Postdoc on Ordering energy and nutrient structural changes in agri-food system transition pathways

Call for expression of interest description

The Marie S. Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF) programme is a highly prestigious renowned EU-funded scheme. It offers talented scientists a unique chance to set up 2-year research and training projects with the support of a supervising team. Besides providing an attractive grant, it represents a major opportunity to boost the career of promising researchers.  

We are looking for excellent postdoctoral researchers with an international profile to write a persuasive proposal to apply for a Marie S. Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship grant in 2024 (deadline of the EU call set on 11 September 2024). The topic and research team presented below have been identified in this regard.

Main Research Field

Environment and Geosciences (ENV)

Research sub-field(s)

Agroecological transition, material flow analysis, biogeochemistry, energy functioning

Keywords

Circularity, agri-food system, nutrients, energy, region, landscape, global system

Research project description

Transitioning to circular and sustainable agri-food systems (AFS) is urgently needed. Agri-food systems are being challenged on various fronts, including the ability to provide food, produce biomass for energy and reduce their environmental footprint. These challenges can sometimes lead to trade-offs that need to be carefully assessed and managed. For instance, in Europe, the Green Deal has already set ambitious goals for AFS, particularly in addressing issues like nutrient losses, dependency on industrial fertilizers and expansion of land under organic farming but potential effects on the structure of farming systems are barely analyzed. At the same time, scenarios project increasing shares of biomass in the energy mix of European countries – but the energy cost of biomass production is not systematically taken into account thus the projections fail to provide net energy supply estimates from agriculture. Based on such complex situations and challenges, a number of key issues emerge. For instance, it is crucial to build integrative approaches to account for the net energy balance of AFS and associated environmental pressure as well as interlocking between resource use and farms organization. Although existing models like CAPRI, Agmemod, and Globagri can simulate outlook projections for an improved and desired future state of AFS, they lack the ability to assess the impact of different pathways and actions prioritisation on achieving environmental targets. In addition, literature has barely analysed interconnexions between structural nutrient flows changes and the energy functioning of agri-food system (Harchaoui and Chatzimpiros, 2018). Such coupled approaches are necessary for conciliating biogeochemical and energy sustainability challenges including improving nutrients circularity and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. This research project aims to develop a framework to assess pathways for improved nutrient management circularity and its impact on energy use of AFS.

In this postdoctoral research project, we start from the premise that path dependency is an opportunity to sequentially order and implement relevant levers for achieving a given target (Chatzimpiros and Harchaoui, 2023). The objective is to build the path as a result of a number of discrete steps forming a coherent sequence that allows reaching a given target. Such analysis needs to take into account biophysical constraints at the global and regional scales as well as farming practices and necessary change by integrating time dynamics of key AFS drivers. Additionally, we plan to incorporate scenario narratives from local farmers and stakeholders into a biophysical model. Economical drivers may also be considered.

Two main research lines can be considered: 1) defining sustainability gaps between current situation and environmental targets for nutrient and energy issues and identifying adequate strategies 2) modelling interactions between these issues and assessing the effect of pathways in achieving this goal.

The pathways to consider represent different possible routes embedding territorial and farm organization. They will integrate temporal dynamics of key variables of agri-food systems and may combine narratives from agricultural stakeholders (i.e farmers, …) at multi-spatial levels.

Research objectives decomposition:

1. Assess the current nitrogen and energy flows and main levers for reducing environmental pressure within the agri-food system
2. Evaluate the agricultural dynamics of resource use and farm practice changes
3. Develop innovative frameworks to assess multiple transition pathways for a desired target state
4. Evaluate environmental changes in implementing these pathways in the agri-food sector
5. Provide recommendations for policymakers, stakeholders, and practitioners to support sustainable agri-food circular transitions.

Expected Outcomes:

- Designed systemic framework for assessing transition pathways scenarios

- Insights on environmental benefits in adopting specific transition pathway in the agri-food system.

- Policy recommendations to support the implementation of sustainable agri-food circular transitions at the regional level.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will be supervised by Souhil Harchaoui (SH), research fellow at UMR SAS, INRAE, Institut Agro in Rennes and Petros Chatzimpiros (PC), associate professor at LIED, Université Paris Cité in Paris.

SH research topics focus on the modelling of the circularity of flows and the role of livestock farming in transitions of agricultural food system at territorial level. Based on integrative approaches of energy and nutrient flows, SH examines links among energy functioning, environmental impacts and the feeding capacity of agriculture. Profil Researchgate

PC research topics focus on agri-food and energy systems structure, transitions and interlocking. The aim is to develop integrative approaches of renewable resource scenarios. Profil Researchgate

CHATZIMPIROS, P., HARCHAOUI, S., 2023. Sevenfold variation in global feeding capacity depends on diets, land use and nitrogen management. Nat. Food

HARCHAOUI, S., BLAZY, V., PECHENART, E., WILFART, A., 2023. Challenges and opportunities for improving circularity in the poultry meat and egg sector: The case of France. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 193, 106963

HARCHAOUI, S., CHATZIMPIROS, P., 2019. Energy, Nitrogen, and Farm Surplus Transitions in Agriculture from Historical Data Modeling. France, 1882-2013. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 23(2), 412-425