Cemagref is a public research establishment for science and technology, under the double supervision of the ministries for research and agriculture. It employs 1000 people including 480 engineers and researchers located on nine sites in France (Antony, Nogent-sur-Vernisson, Rennes, Lyon, Grenoble, Clermont Ferrand, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Aix-en-Provence).

Cemagref is dedicated to engineering for sustainable development. It focuses its research work for the coming years on natural hazards and interactions between agriculture and hydrosystems. As an institute of advanced research, Cemagref studies practical subjects requiring methodological skills in modeling (linking experiments to models) and in processing and analyzing geographical information. As a priority, Cemagref will finance the following theses in 2008:

– Understanding and diagnosing complex systems: water supplies, irrigation, nutritional hazards and processes, catchment basins, wetlands (applied mathematics, hydrology, agrochemicals)
– Ecological engineering: managing and restoring disrupted forest and aquatic ecosystems, particularly due to pesticide pollution (ecology, chemistry, toxicology, biomathematics)
– Studying and understanding multiphase flow: mud flow, snow, spraying, fogging (fluid mechanics, aerodynamics)
– Control of waste: functioning of sewage works, manuring, classifying solid waste (process engineering, chemistry)
– Physical classification of biological and food chemicals: food processes, quality control (automatics, fluid mechanics, applied mathematics, process engineering)
– Amenities: non-commercial functions of agriculture and forests (environmental economics, public economics, sociology)

Cemagref thesis contracts may be cofinanced by external partners (industry, professional organizations, communities, research institutes, etc).

Students are tied to Cemagref by a fixed-term contract, which gives them normal social welfare rights. The contract is for three years. The gross monthly remuneration is €1,813.71, whatever the amount of cofinancing.

Candidates must hold a postgraduate or master’s certificate, or equivalent, when the contract is signed. The age limit is fixed at 27 for the year of application with exceptions possible up to 30 years of age.

The award procedure and timetable:

– Candidates are invited to contact the persons in charge of the subjects given on the list. Application documents can be obtained from the regional director (or the person responsible for the thesis) or they can be downloaded from the Cemagref website (February 2008).
– Applications must be submitted before May 15, 2008 at the latest to the head of the subject concerned.
– The applications are selected by the reception-mobility commission, chaired by the scientific director, in June 2008 (for the first session) and at the beginning of October 2008 (for the second session).
– Notifications of decision are sent to candidates during July 2008 (first session) or during October 2008 (second session).
– Contracts normally begin on December 1, 2008.