A 3-year PhD position is available for a motivated student showing interest on understanding the ecology of the plant-microbe association at the Agroecology Department at the French National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA).

The aim is to establish to which extent intrinsic microbial community properties can have an impact on a plant host fitness, and to which extent the plant may steer it. This working hypothesis will be tested using the case study of plant interaction with enhanced-biofilm producing microbial consortia under drought conditions. The successful candidate will seek to better understand the ecology of the plant-microbe holobiont via exploring the relationship between plant tolerance to drought and microbial biofilm formation in the rhizosphere. An integrated approach coupling plant physiology, biochemistry, microbial ecology, molecular biology, bioinformatic and biostatistics will be used.

Contract duration: 36 months

Job Hours: Full time

Deadline application: June, 30th 2019

Starting Job: October, 1st 2019

Supervisors:  Jacquiod Samuel (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Manuel Blouin (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Host Laboratory:  Agroecology - UMR1347 – INRA Centre Dijon

URL Host Laboratory:  https://www6.dijon.inra.fr/umragroecologie_eng/

Address Host Laboratory:   UMR1347 AGROECOLOGIE, INRA Centre Dijon, 17 rue Sully, BP 86510 21065 DIJON Cedex FRANCE

Application:

Please send a single PDF file containing the following documents by pushing "Apply for this job" button.

1) For EU candidates: Copy of your national ID card or of your passport page where your photo is printed.

For non-EU candidates: Copy of your passport page where your photo is printed.

2) Curriculum Vitae (1 page).

3) Letter of motivation relatively to the position (1 page).

4) Copy of your Master degree and/or Engineer degree if already available.

5) Copy of your final marks and ranks.

6) Coordinates of reference persons (maximum 3, at least your master thesis supervisor): Title, Name, organization, e-mail.

If you have questions regarding the application, please contact the supervisors.

Qualifications: Master degree

We are looking for a highly dedicated student interested in agroecology, with a strong motivation to bridge together plant science and microbiology. Applicant should hold an MSc degree in either plant physiology or microbiology, with experience in molecular biology. Additional skills such as statistics and data analysis with the R software will be appreciated. Proficiency in spoken and written English is mandatory.