Job opportunities

Location: Montpellier
Duration: 18 months
Starting date: 1st February 2021 – the position will remain open until filled by a suitable candidate.
Salary: 27-37 K€ (gross salary)
 
Download the full job descritpion

Context, aims and method:

Agriculture is the largest managed biome, with potential for agro-ecological transitions to play a crucial role in sustaining biodiversity, mitigating climate change and ensuring food security. Comprehensive evidence-based information on the multi-dimensional impacts of various agricultural practices can support decision-makers select effective transition pathways. Yet, currently no such global synthesis exists despite the abundant literature on agro-ecological systems. The fragmented evidence, its heterogeneous quality, and the tendency for existing reviews to focus on singular outcomes, prevent a global overview of the potential limits and benefits of a transition to more agroecological practices.
 

More information about the FRB-CESAB project AGRI-TE
 
We propose to systematically synthetize quantitative evidence of the effect of the main agroecological systems (e.g. agroforestry, organic agriculture, conservation agriculture) on multiple performance criteria including biodiversity (across a wide range of taxonomic and functional groups), production, nutritional and economic outcomes. Precisely, we will synthesize agroecological system performance metrics from approximately 500 meta-analyses through a novel and state-of-the-art methodological approach. Since each meta-analysis typically includes hundreds of data, this approach will allow us to synthesize a large amount of data (tens of thousands of data) from a relatively limited number of scientific papers. The proposed method considers all possible bias (e.g. heterogeneous quality of the meta-analyses, redundancy of primary studies) and precisely considers the between-study variability of the results. 

Working environment:

The 18 month-post-doc will be based at CIRAD, Baillarguet campus in Montpellier, France (), within the Hortsys lab. The job holder will be under the direct
supervision of D. Beillouin. An international steering committee has been set up to train and assist the fellowship during the various stages of the work (incl. specialists in meta-analyses, statistical analyses, agronomy, ecology, and life cycle assessment). The post-doc is supported, financed and will benefit from the methodological support of the FRB, CESAB and the AgroPolis foundation. The post-doc will benefit from the strong interactions between these institutions, based on regular visits to the different teams participating to the project.

Requirements and how to apply:

Applicants should hold a PhD in agronomy, ecology or associated topics and have experience in one or several of the following subjects: data mining, statistical modelling, machine learning, systematic review, meta-analyses.
Furthermore, applicants should have:

• strong analytical skills to work with large and multiple datasets,
• experience in scientific literature review,
• good knowledge of standard statistical methods,
• good knowledge of R,
• a proven ability to work in a team and network in an international environment.

 
Applicants should submit a complete application package by email to Damien Beillouin (damien.beillouin@cirad.fr), which should include (1) a curriculum vitae including relevant publications, (2) a cover letter explaining your motivations for applying, and (3) names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of at least two references.

Title: Influence of ecological dynamics on production and demand for marine ecosystem services. A systematic review for decision-making.
Location: Station Biologique de Roscoff (north coast of Brittany, France). Adaptation and Diversity in the Marine Environment laboratory, UMR7144 CNRS Sorbonne Université
Duration: 18 months
Starting date: April 2021 – closing date n the 31st of January 2021
Salary: about 2900 €/month (gross salary)

General context and project description:

The Roscoff Biological Station (SBR) is a research and higher education center in marine biology and ecology, jointly operated by Sorbonne University and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), where about 300 people work. Some of the research conducted at the SBR aims to better understand the mechanisms that control the adaptation of marine organisms and the dynamics of ecosystems in the face of global change. Developing state of the art biology and ecology approaches, it also relies on long-term time series to understand and predict the dynamics of biodiversity and marine ecosystems in a context of increasing anthropogenic pressures.
 
The post-doctoral fellowship is within the project INDYSEM, funded by the Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB) and the Centre for the  Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity (CESAB) and aims to carry out a systematic review on the influence of ecological dynamics on the production of and demand for marine ecosystem services.
 
The assessment of ecosystem services is a way of studying socio-ecosystems by analyzing the interactions between their components and requires a rigorous approach within different scientific disciplines (ecology, economics, geography, anthropology, etc.) both to describe these interactions and to understand their scope. However, the heterogeneity of the scientific data produced on marine ecosystem services and, more broadly, on the interactions between marine biodiversity and societies, is today a major obstacle to the effective use of scientific results by decision-makers. The objective of the systematic review is to identify and analyse the interactions between marine biodiversity and human societies to answer the following question: how do ecological dynamics, whether natural or linked to anthropogenic forcing, affect the production and demand for marine ecosystem services? Three marine environments will be targeted as a priority: coastal and nearshore areas described by a plurality of values and exposed to multiple pressures; deep-sea environments which are the subject of emerging issues (e.g. deep sea mining); the open ocean for which international governance is under way. The planned activities will be divided into 3 successive actions: (1) A systematic mapping of the current state of knowledge on the relationships between ecological dynamics and the provision of ecosystem services; (2) A critical evaluation of knowledge leading to the production of a synthesis for scientists and decision-makers; (3) The exploration by a meta-analysis of a few key questions.
 
The post-doctoral student will interact with an interdisciplinary steering committee composed of ecologists, economists and socio-anthropologists involved in the study of biodiversity dynamics and marine socio-ecosystems. Several one-week stays at CESAB (Montpellier) during which collective work sessions will be planned are scheduled.

Requirements and how to apply:

The candidate will have experience in conducting systematic reviews in the fields of ecology or environmental sciences and should master the statistical and programming tools under R for data organisation and analysis. He/she should show an interest in interdisciplinary approaches. A background on the evaluation of ecosystem services and/or the dynamics of marine ecosystems would be preferred. A demonstrated publication record is required.
 
Send a detailed CV with contact information of three professional references and cover letter to thiebaut@sb-roscoff.fr before 31 January 2021. Optional documents may include research documents and support letters. Auditions of selected candidates will take place between 1 and 15 February 2021.