Information on the 2025 Competition for Researcher Positions
IMPORTANT The only trustworthy information on the « Concours Chercheurs » is the one available on the official site of the CNRS competition .
Useful links are indicated below and please find here the guide for candidates , with instructions on all openings for concours 2025.
Click on the following sections to access more information:
- Number of positions for the "Concours Chercheurs 2025"
6 positions of research fellow of normal class (CRCN = junior position), according to the following:
- 3 CRCN positions on all the research themes pertaining to theoretical physics
- 1 CRCN position on integrable systems in a laboratory affiliated to CNRS Mathématiques,
- 1 CRCN position in one of the following laboratories: LCT Paris, LPCT Nancy, LCPQ Toulouse ou IC Strasbourg, affiliated to CNRS Chimie,
- 1 CRCN position on relativistic astrophysics and cosmology in a laboratory affiliated to CNRS Terre et Univers.
5 positions of research director 2nd class (DR2 = senior position) and potentially 1 external DR
In section 02, the CRCN competition open to all research themes carries the identifier 02/02; the one on integrable systems carries the identifier 02/03, the one for the labs affiliated to CNRS Chimie carries the identifier 02/04 and the one on astrophysics and cosmology carries the identifier 02/05. The DR2 competition is numbered 02/01.
The complete list of open positions within section 02 as well as within all other sections is available on the official website of the CNRS competition .
The list of laboratories/institutes/units which are under Section 02 is available here: Annuaire CNRS by picking the Section filter: “02 - Physical theories: methods, models and applications” and by picking the Lab Code filter Starts with: UMR or UPR (do both sequentially to get the complete list).
Similarly:
- for the list of labs/institutes/research units affiliated with CNRS Mathématiques, specify the filter Section: “41 - Mathematics and interactions of mathematics”,
- for the list of labs/institutes/research units affiliated with CNRS Terre et Univers, specify the filter Section: “17 - Solar system and distant Universe.
- Important dates "Concours Chercheurs 2025"
The dates for the interviews are indicative. We invite the candidate to refer to the dates indicated in the official notification to attend.
Opening of applications December 11, 2025, at 1pm (Paris time).
Dossiers should be uploaded before January 10, 2025, at 1pm (Paris time).
February 10-11, 2025: Jury d’Admissibilité sur Dossier (selection of candidates to be interviewed). The results will be published only on the official website of the CNRS. The section will not respond to requests through other channels before this publication.
March 10-14, 2025: Interviews «concours CR» (at Institut Henri Poincaré , Paris). There will be no interview for the «concours DR2».
March 17-19, 2025: Jury d’Admissibilité (selection of admissible candidates, i.e. final selection of candidates). The results will be published only on the official website of the CNRS. The section will not respond to requests for their communication through other channels before this publication. This selection is made public, but as it stands it is a recommendation to the CNRS management, who takes the final decision.
End of June-beginning of July 2025: admission jury and final results
- Recommendation letters
The official deadline for letter submission is the same as for the
submission of the application documents. To send a letter of recommendation, the preferred procedure is via the submission portal at the following address http://www.cnrs-bellevue.fr/formulaires/scc-recommandation2025.php
.
Note: the submission portal is automatically closed after the official application deadline.
In addition to the submission via this portal, Section 02 also offers the opportunity of submitting letters via email, to the address cnrs-02[AT]lpthe.jussieu.fr . In the case of email submission, and in order to avoid that letters be lost, please make sure to use the following format:
- Filename for the CRCN competition: 02-02_CandidateName_RefereeName.pdf
- Filename for the CRCN competition on integrable systems: 02-03_CandidateName_RefereeName.pdf
- Filename for the CRCN competition for the labs of CNRS Chimie: 02-04_CandidateName_RefereeName.pdf
- Filename for the CRCN competition on astrophysics and cosmology: 02-05_CandidateName_RefereeName.pdf
- Filename for DR2: 02-01_CandidateName_RefereeName.pdf
Message subject: Letter of recommendation [02-xx_CandidateName_RefereeName]
Note that, as far as the completeness of a candidate’s dossier is concerned, letters of recommendation are not mandatory. Nonetheless, letters of recommendation provide very useful guidance to the Comité National. Please limit the number of letters to three.
