Innovations in territorial public policies related to agroecology, food and energy

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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.

Work environment, missions and activities

Context and partnerships 
The Innovation Joint Research Unit is a leading laboratory in the study of innovations that participate in the transformation of agricultural and food systems. For that, it draws on a multidisciplinary team of around one hundred researchers and engineers and wishes to develop new skills in political science to explore new questions and create new ties on site (Joint Research Unit Art-Dev, CEPEL) and beyond (French institutes of political studies, universities worldwide). Focused on issues relating to agriculture and food, this recruitment also aims to invest in energy issues that are having an increasing impact on agriculture and land-use planning (methanisation and photovoltaics, in particular). Within the Montpellier site, agroecological, food and energy transitions are a priority for the University of Montpellier I-site, which supports the development of nexus-based integrated approaches to study the interdependencies of these three transitions. To assess this, a preferred approach is to consider regional and sub-regional territories as hubs for developing innovative ways of integrating agricultural, food and energy issues and designing desirable and feasible transition pathways. These scientific challenges echo an increasing need for public players who are finding, in France and abroad, that the necessary transitions must be ambitious and require new methods of governance and new public action tools. For INRAE, this recruitment will strengthen the ability of the ACT division to achieve its strategic objectives, particularly Strategic Priority 3 (‘Governance of sectors, food systems and territories’) and, more specifically, Priority 3.3 on ‘Transformations in local public policy in the face of transitions’. This will involve analysing how the territories, with the public initiatives implemented, serve or not as laboratories favourable to overcoming the hurdles and developing the innovations necessary for the transitions and to demonstrate how the transition and integration objectives would reshape the conditions of public actions within and between local authorities, in their relations with government services, and with the economic and scientific communities. The work will therefore form part of Strategic Priority 2 of the INRAE 2030 Plan: ‘Agroecological transition and transformation of food systems’ and, in particular, SP 2.4: ‘Accelerating the transition towards healthy and sustainable agricultural and food systems’. Finally, this recruitment will help strengthen the insertion of INRAE in the Priority Research Programme and Equipment (PEPR) Transform, which includes a targeted project specifically addressing the transformative policies for the habitability of the territories. Lastly, this recruitment will consolidate the international strategy of the Innovation Joint Research Unit, which already has a strong presence in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Global South. Pertinent study sites in Latin America have been identified through the international research network Agriterris supported by INRAE and the CIRAD PP-AL network for public policy analysis, in which the Joint Research Unit is heavily involved. 

Nature and purpose of the research project to be developed and related activities 
Once recruited, your mission will be to explore new research questions on territorial policies relating to energy, agroecology and food. The ambition will be to adopt a nexus-type integrative perspective focused on support for innovation: How are the three policies interconnected, in synergy or conflicting? Does this spark innovative public action initiatives? You will contribute to this scientific front by pursuing three lines of research dealing with i) putting transition and desectorization objectives on the political agenda, ii) the related public action tools, and iii) public policy innovation support. You will conduct qualitative surveys and quantitative analyses, with a focus on international comparisons. Your recruitment should lead to publications in leading international academic journals in political science. To showcase the results and develop new networks, you will also need to organise, in collaboration with researchers from the Joint Research Unit, a scientific event (conference, research school) in partnership with an academic organisation such as the French Political Science Association or the International Political Science Association, offering the prospect of an opening in the form of a special issue in a journal. You will be expected to develop collaborative writing strategies, thus enabling cross-fertilisation between your disciplinary culture and the cross-disciplinary research culture on agriculture and food of the Joint Research Unit. The Innovation Joint Research Unit is strongly committed to an open science approach, defending research involving economic, public and civil society stakeholders at every stage of scientific research (co-defining problems and methodologies, co-designing innovations, drawing on partners to increase the impact of the research). You will be invited to implement this perspective in your work. To do so, you will be able to draw on numerous partner projects and initiatives in which the Joint Research Unit is involved at local, national and international levels.

Nature and purpose of the teaching project 
You will develop new teaching content on the role of regional authorities in public policies involving the transitions studied and their integration. These courses will be aimed at professionals and future professionals in the public action and agri-food sectors. The teaching project will be primarily (30 hours) within the context of an IDIL graduate programme at the Montpellier University I-site, with an international audience and teaching through research. There will also be teaching (20 hours) at Master’s level (years 1 & 2) on courses at the Institut Agro Montpellier. Additionally, you will develop continuing training modules for local public action officials in collaboration with the CNFPT and national and international networks of local and regional authorities. Finally, building relations with the IEP will also be explored. 

Funding and related resources 
ANR Package : €200 000 
INRAE Package : €160 000
Total : €360 000

Trips in France and abroad should be expected.

Training and skills

PhD in political science or sociology of public action. Skills in public policy analysis. Experience in the field of analysing agricultural, food, energy or environmental transitions would be appreciated. Successful experience in supervising several PhD and postdoctoral students and/or significant postdoctoral research experience in teaching and research, in France or abroad, is recommended. Skills in writing scientific papers for French and international academic journals, and in scientific communication at international level. Teaching experience in initial or continuing training courses, and coordination of training activities.

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.

International scientists, please visit your guide to facilitate your arrival and stay at INRAE.

Type of contract

Tenure-Track Junior Professor Chair enables recruitment of scientists based on a research and teaching project that lasts three years. At the end of this period, and following an assessment of your scientific achievements and professional capabilities, you may obtain a full-tenure position as Research Director (DR2).

A research and teaching agreement will specify the path you will follow towards full-tenure and enable you to acquire the qualifications necessary to become a full-tenure Research Director in your field.

You have until June 22, 2026 to submit your application. Only candidates previously selected on file by the selection committee will be invited to the hearing.

How to apply

1. I download the applicant guide Guide for applicants pdf - 5.06 MB
2. I note the profile number CPJ26-ACT-1
3. I apply GO