jobs.inrae.fr
Junior research scientist in quantitative geography or spatial economics applied to regional "One Health" approach
CR26-ACT-1 - You will work at the TETIS research unit in Montpellier, at the Maison de la Télédétection, which also houses the Espace-Dev research unit and companies specializing in remote sensing and spatial information. The lab is a highly multidisciplinary unit developing applied research in the field of spatial information. It offers a welcoming environment for researchers in the social sciences (geography, economics) and encourages the development of innovative approaches by promoting interaction with researchers from other disciplines (remote sensing, data science, spatial modeling). You will join the “Diagnosis and Anticipation through Spatial Modeling and Analysis of Territories” research group and participate in the unit's scientific activities focused on the major challenges of "Preserving biodiversity and strengthening the health of socio-ecosystems“ and ”Characterizing inequalities and promoting socio-spatial justice."You will also benefit from a large network of collaborators in the Montpellier area (e.g., i-site MUSE Exposum, MSH Sud, MEEDIN, Health Ecology networks), the INRAE network (Territoires de Santés seminar, ModStatSAP network) in France, and international networks (PEER Network, Ecosystem Services Partnership, IPBES).Addressing the challenges related to health independently of those related to biodiversity, food, and climate change can lead to ineffective (and even costly) policies. Your research will contribute to the development of quantitative and spatial methodologies that operationalize ‘One health’ and nexus approaches and enable the evaluation of land use policies with a global health perspective. This may involve the concept of « one health territories » (« territoires de santés »), referring to spaces of varying sizes where collective actions are deployed to manage risks in a comprehensive manner. You will study the types of spatial organizations (e.g. landscape structure) that promote or hinder global health, developing methods in the short term to map multiple risks (pathogenesis) and then, in the medium term, analyses of what constitutes global health (salutogenesis). From a geographical perspective, the research focus will be on developing quantitative and spatial analysis methodologies (statistics, modeling) based on multiple data sets (epidemiological, biophysical, and socioeconomic). From an economic perspective, you will evaluate human health-focused development policies versus integrated approaches, addressing issues of urbanization, climate change, and pressure on biodiversity.You will join the TETIS lab (Montpellier) organized into research groups developing innovative approaches to spatial information to support regions facing major social and environmental challenges. This structure is designed to promote cross-disciplinary perspectives and interactions. You will be responsible for conducting research on the operationalization of nexus and One health approaches by developing methodologies and analytical tools that are useful for land use planning and health stakeholders in addressing for instance the following questions: How do spatial effects (agglomeration, displacement) affect global health in a given territory? Which populations are most impacted by land use planning policies? Which land use planning policies (dis)advantage global health?These questions will be developed through case studies involving health and environmental stakeholders (e.g., DGS, DGALN, ARS, etc.). In the short term, your research will focus on pathogenesis approaches, for which data (environmental and epidemiological data from the unit's projects—e.g., MOOD, BEYOND, THEIA Spatial Data Center) are available, in order to assess and map risks to animal health, human health, or plant health in France. In the medium term, your research will focus on salutogenesis approaches, examining forms of land use planning that promote health (e.g., prevention of zoonoses through biodiversity).To conduct your research, you will have privileged access to the spatial modeling tools produced by the unit (e.g., Ocelet, ArboCarto, Urban InVEST, BiodivMapR, FORDEAD, etc.) and will be able to participate in French collaborative projects (e.g., Vulnerability of Populations and Ecosystem Services - VULPES, Agralife - Sustainable Livestock Farming, Vegetation-Ecosystem Services and Arboviruses) and international projects (e.g., Horizon Europe MOSAIC). Within INRAE, the position is linked to the BIOSEFAIR and XRISQUES metaprograms. Finally, you will have access to financial resources in accordance with the unit's operating rules.
