PhD Opportunities in Agriculture in France

This doctoral project is hosted at the Institute of Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC) on the CNRS campus at Gif-sur-Yvette, within a collaborative research network involving IJPB-INRAE (Versailles) and IGEPP-INRAE (Rennes) . The thesis focuses on how modifying vacuolar nitrate storage can alter nitrogen use efficiency , water use efficiency , and tolerance to water stress in Arabidopsis thaliana . The work centers on the nitrate transporter CLCa and asks how changing nitrate storage in diff...

INRAE Doctoral Contracts are salaried PhD positions hosted by France’s national research institute for agriculture, food and the environment. The institute has around 272 research units across France, giving doctoral researchers access to a wide national research network. These contracts support doctoral research linked to INRAE’s scientific areas, especially agriculture, food, ecology and the environment. The position is structured as a work contract rather than a stipend, so doctoral researche...

Research theme: This PhD project focuses on predicting gene expression in plants by combining genomic language models with machine learning on gene regulatory networks. The thesis is part of the BioLLM-CRE project and is hosted in the DIADE research unit (Diversity, Adaptation and Development of tropical plants), a joint unit involving IRD, CIRAD and the University of Montpellier . The unit works on plant biodiversity, adaptation mechanisms and plant-environment interactions, using approaches th...

TERRA-MED is offering 33 fully funded PhD positions focused on interdisciplinary research into Mediterranean resilience to climate change. The doctoral projects cover water, land, environmental science, agriculture, energy, biotechnology, and digital technologies. Research will be conducted through universities across Occitanie in France, Catalonia in Spain, and the Balearic Islands in Spain. The programme is part of the Euroregion Pyrenees Mediterranean and is supported through the Marie Skłodo...

INRAE is offering a three-year PhD thesis in spatio-temporal modeling and extrapolation of ecological networks at the BioSP (Biostatistics and Spatial Processes) unit in Avignon, France. The project aims to improve understanding and prediction of the natural regulation of crop pests, supporting reduced pesticide use and sustainable agroecology. The research will develop statistical and artificial intelligence methods to extrapolate ecological networks linking plants, pests, and natural enemies f...

PhD opportunity at the University of Caen Normandy, France in the ABTE laboratory, EcoTEA team, on foam-flow cleaning in milking systems . The project, called FOAMAT , focuses on improving cleaning performance while reducing water, energy, and detergent use. The research combines foam physical chemistry , fluid mechanics , process engineering , rheology , and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to understand how foam formulation, structure, and flow conditions affect the removal of dairy residues...

Applications are open for the 2026 John G. Bene Fellowship from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) . This student award supports master’s and doctoral students conducting field research in the Global South for their thesis work. It is designed for students whose academic background combines an interest in forests with social sciences , and whose research examines the relationship between forest resources and the social, economic, cultural, and environmental welfare of people in...

PhD position at the University of Caen Normandy in Caen, France on experimental investigation and modelling of foam flow cleaning in milking systems (FOAMAT Project, with ACTALIA and Idele). The project is hosted by ABTE UR 4651, EcoTEA Team and focuses on research at the intersection of process engineering , fluid mechanics , physical chemistry , and CFD/modelling . The topic is especially relevant for students interested in experimental work, quantitative analysis, and applied flow/cleaning pr...

Fully funded PhD opportunity on Social Reinforcement Learning to Support the Agroecological Transition within the MSCA COFUND BEST programme. The project is jointly supervised by INRAE Toulouse (France) and IIIA-CSIC (Barcelona, Spain) , offering an international research environment at the intersection of reinforcement learning , multi-agent systems , computer science , and agroecological transition . Eligibility: applicants must hold a master’s degree or equivalent by the deadline and must not...