Call for Expression of Interest to welcome a MSCA postdoctoral fellow - TREEHOPE - Leveraging T[...]

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Résumé du poste

A prestigious research institution in France is seeking talented postdoctoral researchers for a Marie S. Curie Fellowship. This opportunity is focused on leveraging nature-based solutions to enhance soil resilience in urban and agricultural environments. Candidates should hold a doctoral degree and possess skills in ecology, statistics, and research publications. The project offers a 2-year fellowship with supervision by leading experts and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. Applications are open until May 31, 2026.

Qualifications

• Must possess a doctoral degree by the MSCA-PF call deadline.
• Must have a maximum of 8 years of research experience from the doctoral degree date.

Responsabilités

• Conduct research on nature-based solutions in socio-ecosystems.
• Supervise by leading experts in the field.
• Participate in interdisciplinary projects involving international collaboration.

Connaissances

Functional ecology

Soil microbial ecology

Statistics

Structural equation modelling

GIS

Publications

Formation

Doctoral degree

Description du poste

Organisation / Company Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement Laboratory UMR 1069 INRAE Institut agro - Sol Agrohydrosystèmes Spatialisation (SAS) Is the Hosting related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Project title

Leveraging TREE benefits in socio-ecosystems under extreme weatHer events with local knowledge: a modelling aPproach

Call for expression of interest description

The Marie S. Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF) programme is a highly prestigious renowned EU-funded scheme. It offers talented scientists a unique chance to set up 2-year research and training projects with the support of a supervising team. Besides providing an attractive grant, it represents a major opportunity to boost the career of promising researchers.

Research laboratories in Brittany are thus looking for excellent postdoctoral researchers with an international profile to write a persuasive proposal to apply for a Marie S. Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2026 (deadline of the EU call set on 9th September 2026). The topic and research team presented below have been identified in this regard.

Main Research Field

Environment and Geosciences (ENV)

Keywords

Nature-based solutions, urban forestry, agroforestry, structural equation modelling, beliefs, values, functional ecology

Nature-based solutions, solutions that involve coexisting with nature, have recently gained attention by many international organizations (FAO, IUCN, IPCC) because they can address the impacts of dramatic extreme weather events in urban and agricultural lands while supporting sustainable development. To achieve resilience towards extreme weather events, human-nature relationships have to be recoupled within the whole nexus of socio-ecosystems (ecological-governance-society). Faced with this challenge, the interfaces between cities and rural areas are crucial because of the interdependencies between socio- economic and ecological systems for educational, food, transport and equity. Moreover, nowadays people have limited experience with nature (“shifting baseline syndrome” and “extinction of experience”), which in turn could limits sympoietic relationships to gain new alliances between human and non-human, especially in the urban milieu. Due to many functions related to ecosystem services, these alliances must preserve the soil functioning for climate adaptation and attenuation. Our research question is to evaluate how trees, as a symbol and recurrent feature in urban and agricultural lands, and conveyor of beliefs and values, could lever nature-based solutions in socio-ecosystems.

We hypothesize that the presence of trees and their role in the resilience of the soil microbial community and its functioning could be a trigger (or an indicator) of the importance of biodiversity by various stakeholders. Our approach is based on functional ecology and microbial ecology. Along with an experimental determination of the role of tree and understorey vegetation and their traits in the functioning of urban and agricultural environments, structural equation modelling will be used to (i) capture the local knowledge of various stakeholders, and (ii) explore the different causal patterns linking soil microbial resilience to functional diversity. This approach will also include a group discussion to reconnect people with the need to protect soils and biodiversity by co-learning based on data-driven approach. This project is supported by the POPSU project head, Prof. Dr Romain Pasquier (political sciences) and local political authorities and stake-holders.

1. Seddon N, Smith A, Smith P, Key I, Chausson A, Girardin C, House J, Srivastava S, Turner B (2021) Getting the message right on nature-based solutions to climate change Global Change Biology 27 (8):1518-1546.

2. Petersmann M-C (2021) Sympoietic thinking and Earth System Law: The Earth, its subjects and the law. Earth System Governance 9:100114.

3. Djoudi, H. et al. (2022) Trees as brokers in social networks: Cascades of rights an benefits from a Cultural Keystone Species. Ambio 51 (10), 2137-2154.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will be supervised by Edith Le Cadre as main supervisor (full professor of agronomy) at Institut Agro and by secondary international supervisors (see secondments). This project is supported by the POPSU project head, Prof. Dr Romain Pasquier (political sciences) and local political authorities and stake-holders, and applied statistics experts (Pr Mathieu Emily) providing a nurturing environment for transdisciplinary approaches of Nature-based solutions.

Main publications in relation to the project

• Mettauer R, Beule L, Bednar Z, Malige M, Godinot O, Le Cadre E (2023) Influence of two agroforestry systems on the nitrification potential in temperate pastures in Brittany, France. Plant and Soil. doi:10.1007/s11104-023-06309-8
• Mira S, Emily M, Mougel C, Ourry M, Le Cadre E (2022) A field indicator for rhizosphere effect monitoring in arable soils. Plant and Soil. doi:10.1007/s11104-021-05284-2

Department

SAS joint research unit (Soil AgrohydroSystem Spatialisation) focuses on interactions between agriculture and the environment, from the scale of a field or livestock building to that of a watershed or agricultural landscape (of a few thousand hectares). Our research focuses mainly on agricultural contexts with livestock systems. For more informations: https://eng-umrsas.rennes.hub.inrae.fr/

Location

Rennes and Brittany (North west France), with mobility to the University of Helsinki, Finland

Suggestion for interdisciplinary / intersectoral secondments and placements

Secondments (6 months/24 months). Johan Kotze and Heikki Setälä, University of Helinski, Finland (co supervisors). Dr Kotze and Prof. Setälä are worldwide experts in urban ecology. Along with their scientific expertise complementary to French supervisors, the secondment will add a positive value to the project and will expand the professional network of the candidate.

Skills Requirements

• Functional ecology or soil microbial ecology
• Required Languages: English, French will be appreciated
• Other skills: Statistics, such as structural equation modelling, path analysis, Bayesian statistics, GIS will be appreciated
• Publications: 1 per year since completion of PhD

Eligibility criteria for applicants

• Academic qualification: By the MSCA-PF call deadline 9th September 2026, applicants must be in possession of a doctoral degree, defined as a successfully defended doctoral thesis, even if the doctoral degree has yet to be awarded.
• Research experience: Applicants must have a maximum of 8 years full-time equivalent experience in research, measured from the date applicants were in possession of a doctoral degree. Years of experience outside research and career breaks (e.g. due to parental leave), will not be taken into account.
• Nationality & Mobility rules: Applicants can be of any nationality but must not have resided more than 12 months in France in the 36 months immediately prior to the MSCA-PF call deadline 9th September 2026.

Application process

We encourage all motivated and eligible postdoctoral researchers to send their expressions of interest through the EU Survey application form (link here) [1], before 31st May 2026. Your application shall include:

• A CV detailing: for each position you had, the exact dates and location (country) and a list of accepted publications;
• A cover letter including a research outline (up to 2 pages) identifying the research synergies with the project supervisor(s) and proposed research topics described above.

Estimated timetable

Deadline for sending an expression of interest : 31st May 2026

Selection of the applicant: June 2026 at the latest

Writing the MSCA-PF proposal with the support of the above-mentioned supervisor(s): June – September 2026

Publication of the MSCA-PF evaluation results: February 2027

Start of the MSCA-PF project (if funded) : May 2027 (at the earliest)