Temporary scientific engineer / Development of a multi-disease spatial epidemiological model

The Inria centre at Université Côte d'Azur includes 42 research teams and 9 support services. The centre's staff (about 500 people) is made up of scientists of different nationalities, engineers, technicians and administrative staff. The teams are mainly located on the university campuses of Sophia Antipolis and Nice as well as Montpellier, in close collaboration with research and higher education laboratories and establishments (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, INRAE, INSERM ...), but also with the regiona economic players.

With a presence in the fields of computational neuroscience and biology, data science and modeling, software engineering and certification, as well as collaborative robotics, the Inria Centre at Université Côte d'Azur  is a major player in terms of scientific excellence through its results and collaborations at both European and international levels.

This postdoctoral position if funded by the Ecophyto PAPEETE Promoting agroecology through integrative health risk prediction based on participatory epidemiosurveillance data at territorial scale project, which brings together partners from INRAE, CNRS and Inria. This transdisciplinary project aims at providing a proof of concept, for wheat diseases, that using participatory epidemiosurveillance, in addition to the official plant health bulletin, (i) enables a local assessment of multi-disease risk, and (ii) encourages stakeholders to significantly reduce pesticide use.

The postdoctoral fellow will join the MACBES team (Inria, INRAE, CNRS, Université Côte d'Azur) in Sophia Antipolis and will closely collaborate with Suzanne Touzeau (MACBES & M2P2 teams) and Florence Carpentier (AgroParisTech & MaIAGE, INRAE) based near Paris.

The postdoctoral fellow will interact with other PAPEETE partners and the M2P2 team at ISA (INRAE, CNRS & Université Côte d'Azur).

In the PAPEETE project, we aim at improving the local assessment of multi-disease risk in wheat crops by incorporating multiple data sources, including participatory epidemiosurveillance data. Several scenarios are considered, and a decision-support application will be developed.

The project builds upon several years of academic data collected in the Plaine & Val de Sèvre area (near Niort), which have revealed the influence of landscape features on the epidemiology of wheat diseases. We also have an existing multi-epidemic dynamics model. The engineer will be responsible for improving the existing multi-epidemic dynamics model. Specifically, their tasks will be to: (1) spatialize the model, (2) incorporate landscape effects, and (3) modulate outputs using weather data and epidemiosurveillance information - both participatory (local) and from the regional BSV network. The data will be provided by the project team, and the engineer will focus on integrating them into the modeling framework and analyzing model behavior.

The results of this work will feed into the development of a real-time, spatially explicit tool to help local farmers assess their risk of multiple wheat diseases and support decision-making to reduce pesticide use.

The work will be based on:

• data,
• a stochastic, discrete-time, epidemiological model,
• python and C++ codes.

The objectives of this position are:

• epidemiological modelling,
  • landscape modelling,
  • multi-disease timing and interactions,
• calibration,
• simulations.

Generic activities include: literature review, data processing, reporting, paper writing, participation and presentation in project meetings.

Specific activities include:

• dynamical model development,
• programming and numerical simulations (using a computing cluster),
• model calibration,
• numerical exploration (sensitivity analysis).

• Background in population dynamics and/or epidemiological modelling.
• Experience in programming (C++ or python).
• Knowledge of inference methods would be a plus.
• Proficiency in written and spoken English.

• Subsidized meals
• Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
• Leave: 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 extra days off due to RTT (statutory reduction in working hours) + possibility of exceptional leave (sick children, moving home, etc.)
• Possibility of teleworking (after 6 months of employment) and flexible organization of working hours
• Professional equipment available (videoconferencing, loan of computer equipment, etc.)
• Social, cultural and sports events and activities
• Access to vocational training
• Contribution to mutual insurance (subject to conditions)

From 2692 € gross monthly (according to degree and experience).