Do you want to do research in a vibrant interdisciplinary polymer institute? Then join us at Charles Sadron Institute (https://www.ics-cnrs.unistra.fr/) on a CNRS Tenure Track position, which provides salary and research package for five years and includes some teaching duties (64 hours per year) at the University of Strasbourg (https://www.unistra.fr/). The opening of the position is announced between four different research institutes in France and will go to the institute whose candidate convinces the selection jury.

The candidates are asked to contact as soon as possible the direction of the Charles Sadron Institute (directeur@ics-cnrs.unistra.fr) in order to have more detailed information and to start developing their scientific project with the host team. Ideally, candidates should hold a PhD in polymer science with an international postdoctoral experience.

Deadline of CNRS application submission: 20st of March 2024

CNRS website for candidature: https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CPJ/CPJ-2024-019/Default.aspx

Information on the research environment

The Charles Sadron Institute (ICS) is an internationally recognized research center on soft matter science and engineering that develops state-of-the-art science at the crossroads of chemistry, physical chemisty, physics, and mechanics of polymers and self-assembled systems.

ICS benefis from an excellent scientific environment with significant in-house computing resources to develop codes equipped with a backup system and data storage, along with access to the University's supercomputer (HPC). ICS includes a recognized team working on the theory and simulation of polymers that is currently using AI in their research work. This transversal topic is becoming increasingly significant in the other research teams as well, especially those involved in polymer synthesis. Moreover, the Grand Est Region's ambition aims to strengthen AI in research and development activities.

The University of Strasbourg (Unistra), an excellence University (Idex), offers many opportunities to support cutting-edge projects through tools for valorization and transfer. It is noteworthy that Unistra is a long-standing world-class University site in chemistry (4 Nobel prize laureates).

The possibility of recruiting highly motivated students for internships via the Chemistry & Artificial Intelligence Major of the Engineering School of Chemistry, Polymers, and Materials (ECPM) should also be considered.

Research profile

The research profile of the candidate needs to involve polymer chemistry driven by Artificial Intelligence. Artificial intelligence (AI) is both a field of research and an accelerator of scientific discovery in many fields provided that it promotes rapprochement with other scientific communities. The CNRS, as a national and multidisciplinary organization, advocates interdisciplinarity which is at the heart of this project. This involves adapting AI tools for the synthesis of polymers, an area in which few national teams have reached a level of expertise.

The design of new functional polymers relies on successful exploration of the structure-function landscape. In this context, advances in combinatorial polymer chemistry and machine learning may offer numerous opportunities for the engineering of new polymer materials meeting pre-established specifications. Inspired by the recent success of DeepMind's AlphaFold2 in predicting protein structure using machine learning methods based on over 170,000 known protein structures, it is possible to imagine that polymer science will experience new growth by combining AI and data mining methods with the creation of an experimental or digital database.

Teaching profile

The teaching activities will be elaborated together with the University of Strasbourg, and more specifically the Engineering School of Chemistry, Polymers, and Materials (ECPM) which provides a high-level teaching on AI and polymer chemistry to future engineers. The laureate will contribute to teaching in synthesis and properties of polymers, modeling or data mining, at the bachelor's or master's level.

Financial overview

Total funded on CPJ : salary for a 5 year duration + 200 000 € (ANR package)

ICS laboratory co-funding: 30 000 €

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