Missions

The postdoctoral contract focuses on analyzing the governance issues raised by CDR and SAI techniques, firstly by analyzing their respective legal frameworks, and secondly by analyzing the security and conflict issues raised by these same techniques at the geopolitical level.
The postdoctoral researcher will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the legal and socio-legal framework, including the political and geopolitical influences exerted by states and private interest groups, on the structuring of the industrial sectors of CI and SAI techniques and their influence in decision-making spheres.
The postdoctoral researcher will carry out Task 3.1.1 of WP3, which consists of identifying the legal frameworks for ICs and the effects of the articulation of regulatory scales. This includes both ad hoc regulations for ICs and non-specific and/or soft law legal frameworks that nevertheless apply and contribute to the design of geopolitical scenarios and constraints to be integrated into modeling activities.

This first task therefore consists of analyzing the international, European, and national legal frameworks (particularly in France, Norway, and the US) that directly or indirectly structure the emergence, evolution, and, where applicable, deployment of the targeted climate intervention techniques. The postdoctoral researcher will draw on a comparison of regulatory frameworks and a review of the legal literature on climate engineering to develop deployment scenarios in conflict contexts.
At the same time, the postdoctoral contract contributes, within the framework of task 3.3, to reflections on the intersection of developments in climate engineering with security and conflict dynamics. To this end, the researcher will draw on their preliminary analysis of existing governance frameworks and a review of the literature on security studies in climate engineering to ultimately develop deployment scenarios in conflict contexts.

Activities

1- Task 3.1.1 of WP3: identify the legal frameworks of ICs and identify the effects of the articulation of regulatory scales (main responsibility)
2- Task 3.3 of WP3: contribute to reflections on the intersection of developments in climate engineering with security and conflict dynamics. To this end, the researcher will draw on their preliminary analysis of existing governance frameworks and a review of the literature on security studies in climate engineering to ultimately develop deployment scenarios in conflict contexts. (main responsibility)
3- Textual analysis of formal legal sources, as well as secondary sources of law (preparatory work, non-binding documents, negotiation reports, etc.), and analysis of relevant legal and interdisciplinary literature. (main responsibility)
4- Analysis of the pre-litigation and litigation dimensions, exploring documents relating to litigation strategies initiated (secondary responsibility)
5- Comparison of the positions of targeted state and private actors in their internal advocacy work within their own countries and at the European and international levels. Contribution to the creation of a theoretical model that reflects the influence of CI and SAI experts in the legal and political frameworks deployed. (secondary responsibility)
6- Contribution to empirical analysis by conducting a series of interviews with identified key players, together with the WP3 teams. (main responsibility)
7- Contribution to practical achievements: creation of a database on this legal and geopolitical influence on the subject. (main responsibility)
8- Contribution to the scientific dissemination of results in open access in order to disseminate the research results. (main responsibility)
9- Publications (for a scientific audience) in high-level international scientific and open journals (special issues and articles) and scientific works (main responsibility)
10- Presentations at scientific conferences and participation in scientific conferences on the subject (main responsibility)
11- Organization of workshops on SHS dimensions (secondary responsibility)

Skills

We are looking for a researcher with a PhD in law.
In terms of methodology, the postdoctoral researcher will primarily carry out their work through textual analysis of formal legal sources and secondary sources of law (preparatory work, non-binding documents, negotiation reports, etc.), as well as through analysis of relevant legal and interdisciplinary literature.
The legal analysis may include an analysis of pre-litigation and litigation aspects, exploring documents relating to litigation strategies initiated, analysis of complaints where applicable, third-party interventions, and observations relating to the enforcement of court judgments and decisions relating to climate interventions.
Work to compare the positions of targeted state and private actors in their internal advocacy work within their own countries and at the European and international levels.
Contribution to the creation of a theoretical model that reflects the influence of CI and SAI experts in the legal and political frameworks deployed.
Contribution to empirical analysis by conducting a series of interviews with identified key actors, together with the WP3 teams.

