Postdoctoral Research Fellow based in Montpellier, France

Location	LEPSE – INRAE, Institut Agro, Montpellier, France
Lab Website	https://www6.montpellier.inrae.fr/lepse_eng/
Date of Hire	As soon as possible
Duration	18 Months
Gross annual salary	42,672 – 49,248 € (commensurate with experience and qualification)

Job Description

INRAE is seeking an outstanding, motivated candidate for a position of Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in plant ecophysiology to work as part of the H2020 SolACE and EPPN200 projects. Through these projects a genetic panel of both bread and durum wheat has been extensively phenotyped in high-throughput phenotyping platforms in controlled environment and semi-field conditions. By analyzing this large dataset you will study the phenotypic plasticity of wheat tillering under contrasted scenarios of water deficit.

In addition to giving new insight regarding the physiological responses of wheat to chronic drought and rewatering, your research will allow a generic approach of parameterization of crop growth models for bread and durum wheat and will identify potential sources of improvement of wheat adaptation and resilience to drought. You will conduct your research in close collaboration with another Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in applied mathematics and artificial intelligence who will develop methods for time-series analyses of in situ 3D images to characterize the evolution of the spatial structure of plants over time.

 As a postdoctoral researcher, you will be led to:

• Develop and evaluate phenomic methods to quantify traits related to cereal shoot expansion and architecture.
• Analyze the links and trade-offs between the components of shoot expansion (leaf appearance rate, individual leaf expansion, and tillering) and their sensitivities to water deficit.
• Carry out multivariate analyses on physiological traits to define the structure of the genetic diversity of wheat shoot expansion and its response to water deficit (phenotypic space) that maximizes the genetic variability to water and nitrogen deficit.
• Write and publish articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Location

The position is open at the Laboratory for Plant Ecophysiology under Environmental Stress (LEPSE) of the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE). You will join a multi-disciplinary group of plant ecophysiologists, modelers, geneticists, and computer scientists. You will have access to state of the art laboratory, experimental, and computer facilities. Montpellier is a city of 270,000 ideally located in the south of France, on the Mediterranean sea. With over 3,000 researchers, Montpellier is the largest European center for plant sciences and agronomy.

Education and Experience Requirements

• PhD degree in plant ecophysiology, phenomics, modeling or a closely related field.
• Experience with handling large, multi-source and multi-scale datasets and analyses of experimental data.
• Proficiency in R or Python programming is highly desirable.
• Proven record of research publications in peer-reviewed international journals.
• Willingness to collaborate with others as part of a multi-disciplinary research team.
• Proficiency in spoken and written English.

Application conditions

Candidate of any nationality may apply. The candidates must have doctoral degree at recruitment date (French doctorate, PhD or foreign doctorate of equivalent level) for less than five years.

How to apply

To apply you should submit a letter of interest, complete curriculum vitae with a list of publications, the names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the applicant’s professional qualifications and work experience.

For further information and to apply, please contact Dr Pierre Martre (pierre.martre@inrae.fr) and Dr. Boris Parent (boris.parent@inrae.fr). Applications will be received until a suitable candidate is found.

https://www6.montpellier.inrae.fr/lepse/Travailler-et-etudier-avec-nous/Post-Doctorats/Phenotypic-plasticity-and-genetic-variability-of-shoot-expansion-in-response-to-drought-in-wheat