[ES_JOBS_NET] 3-yr doctoral fellowship CNRS/Ecole normale supérieure/U Arizona

[Alessandra Giannini -- LMD]

A three-year doctoral fellowship funded by the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) is available, with the Institut de Biologie de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris (IBENS) as primary host department. The research will be based at the University of Arizona (Tucson) in the iGLOBES International Research Laboratory or one of its partner departments at the University of Arizona. Collaborative visits will be organized with the International Research Laboratory LN2 at the University of Sherbrooke (Canada) on technological (sensors and analyzes of ecosystem states) and sociological (support for the analysis of the perception of these states) components of the project. 

Project title: Health impacts of environmental change and consequences for proenvironmental action.
Project summary: This project addresses the two-way relationship between human health and the health of the ecosystems that individuals and societies depend on. The project seeks to understand how individual health and the perception of environmental risks shape the individual response (opinion, intention, action) to climate change and to the broader environmental crisis. The study will focus on the territory and populations of the arid regions of the U.S. Southwest, and more particularly the Tucson area in Arizona. This region is bearing the brunt of global climate change (heat waves, drought, fires, floods) while being subject to local environmental pressures from urbanization and mining that are among the strongest on the planetary scale. In this socio-environmental "mini laboratory", the thesis will focus on the assessment of the state of the ecosystem in multiple dimensions that may impact human health: (i) quality of water, air, soils (in particular chemical contamination); (ii) physical quality of the environment (e.g. thermal, visual, acoustic); (iii) biological risks (physiological, infectious). The environmental data will be integrated with health, behavioral and sociological data. The study will compare different model areas and populations, for which certain environmental datasets are already available: peri-urban sites concentrating human populations and mining activities (e.g. Green Valley), rural sites (e.g. Avra Valley), protected sites (e.g. Cienegas National Conservation Area, Saguaro National Park) and restored areas (Superfund Research Center sites). The project will benefit from on-going collaborations with the International Research Laboratory for Nanotechnologies and Nanosystems at the University of Sherbrooke (Canada) for the development and deployment of innovative environmental sensors that will be used to collect multi-variate, fine-scale measurements of human exposure to environmental risks as well as environmental impacts of human activities. 

The project will be supervised by Régis Ferrière (ecologist, director of the International Research Laboratory iGLOBES, University of Arizona and project leader at IBENS, Paris Sciences & Lettres University) and Céline Verchère (sociologist, IRL LN2, University of Sherbrooke). The questionnaires and study protocol will be co-constructed by colleagues from the two IRLs and the partners involved in this project. At the University of Arizona, researchers from multiple interdisciplinary initiatives, centers and departments may be involved, for example from the the OneHealth Research Initiative, the Water Resources Research Center, the Department of Environmental Science, the Department of Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences, the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, the School of Governance & Public Policy, the Community, Environment & Policy Department, the Environment, Exposure Science & Risk Assessment Center... 

Required qualifications: We are looking for highly motivated candidates, with a strong interest in interdisciplinary research on the environment. The doctoral student will preferably have a background in geography, sociology or anthropology, with strong mixed skills in quantitative and qualitative analysis. Applications from students with an interdisciplinary background in the analysis of complex systems are also encouraged. The doctoral student will be in charge of developing the conceptual framework of the study as well as defining the human and environmental parameters to be measured and analysed. The possibility of participatory data collection will be considered and implemented if necessary. Excellent command of English, written and spoken, is essential.

To apply: Applicants should have completed a qualifying degree for a PhD program by the position start date (for example, a master degree for applicants trained in the French education system). Applications should include a detailed CV (including name and contact information of two references) and a cover letter (statement of interest). Please apply before July 25, 2022, through the CNRS recruitment portal at https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/Doctorant/UMR8197-REGFER-001/Default.aspx?lang=EN <https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/Doctorant/UMR8197-REGFER-001/Default.aspx?lang=EN> 


— 
Alessandra Giannini
Professeure des Universités / Full Professor
CERES - Géosciences - LMD, École Normale Supérieure 
24, Rue Lhomond 75231 PARIS CEDEX 05, France
Adjunct Senior research scientist, IRI/Columbia University

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