Mobilization of security studies to contribute to Task 3.3.1.
Contribution to practical achievements: creation of a database on the legal and geopolitical influence on the subject.
Contribution to knowledge dissemination:
· Contribution to the scientific dissemination of open access results in order to disseminate research findings.
· Publications (for a scientific audience) in high-level international scientific and open journals (special issues and articles) and scientific works
· Presentations and organization of a scientific conference and participation to scientific conferences on the topic.
Skills :
We are looking for a researcher with a PhD in law, political science, or sociology of law with a solid knowledge of interdisciplinary climate issues, particularly climate interventions. The candidate must demonstrate an openness to other social sciences and experience in conducting empirical studies and analyzing legal studies or international relations.

Work Context

The postdoctoral contract is part of the GEOSIC research project (Geopolitics and Science of Climate Interventions), which focuses on analyzing geopolitical issues and social science knowledge to enrich climate intervention modeling work. GEOpolitics and Science of Interventions on the Climate) project, which focuses on analyzing geopolitical issues and social science knowledge to enrich climate intervention (CI) modeling work, also known as climate engineering. The project targets several techniques in the field of climate interventions (CI), primarily marine and continental Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) techniques and solar radiation management (SRM), more specifically stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI).
The project thus provides a forum for dialogue between social scientists and climate science and modeling researchers, with a view to integrating social science and humanities knowledge, particularly in the areas of legal and geopolitical governance, into climate modeling work focused on security issues.

The postdoctoral contract is specifically part of Work Package 3 (WP3) of the project, entitled Geopolitical, legal, and socio-environmental issues of CI. WP3 addresses the challenges of possible governance of CI methods, the issue of their consistency with democratic, legal, and ecologically sustainable systems, as well as social issues related to their deployment. Solar Radiation Management could generate conflicts related to the transparency and detectability of its effects, while tensions associated with Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) will likely concern resource management in the deployment area. WP3 also examines the extent to which the analysis of current political, legal, and economic trends can identify the constraints on Cl scenarios. Interdisciplinary interactions between WP2 (climate science) and WP3 are planned, as WP3 will provide information to feed into the scenarios that will be used to design the global climate modeling experiments in WP2.

Links with PEPR TRACCS

This recruitment is part of the ANR GEOSIC GEOpolitics and Science of Interventions on the Climate project, which is part of the PEPR TRACCS program.
The results obtained within the GEOSIC project will help consolidate climate modeling capabilities in France and TRACCS, applied here to Cl with the latest versions of the two French climate models (CMIP7), and explore new approaches to scenario building. The work on scenarios includes two innovations. First, the exploration of broader climate change scenarios through the inclusion of SAl. Second, the exploration of geopolitical and social scenarios that guide Cl modeling. The project integrates the humanities and social sciences into the climate modeling process, offering a multidimensional approach that enriches the scientific understanding of Cl. Thus, GEOSIC enables a more comprehensive understanding of Cl, reflecting the complexities of the real world. This integrated approach allows for the creation of more realistic climate scenarios. These innovations improve TRACCS and help inform decision-makers, stakeholders, and the general public.
Working meetings are regularly organized within the ANR GEOSIC consortium, in dialogue with PEPR TRACCS researchers, both in person and online. This research is conducted by UMR IODE (University of Rennes-CNRS). The postdoctoral researcher recruited will work within the Environment division of IODE (coordinated by Marion Lemoine-Schonne), in dialogue with the interdisciplinary GEOSIC project team, in particular social science researchers (IRSEM, HT2S), mainly Marine de Guglielmo Weber and Régis Briday, as well as researchers from various climate modeling teams (IPSL, CNRM, CECI, SILVA), and Anni Maattanen (LATMOS IPSL), coordinator of the ANR GEOSIC project.
The position is based at the University of Rennes (Centre campus). The project involves travel to Paris to partner laboratories and to industrial CDR sites in France.

The position is located in a sector under the protection of scientific and technical potential (PPST), and therefore requires, in accordance with the regulations, that your arrival is authorized by the competent authority of the MESR.

Constraints and risks

FSD validation of the candidate's profile.