About UM6P:
Located at the heart of the future Green City of Benguerir, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), a higher education institution with an international standard, is established to serve Morocco and the African continent. Its vision is honed around research and innovation at the service of education and development. This unique nascent university, with its state-of-the-art campus and infrastructure, has woven a sound academic and research network, and its recruitment process is seeking high quality academics and professionals in order to boost its quality-oriented research environment.
OCP group (http://www.ocpgroup.ma/en/home), a world leader in fertilizer production plays a great role as the founder and main supporter for the University. In parallel, a new portfolio of client is growing in an open spirit, in parallel with the development of an R&D cluster around the university.
UM6P is a very ambitious university, enjoying ample research funding, moderate
teaching load, and excellent facilities.
In its research approach, the UM6P promotes transdisciplinary, entrepreneurship spirit and collaboration with external institutions, both international ones for developing up to date science and at continent level to address real African challenges.
All our programs run as start-ups and can be self-organized when they reach a critical mass. Thus, academic liberty is promoted as far as funding is developed by research teams.
The research programs are integrated from long-term research to short-term applications in linkage with incubation and start-up ecosystems.
UM6P offers highly competitive salaries at the international level. Our researchers get incentives through a participation to the intellectual property they develop.
About the Global Critical Zone Science Chair:
The Global Critical Zone Science Chair at Institut For Advanced Studies (IAS) at the Mohamed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) is sponsored by OCP and was created with the mandate of developing the science that will support the sustainable use of our soils to build healthier ecosystems, particularly in the African continent. Soils are the connector of our major societal challenges, namely: food security, water security, energy security, loss of biodiversity and climate change. Despite of its great potential the African continent is still a net importer of food and will see its population doubling in the next decades. Besides all the efforts, environmental degradation is still on the rise in Africa. For the occasion of the AU-EU Summit that happened in February 2022 a policy paper that should guide the R&I partnership between the two continents for the green transition in Africa was released, bringing soil security and the development of a sustainable agriculture to the core of it. Following this momentum, the Global Critical Zone Science Chair aims to support the green transition in Africa by bringing the science that will improve our understanding of the mechanisms controlling the formation of our soils and its interactions with other environmental cycles.
The Chair is part of the Institute for Advanced Studies within the university and it is a multidisciplinary project by nature. It will promote the understanding of soils as a complex system by bringing cutting-edge multidisciplinary research to understand the links and feedbacks between soils and food systems, global warming, greenhouse gases, water cycle, and biodiversity, without forgetting the economic and social aspects. It will promote research and development in the fields of soil health, C sequestration, food security, soil biodiversity, soil fertility and fertilizers, nutrient use efficiency, and biogeochemical cycling of elements in the soil-plant-human system, aiming to generate knowledge that will allow us to build healthier, more sustainable, and productive agricultural systems, improving the way humans interact with the environment.
Lastly, the Chair will also rely on the support of a great scientific committee comprised by well-known and forward-thinking scientists from various fields, which will help guiding the development of the Chair and its work.
Area of specialization: Critical Zone is the “heterogeneous, near-surface environment in which complex interactions involving rock, soil, water, air, and living organisms regulate the natural habitat and determine availability of life-sustaining resources”. Its limits range from the top of the canopy down to the bottom of the aquifer. The successful applicant to this position will join the Global Critical Zone Science Chair to develop and conduct a research program to strengthen the understanding of the geological processes that created the different soils and how they govern water, air, and C, N, P, and other elements, biogeochemical cycling within the critical zone. The soil as a whole and its relationships with plants is sufficiently complex that understanding the mechanisms of transfer by circulating water, diffusion, adsorption, dissolution and reprecipitation of nutrients requires to study different speciation states and molecular associations in the form of nanomaterials that require approaches at the atomic level or at least a few billionths of a meter (nanometer scale). Techniques now make it possible to "see" and act at the molecular level and to understand the transport and fate of nanomaterials and to know the speciation of elements, their transformation and their impacts in the environment, colloidal and interfacial processes, understanding their properties and how they perturbing or improving mechanisms of their biological activity in environmental systems analysis.
The successful candidate must understand the roles of water and atmospheric physics and chemistry in forming soils (top and deep soils) and how the use of the topsoil for agriculture interacts with geochemical processes. The candidate is expected to bridge the gaps between the atomic world and the critical zone. This person should be able to reveal the molecular mechanisms governing the interactions between trace metals, plant mineral nutrients, contaminants, and soil components in agroecosystems through the chemistry of elements and nanomaterials. And he/she must be able to connect such molecular scale mechanisms with large scale processes in agriculture and environment.
