Postdoctoral position OT-27677
Postdoctoral position in chemical ecology and genomics: Mechanisms of honey bee resistance to varroa
84914 Avignon
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
A two-year position for a postdoctoral researcher is open at the “Bees and Environment” research unit (Avignon, France) affiliated to INRAE (French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment), one of the leading institute in the world for the study of relationships between agriculture, environment and food. The postdoc will work on the physiological mechanisms, microbial diversity and molecular adaptation features of collective defenses against diseases in social animals.
Background & duties
Invasive species that reveal themselves as new parasites disrupt established host-pathogen dynamics and can cause immense economic damage. Despite their high susceptibility to invasions and disease spread, many social animals have evolved mechanisms that allow effective defence at the group level. Such defences have been described across the animal kingdom, especially within social insect species, and are known to involve chemical communication. Our team aims to understand the mechanisms that underpin collective behavioural and physiological defences against unhealthy brood in honey bee colonies, in the context of the invasion by the parasite Varroa destructor.
Within this project, the postdoc will lead research to decipher the collective defences that are developed against brood diseases, with a particular interest about varroa. The focus will be placed around the understanding of physiological and behavioural mechanisms that are at the basis of honey bee resistance to this parasitic mite. Investigations will be performed through chemical ecology experiments, as well as transcriptomics and metagenomics. The overall goal is to determine the semiochemicals drivers of host defence towards parasitic infestation, to investigate the potential role of microbiome in resistance triggering, as well as to characterise physiological features of individual bees that are actively involved in the host response.
Research environment and work conditions
You will join the “Bees and Environment” research unit of INRAE in Avignon (France), which develops a wide range of research programs to study honey bee and wild bee populations, in the context of sustainable farming and global change. This postdoc project is part of an Interreg Alcotra grant (2023-2027 – Meliorapi) and an ERC Starting grant (2024-2028 – Bee Healthy) led by Fanny Mondet. You will work in close collaboration with our beekeeping technicians, students and postdocs of the team, our research assistant in chemical ecology and our engineer in honey bee genetics. You will benefit from all the lab and field work facilities of the unit, including our experimental apiary and chemical ecology platform. Additionally, the metagenomic work will be developed in close collaboration with the BeeGEES team of the GenPhySE research unit (INRAE) in Toulouse, especially Thibault Leroy. The BeeGEES team is one of the global leaders in honey bee genomics and have recently developed large-scale metagenomic projects. The postdoctoral researcher will be expected to spend periods in Toulouse to benefit from the local expertise in metagenomics, as well as the access to the genomic facilities.
The contract will be for 2 years, starting in March 2026.
Salary and benefits are according to INRAE rules in France (monthly gross salary ~ 3,100 €).
Training and skills
We are looking for a highly motivated early career researcher with a strong expertise in omics, chemical ecology, and a sound interest for honey bee biology. Applicants should have a PhD in biology, ecology or related discipline and skills in the following areas:
- Omics analyses, more precisely transcriptomics and genomics, including expertise in using command-line bioinformatic tools and high-performance computing (HPC) clusters
- Chemical ecology and/or molecular experiments, preferably with insects,
- Ability to run statistical analyses (R), as well as to write simple scripts for data processing and automation (e.g. Bash),
- Scientific writing and communication (in English),
- Experience with microbiome analyses through shotgun metagenomics would be a bonus,
- Experience with GC-MS analyses would be another merit.
The candidate is expected to work in an interdisciplinary environment, thus good communication skills and excellent team-working capacities are expected. A strong publication record (in relation to the time since dissertation) is a merit. Experience with social insects, practical skills in beekeeping and fluency in French would be an asset. A driver license and no known allergies to bee stings are required to work on our experimental apiaries.
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
The application should include a detailed CV, a motivation letter and contact details of two scientific references, combined in a single pdf file.
For more information and to apply, contact Fanny Mondet (fanny.mondet@inrae.fr) and Thibault Leroy (thibault.leroy@inrae.fr).
Application deadline: November, 27th 2025. Selected candidates will be interviewed in early December.
All persons employed by or hosted at INRAE, a public research establishment, are subject to the Civil Service Code, particularly with regard to the obligation of neutrality and respect for the principle of secularism. In carrying out their functions, whether or not they are in contact with the public, they must not express their religious, philosophical or political convictions through their behaviour or by what they wear. > Find out more: fonction publique.gouv.fr website (in French)