External competitions for researchers (M/F)

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.

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.

• Equivalent bodies: January 2025
• Eligibility juries: February 2025
• Hearings: February to May 2025, depending on each section's schedule
• Admissions juries: downloadable calendar below; their composition will be published in April-May.

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 the number of scientific disciplines involved.

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.