Research description

• Keywords:
  
  Optimal control, dynamical systems, bacterial growth, cellular dynamics, resource allocation, turnpike
• Research interests:
  
  Optimal control for bacterial growth modelling and control. Understanding the growth of microorganisms, such as bacteria, is an important challenge. It can for instance be the building block for industrial applications where a metabolite of interest needs to be produced. A recent and surprisingly effective approach relies on so-called self-replicator models based on resource allocation principles. In such low dimensional dynamical systems, the control is the allocation plus, in refined models, an external control aimed at changing the behaviour of the microorganism after some genomic engineering. The analysis uses both optimal control theory and numerical simulations, in relation with experimental results in collaboration with colleagues in Grenoble and the Maximic ANR project. Typical structures of optimised allocation processes mix bang and singular controls, and often exhibit turnpike phenomena.
• Inria team:
  
  MCTAO: https://team.inria.fr/mctao/
• Team description:
  
  MCTAO is a joint team with INRIA and Université Côte d'Azur, specialized in control theory and applications. We are mostly concerned with nonlinear finite dimensional continuous time systems. There is a stress on optimal control; we are also interested in stabilisation, observers, path planning, controllability and structural questions. We are interested in solving important methodological problems, and conducting meaningful transfer on real life problems. Recent or current application domains are: space mechanics, navigation, quantum systems, biological models, models of neuronal activity; these are conducted with industrial partners or specialists of other fields.
• Supervisor:
  
  Jean-Luc Gouzé: https://www-sop.inria.fr/members/Jean-Luc.Gouze/
  
  or
  
  Jean-Baptiste Caillau: https://caillau.perso.math.cnrs.fr/
• Contact details:
  
  Jean-Luc Gouzé: Jean-Luc.Gouze@inria.fr
  
  MSCA training organisers: msca-postdoc-prep@inria.fr
  
  Centre's Europe office contact: paolo.simonelli@inria.fr

What are the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships?

MSCA Postdoctoral fellowships support the career development of researchers for enhancing their individual competence diversification in terms of skills at multidisciplinary level and intersectoral experience. The MSCA-PF grant provides a competitive salary plus mobility and family allowances if applicable, as well as research, training and networking costs. This call to interest concerns the European Postdoctoral Fellowships (12 to 24 months of duration in Europe + optional placement in private sector in Europe of 6 months).

For more information: MSCA-PF

What are the eligibility criteria?

• Candidates must hold a PhD at the call deadline (14 Sept. 2022) and have 8 years maximum of full-time research experience after the PhD.
• “Mobility rule”: candidates must NOT have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the beneficiary for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the call deadline (exceptions exist for European nationals).
• Candidates can be from any nationality.
• Although not an eligibility criterion, a good track record is recommended.
• An additional layer is at Inria institutional level regarding security procedures in recruitment, which must be approved by our Defence Security Officer.

What is needed to apply?

The MSCA PF programme requires candidates to write their own research project, in synergy with a supervisor at a European host institution. The proposal is a ten pages document describing the scientific idea, its expected impacts and implementation pathway, with an additional 5 pages for the candidate’s CV. At Inria, we provide extensive support to good quality candidates in the form of preliminary meetings, group training to better understand the programme and the grant proposal requirements, and one-to-one review sessions by specialised staff in the late stage.

I’m interested. What should I do?

1. Check our list of hosting offers, when a domain fits your profile or seems complimentary to your expertise, go to the research team webpage and look for more info.
2. Once you think you have an interesting research project idea that fits the domains described in one of our hosting offers, write it down in 4-5 lines and email the indicated contact persons (even better if you can add a CV or a link to your profile).
3. That’s it for now! Based on the info you provided we will get back to you regarding the next steps.

When should I do that?

The earlier the better! If we had to give an indication, early spring to late May.

What’s in it for me?

Selected candidates will have access to privileged grant writing training sessions and one-to-one proposal review sessions in the last phase with our experienced European Officers. The sessions will take place on the following dates (all times CEST):

• An online event on 6 April will further detail the info given hereafter; you may register for the event here: https://www.inria.fr/en/fund-your-european-postdoc-inria.

1. 26 April 11:00 – 12:30
   
   Introduction to scheme, general considerations & invitation to discuss projects with supervisors
2. 31 May 9:00 – 12:30
   
   Grant writing guide (with exercises)
3. 26 July 10:00 – 12:30
   
   Grant writing: details & advice on polishing