Junior Professorship - Smart materials for low carbon applications

Job environment:

The position is open at IMT Mines Albi and is attached to the Institut Clément Ader laboratory (ICA - UMR CNRS 5312).

School of the ministry in charge of industry, IMT Mines Albi is a school of the Institute Mines-Telecom, 1st group of engineering and management schools in France. At the forefront of industrial and academic issues on the international scene, it acts as a territorial scientific and economic engine by combining its 4 missions - train engineers by integrating the dynamics of sustainable development, doing scientific research, contributing to economic development and spreading the culture of science, technology and innovation - in a virtuous and innovative cycle. Its positioning in terms of training and research places IMT Mines Albi as a reference school on three of the four themes of the IMT, namely the industry of the responsible future, energy, circular economy and society as well as engineering, health and well-being. IMT Mines Albi has acquired in 2023 and for a five-year period, a strategic plan divided into 7 main actions, thus responding to the strategic orientations of the IMT group to which it belongs IMT Mines Albi represents: 1, 000 engineering students and researchers in training, 310 staff, a consolidated budget of €46 million, 3 labs: Industrial Engineering, Clément Ader Institute and RAPSODEE.

The UMR Institut Clément Ader (ICA) brings together the forces of 5 wards: INSA, ISAE Sup Aero, UT3, CNRS, IMT Mines Albi. With 250 people, ICA explores the scientific challenges related to engineering in the mechanics of materials in the field of aeronautics. The activity sectors are in the mechanical industries with a particular focus on aerospace, space, transportation and energy.

The research topics are focused on behaviour modelling, instrumentation and the study of the durability of the structures or products considered in four groups: MSC group (Composite Materials and Structures), SUMO group (Surface, Machining, Materials, Tools), MICS group (Metrology, Identification, Control, Monitoring) and MS2M group (Mechanical Systems and Microsystems Modelling). The ICA lab also manages a research and innovation platform named MIMAUSA (Implementation of aeronautical materials and active monitoring), a platform of IMT Mines Albi.

IMT Mines Albi and ICA lab are recruiting a junior professor within the framework of a junior professor chair (JPC) supported by the ANR for a period of 5 years. It is a new full professor position. Recruitment is based on a research and teaching project submitted by a doctoral degree holder. The funding of the JPC is supported by the ANR (national research agency) up to 200 k€, to finance doctoral students, post-doc, IT contract worker, as well as to contribute to the running of the project (purchase of equipment, missions and travel). The chair topic is “advanced and smart materials for low-carbon manufacturing, transport and energy applications in a context of low-carbon aircraft”.

Job Description:

The junior professor recruited will be involved in the school's pedagogical projects, in training missions, in research and technology transfer activities, in setting up and monitoring contractual activities, and in national and international collaborations. He/she will be a driving force for their development.

In the training program

The candidate will take part in the student and apprentice program options of the teaching activities of IMT Mines Albi in the field of materials and mechanical engineering. He/she will be closely involved in the modelling and numerical simulation courses and in the sensors/measurement/instrumentation courses. The candidate will propose a new teaching module on the functionalization of materials for sensing, in particular for thermometry. Finally, the candidate will be asked to set up a European Erasmus Capacity Building or Skill-Alliances.

In Research

The candidate will develop a topic on functionalized or so-called 'smart' multifunctional materials for the monitoring of the thermomechanical environment of various aerospace applications in relation to propulsion or manufacturing processes. This topic will provide a breakthrough in understanding and optimizing energy performance, improving component lifetime prediction and reducing carbon footprint by monitoring the thermomechanical properties of materials and processes.

The ICA laboratory has experience in in-situ temperature and kinematic measurements (from -253°C to over 1500°C) over a wide range of spatial scales (from grain size (1 μm) to structural size) and temporal scales (from quasi-static (minutes to hours) to dynamic (1 ms)). These methods are multiscale and address complex multi-physics couplings. They still need to be adapted to different materials (metallic, composite and ceramic) for monitoring purposes during manufacturing and service. Functionalizing materials is an exciting avenue that ICA lab considers and plans to explore further in this context. The monitoring of the evolution of the thermo-mechanical properties could be based on either the surface functionalization or the volume functionalization of the material.

Based on this functionalization, multi-physics and high-precision simulations need to be introduced to understand the relationship between thermo-mechanical conditions and the resulting mechanical properties and energy issues. Embedded measurement techniques could then be used, for example, to provide on-line health and performance monitoring and control feedback, leading to 'smart' materials and components.

In a multidisciplinary approach and in connection with the different groups of the laboratory, the junior professor will have to develop a research activity that addresses the future measurement andsimulation needs of low-carbon manufacturing, transportation and energy technology. The junior professor will:

- be active in partnership research with industry and to be involved in the setting up of regional, national and international research projects.

