Large-scale simulation and assessment of agroecological scenarios

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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 
Assessing agroecological transition scenarios on a very large spatial scale - to identify their effects on natural resources, land use, and biogeochemical cycles, in particular in the context of climate change - is essential to guide public action and identify the production methods to be endorsed. However, this assessment often remains partial and mono-criterion, which heavily limits its scope. Consequently, this recruitment project aims to enrich research on agroecological transitions from a systemic perspective using a global approach, drawing on a mechanistic modelling approach and thus linking agroecosystem processes on a fine scale (plots, territories) with the emerging properties of systems on a national and even global scale. This project is strategically important to intensify the field of agricultural science on a global scale and will benefit from numerous opportunities to develop highly ambitious collaborative research in the context of national (ANR, PEPR FairCarboN and TRACCS), European (Horizon Europe, FAO, JRC) and international projects. The Joint Research Unit ISPA studies and models the functioning of agroecosystems and biogeochemical cycles from soil-plant systems to global scales. The ISPA unit is recognised in the field of global agronomy, especially through its work on biogeochemical cycles and limiting global agricultural production using nutrients, and on the massification of organic farming or changes in land use on a global scale. Your recruitment will strengthen the leadership of ISPA and broaden the analysis to multi-criteria modelling of the performance of agroecological systems. The scientific community, technical institutes, and public authorities have numerous expectations on this topic. Your recruitment will also consolidate the teaching project of the unit at Bordeaux Sciences Agro and the University of Bordeaux on global agronomy, the agroecological transition, and biogeochemical cycles. 

Nature and purpose of the research project 
The prospect of the agroecological transformation of agricultural systems is associated with controversies and agronomical challenges to be solved due to the often lower productivity of the agroecological systems, their greater land requirements, their effects on international trade, their interactions with climate change, and their adaptation to changing diets (decrease in share of animal products, increase in legumes). The objective of the recruitment is to develop an integrated mechanistic modelling approach on a vast spatial scale (national, continental and global) to represent the impacts of agroecological management scenarios on plant and animal production, land and biomass use, and biogeochemical and water cycles, in the context of a changing climate. This raises research questions concerning (i) the process representation formalisms, (ii) the formalisation of large spatial scale transition scenarios, and (iii) the characteristics of agricultural systems to be considered to assess their multi-performance. You will be able to draw on the mechanistic models developed by the ISPA for the simulation of biogeochemical cycles associated with crops and livestock farming, crop yields in response to nutrients, and changes in land use. You could integrate other issues such as water availability and the effect of climate change, especially by coupling with other existing models (e.g. continental surface models). These models will be used for the large-scale assessment of the impacts of the massification of agroecology (reduction in use of synthetic fertilizers, development of organic farming, agroforestry, carbon compensation strategies) on the multi-performance of agriculture (food sovereignty, in situ and remote impacts). The choices regarding the species to be represented (including their conditions of association and succession), the types of crop-livestock associations to be simulated, as well as the levels of input use to be modelled will be built in coherence with the work conducted in the field of systems agronomy and for the large-scale assessment of the most promising agronomical solutions. The objective could be to analyse the synergies and antagonisms between the determining factors of the performances of agroecological systems, and to identify and test alternative solutions (types of agricultural systems and their spatialisation) to bring food systems back within the planetary limits. Nature and purpose of the teaching project The teaching project will focus on global agronomy, the agroecological transition, and the assessment of agricultural systems at Bordeaux Sciences Agro (BSA) and the University of Bordeaux. You will develop a teaching module dedicated to global agronomy at the BSA and will teach in the Master’s co-accredited with the University of Bordeaux “Bordeaux Biology Agrosciences” and “Biodiversity, Ecology, Evolution” on the global challenges of food systems. You will coordinate lessons on the assessment of agricultural scenarios for the Master’s 2 course “agroecology and resource management” co-accredited between the University of Bordeaux and BSA. You will develop a course on the challenges and principles of global agronomy and the large-scale assessment of agricultural systems with the new branch “agricultural and forestry science” at the University Doctoral School “Science and Environments”. 

Funding and related resources 
ANR Package : €200 000 
INRAE Package : €130 000 
Others : €75 000 
Total : €405 000

Training and skills

PhD or equivalent You have in-depth skills in modelling, in particular applied to agricultural systems. Knowledge regarding the assessment of agricultural systems, the design of management scenarios, and the change of scales would be greatly appreciated. You have a taste for transmission and teaching. A good command of English and long-term international experience would be desirable.

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-AGROECOSYSTEM-2
3. I apply GO