Dear Colleagues,

Please find below the description of a 24-months postdoctoral position
to be opened in my group at INRA Clermont-Ferrand, France, to work on
the AgMIP Wheat and MACSUR projects. I would greatly appreciate if you
could forward this position in your group and networks.

This position is opened as part of the EU international mobility program
Agreenskills and offers very attractive conditions in terms of salary
(+60% salary compared with regular French junior researcher positions),
hosting conditions, and training.

The application deadline on the Agreenskills website
(http://www.agreenskills.eu/) is _*15 Nov. 2013*_. If you are interested
in this position, please contact me by email at
<[log in to unmask]> before applying on Agreenskills web
portal.  Please check the eligibility requirements in the attached
position description before applying.

Best regards,

Pierre Martre.

PS: Apologies for cross-postings.
--

Laboratory Research Project Proposal

*Hosting organization*

Organization



INRA, National Institute for Agricultural Research

Research Unit



UMR1095 Genetic, Diversity and Ecophysiology of Cereals

Grain Integrative Biology group

Full Address



INRA -- UMR1095 GDEC

5 Chemin de Beaulieu

F 63 039 Clermont-Ferrand, Cedex 2

France

*Contact person*

Full name



Pierre Martre

Position



Research Director, Group Leader

Telephone



+33 473 624 351

Email address



[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>

Mailing address



INRA -- UMR1095 GDEC

5 Chemin de Beaulieu

F 63 039 Clermont-Ferrand, Cedex 2

France

*The research proposal*

Short title of the proposal



Uncertainty of process-based wheat models under climate change

Long title of the proposal



Intercomparison and improvement of process-based wheat models in
simulating development, growth and yield and grain protein formation
under climate change.

Location



Clermont-Ferrand, France

Expected starting date



1 February 2014

Duration



24 months

Research proposal description



Process-based crop simulation models have become an important tool in
assisting crop management, to estimate production potentials, to assess
the impact of climate change and develop adaptation strategies,
including traits. However, most wheat models have never been tested with
field experiments of climate change scenario components or trait impacts
as an adaptation option. The research project will focus on wheat model
inter-comparison and improvement for assessing the impact of global
changes on wheat productivity and environmental impacts. The successful
candidate will work with AgMIP (www.agmip.org) wheat research team and
project collaborators. AgMIP Wheat brings together the global wheat
modelling and crop physiology community to improve wheat models for
climate change impact and adaptation strategies. It aims to compare
wheat models with a range of detailed field experimental data, identify
shortcomings and develop new modelling routines to better simulate
across wheat models the impact of high temperature, elevated atmospheric
CO_2 concentration, nitrogen management and their interactions with
genotypes and traits (GxExM) on wheat yields. Duties of the
incumbentinclude (i) run process-based wheat simulation models developed
by the hosting INRA groups (SiriusQuality, STICS) following AgMIP
protocols; (ii) lead large scale data analysis; (iii) develop and
implement algorithms for wheat response to extreme temperatures; (iv)
lead high impact paper writing. In particular, the successful candidate
will exploit recent results of the AgMIP Wheat Pilot Project (Asseng et
al., Nature Climate Change 3:827-832) to quantify the uncertainty and
error of wheat models in simulating soil and crop nitrogen dynamics and
grain protein formation under climate change. The ability of improved
wheat models to simulate seasonal variability and mid-term trends in
development, growth, and yield and grain protein formation will then be
quantified using experimental results from wheat breeding programs and
long term agronomic experiments, and sensitivity of analyses to impact
factors.

Keywords



Adaptation, Climate change, Interactions, Model improvement, Model
inter-comparison, Nitrogen, Seasonal variability, Traits, Uncertainty,
Wheat.

