Postdoctoral researcher in forest modelling

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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 in the AMAP lab, Montpellier, France (https://amap.cirad.fr/en/), a very dynamic interdisciplinary research group, which combines botany, ecology, plant architecture, remote-sensing and modelling to understand and predict the distribution, functioning, and dynamics of vegetation. The position is part of the FORESTT research program (https://www.pepr-forestt.fr/eng), which funds interdisciplinary research projects centred on the socio-ecological transition of temperate and tropical forest systems. More specifically, you will contribute to the modelling tasks of the REGE-ADAPT and X-RISKS projects, which focused on forest regeneration and forest responses to multiple risks, respectively. You will work in close collaboration with Isabelle Maréchaux (INRAE, AMAP lab, Montpellier), Xavier Morin (CNRS, CEFE lab, Montpellier), Maxime Cailleret (INRAE, RECOVER & PIAF labs, Aix-en-Provence & Clermont-Ferrand), and Joannès Guillemot (CIRAD, Eco&Sol lab, Montpellier), and regularly interact with several groups of modellers and forest ecologists, involved in the REGE-ADAPT and X-RISKS projects. You will benefit from support from François de Coligny (INRAE, AMAP lab, Montpellier), the project manager and developer of the CAPSIS forest model platform (https://capsis.cirad.fr/).

You will be in charge of:

• Reviewing and documenting the state of the art on the representation of regeneration and mortality processes in dynamic vegetation models.
• Designing one or several model inter-comparison exercises, in close interaction with a wide group of forest modellers, to test the effects of model structure on simulated regeneration and mortality.
• Assembling the datasets required to parameterize, calibrate, initialize, and evaluate the different models involved in the inter-comparison.
• Managing, planning and contributing to the model simulation runs with the different model teams.
• Analysing model outputs of forest regeneration, composition, structure, productivity, and resilience, and comparing them with data.
• Proposing guidelines for further model development and data collection to better predict forest regeneration and tree mortality under multiple risks
• Leading the writing of scientific manuscripts.

The position is mainly desk-based. Travels within France and abroad will be planned to meet the different model teams, to participate to the project meetings, as well as conferences.

Training and skills

Recommended training: you have a PhD in ecology, forest sciences or vegetation modelling.

Knowledge required: you have a basic knowledge of forest ecology and plant demography.

Appreciated experience: an experience in vegetation modelling and in statistical analyses of large environmental databases (with R, Python, Java etc.) would be highly beneficial.

Skills sought: you have proven quantitative skills and a good publication record, excellent communication skills and the ability and will to work collaboratively. Ability to communicate in French will be a plus.

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

Send (1) a letter of application, (2) a CV and (3) the names and email addresses of at least two references, in one single pdf file to Isabelle Maréchaux (isabelle.marechaux@inrae.fr), Xavier Morin (xavier.morin@cefe.cnrs.fr) et Maxime Cailleret (maxime.cailleret@inrae.fr).