, and collect samples from each compartment. Reproducible and interoperable data from organism metabolomes and phenomes could be obtained thanks to numerous possibilities provided by the Bordeaux Metabolome Platform, particularly high-throughput combined with high-resolution mass spectrometry. Statistical analyses and predictive models could be developed to establish links between metabolism and ecosystem services.
Your long-term objectives will be to understand the metabolic and physiological mechanisms involved in agroecological system dynamics. Functional genomics approaches could be used to validate the strong hypotheses generated by modelling thanks to collaborations with other researchers from the team and the unit. The purpose of the project will be to propose new strategies for agriculture, such as decision-making tools based on predictive metabolomics.

This position requires performing all or part of the duties in a restricted access zone (ZRR). This implies obtaining access authorization, issued after a favorable opinion from the relevant bodies of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. An unfavorable ministerial opinion for a position located in a ZRR unit would result in the cancellation of the planned recruitment.

Training and skills

Competition open to candidates with a PhD (or equivalent).
Good knowledge of primary and specialised metabolism is highly recommended. A good command of the fundamentals of metabolomics (generation, use and annotation of mass spectrometry data) would be highly appreciated. A good command of tools for multivariate statistics, combining heterogeneous data, and predictive statistics (multivariate linear modelling, partial least squares regression, machine learning…) would also be highly appreciated. 
You are capable of stimulating and developing synergies in a cross-disciplinary context.
An interest in agronomy or ecology would also be desirable.
A good command of English and long-term international experience would be desirable. Successful candidates who have not yet acquired this experience abroad will be required to do so after their probationary period (1st year).

Your future role explained in video

INRAE's life quality

By joining our teams, you benefit from:

- 30 days of annual leave + 15 days "Reduction of Working Time" (for a full time);
- parenting support: CESU childcare, leisure services;
- skills development systems: training, career advise;
- social support: advice and listening, social assistance and loans;
- holiday and leisure services: holiday vouchers, accommodation at preferential rates;
- sports and cultural activities;
- collective catering.

For international scientists: please visit your guide to facilitate your arrival and stay at INRAE. 

How to apply

1. I download the applicant guide Guide for applicants 2026 pdf - 1.41 MB
2. I write down the profile number CR26-BAP-1
3. I apply GO