Junior Professorship position at AgroParisTech to be filled at IJPB

The position will be associated to the "Department of Life and Health Sciences" SVS and to the "Plant Physiology Faculty" UFR of AgroParisTech. The successful candidate will join the Institute Jean‑Pierre Bourgin for Plant Sciences (IJPB), an INRAE - AgroParisTech joint research unit located on the INRAE campus in Versailles  (Center IdF - Versailles-Saclay). IJPB’s research activities focus on plant development and physiology and on plant interactions with biotic and abiotic environments. IJPB is a leading European research centre that promotes a multidisciplinary approach, ranging from fundamental research to applications for sustainable agriculture. The position will be integrated into the"Dynamics and Engineering of Lipidic Compartiments" DECLIC team, which investigates the roles of lipid metabolism during plant development and in response to abiotic and biotic stresses.

Teaching
Teaching will be carried out during a five‑year pre‑tenure period, with a progressive increase in teaching load (initially defined as 64 hours in the first year, evolving toward a full‑time service of 192 hours by the end of the five‑year term).
The Chair recipient (CPJ) will actively participate in the teaching of the Engineer (first, second, and third year, as well as apprenticeship tracks) and Master’s programmes (e.g., Biology and Agrosciences track) at  AgroParisTech. He/she may also contribute to lifelong learning education and to doctoral training. The CPJ will contribute to interdisciplinary, multi‑scale teaching modules that support the agro‑ecological transition. CPJ teaching will illustrate in both theoretical and practical teaching modules how gene editing could combine with agronomy, ecophysiology, mathematical modelling of gene networks to develop targeted varietal creation. The chair will constitute a unique opportunity to develop interdisciplinary courses that foreground hands‑on approaches (e.g., establishment of a FabLab, field‑plot phenotyping, co‑design and innovative design).

Research
The research mission of the CPJ at AgroParisTech will be structured around the expertise of the departments of AgroParisTech SVS (for functional genomics, gene editing, and phenotypic selection), SIAFEE (for the development of cultural and ecophysiological models and phenological characterisation of multispecies systems), and MMIP (for the construction of gene‑regulatory networks and statistical design/analysis of complex experimental plans). The objective of the chair will be to use these expertises to:
> identify ideotypes,
> select appropriate traits,
> define potential target genes,
> create and select new varieties,
> conduct agronomic evaluation.
The chair will also contribute to the evaluation of genetically edited lines, from genotyping to field phenotyping, within the framework of the PEPR “Advanced Plant Breeding” SVA. The CPJ could use already existing expertise focusing on the Brassicaceae–legume association like genome editing of the diversification crop camelina with traits potentially beneficial for summer intercropping or mixed cropping with lentil at IJPB but also the Brassicaceae–legume ecophysiological model developed by ECOSYS for the rapeseed–fava bean mixture.

Expertise
The chair holder will have to combine expertise in genome editing with a deep understanding of the physiology of complex traits. The candidate should be proficient with modern genome‑analysis tools (synteny, pangenomes, transcription‑regulatory networks). He/she must be able to contribute to agronomic phenotyping, the use of ecophysiological models, and the statistical design and analysis of complex experiments. Interaction with agronomists, ecophysiologists, and gene‑network modelers is essential. Experience in teaching and supervising research is also desired.

AgroParisTech is a public higher‑education and research establishment under the joint supervision of the "French ministry of Agriculture and Food" and "French Ministry of Higher Education and Research" MESR. Its expertise covers human nutrition, health, the prevention of sanitary risks, environmental protection, the sustainable management of natural resources, and, more broadly, the valorisation of territories. The junior‑professor chair is launched within the framework of the CPJ (Chair of Junior Professors) of the Université Paris-Saclay.


Research developed at the Institute Jean-Pierre Bourgin for Plant Sciences.