Postdoctoral research fellow: exploring linkages between seed circulation and resilience in smallholder agriculture – a modelling approach
· Two-year postdoctoral research fellow position in a stimulating interdisciplinary environment and an internationally renowned lab on social-ecological systems modelling, within an excellence project (ERC): SENS (Knowledge, Environment and Societies Lab).
· Opportunity to develop a simulation model based on unique data to explore the links between seed and information circulation patterns and crop diversity dynamics and resilience in smallholder farming systems.
The ERC project ARISER (Access to crop diversity and small farms’ resilience to climate variability in African drylands: The role of seed and information networks, https://www.ariser.org/en) is seeking for a postdoctoral research fellow experienced in the modelling of social-ecological systems.
ARISER project aims to understand the role of seed and information sourcing practices of smallholder farmers from dry areas in shaping their crop portfolio over time, and their resilience. The project combines: i. the analysis of socio-economic and network data collected through longitudinal surveys in about 2000 households in semi-arid areas of Senegal, Madagascar, Morocco; and ii. the simulation of the links between seed and information circulation patterns and crop diversity dynamics at the farm and community level by combining multi-agent systems and network topology modelling.
The candidate will lead the development of this later simulation model, its test and adaptation based on the project data, and will conduct simulations. This work will bring general conclusions on how seed and information circulation patterns impact the diversity of plants cultivated in farms, its dynamics and its persistence in the face of perturbations. From a methodological perspective, it will bring major progress in modeling crop diversity management in smallholder farming systems by representing the diversity of farmers’ behavior concerning seed and information access using the multi-agent framework.
Conditions:
The candidate will work with Vanesse Labeyrie, agronomist and with François Bousquet, both from CIRAD, SENS. He.she will also collaborate with Jacopo Baggio from University of Central Florida and network modelers from INRAE (Nicolas Verzelen, Isabelle Sanchez). He.she will work in a stimulating interdisciplinary environment, in relation with the PhD and post-doctoral fellows of the project and other researchers.
The candidate will be based at SENS (Knowledge, Environment and Societies Lab) in Montpellier, France, which is a particularly dynamic lab, internationally known for its research on social-environmental issues. He.she will have the opportunity to interact with social-ecological systems modelers from the lab, which is internationally renowned for its research in this field. He.she is expected to be physically present at the office on a regular basis for facilitating interactions with the team.
The fellowship covers a period of 2 years on a full-time basis, starting between December 2024 and March 2025, with a monthly salary of 29 K€ (gross salary). The candidate will be employed by the French agricultural research and international cooperation center (CIRAD).
The candidate will be responsible of the following tasks, under the direction of Vanesse Labeyrie and in relation with the co-supervisor and team: - First to review and select existing models and available data to build a first prototype of the simulation model, which will then be enriched with farmers’ behavior data collected in our study sites during the serious game sessions that were conducted in the project. - Second, to validate and adapt the model by comparing its outcomes (i.e., on-farm crop diversity) with observed data. If needed, the decision rule sequences and parameters will be adjusted to fit the observed data. - Third, to run simulations to systematically test the effect of different individual and community network topologies on crop diversity at the farm level, and on its stability when simulating the local extinction of crops in varying proportions of farms. - Deliver results in time regarding the planning of the project, and publish them in high quality, peer-reviewed journals in collaboration with the supervisors and other members of the team. - Disseminate results of the project in international conferences
The candidate must have a proven interest in the project’s issues and in interdisciplinary work. He/she should have a thesis since less than 3 years, which can belong to a variety of disciplines (agronomy, socio-economics, anthropology or environmental sciences, statistics). Having a good knowledge of smallholder farming systems and issues related to agrobiodiversity and seed management would be appreciated, as well as interest for these issues.
The candidate should have the following skills:
Mandatory:
- In-depth experience of social-ecological systems modelling;
- Proficiency of at least one agent-based modelling platforms;
- Proven ability to write and communicate in English;
- Capacity to publish in acknowledged peer-reviewed journals;
- Experience and interest for interdisciplinary collaboration;
- Interpersonal skills and ability to work as part of a team and collaborating with an inter-cultural team;
Desirable:
- Some experience and knowledge about the study of smallholder farming systems;
- Notions of French would be appreciated;
- Familiarity with research on seed and agrobiodiversity management and farming systems resilience;
- Some knowledge about combining agent-based and network modelling.
Application modalities:
Application (in French or in English) includes the following documents: - A curriculum vitae; - A sample of academic work (a pdf of the PhD thesis, and published articles if available); - Copies of all academic degrees acquired; - A cover letter (not exceeding 3 pages) explaining interest in the project, any former experience or relevant expertise to the project, and preliminary research intentions; - The name, institution and email of two academics who may be contacted for letters of recommendation.
Applications close on september 1st 2024
These documents should be sent on the CIRAD portal (https://recrutement.cirad.fr/homepage.aspx?LCID=2057 , that opens in August), and it is recommended to send them as well electronically to Vanesse Labeyrie ([email protected]).
For further information, you are welcome to contact me at the same address
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.comses.net/jobs/631