post-doctoral researcher in ecology

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INRAE presentation

The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) is a major player in research and innovation. It is a community of 12,000 people with 272 research, experimental research, and support units located in 18 regional centres throughout France. Internationally, INRAE is among the top research organisations in the agricultural and food sciences, plant and animal sciences, as well as in ecology and environmental science. It is the world’s leading research organisation specialising in agriculture, food and the environment. INRAE’s goal is to be a key player in the transitions necessary to address major global challenges. Faced with a growing world population, climate change, resource scarcity, and declining biodiversity, the Institute has a major role to play in building solutions and supporting the necessary acceleration of agricultural, food and environmental transitions.

Work environment, missions and activities

• You will be hosted mainly in the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Group of the SAVE Lab (Bordeaux, France, https://sante-agroecologie-vignoble.bordeaux-aquitaine.hub.inrae.fr/) but will be co-supervised by a researcher from the CBGP Lab (Montpellier, France, https://umr-cbgp.fr/). Overall, we have a wide range of interests in community ecology, macroecology, landscape ecology, and food-web ecology. We try to understand how anthropogenic disturbances affect various communities and the flow of ecosystem services they provide in agricultural landscapes. The general goal of our research is to design multifunctional landscapes and ecologically-sound farming systems. We offer great infrastructures and equipment as well as a multidisciplinary and stimulating working environment. Regular visits at the CBGP are planned during the work.
• You will work within the SAFEGRAPE project, which aims at understanding the spatio-temporal dynamics of the main endemic and invasive pest species of vineyards, combining a large-scale database obtained by citizen-science and up-to-date species distribution models. You will be in charge of analysing the SAFEGRAPE database, which documents the yearly occurrence of the main pest species (i.e., Drosophilidae, Cicadellidae, Lepidoptera) at the French national scale since 2022. You will be in charge of compiling multiple data sources in order to fit and assess (joint) Species Distribution Models (jSDMs) that explain the spatio-temporal distribution of the species by several explanatory variables operating across scales (e.g., farming practices, landscape context, climatic context, species traits). This work will make it possible to identify and rank the various ecological filters that can limit or favour the presence and the population levels of each pest species. In addition of fitting these models, you will assess their predictive ability and contribute to explore the consequences of various scenario (e.g., climate change, land-use change) on pest population dynamics. The work will be carried out in close collaboration between SAVE and the CBGP. The supervision includes two experts in ecology and modelling as well as one expert on the biological system and entomology.
• We are looking for a scientist with strong interest in macroecology and landscape ecology with excellent skills in quantitative ecology and data analyses (using R). The scholar will have the opportunity to work collaboratively on several on-going multi-disciplinary projects. The post-doctoral researcher will be encouraged to develop his/her own projects and will contribute to coordinate data analysis, and write scientific papers in collaboration with the research team. The recruited researcher will particularly work in close collaboration with Adrien Rusch (SAVE), Lionel Delbac (SAVE) and Christine Meynard (CBGP).  He /She will also assist in the supervision of students, and communicate with other members of the project as well as stakeholders.

Training and skills

We are looking for highly motivated candidates with a PhD in ecology, epidemiology, entomology or equivalent pursuing an academic career and with strong interest in quantitative ecology and agroecology. Very good expertise in data management, statistical analyses (R, Species Distribution Models, statistical modelling) and scientific writing are required, as well as excellent communication skills in English (both written and spoken).

INRAE's life quality

By joining our teams, you benefit from (depending on the type of contract and its duration):

- up to 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.

How to apply

I send my CV and my motivation letter