Do you share the values of interculturality, knowledge sharing, sobriety in the use of natural and fossil resources and environmental preservation? Join us at CIRAD!

Background

The BioWooEB research unit of CIRAD conducts research into the non-food valorization of plant biomass. Its scientific project focuses on 2 areas: biomass processing, and interactions between biomass value chains and their environments. You will reinforce the activities of this second axis by mobilizing your skills in multicriteria assessment to analyze the synergies and trade-offs necessary for a sustainable use of biomass resources on a territorial scale.

Issues

In addition to human consumption, plant biomass can be used to meet a wide range of needs, including bioproducts, biomaterials, bioenergy, soil amendments and animal feed. Principles such as the prioritization of uses constitute analytical frameworks that can be used by decision-makers for choosing how to make the most of available resources. However, in a given area, the various value-adding sectors are often in competition rather than complementarity for the use of available resources. The way in which these different sectors coexist depends on a number of factors: the players involved, the history of the area, production factors (land use, availability of labor, inputs, etc.), and the economic context.

Missions

Your main mission will be to develop and validate approaches, tools and indicators adapted to inform decision-making on the valorization of available plant biomass on a territorial scale. The underlying objectives are to promote complementarities between sectors, identify competition requiring trade-offs, and define compromises between uses with regard to their environmental and socio-economic implications.

To this end, you will be responsible for:

- Identifying and analyzing the various methodological frameworks available for multi-criteria assessment of the sustainability of bioeconomy systems, including various dimensions: technical, economic, social and environmental.

- Selecting the relevant conceptual frameworks, specifying their fields of application and clarifying the systemic representations on which they are based, in order to identify possible complementarities and combinations.

- Adapting one or more multi-criteria assessment frameworks relevant to the design of bioeconomy systems.

- Testing and validating these frameworks by applying them to different concrete cases.

In addition, you will be in charge of strengthening the collaborations of the research unit through i) involvement in existing scientific groups and networks (Prority Research Topic “Territorial approaches”, ELSA network), ii) participating in ongoing research and development projects (SLAM-B, CAPTerre, CLiMiT, etc.), and iii) reinforce the unit's long-standing international partnerships.

You have a PhD.

You have the following skills and know-how:

è   Knowedge of the fields of process engineering, or agronomic and forestry sciences, or industrial engineering.

è  Development of multi-criteria assessment tools and methods, preferably during your PhD or a post-doc.

è  Successful experience of working with local stakeholders.

è  Fluency in written and spoken French and English, with scientific papers.

è  Aptitude for collaborative work and partnership relations, and good communication and writing skills.

è  An experience in tropical areas is a bonus.

Please include in your CV references from previous positions that we may contact.

Social benefits at Cirad: You'll receive a 13th month's salary, plus, in the case of geographical mobility, specific allowances depending on location and family composition. You also benefit from full social insurance cover, regardless of location.