- contribute to the scientific influence of the ICA lab and of IMT Mines Albi through active involvement in the co-supervision of PhD, publications in scientific journals, participation in leading conferences in its field and the organization of scientific events.

BEYOND THE PROFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENT, WHY JOIN US?:

• Pleasant work environment on a 22 ha campus
• Framework package with 49 vacation days (leave + RTT)
• Telework (to be validated with n+1) possible from 6 months of seniority
• on-site administrative catering
• Sustainable mobility support for commuting
• Social action (supplementary social protection and support for families)
• Moving assistance

Link to IMT branded film: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m39m6hdNC48>

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

This recruitment system is part of the research programming law. The terms of this recruitment are made in application of Decree No. 2021-1710 of 17 December 2021 relating to the Junior Professorship contract.

3-year Junior Professor of Public Law Term Contract as Senior Lecturer in IMT Management. The remuneration will be set according to the candidate’s profile, according to the rules defined by the management framework of the Institut Mines Télécom.

• Nature and duration of contract: A 36-month Junior Professor of Public Law Chair as a Senior Lecturer in LMI Management.
• Position Location: Albi
• Application deadline: 15/08/2024
• Detailed CV and cover letter applications
• Desired start date: September 1st 2024
• Recruitment positions are open to all with accommodations for candidates with disabilities upon request.

Application procedures

Positions offered for recruitment are open to all with, on request, accommodations for candidates with disabilities.

Applications should include:

• A letter of application,
• A curriculum vitae describing teaching activities, research work and, possibly, relations with the economic and industrial world (maximum 10 pages)
• At the discretion of candidates, letters of recommendation,
• Copy of the PhD (or PhD),
• Copy of ID,
• A research project

Arrangements for organizing recruitment interview

Only candidates who have been previously selected on file by the committee will be invited to the interview. In accordance with the procedure for the recruitment of Lecturers (contractual LMI Management Framework), this interview will take place in two parts:

• Presentation of the candidate (15 min.): achievements and project for educational and research activities: training, research and transfers to economic actors (industry, enterprise, etc.)
• Free exchange between the candidate and the members of the jury (30 min.) to assess the scientific and general knowledge of the candidate.

This recruitment system is part of the research programming law. The terms of this recruitment are made in application of Decree No. 2021-1710 of 17 December 2021 relating to the Junior Professorship contract.

Associated financing

The Chair will be funded by the ANR in the amount of €200,000 in accordance with the Order of 6 July 2023 made pursuant to Decree No. 2021-1710 of 17 December 2021 relating to the Junior Professor Chair contract provided for in Article L. 956-6-2 of the Education Code and Article L. 422-3 of the Research Code.

The person recruited will receive a net monthly remuneration of between 2,650 and 3,250 euros. The salary will be fixed at the time of finalization of the recruitment and according to the professional experience of the person selected.

• Contacts :

• Academic and research: Mr. Thierry SENTENAC – Director of the Clément Ader Albi Institute (thierry.sentenac@mines-albi.fr – Tel. 05 63 49 30 61)

• Administrative/HR: Ms. Céline ALBERT – Director of Human Resources (celine.albert@mines-albi.fr – Tel. 05 63 49 30 77)

Important:
Under the General Data Protection Regulation, applicants are informed that their data will be kept by the administration for a maximum period of 2 years, unless otherwise requested in the cover letter.

Requirements

Skills:

Expected profile :

The Junior Professorship is intended for PhD graduates in the first part of their career, with strong potential for supervising and leading research teams, and the ability to participate in national, European or international projects. The candidate should have experience in materials science and more specifically in the field of functionalized materials for mobility and manufacturing applications.

The international experience will be very much appreciated. The research activity will be in English. A perfect command of this language is essential.

The candidate will be able to demonstrate a strong research potential in the area described, as evidenced by scientific publications in international peer-reviewed journals and at international conferences. Creativity, teamwork skills, experience in educational facilitation, ability to set up and manage large projects and a sense of responsibility will be taken into account in the selection of the candidate.

Candidate assessment criteria :

The criteria will be as follows (non-exhaustive list):

• Significant teaching experience (production of digital courses, books, etc.) in the above-mentioned fields at graduate or post-graduate level, and achievements in the deployment of new forms of teaching,
• Measurement and simulation expertise in either thermal and/or mechanical fields
• Ability to work as part of a team on new projects,
• Scientific production: articles in journals and conferences indexed by the main electronic databases (Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Nature Index, arXiv.org, etc.),
• Partnership research experience: direct industrial partnerships, collaborative research or start-up support.
• International experience and/or partnerships,
• Fluent in English demonstrated by significant international experience,
• Willingness to establish international collaborations

Ability to defend an « Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches » within 3 to 5 years of recruitment.