The successful candidate must provide scientific support to the other members of the Chair in terms of mineralogy, geochemical cycling, biogeochemistry, Earth surface processes. He/she must have a good understanding of paleoclimatology to model and predict future scenarios for agriculture in face of climate change and to what extent building sustainable agricultural systems can support fighting climate change (understanding the storage of carbon molecules with crystallized or amorphous soil nanosolids from top soil to deep soil).
Job description:
The Global Critical Zone Science Chair at Institut for Advanced Studies (IAS) at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) invites applications for a full-time professor position in Environmental Molecular Physico-Chemistry (open rank). The successful applicant will conduct research in molecular physico-chemistry aiming to understand and model the water-solids interactions processes in the designing and development of sustainable agricultural systems (Sensu lato: from deep soil to top soil and inter-relationships with vegetation or crops). The successful applicant will provide a great understanding of the influence of these processes on soil health by knowing cycling of nutrients and fertilizers, carbon sequestration playing on climate warming abatement, fate of metals and toxic elements and the control it exerts on the functioning of the critical zone. This understanding must help build adequate new farming systems and practices for each edaphoclimatic condition.
The appointed professor will develop an internationally recognized research program integrating advanced X-ray & vibrational spectroscopy, electron microscopic, and computational approaches to study the chemical speciation, bioavailability, and environmental fate of metals and metalloids in soil-plant systems.
The ideal candidate will have a demonstrated track record in environmental soil chemistry, biogeochemistry, or related disciplines, with an emphasis on synchrotron-based techniques, molecular-scale investigations, and sustainable agricultural practices. The successful applicant should have good experience in nano chemistry, in physico-chemistry, geochemistry and modeling of environmental processes, which will be very useful in aggregating all the knowledge being generated. Preferred Experience: Research on element speciation, contaminant remediation, and soil-mineral interactions in agricultural environments.Experience on fertilizer formulation & soil fertility analysis and fertilizer recommendations.Experience in using DGT and other in situ systems & probes.Application of quantum chemistry modelling to simulate spectra according to the molecular structure using for example FDMNES, ORCA, FEFF9, and GAUSS. Experience leading or participating in large interdisciplinary research consortia.
This position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to advancements in sustainable agriculture and environmental protection through molecular-level insights into soil chemistry.
This knowledge will support our efforts toward understanding and managing the critical zone to build sustainable societies.
Other duties include advising students and postdocs, teaching graduate courses at UM6P, supporting the overall activities of the Chair and have a close relationship/follow up with the Chair’s scientific committee and with the Advisory Scientific Board of IAS. The incumbent will work in close collaboration with the different groups and departments of the university, including the Geology Department, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, International Water Research Institute, African Genome Center, Chemical and Biological Sciences, and Material Science, among others.
Evidence of research and teaching excellence is expected. Strong English communication skills, both verbal and written, are required.
Key duties:
Successful candidates are expected to:
Initiate, develop, and lead joint research projects and programs in geochemistry in collaboration with a multidisciplinary consortium in the field.
Generate external research funds to support and maintain integrated research programs.
Establish collaboration and partnerships with great international scientific institutes.
Supervise postdoctoral students, develop teaching materials, and attract high level students.
Publish in well-ranked and high-impact-factor journals.
Teach and develop research regarding the principles of physico-chemistry; geochemistry; biogeochemical cycling of elements; fundamental biological and chemical processes controlling organic carbon sequestration in the soil; use of state-of-the-art spectroscopic and techniques; advanced X-ray and vibrational spectroscopy, electron microscopic, and computational approaches and modeling.
Translate the basic scientific knowledge generate from the above-mentioned disciplines into sound management practices on how to better manage our soils and agricultural systems.
Stay up to date with all current environmental science research.
Organize datasets and modeling efforts and support the development of long-term trials.
Willing to travel for some time to develop fieldwork in the African continent and to visit other international institutions and partners.
Support the fulfillment of the goals and mission of the Global Critical Zone Science Chair.
Criteria of the candidate:
PhD in environmental science, soil science, surface geochemistry, molecular physico-chemistry, nanoscience and nanotechnologies or related fields from a recognized university.
At least 2 years of postdoctoral research experience in environmental sciences within the above-mentioned subjects, preferably with international experience.
High publication record in international well-ranked journals (at least 10 publications in the last 3 years).
Significant research record and leadership in molecular environmental science studies, including the use of state-of-the-art spectroscopic and advanced X-rays techniques and modeling capabilities.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
Skilled in both field and lab work.
Good record of funding.
Proactive, ethic, and respectful person.
Organizational dexterity, ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects.
Maintains positive attitude in fast-paced changing environments.
