Cirad, the French agricultural research centre for international cooperation and development, is recruiting a scientist specialised in assessing the socio-economic impacts of agricultural research for development.
Research activities address the evolving relationships between science, techniques and society and, more specifically, in terms of the impacts of research in the context of Cirad’s partnership studies.
The research topics will focus on i) the positive and negative impacts to which innovations led or supported by agricultural research institutes contribute for a diversity of stakeholders, ii) the causal mechanisms that lead to these impacts, iii) methodological innovation in assessing the impact of research, focusing on mixed methods and the integration of participatory methods in impact assessments, and iv) summarising evidence through meta-evaluations of the impacts of agricultural research.
In addition to research activities, the position will involve capacity building activities for researchers and partners, and engaging and networking with diverse stakeholders in the field of research impact assessment.
These activities will also support Cirad teams and units seeking to foster the impact of their scientific endeavours. In this context, the scientist will also train and assist researchers and their partners in the participatory development, monitoring and evaluation of these interventions. On the institutional side, methodological support may be provided to the DIMS/DGDRS (science impact and marketing division/research and strategy division) on capitalisation/meta-evaluation aspects.
The scientist will be positioned in the “Innovation” [GBC1] research unit, comprising around 80 researchers, and will be part of Cirad’s cross-cutting impact (ImpresS) team comprised of two researchers (also positioned in the Innovation research unit) and four [GBC2] impact, monitoring and evaluation officers, coordinated by a department director. The position will fit into the research activities of the Innovation research unit (50%) and those of the ImpresS team in the application of “ImpresS” approaches (ex ante and ex post) (50%), developed by Cirad. [GBC3] The position will also contribute to consolidating the work of the EC Desira LIFT project.
– A PhD thesis in economics, humanities or social sciences is desirable
– Proven expert knowledge in the field of socio-economic impact assessment of programmes/tasks involving research
– Knowledge of agricultural research, rural development, life sciences and environmental sciences
– Experience in developing countries would be an advantage
– Languages: French and very good command of spoken and written English (for publications and participation in international working groups)
– Team spirit, analytical and writing abilities, capacity for independent and rigorous work
– Proficiency in computer software (Excel, Access, etc.) and econometric analysis software is desirable (Stata, R)
– Proven experience in applying mixed research methods (quantitative and qualitative)
– Experience in or motivation for participatory and transdisciplinary approaches
– Team spirit and enthusiasm for working with a wide variety of groups
Location : Montpellier, with possible deployment abroad in the medium-long term
Deadline : January 15th, 2023
Apply here