Subjects of the research proposal



Climate change

Deadline for application



15 November 2013

**

*Required disciplinary skills of the hosted fellow*

- Applied life sciences and biotechnology / Agriculture related to crop
production, soil biology and cultivation, applied plant biology

- Environmental Sciences / Global Changes

- Life Sciences / Ecology, environment / Bioclimatology

- Life Sciences / Agricultural sciences / Agronomy

*Expertise and competences*//

A PhD in plant ecophysiology or modelling or a closely related field is
required. Experience with crop modelling and with R programming and
object oriented programming (e.g. Java, C++, or C#) are required.
Organizational skills and ability to work in a collaborative and
multidisciplinary environment are essential. Good oral and written
English skills are also required.

**

*Hosting conditions and research facilities*

The incumbent will be based in INRA Clermont-Ferrand
(http://www4.clermont.inra.fr/umr1095/big/) and will receive strong
scientific and technicalsupport from the AgroClim INRA Unit (Avignon)
and the STICS Export Working
Group(http://www7.avignon.inra.fr/agroclim_stics_eng). The host Research
Unit have made practical arrangements that will ensure successful
implementation and management of the project. Dr. P. Martre will
supervise the research project. The leader of the AgMIP Wheat team,
Prof. Dr. F. Ewert (University of Bonn) and Prof. Dr. S. Asseng
(University of Florida), have been involved in the definition of
objectives of the fellow's research project, which guarantee its
integration in the overall project of the group. They have expressed
their agreement to future cooperation and their support to this research
proposal. The host Research Unit and Research Group will provide the
researcher with all the needed theoretical or methodological information
which may help the implementation of the research project. Questions
related to the applicant project will be discussed frequently on the
regular project and team meetings where the fellow will present his/her
work. The host institute has drawn up its own Chart for doctoral
candidates and postdoctoral fellows, which was designed to specify the
conditions for the hosting and integration of doctoral candidates and
postdoctoral fellows within INRA in terms of their recruitment,
positioning in host units and training, and the publication and
valorisation of research results. As the host Research Unit regularly
recruit research staff from foreign countries, the Human Resources
service has set up a full set of simple procedures to ensure an
efficient preparation, smooth arrival and settle in. After the contract
being approved by all parties, the future grant holder will obtain
Medical insurance, as well as liability insurance. The Human Resources
service will provide the fellow with the necessary assistance, regarding
local administration, residency permit application, social security
card, accommodation, helping with school and childcare arrangements if
needed, etc.

**

*Financial resources*

Financial resources for the research project



The research project of the fellow will be financed by INRA thanks to
the support of the Environment and Agronomy (EA) division and the
meta-program on Forestry and Agriculture Adaptation to Climate Change
(ACCAF) in the frame of AgMIP program and MACSUR knowledge hub of the
FACCE JPI. Additional resources will be provided by the recently funded
FP7 KBEE project Whealbi.

Financial resources for the salary of the hosted fellow



Funded by the Environment & Agronomy Division, INRA.

Estimated gross salary for the hosted fellow



Basic gross salary (a): 3537.47 EUR/month

Mobility allowance (b): 1280 EUR/month

Total gross salary ((a)+(b)): 4817.47 EUR/month//

*Ethical issues and limitations*

None

*Proposal for web announcement*

INRA seeks a post-doctoral fellowto work on project related to wheat
model intercomparison and improvement within The Agricultural Model
Inter-comparison and Improvement Project. Duties include running models
following AgMIP protocols; leading large scale data analysis; leading
high impact paper writing.

*Eligibility requirements*

Applicant researchers must fulfil the following eligibility criteria:

·Holding a PhD (or PhD will have been awarded by mobility start date);

·Having a maximum of 10 year research experience (after Master's degree,
i.e. the title giving access to PhD);

·Not having spent more than 12 months in France within the last 3 years
immediately prior to the expected date of recruitment ;

·Being able to write and speak fluent English or French;

·At least 1 publication in an inter-disciplinary or specialised
peer-reviewed journal;

·Having 1 publication in an inter-disciplinary or specialised
peer-reviewed journal per 2 years of post-doctorate period (patents
count as publications) taking into account the breaks;

·Your research project is relevant to AgreenSkills fields of interest
and must be compliant with the opinion 24 of the European Group of
Ethics in Science and New Technologies.

·The mobility period should last at least 12 months and up to 24 months.