Nantes Université MSCA-PF 2024 - hosting offer at the GeM

Stéphanie BONNET professor from the GeM – Research Institute in Civil and Mechanical at Nantes Université is looking for postdoctoral candidates interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF) in 2024.

• Key words

Civil Engineering, construction materials, aggressive environment, Earth building, Artificial intelligence

• What is a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship?

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.

• Team description

GeM (https://gem.ec-nantes.fr/en/gem-institute-2/) is a Joint Research Unit supervised by Nantes Université, Centrale Nantes and the CNRS.

Founded in 2004, the objective was to bring together within the same laboratory all the skills in the Nantes Saint-Nazaire area in the fields of civil engineering, materials and processes, modelling and simulation in structural mechanics. GeM is very involved in research training with:

• around one hundred PhD students and several master programmes
• 80 researchers and academics
• More than 100 PhD students and post-doctoral researchers
• More than 40 technical and administrative staff

• Profile of the supervisor

Stéphanie Bonnet is Professor at Nantes Université. She teaches Civil Engineering Materials - Cementitious Materials Pathologies - Thermodynamics, Heat Transfers - Fluid Mechanics - Ventilation. Her research interests are: Durability of concretes in maritime environments - Coupled transfers in cementitious materials - Diagnosis of structures using destructive or non-destructive evaluations. Eco-design of structures in aggressive environments by combining durability models and LCA.

For more information: https://cv.hal.science/bonnet-s

• Research project

Two research area are possible both strongly connected to the reduction of the CO2 emission due to the construction.

First topic: Corrosion of low carbon Concrete in marine environment: from initiation to propagation phase.

Second topic: Mechanical, thermohydric properties and durability of earth material: from material to building scale.

For both topics, it could be experimental and/or numerical approaches.

• What are the eligibility criteria?

Candidates must hold a PhD at the call deadline (11 September 2024) 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 France for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the call deadline.

Candidates can be from any nationality.

Although not an eligibility criterion, a good track record is recommended.

• What’s in it for me?

1. Selected candidate will have access to online training programme and one-to-one proposal preparation sessions with our experienced European Officers.
2. Selected candidate will have the opportunity to come to Nantes for two days in the beginning of July to meet his supervisor and to start working on the writing of the project. The grant awarded for this stay will cover travel, hotel and subsistence expenses for 2 days and 3 nights (up to 1000€ for the EU countries and up to 2000€ for the non-EU countries). Nantes Université does not cover the visa fees.

• I’m interested. What should I do?

If you are interested and have the required background, apply by sending the application form to the European office (europe.drpi@univ-nantes.fr)

More information on the dedicated webpage

Registration for this scheme does not imply automatic funding. Applications will be examined in the light of the MSCA PF evaluation criteria, both by your potential supervisor and by the experienced European Officers. Selected candidates will be ranked and the short-stay grant will be distributed among them within the limits of the available budget.

You should expect feedback for your application by May 31^st.

• Brief description of Nantes Université

Nantes Université is a higher education and research institution created in 2022. This new institution has adopted a new University model unprecedented in France by bringing together a university, a university hospital (CHU de Nantes), a technology research centre (IRT Jules Verne), a public scientific and technological institute (Inserm) and higher education establishments (Centrale Nantes, École des Beaux-Arts Nantes Saint-Nazaire, École d’Architecture de Nantes).

Nantes Université is a sustainable and committed institution and one of the driving forces behind societal development. With a global and outward-looking culture, it promotes innovativeness and openness: open science, open research, open education, open innovation. Nantes Université has received the HR Excellence in Research Award and is already involved in various European projects, notably MSCA actions.