External competitions for researchers (M/F)
Job offers and candidate area
Consult job offers, access your candidate space and find out about the competition process.
Registration for the 2024 competition campaign is now closed. Only registered candidates can access their file on the candidates' area.
Competition procedure
From 2024 onwards, the start of the campaign is postponed to January. The starting date remains October 1.
- January - February : posting of offers and online registration.
- March - June : eligibility phase (review of applications and auditions, the latter not being systematic for research director competitions).
- June - July : admission phase (admissions jury)
- October 1: appointment and assumption of duties (with possibility of postponement to the 1st of the following month until February 1 N+1)
If you have any questions: you can contact support via the online form.
Application procedure
Competitions are organized by scientific discipline or group of disciplines. For some competitions, scientific themes are specified. Competitions may be attached to one or more CNRS scientific institutes, depending on the disciplinary or interdisciplinary nature of the themes. There is no limit to the number of applications, particularly in the same campaign. You can apply to several different competitions. However, it is advisable to select competitions based on your qualifications and work, as well as your research project. Unlike the majority of recruitment competitions, competitions for male and female researchers are open regardless of nationality. Each year, nearly a third of candidates recruited are of foreign nationality. (Approximately 90 different nationalities)
There is no age limit for applicants, provided they have not reached the age limit for employment. There is no limit to the number of applications.
Closing dates and times are set by law and must be respected. You must make any changes to your application and send any additional documents (publications, theses) by post before the registration deadline. After registration closes:
- no modification of the application file is possible,
- no applications accepted,
- no additional parts are taken into account.
In the candidates' guide, you'll find all the details and advice you need to prepare for the competition.
Calendars and juries
Competitions take place in two phases: the eligibility phase and the admission phase. Each phase is characterized by separate juries and specific organizational rules.
Eligibility
During this phase, the juries examine and shortlist the applications of candidates who have been admitted to the competition, and hold interviews with candidates whose applications have been shortlisted. They then draw up a list of eligible candidates for each competition. For research director competitions, juries examine the scientific merit of candidates on the basis of their application files.
This examination may also include an interview with the candidates. In this case, the juries make a pre-selection of the candidates' files, which will then be auditioned. Eligibility juries then draw up a list of eligible candidates.
Admission
The admission phase consists of an examination of the files of eligible candidates by the admission juries. At the end of this phase, the admissions juries draw up the lists of admitted candidates, and any supplementary lists.
2024 campaign calendar
- Equivalence bodies: February 19-22
- Admissibility juries: March 4 to April 5
- Auditions: March 18 to June 12, depending on each section's schedule
- Admissions juries: downloadable calendar below; their composition will be published in April-May.
Setting up eligibility juries
For each competition, an eligibility jury is set up, made up of members of the relevant section or interdisciplinary commission of the national committee. For each competition, the eligibility jury may be supplemented by one or two members from another section of the national committee, where this is justified by the need for scientific expertise.
For auditions, juries may be divided into "jury sections", depending on the number of candidates and their scientific fields of activity.
Setting up admission juries
For competitions for research fellows, an admissions jury is set up by one of the institutes whose activities concern the section responsible for the discipline(s) of the post(s) to be filled. Each jury comprises :
- Institute Director or representative, Chairman ;
- five members appointed by the Minister for Research, on the proposal of the Chairman;
- five members appointed by the Minister for Research, after consultation with the Institute's Scientific Council, from among the members of the sections of the Comité National de la Recherche Scientifique with a rank at least equal to that of the positions to be filled.
Of these ten members, at least five must be CNRS researchers, at least two of whom must be elected members of the Comité National de la Recherche Scientifique.
A single admissions jury is set up for competitions for chargés de recherche and chargés de recherche in interdisciplinary commissions. It comprises :
- CNRS President and CEO, Chairman ;
- ten members appointed by the Minister for Research, on the proposal of the Chairman;
- ten members appointed by the Minister for Research, after consultation with the scientific councils of the institutes, from among the members of the sections of the Comité National de la Recherche Scientifique with a rank at least equal to that of the posts to be filled; of these, at least five must be CNRS researchers, at least two of them chosen from among the elected members of the Comité National de la Recherche Scientifique.
For research director competitions, the admissions jury is common to all CNRS institutes. It is chaired by the President of the CNRS. It includes institute directors and leading scientists.
Results
Results are notified individually to all candidates. You can consult the following results below as the competition progresses:
- Accepted for competition (following verification of applications)
- Admitted to continue (following evaluation of applications for competitions whose eligibility includes an audition)
- Eligible (following audition or directly after file evaluation in the absence of an audition)
- Winners (after the admissions jury)