Post-doctoral position: Bio-based materials and biodiversity for innovative constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment and reuse

This post-doctoral position at IMT Mines Alès, within the Centre for Research and Education in Environment and Risks (CREER), offers a unique opportunity to advance research on bio-based materials and biodiversity for innovative constructed wetlands (CWs) dedicated to wastewater treatment and reuse. The CREER center is renowned for its multidisciplinary approach, integrating environmental science, process engineering, chemistry, and biology to address industrial and environmental challenges. The position is part of the PhytoReut project, funded by ADEME, and involves collaboration with several academic and industrial partners, including AQUATIRIS, CRBE, LGC, G-EAU, and HSM. The research focuses on developing and testing sustainable bio-based substrates as alternatives to conventional mineral materials like filter sand in constructed wetlands. The main goal is to evaluate the purification capacities of these new materials, considering water quality, hydraulic performance, substrate stability, environmental constraints, and biodiversity viability. The project adopts a mechanistic approach to biophysical phenomena responsible for water remediation, including the effects of particle size, biodiversity contributions to water treatment, and robustness against organic micropollutants such as pharmaceutical molecules and PFAS. The post-doctoral fellow will oversee the implementation, monitoring, and optimization of a laboratory-scale CW pilot. This role involves strong experimental work, including construction, instrumentation, and troubleshooting of the pilot system. The fellow will collaborate closely with a doctoral student conducting parallel experiments in Toulouse, fostering synergy between project teams. The research will link hydraulic and purifying properties of bio-based materials to microbial dynamics and bioaugmentation effects, aiming to understand the mechanisms controlling nutrient, pathogen, and micropollutant removal in CWs. The first year of the fellowship will focus on material selection based on hydraulic, filtering, and purifying properties. The second year will involve bioaugmentation studies, tracking substrate colonization, microbial community structure and function, and their impact on treated water quality. The project is embedded in a broader context of partnerships with laboratories engaged in research on non-conventional water production and irrigation, covering environmental sciences, process engineering, physics, chemistry, and computer science. Applicants must hold a PhD in chemical, process, or environmental engineering, with expertise in environmental chemistry, process engineering, analytical chemistry, and microbiology. Experience with regulatory issues related to water reuse, scientific reporting, and data analysis is essential. The position requires dynamism, autonomy, teamwork, organizational skills, rigor, initiative, adaptability, intellectual curiosity, creativity, and innovation. Integration into a multidisciplinary team and a strong appetite for experimental work are important. The position is a 24-month, full-time, fixed-term contract under public law, with a gross annual salary of €35,400. Applications should be submitted online via the provided portal by April 5, 2026. For content-related questions, contact Andrés SAUVÊTRE or François LESTREMAU; for administrative queries, contact Géraldine BRUNEL. Successful candidates will benefit from a supportive integration period and guidance from HR and research teams.