ROLE PROFILE OF A CONTRACT RESEARCH PROFESSOR (M/F)            62nd section of the National Universities Council (CNU)
Multidisciplinary Research Laboratory in Energy, Mechanical and Systems Engineering (PRISME – Host Team/EA 4229)

Keywords: Fire safety, Thermal degradation, Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) 

The Centre-Val de Loire National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) http://www.insa-centrevaldeloire.fr/ is looking to hire a contract research professor effective 1 September 2021.

The Centre-Val de Loire INSA is a public scientific, cultural and professional institution (EPSCP) located on two campuses, in Blois and Bourges. 

It awards:
-    4 engineering degrees accredited by the independent accreditation body for engineering degrees (CTI):

• Energy, Risks and the Environment (ERE),
• Industrial Systems Engineering (GSI),
• Industrial Risk Control (MRI)
• Computer Security and Technologies (STI),

-    The State Landscape Architect Degree (DEP) via the School for Nature and Landscape Department (DENP);
-    PhDs, through its Doctoral schools EMSTU (for Energy, Materials, Geosciences) and MIPTIS (for Mathematics, IT, Theoretical Physics and Systems Engineering).

The candidate must have demonstrated his/her ability to conduct all of his/her staff duties (teaching & research) in French and English (oral and  written) and to get involved in the themes of sustainable development and social responsibility.

Teaching

The main subjects taught are as follows: Materials, energetics and chemistry, ranging from three to five years’ higher education in Energy, Risks and the Environment (ERE).

The successful candidate will also contribute to modules on physical optics and wave physics at the Sciences and Techniques for Engineers (STPI) Department and on fluid mechanics and thermal science at the Industrial Risk Control (MRI) Department.

The candidate will also be expected to play a part in supervising projects, placements, industrial assignments and introduction to research projects. S/he will contribute to the supervision of apprentices in companies.
The successful candidate will join the faculty on the Bourges campus.

S/he is expected to become involved in the institute’s day-to-day running by fairly quickly assuming educational responsibilities.

Teaching Contacts 

Brady MANESCAU, Director, ERE Department

Email: brady.manescau@insa-cvl.fr

Jérôme FORTINEAU, Education Director

Email: jerome.fortineau@insa-cvl.fr

Research

The contract research professor will conduct his/her research within the Multidisciplinary Research Laboratory in Energy, Mechanical and Systems Engineering/PRISME (Own higher education and research unit/UPRES – Host Team/EA 4229) which is jointly supervised by the Centre-Val de Loire INSA and University of Orléans. It has 180 members including 90 research professors, 20 engineers, technicians and administrative staff and around 70 PhD and postdoctoral students.

The PRISME laboratory serves a multidisciplinary purpose in the general field of engineering sciences and technologies, across a broad spectrum of subjects including:

• combustion in engines, energy systems engineering and explosions,
• fluid mechanics and aerodynamics,
• image and signal processing,
• automation,
• robotics. 

The laboratory has decided to coordinate with scientific departments organised into thematic strands.

The research activity will be carried out in the Fluids, Energy Systems Engineering, Combustion and Propulsion (FECP) Department - Combustion and Explosion (CE) strand.

This Department conducts major research work recognised at national and international level in the field of combustion applied to the problems of fire safety.

The fire behaviour of materials, permeation of gaseous species, thermal degradation and combustion are studied for the purposes of improving performances and characterising risks (key topic of the Centre-Val de Loire INSA). The experimental and numerical approaches developed are applied at all relevant scales, from the micro- to the macro-, via the meso-scale.

The contract research professor must have demonstrated experimental and numerical skills in one or more of the research fields of the “P2CF: Permeation, Pyrolysis, Combustion and Fire” topic of the CE strand. The candidate is expected to show motivation in working more particularly on the problems of Pyrolysis and Permeation. S/he will be capable of developing test beds to explore the physicochemical phenomena generated, and demonstrate expertise in bio-based material manufacturing processes (RTM, VARTM, infusion processes). The candidate will also have to perform thermophysical characterisation analyses at matter and material scales. Programming skills are a must, for characterising the thermal degradation of bio-based materials through the determination of kinetic parameters and development of new models. Proficiency in one or more computer simulation tools, not least the open-source simulation toolbox OpenFOAM, would be an advantage. Skills in sensitivity analysis with regard to model parameters will also be expected.

The candidate must have a strong track record of research promotion through national and international conferences, as well as publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals in the research fields relating to the P2CF topic of the CE strand.

His/her ability to maintain the existing industrial collaborative ventures and develop new such projects through national, European or international programmes would also be an advantage. 

Research contacts 

Isabelle Sochet, Leader, CE strand

Email: isabelle.sochet@insa-cvl.fr

Azeddine KOURTA, Director, PRISME Laboratory 

Email: directeur.prisme@univ-orleans.fr

Khaled CHETEHOUNA, Research and Promotion Director                      

Email: khaled.chetehouna@insa-cvl.fr

Website of the PRISME Laboratory: https://www.univ-orleans.fr/fr/prisme 

Procedure:

Qualification: national candidates must hold a valid qualification from the relevant CNU section on the date they begin their employment.

Recruitment method: recruitment after consultation with a selection committee, grading proposal by the Restricted Academic Board (CAR) to research professors and decision by the Director of Centre-Val de Loire INSA.

Term: One-year fixed-term contract before renewal as a permanent contract. 

Salary: on the basis of the lecturers’ salary scales not including PPCR (Professional Pathways, Careers and Remuneration). Seniority taken into account according to the reclassification rules for the recruitment of civil servant lecturers.

Staff service: the reference working time, corresponding to the working time decreed in the civil service, comprises, for research professors (civil servants and contract staff):

• For 50%, teaching services determined in relation to an annual reference duration equal to 192 hours of tutorials. These teaching services go hand-in-hand with preparation and assessment of the associated knowledge.

During the first year of their contract of employment, the contract research professor shall benefit from training aimed at developing the educational skills required to practise as a research professor. To that end, s/he shall be relieved of one-sixth of his/her teaching duties.

• For 50%, research activity.

Assignment: the position shall be taken up on the Bourges campus.

Committed to combating all forms of discrimination, the Centre-Val de Loire INSA is ensuring as wide a distribution as possible of the job vacancy in a bid to encourage applications from diverse backgrounds.