Population genetic engineer W/M

About this position

The institute

The IRD is a multidisciplinary French public research organization that, for nearly 80 years, has been engaged in equitable partnerships with countries in the Global South and in France’s overseas territories.

As a key player in the international development agenda, its priorities are aligned with the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Together, the Institute’s scientists and partners propose concrete solutions to address the global challenges facing societies and the planet. This win-win relationship makes science and innovation major drivers of development.

The Institute operates under the joint oversight of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.

The research group

The DIADE research unit (Diversity, Adaptation, and Development of Tropical Plants; IRD-University of Montpellier-CIRAD) studies plant biodiversity, the adaptive mechanisms of plants, and their interactions with the environment; it also explores plant development mechanisms to develop new phenotypes needed in the context of climate change. To this end, the unit’s teams employ a comprehensive range of approaches, tools, and methods, including genome analysis, biochemistry, physiology, microscopy, modeling, and data integration.

The unit focuses particularly on plants from tropical regions, as these are the areas facing the greatest challenges today: regions characterized by exceptional biodiversity, rapid population growth, sustained environmental pressure, and increased demand for crop production. The unit conducts its research primarily from its base in Montpellier, with fieldwork in Africa, Central and South America, and Asia.

Activities

As part of the ANR AFRADAPT project, a population genetics engineer will be hired, reporting to the unit director and the project’s researchers. The project aims to understand how plants adapt to current and future climate variations using genomic and climate data.

The project offers an opportunity to conduct research in adaptation genomics and to study climate-related evolution in crop plants and/or their wild relatives.

A key focus of the project will be to:

• Use statistical tools and analysis pipelines to analyze plant adaptation to climate variations. Use these tools to propose evolutionary scenarios by combining analyses across 21 climate models.

• Integrate niche models with these genetic evolution models to understand the potential future evolutionary space.

Your future team: You will join the

Dynadiv

team at the UMR DIADE in Montpellier. The project is highly collaborative and involves regular exchanges with researchers from various research units (AGAP, LECA, TIMC-IMAG) and institutes (CIRAD, UGA).