PhD and Postdoctoral Positions in PBPK Modelling and Chemical Risk Assessment at INRAE/ONIRIS (Nantes) Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement in France

INRAE / LABERCA in Nantes (Pays de la Loire, France) is advertising two research openings focused on PBPK modelling, chemical risk assessment, and the health impacts of food-related contaminants.

PhD position in PBPK toxicokinetic modelling (3 years, start September 2026): this thesis is co-supervised with ANSES and aims to assess the lifetime health impact of mixtures of organic contaminants (including PCBs and PFAS) and inorganic chemicals (such as Cd and As) from dietary exposure. The project combines PBPK modelling, mixture risk assessment, Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs), and burden-of-disease estimation (DALYs).

Postdoctoral researcher in PBPK modelling for chemical risk assessment (30 months, start September 2026): the postdoc will develop and apply PBPK models for food contaminants, simulate lifetime exposure trajectories from dietary and biomonitoring data, and contribute to cumulative risk assessment frameworks within national and European projects.

Eligibility highlights: PhD applicants should have a Master’s/engineering background in pharmacokinetics, toxicology, environmental health, mathematical modelling, biostatistics, or a related area. Programming skills in R, Python, or MATLAB are desirable. Postdoc applicants must hold a PhD in a relevant field and have experience with PBPK modelling and exposure/biomonitoring data analysis.

Funding: the PhD is a 3-year contract with a gross salary of 2300 € per month; the postdoctoral salary follows INRAE salary scales based on experience and qualification.

Deadline: 31 May 2026 for both positions.

Supervision and collaboration: the PhD involves Bruno Le Bizec, Gilles Riviere, and German Cano Sancho; the postdoc involves Octavian Augustin Mihalache and German Cano Sancho. The work is embedded in interdisciplinary collaboration between INRAE/LABERCA and ANSES.

How to apply: prepare a CV and cover letter and follow the INRAE job application links for the relevant position.