PhD position in Plant and Forest Biology

Scientific Context

Forests today face increasingly challenging environmental conditions: drought, high temperatures, atmospheric pollution... These factors generate oxidative stress that can reduce tree productivity and increase mortality, especially in young plants. Understanding how trees perceive, signal, and tolerate successive or combined stresses is a major challenge to anticipate the effects of climate change.

Poplar, a reference model in tree molecular biology, will be used to finely study the cellular, physiological, and biochemical mechanisms involved in acclimation.

Objectives of the Doctoral Project

This thesis aims to identify and characterize key foliar actors involved in establishing poplar tolerance to successive abiotic stresses (drought, heat, ozone).

The main questions include:

• Signaling molecules: which hormones, lipids, or sugars enable an early and effective response?
• Multi-stress tolerance: what role do these molecules play in poplar's ability to withstand repeated or combined stresses?

Experiments will reproduce conditions close to the natural environment, in phytotron chambers and laboratories.

Workplace

PHARE Team – Tree Physiology in Response to the Environment Sciences and Technologies Campus, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy 
Experiments possible at the INRAE Grand-Est Nancy site (Champenoux)

Required Skills

The candidate must have:
-Skills in plant biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology
-Ideally, knowledge in ecophysiology
-Proficiency in data analysis and use of R
-Excellent writing skills (French and English)
-Autonomy, scientific rigor, organizational skills
-Enjoy working in the laboratory and controlled conditions (phytotrons)
-Interpersonal skills to facilitate integration into a research team

Application

Application file to be sent to Prof. Marie-Noëlle VAULTIER and must be submitted on ADUM:
-CV
-Cover letter including a description of research experience (notably the M2 internship)
-M1 and M2 transcripts
-Letter of recommendation (or contact details of at least two referees)

Contact: Prof. Marie-Noëlle VAULTIER Phone: 03 72 74 50 97 Email: marie-noelle.vaultier@univ-lorraine.fr

Application deadline: June 10, 2026 (midnight)