Postdoctoral Researcher in Food System Solutions & Quantitative Sustainability Modeling (M/F)

Job Description

Missions

The research will target the third objective of the ERC FLORA project: identifying priority targets for food-system interventions and evaluating solutions that can improve multiple environmental and human health outcomes while limiting trade-offs. The overarching research questions are: To what extent can food systems become healthier and more sustainable? Which targeted interventions can generate the greatest benefits across environmental and health objectives while minimizing trade-offs?

The research will build on the diagnosis, interaction, and system-dynamics analyses developed in previous FLORA tasks to identify intervention options with the potential to improve multiple outcomes simultaneously. The candidate will contribute to a multidisciplinary framework combining environmental and health impact assessment, food-system and biophysical modelling, economic modelling, and multi-objective optimization to evaluate the consequences of interventions at local, national, and global scales. The work will also develop synergies with the PREF-Alim project, which focuses on the environmental consequences of policy-induced dietary change in France.
The precise research focus will be adapted to the candidate's expertise, for example in economic modelling, agricultural economics, environmental sciences, agronomy, or biophysical systems modelling.

1. Identification of Priority Targets for Food System Interventions:
- Complement previous/ongoing work in FLORA on consumption-based sustainability metrics (covering impacts from agricultural use of nitrogen, water, and land) to include a climate change metric and biodiversity loss metric

- Identify locations or practices in regional or global food systems that should be targeted to maximize environmental and health benefits.

2. Testing and Evaluation of Sustainable Food System Solutions:
- Contribute to an interdisciplinary modeling framework linking food demand, agricultural production, land use, and environmental/health impacts.
- Design and evaluate transformation scenarios (e.g., dietary shifts, agricultural practices, trade adjustment, agricultural policy, food waste reduction).
- Apply quantitative optimization or scenario modeling tools to explore trade-offs and synergies across key sustainability dimensions (climate, water, biodiversity, human health).

3. Inclusion of animal-based products and synergies with the PREF-Alim Framework:
- Use new global livestock data (diets, productivity, nitrogen outputs, GHG emissions) to update results from the circa-2000 period to reflect the circa-2020 period. Compare the associated pressures against local sustainability limits regarding climate, water, biodiversity, and nitrogen (cf. FLORA work on cropland by Guilbert et al., in review).
- Support the integration of the FLORA project indicators with the PREF-Alim trade model's land-use module to gauge the impact of current French diets versus those projected in scenarios.
- Develop hypotheses and simulations to estimate changes in environmental pressures and associated indicators resulting from the shifts in agricultural production (and practices) driven by these changes in demand.

Activity

- Research: Data analysis, scenario development, quantitative modeling (economic, biophysical, or integrated), and authoring peer-reviewed scientific publications.
- Presentation of research outcomes at national and international academic conferences.
- Active participation in projects' and team's life, lab and departmental research seminars, and interdisciplinary collaborations.

Your Profil

Skills

Academic Profile:
We welcome candidates with a PhD in Environmental Sciences, Environmental or Agricultural Economics, Agronomy, Systems Modeling, or related quantitative disciplines (e.g., candidates with experience in interdisciplinary research around environmental and sustainability challenges).
Technical Skills:
Essential:
- Experience with quantitative research and programming languages (e.g., Python, C++, Matlab, R, etc.).
- Experience handling large datasets – e.g. high-resolution global maps, and/or socio-economic, agricultural, and environmental datasets.
- Familiarity with reproducible research practices: data and code documentation and sharing (with e.g., GitHub).
Desirable (any combination of the following will be valued):
- Expertise in economic modeling (e.g., bio-economic, partial/general equilibrium, econometric) OR biophysical / land-use modeling (e.g., crop models, material flow analysis, life cycle assessment) OR integrated assessment modeling at global scale.
- Knowledge of optimization techniques (e.g., linear programming, multi-objective optimization) or network analysis.
- Broad understanding of food systems, agricultural production, planetary boundaries, or dietary transitions.

Soft Skills & Languages:
- Strong capability to work in an interdisciplinary environment and communicate across fields.
- Autonomy, analytical rigor, and collaborative mindset.
- Languages: English (fluent spoken and written). Knowledge of French is welcome but not required.

Your Work Environment

The successful candidate will join the research team of the ERC FLORA project directed by Carole DALIN at the Department of Geosciences of the École normale supérieure (ENS - PSL) in central Paris.
The researcher will interact with colleagues across geosciences, climate sciences, and environmental policy networks at ENS (including the Geology Laboratory, Dynamic Meteorology Laboratory - LMD, and CERES), as well as national and international partner institutes. Access to high-performance computing resources and rich data infrastructure is provided.
Additional Information
About the Project: The ERC-funded FLORA project ("Sustainable and healthy food solutions: system dynamics and trade-offs") aims to build multi-dimensional quantitative frameworks to evaluate food system transformations. By combining environmental science, economics, and dynamic modeling, FLORA provides rigorous evidence to guide transition pathways toward sustainable and healthy food systems. https://www.geosciences.ens.fr/en/flora

Constraints and risks

- Flexible remote work arrangements according to standard CNRS/ENS policy.
- Dedicated research budget for travel, conferences, computer equipment, and open-access publishing.
- Full CNRS social benefits (health insurance, retirement, subsidized public transport, meal subsidies).

Application Process: Applications should include
contact details for 2 academic references;
a detailed CV;
a cover letter (2 pages max) outlining how your research interests and experience fit the position, and briefly describing a potential research study (including research question and methods) you would like to lead within this post.

Compensation and benefits

Compensation

Between €3,080 and €4,541 gross monthly, depending on experience

Annual leave and RTT

44 jours

Remote Working practice and compensation

Pratique et indemnisation du TT

Transport

Prise en charge à 75% du coût et forfait mobilité durable jusqu’à 300€

About the offer

About the CNRS

The CNRS is a major player in fundamental research on a global scale. The CNRS is the only French organization active in all scientific fields. Its unique position as a multi-specialist allows it to bring together different disciplines to address the most important challenges of the contemporary world, in connection with the actors of change.

CNRS

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