INED & iPOPs Post-doctoral Positions in Population Sciences

Benefit

You get a one-year paid work contract to do research in population sciences at a French institute. This is a fixed-term contract ("CDD") under French employment law, with a regular French salary. The exact pay is not published. The positions come jointly from the Institut national d'etudes demographiques (INED), France's national institute for population studies, and the iPOPs research network. You work at one of INED's 11 research units or one of the 6 iPOPs partner labs, on topics such as family dynamics, ageing, and social, gender or generational inequality. One position is offered per year.

Eligibility

• Your degree: You hold a PhD awarded after 30 September 2022, or you will defend your thesis before the contract starts (by mid-December at the latest).
• Field of study: Your PhD is in a population-science discipline: demography, economics, epidemiology, history, sociology, geography, anthropology, political science, gender studies, environmental science or medicine.
• New to the institute: You have not spent 6 months or more at the host institute during your PhD, and have not worked there for a year or more in the last 3 years. The EDSD training course does not count.
• Mentor: You have found a researcher at INED or an iPOPs lab who agrees to guide you (act as your mentor) for the whole contract.
• Nationality: Any nationality can apply. French and non-French researchers are both welcome.
• Age: No age limit.

How to apply

First contact a researcher at INED or an iPOPs partner lab to secure a mentor. Then create an account on the INED application platform and upload your documents before the deadline. The 2025 round closed on 19 February. A jury evaluates the applications after a validity check, and results come out in early April.

How realistic are your chances?

Only one position is offered each year, and only recent PhDs in population sciences who already have an INED or iPOPs mentor can apply. The pool is small, but competition for the single slot is sharp. Your real work happens before you apply: a researcher who backs you and a project that fits their unit matter more than a polished CV alone. Contact potential mentors early, since the window between the call opening and the deadline is only about a month.