Post-Doctoral Position in Biological control: Intraspecific variability and improvement of a
hymenopteran biolological control agent.
INRA Sophia Antipolis (France) is looking for a post-doctoral fellow to lead research and development activities in biological control, on the improvement of a biocontrol agent species. The successful candidate will work within the consortium involved in the European Commission project FP7-IAPP Colbics (industry/academia collaboration on biological control using macroorganisms): Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (France), Universidad Politecnica de Valencia (Spain), Universidad Catolica de Chile (Chile), Biobest (Belgium), InVivo AgroSolutions (France), ANASAC (Chile). The fellow will carry out a R&D programme aiming at comparing and selecting populations of a biological control agent (Hymenoptera) to finally develop a high-performance biocontrol solution. Main activities will consist in: - Measuring performance-related phenotypic traits in populations to be compared. - Setting up experimental designs to measure proxies of pest control efficiency. - Setting a selection programme to improve performance-related phenotypic traits of the target biological control agent. - Advising students involved in laboratory, semi-field and field experiments. - Analysing and summarizing results and write internal reports and scientific publications. They will be performed in very tight collaboration with the French enterprise InVivo AgroSolutions. Main contacts: Thibaut Malausa (tmalausa@sophia.inra.fr), Nicolas Ris (ris@sophia.inra.fr), Julien Sguret (jseguret@invivo-group.com) The ideal candidate will have: - High motivation for experimental work in laboratory, semi-field and field conditions. - Experience in ethology, phenotypic measurement in arthropods and work on live organisms. - Experience and/or knowledge in processes of animal selection. - Curiosity, inventiveness and observation skills. - Motivation and skills for teamwork, at the interface between public and private sectors. - Capacity to adapt to multi-language work environment (French, English, Spanish). - Basics about insect taxonomy, especially Hymenoptera. - Skills in data analysis, statistics and basic bioinformatics. - Published works (in peer-reviewed international journals) and high skills in scientific writing. Candidate Eligibility Criteria (following FP7-IAPP rules): (1) PhD Degree. (2) Full-Time Research experience between 4 and 10 years since the Master Degree (or equivalent degree that enables to embark a PhD). (3) Less than 12 months spent in France since August 2011. Contractual conditions: - Full-time contract. - Employer: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique. - Duration: 24 months. - Contract starting date: From August 2014. - Motivating salary. - Work place: Sophia Antipolis, France (near Antibes and Nice, Southern France). Instructions to applicants: (1) Eligibility Check (deadline 20th of June): Applicants are asked to fill the online form at https://enquetes.inra.fr/index.php?sid=64461&lang=en; (2) Preliminary Selection: Eligible candidates will be asked to answer a short questionnaire and to provide a detailed C.V., a cover letter. (3) Final selection: up to 4 candidates will be interviewed.