You will join a dynamic and forward-thinking research team, strongly engaged with global health issues and the fight against plastic pollution. Working closely with other groups within the IATE Joint Research Unit, as well as with numerous national, European, and international partners (including in Asia), you will contribute to transdisciplinary projects (food science, biochemistry, microbiology, process engineering, mathematics, materials science, etc.) focused on the eco-design of food packaging. You will benefit from an active international collaborative network and access to a comprehensive set of local experimental and analytical facilities.
You will notably contribute to addressing the following scientific questions:
1-Understanding and predicting the relationships between the structure of thermoplastic polymer-based materials—studied at multiple scales—and their functionalities throughout production, use, and post-use cycles, in order to quantify their functional benefits versus their environmental impacts.
2- Integrating this knowledge into a comprehensive eco-design strategy for food-packaging materials, along with the associated models and decision-support tools, which represent one of the host unit’s major distinctive features.
Your work will focus on the eco-design of (bio)polymer-based materials intended to replace petrochemical plastics in the agrifood and agricultural sectors. You will advance knowledge related to the circularity of these materials and their ability to meet the requirements of the various loops of their life cycle: production, use, reuse, recycling, energy recovery, and ultimate biodegradation.