Dear list members,
I back up Andreas's ad, only to add that 1/ the deadline is awfully
close, but the national position competition is open every year with a
similar number of positions; 2/ the jobs are generally less paid than in
the US, for example, but come with incredible advantages (life long
position, no teaching mandatory and an amazing level of liberty); 3/ one
can apply to any lab in France that is associated to the CNRS (a great
many all over France), 4/ currently 25% of CNRS positions are filled by
foreign researchers, and many French labs host foreign researchers, so
langage should not be a problem in the short term and 5/ as for Andreas,
our south Paris lab would be happy to help you with the procedure,
should you be competititve and interested in joining us, if not this
year (unless you happen to have a solid proposal almost ready), then for
next year.
For more information on our lab and univ, please check here:
http://www.ese.u-psud.fr/epc/conservation/pages/Lab.html
Please do not hesitate to contact me, or the head of the lab, Prof Paul
Leadley: [email protected]
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Franck
Andreas Prinzing a écrit :
Dear all
[please distribute as appropriate; sorry for cross-posting]
This is to inform you about an attractive job offer in France the yearly
announcement of researcher positions financed by the French Funding
Organization “Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique” (CNRS). These
are *life-time 100 % research* positions offered in an international
competition to excellent candidates. The web page is
http://www.sg.cnrs.fr/drhchercheurs/concoursch/default-en.htm. Posts are
available, for instance in “Continental Surfaces and Interfaces (which
includes landscape ecology)”, “Biodiversity, evolution and biological
adaptations: from macromolecules to communities”, and “Biological systems
modelization, bioinformatics”. The deadline, regrettably, is January, 6.
THE TYPES OF POSTS (see also
http://www.sg.cnrs.fr/drhchercheurs/concoursch/pdf/metier-en.pdf, including
salaries): There are “chargés de recherche”, 2nd and 1st degree, 2nd and
1st degree “directeurs de recherché”, i.e. Associate Scientists after
dissertation and after some years of postdoctoral experience, and Senior
Scientists after about 8 or more years years of experience, respectively.
*However*, please note that the announced posts of “directeurs de
recherche” do not seem to exist (except in the case of very exceptional
applications). These “posts” are de facto only for promotion of people that
already have a position of a chargé de recherche within CNRS. According to
my experience already the Chargés de Recherche are actually free to do what
they want within an overall, very large disciplinary category (there are
some 40 categories defined for all sciences together).
The competition for such positions is becoming increasingly tough, in
particular in the section 29 “Biodiversity, evolution and biological
adaptations: from macromolecules to communities”. Even though strange
things are happening, multiple first or senior authored publications per
year each with an impact factor of 4 or more seem to be useful, and Nature,
Science, PNAS are highly appreciated. Further criteria (in French) are
given at http://www.cnrs.fr/comitenational/sections/critere/section29.htm
THE PROFILES If you go to
http://gestionoffres.dsi.cnrs.fr/fo/offres/default-en.php you will find a
number of posts offered, e.g. in the in the sections 20, 29, 45. Note that
by further clicking on the numbers given to the jobs (e.g. “N°29/02”) you
will find that the Chargé positions (Associate Scientists) are
often “focused” to quite restricted fields of research. This is where often
science politics comes into play. But sometimes the profiles only indicate
a preference in case two equally strong candidates show up. Very strong
candidates that have little to do with a published profile may in cases be
preferred over weak candidates that perfectly match a profile, in
particular in competitive sections.
THE RECRUITMENT PROCEDURE.
Deadline for applications is, regrettably, January 6.. A visit to the lab
after having submitted the application seems to be very much expected in
all cases. Generally, French institutions *do not* reimburse candidates the
travel costs to visit labs or to come to interviews etc.. Yes, this is a
shame. I hope we have some funds here at Rennes, but this is not sure.
After having applied *all* candidates will be invited to a short
presentation and an interview in Paris in spring 2009. Travel costs will
*not* be reimbursed by the CNRS, but at the level of host Units funds may
be available. Presentations and interviews can be in English, French is
possibly a plus. These interviews are a major effort for both, the
candidates, the local labs and the national recruitment committees. For
people from abroad it is thus strongly advised to apply only if they are
convinced of their CVs.
I PERSONALLY COULD OFFER help in putting together an application for
qualified candidates with a project willing to choose University of Rennes
1 and to work here (at least partly) on the interface between ecology and
phylogeny (preferably of plants) or, alternatively, on the community
assembly, diversity and diversification (preferably of arthropods in the
canopy). My personal web page (somewhat outdated) is given below, my
team “Ecology of Diversification” covers further competences in
ecophysiology and metabolomics and plant phylogeny.
The host lab here is the “UNITE MIXTE DE RECHERCHE “ECOSYSTEMES ,
BIODIVERSITE , EVOLUTION”, co-funded by University of Rennes 1 and Centre
National de la Recherche Scientifique, with particular expertise in
mechanisms of speciation, life history evolution, and adaptation, expertise
at the interface between macroevolution and macroecology, expertise in
ecophysiology, landscape ecology and behavioral ecology. It is a large
institution with several dozen CNRS-researchers, docents and professors,
plus (some) technical staff. (see http://ecobio.univ-rennes1.fr/). It was
ranked “A” in the national evaluation of research institutions. Several
further research institutions in ecology and evolutionary biology exist at
Rennes. Rennes has approximately 200 000 inhabitants and is the capitol of
the Bretagne region with exceptional coastal and mainland landscapes, and a
french-celtic heritage (http://www.region-
bretagne.fr/CRB/Public/rubriques_thematique/visiter_la_bretagne/la_bretagne_
une_reg/la_bretagne_en_image/). English is spoken everywhere in Academia,
but not necessarily outside, and French should be learned. Like in any
French city, child care is excellent (almost for free, no waiting list,
nearby). Several bilingual French-English schools are available at all
levels of education, as well as one French-German grammar school.
But please note that each applicant is free to select and contact his / her
possible host lab as available from the CNRS website, and that the decision
is finally made by a national committee, which I am not a member of.
All the best
Andreas Prinzing
------------------------------------------------------------------
Andreas Prinzing, Prof.
Research Team Ecology of Diversification
Research Unit « Ecobio » : Ecosystems - Biodiversity - Evolution;
Université de Rennes 1 / Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique;
Campus de Beaulieu, Bâtiment 14 A
35042 Rennes, France;
Tel : +33 2 23 23 67 12; fax: +33 2 23 23 50 26;
[email protected];
http://ecobio.univ-rennes1.fr/Fiches_perso/Fiche.asp?pseudo=APrinzing
http://ecobio.univ-rennes1.fr/Fiches_perso/Banque/publi1_APrinzing.doc
--
Franck Courchamp
Labo ESE, UMR CNRS 8079
Univ Paris-Sud Tel (0033/0) 1 69 15 56 85
Bat 362 Fax (0033/0) 1 69
15 56 96
F-91405 Orsay Cedex FRANCE
http://www.ese.u-psud.fr/epc/conservation/pages/Franck.html
Allee Effects in Ecology and Conservation
F Courchamp, L Berec & J Gascoigne *NEW!*
Available now through all good bookshops, or at:
http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780198570301
