Contract type : Fixed-term contract
Level of qualifications required : PhD or equivalent
Fonction : Post-Doctoral Research Visit
Level of experience : Up to 3 years
Inria is the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science, of which the Inria Côte d'Azur University Center is a part. With strong expertise in computer science and applied mathematics, the research projects of the Inria Côte d'Azur University Center cover all aspects of digital science and technology and generate innovation. Based mainly in Sophia Antipolis, but also in Nice and Montpellier, it brings together 47 research teams and nine support services. It is active in the fields of artificial intelligence, data science, IT system security, robotics, network engineering, natural risk prevention, ecological transition, digital biology, computational neuroscience, health data, and more. The Inria Center at Université Côte d'Azur is a major player in terms of scientific excellence, thanks to the results it has achieved and its collaborations at both European and international level.
INRIA is the French national research institute dedicated to computer science and applied mathematics and is a founding member of the World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
The Inria centre at Université Côte d'Azur includes 42 research teams and 9 support services. The centre's staff (about 500 people) is made up of scientists of different nationalities, engineers, technicians, and administrative staff. The teams are mainly located on the university campuses of Sophia Antipolis and Nice as well as Montpellier, in close collaboration with research and higher education laboratories and establishments (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, INRAE, INSERM ...), but also with the regional economic players.
The Wimmics team works on the topic of AI on the Web, in particular knowledge graphs and (linked) data representation and processing in the Semantic Web. Wimmics contributes to knowledge formalization and semantic-based methods to extract, control, query, validate, infer, explain and interact with knowledge in epistemic communities on the Web. Wimmics has been involved in numerous European research projects (e.g., CoMMA, SevenPro, Sealife, Palette, Aloof, MIREL, HyperAgents) and national projects with a focus on knowledge representation and reasoning (KRR) in the Semantic Web (e.g., ISICIL, DataLift, SMILK, WASABI, D2KAB, Dekalog).
This postdoc position takes place within the context of the EcoControl project funded by PEPR Agroécologie et Numérique, with partners from INRAE. EcoControl aims to improve our understanding of arthropod regulatory services and identify agroecological levers to enhance natural pest regulation in agriculture at both local and territorial levels. To achieve this goal, the project will address the following research questions: How do biotic and abiotic factors, whether phylogenetic, environmental, related to farming practices or to the introduction of alien species, influence the structure and dynamics of interaction networks between plants, pests, and their natural enemies?
The main task of the candidate will be to develop an ontology-based model to represent the literature-extracted information on plants pests and auxiliaries and integrate it with species traits and distribution data available in existing knowledge bases, to form an ecosystem of interconnected RDF knowledge graphs.
In relation with other partners, a base of competency questions should be elicited, that need to be implemented and answered using the final knowledge graph. The graph will be validated by implementing these questions in SPARQL.
The candidate should then develop a set of tools for the visual representation and exploration of the knowledge graph, and its enhancement using graph representation learning approaches and downstream applications (e.g. link prediction).
The candidate will also manage the project plan, the deliverables and the meetings with our team.
References
Nadia Yacoubi Ayadi , Stephan Bernard , Robert Bossy , Marine Courtin , Bill Gates Happi Happi et al.A Unified approach to publish semantic annotations of agricultural documents as knowledge graphs, Smart Agricultural Technology, 2024, 8.
Cristhian Figueroa , Nadia Yacoubi Ayadi , Nicolas Audoux , Catherine Faron, CoffeeWKG: A Weather Knowledge Graph for Coffee Regions in Colombia, SmartFood 2023 - Workshop on Controlled Vocabularies and Data platforms for Smart Food Systems
Aline Menin, Franck Michel, Catherine Faron, VENUS: A Declarative Visualization Library for Knowledge Graph Exploration, ESWC 2026 - 23rd European Semantic Web Conference
Botella, C., Dray, S., Matias, C., Miele, V., Thuiller, W., 2022. An appraisal of graph embeddings for comparing trophic network architectures. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 13.
Tibi, A., Martinet, V, Vialatte, A., Alignier, A., Angeon, V., Bohan, D.A., Bougherara, D., Cordeau, S., Courtois, P., Deguine, J.-P., Enjalbert, J., Fabre, F., Fréville, H., Grateau, R., Grimonprez, B., Gross, N., Hannachi, M., Launay, M., Lelièvre, V., Lemarié, S., Martel, G., Navarrete, M., Plantegenest, M., Ravigné, V., Rusch, A., Suffert, F., Thoyer, S., 2023. Protéger les cultures en augmentant la diversité végétale des espaces agricoles. Synthèse du rapport d’ESCo. INRAE (France)
The candidate should hold a PhD, preferably in Informatics / Computer science and must demonstrate aptitudes or matches with most of the following aspects:
Other appreciated skills:
Gross Salary: 2788 € per month
Warning : you must enter your e-mail address in order to save your application to Inria. Applications must be submitted online on the Inria website. Processing of applications sent from other channels is not guaranteed.
Defence Security :
This position is likely to be situated in a restricted area (ZRR), as defined in Decree No. 2011-1425 relating to the protection of national scientific and technical potential (PPST).Authorisation to enter an area is granted by the director of the unit, following a favourable Ministerial decision, as defined in the decree of 3 July 2012 relating to the PPST. An unfavourable Ministerial decision in respect of a position situated in a ZRR would result in the cancellation of the appointment.
Recruitment Policy :
As part of its diversity policy, all Inria positions are accessible to people with disabilities.
Inria, the French national institute for research in digital science and technology, supports the French government in national research and innovation strategies in the digital field, acting as Digital Programs Agency. Inria leads over 300 research and innovation projects with its 3,500 scientists, engineers, and support staff, in partnership with universities and the digital ecosystem (businesses, entrepreneurs, and public stakeholders). Together, we explore strategic fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum computing, cloud technologies, digital transformation in healthcare, digital twins, and digital technologies for defence. We develop practical solutions such as software, tech startups, partnerships with national companies, and cutting-edge training programmes. Our goal is to drive scientific, technological, and industrial excellence to ensure France’s digital sovereignty.
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INRIA is the French national research institute for digital science and technology.