In addition, a support letter from the lab(s) (not mandatory) can be sent via the same procedure but is necessary/useful only in the case of an external candidate for a DR position (for instance to explain the links with the French teams).
- Help with preparing dossiers for CR positions
As indicated on the CNRS website, your dossier (or application file) should include the following (with the added recommendations made by the committee 02 available by clicking on each point).
(i) A curriculum vitae
This should deal with your career from your PhD years onwards: mention the key dates, places and relevant details of the PhD and any postdoctoral or permanent positions that you have held. You can also include information about academic distinctions, research grants, teaching and administrative duties and conferences where you have presented your work. You should also include a list of up to 8 keywords which describe your scientific fields of activity.
(ii) A report on your scientific work to date
You should start with a one page summary of your most important scientific results (corresponding for instance to the papers that you can include in your dossier) pointing out their importance and your personal contribution to them. The rest of the report should give more details about these results as well as other contributions you have made. The writing must remain concise.
(iii) A full list of publications (strongly suggested: it can be provided via a list or a link to Google Scholar, arXiv, INSPIRE, ORCID etc) along with some articles (recommended 3, maximum 7) that you select as your most significant scientific contributions.
You should organise your publication list in chronological order in sections corresponding to (i) Published research articles (ii) Review articles (iii) Conference proceedings (iv) Book chapters (v) Other. Separate peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed. For the talks, please indicate whether they are seminars, invited or contributed.
(iv) A research proposal
Your future research project should concentrate on your immediate research plans, typically over the next 5 years but depending on your field of research this time scale may vary. You can also briefly include more speculative and long term plans and/or your personal outlook concerning your field. While you are free to decide on the format and length of your research proposal, it should clearly identify the scientific challenges you address and their relationship to the current state of the art. The proposal should be written in a concise and clear manner. There is no need to include a timetable or funding requirements. A bibliography containing titles and open-access links, when possible, would certainly be helpful.
(v) Optional: a copy of your PhD thesis and, if they exist and can be made public, reports by your PhD examiners.
If the articles on which your PhD thesis is based have been fully published, it is strongly recommended to have a hyperlink to a pdf source rather than submitting the full PhD manuscript.
Candidates recruited by the CNRS will be appointed by the management
of the CNRS to a laboratory where they will work. When you apply you
should have a clear idea of which laboratories you would be interested
in joining and how your research activity is adapted to your choice of
laboratories this should be mentioned in your research proposal. You
are strongly advised to contact people in the laboratories that could
host your activity, in particular the directors of the laboratory and
the directors of the relevant research group. The laboratories where
you are planning to apply can help you with putting together your
dossier and give advice.
Members of the section 02 cannot advise you
about your dossier beyond the information given here and should not be
contacted for this purpose.
- Help with preparing dossiers for DR positions
As indicated on the CNRS website, your dossier (or application file) should include the same mandatory pieces as for the CR dossiers. With in addition:
(i) A full list of publications along with some articles (recommended 5, maximum 10) that you select as your most significant scientific contributions.
You should organise your publication list in chronological order in sections corresponding to (i) Published research articles (ii) Review articles (iii) Conference proceedings (iv) Book chapters (v) Other. Separate peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed. For the talks, please indicate whether they are seminars, invited or contributed.
(ii) The “work experience” form specifying the main points in your career development.
Furthermore, the 02 committee recommends to include and detail the following points in the report on your past work:
(i) Administrative responsabilities
(ii) PhD student and postdoc supervision
(iii) Research project coordination
- Details about the interviews
Interviews are only for the CRCN competition, not for the DR2 one. Interviews can be in French or in English.
The day of the interview, the candidate will provide his/her presentation in pdf format on a USB key. For obvious logistic reasons, we cannot unfortunately allow formats other than pdf, nor can we arrange to connect personal devices to the beamer.
More information can be found on the advices for interview page .