Temporary position OT-30899
Agroecology and Living Labs
33610 CESTAS GAZINET
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 join the ETTIS research unit (Environment, Territories in Transition, Infrastructures, Societies) as part of the European AGROECOLOGY Partnership (Accelerating Farming Systems Transition: Agroecology Living Labs and Research, Horizon Europe Farm2Fork Partnership)1.
The Partnership aims to accelerate the transition towards agroecology in participating countries and beyond, as an integrated approach combining multiple ecological levers (diversification, biocontrol, crop-livestock complementarities, agroforestry, soil cover, etc.) and social levers to design resilient and sustainable agricultural and food systems2. Living Labs and research infrastructures are key instruments used by the Partnership to accelerate this transition towards agroecology through ambitious experimentation at different scales and the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders within defined territories.
The AGROECOLOGY Partnership draws on resources from the European Union and the participating countries to fund high-level research. Its activities were defined by the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR) within a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, available online 3.
The Partnership is divided into twelve work programmes. INRAE contributes to several of them. The ETTIS unit is involved in Work Programme 5 on indicators and the assessment of agroecology, Work Programme 8 on facilitating the Partnership’s European network of Living Labs and research infrastructures (ETTIS co-leads the programme in support of the lead coordinator, ÖMKi, the Hungarian Research Institute of Organic Agriculture), and Work Programme 11, dedicated to actions led by the network itself.
The activities associated with this position will contribute to several actions under Work Programme 8, including the joint coordination of this programme with ÖMKi, as well as to the “Policy Labs” action under Work Programme 11, which aims to bring together a network of Living Labs more specifically involved in the co-design and experimentation of policies supporting transitions towards agroecology.
Beyond these activities, ETTIS is also developing research on the characteristics and outputs of these Living Labs, drawing on material generated through this Partnership as well as through other initiatives. The unit also has a national mandate within INRAE to support scientific coordination around these approaches.
More specifically, you will be responsible for:
- Acting as the ETTIS unit’s project focal point for its contribution to Work Programmes 8 and 11 of the Partnership, in liaison with the unit’s scientific lead;
- Leading the two actions directly coordinated by the ETTIS unit: first, the “Policy Labs” action under Work Programme 11, co-led with the ZALF research institute in Germany, and the Work Programme 8 action dedicated to the international strategy of the Partnership’s network of Living Labs and research infrastructures. For both actions, responsibilities will include facilitating the community of contributors, developing and implementing a programme of activities, organising follow-up and producing meeting reports, facilitating meetings in English, and managing individual contributions;
- Co-leading Work Programme 8 in support of ÖMKi;
- Participating in and contributing to online and in-person meetings in France and elsewhere in Europe related to the Partnership’s activities;
- Organising and facilitating seminars to disseminate the results of the work carried out and to support working communities, particularly with local authorities and public-sector stakeholders as part of the Policy Labs action;
- Coordinating and supporting the work of the Living Labs, and more specifically the Policy Labs, in carrying out their activities in liaison with European partners, and contributing to the dissemination of their work and to networking activities;
- Contributing to the preparation of activity reports and financial reports;
- Representing the ETTIS unit at Partnership meetings;
- Contributing to research on Living Labs.
See in particular the FAO definition: https://www.fao.org/agroecology/overview
Occasional travel within Europe, mainly to Brussels and Berlin, for Partnership meetings.
Training and skills
Recommended qualifications: PhD in social sciences applied to agriculture or environmental issues. The position is also open to applicants holding a PhD in life sciences or a Master’s degree in social sciences or life sciences.
Desired knowledge: fundamentals of agroecology, participatory methodologies such as Living Labs and open innovation, and the functioning of European projects.
Relevant experience: project coordination, science-society dialogue activities, facilitation of collaborative groups involving research organisations and agricultural professionals, and participatory research.
Skills and abilities: rigour, strong organisational skills, autonomy in carrying out activities, ability to take initiative, proficiency in collaborative project management tools, particularly for facilitating stakeholder networks remotely, proficiency in English, and strong communication and meeting facilitation skills.
Part-time work may be considered if you have already completed at least 12 months of service in the French public sector.
INRAE's life quality
By joining INRAE, you can benefit from, depending on the type and duration of your contract:
- up to 30 days of annual leave + up to 15 additional days off (for full-time employees);
- access to the French public healthcare system;
- 50% of the cost of your supplementary health insurance covered by INRAE;
- childcare and parenting support;
- training and career guidance;
- social assistance and financial support;
- holiday vouchers and accommodation at preferential rates;
- sports and cultural activities;
- subsidised staff restaurants ;
-partial coverage of a home-to-work commute subscription (TER, TBM).
How to apply
I send my CV and my motivation letter
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)