18-month postdoctoral position in plant ecophysiology - microbial ecology interactions

Environment. The postdoc will be located at the INRAE research centre of Dijon (France). The Centre is situated on the university campus, and offers extensive labs and facilities for microbiology (GenoSol) and plant ecophysiology (Serres-4PMI Plant Phenotyping Platform for Plant-Microorganism Interactions). The historical city of Dijon provides a relaxed environment, 1.5 hours away from Paris by train.

The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) is among the top international research organizations in the agricultural and food sciences, plant and animal sciences, as well as ecology and environmental sciences domain. Its community of 12,000 people includes 272 research, experimental research, and support units located in 18 regional centres in France. INRAE aims to be a key player in the necessary transitions to address major global agricultural production and environmental challenges.

An 18-month postdoctoral position in the field of plant ecophysiology/microbial ecology is available (starting date February 2026) under the supervision of Dr. Romain Barnard and Dr. Marion Prudent in the Ecophysiology of Grain Legumes group at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE), Department of AgroEcology, Dijon, France. The applicant is invited to study plant-soil microbial interactions between black-eyed pea ecophysiological traits (morphological and functional traits, with a focus on rooting patterns) and soil microbial communities under contrasting water availability conditions using plant phenotyping and molecular microbiology methods.

Research. The adaptation of black-eyed pea (Vigna unguiculata L.) to dry climates, its large genotypic diversity, and the scarcity of investigations for its use in Europe makes it an excellent candidate for innovative crop diversification under future climate. Root system architecture and soil microbial community will be investigated in 50 Vigna accessions, selected based on seed availability and plant agronomical traits, and will be related to selected plant structural and functional ecophysiological variables under controlled conditions at the Plant Phenotyping Platform for Plant-Microorganism Interactions (Serres-4PMI, INRAE). Seed protein content will be assessed through the development of a high-throughput approach based on near-infrared spectroscopy.

The postdoc position is part of the recently EU-funded (Agroecology Partnership) international research project CoolFarmLAb (project CO-creation Of Pathways to foster agroecoLogical transition of FARMs driven by Living LAB approach).

Key duties. To design and conduct experiments, analyse large datasets and write publications. To supervise a Master student and coordinate with technical staff. To interact closely with the researchers, students and postdocs in the group.

Criteria. A Ph.D. in microbiology, microbial ecology or another relevant discipline. Experience in molecular biology is required, complementary experience in ecology, plant biology or plant (eco)physiology is welcome. Demonstrated good track record of publications. Excellent skills in data analysis, fluent use of R statistical software or Python programming, excellent skills in organization and time management, autonomy, teamwork. Good skills in English (both written and oral).