Research laboratory: LiRIS – Laboratoire interdisciplinaire de recherche en innovations sociétales

Call for expression of interest description: The Marie S. Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF) programme is a highly prestigious renowned EU-funded scheme. It offers talented scientists a unique chance to set up 2-year research and training projects with the support of a supervising team. Besides providing an attractive grant, it represents a major opportunity to boost the career of promising researchers. 

Research laboratories in Brittany are thus looking for excellent postdoctoral researchers with an international profile to write a persuasive proposal to apply for a Marie S. Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2025 (deadline of the EU call is set for 10th September 2025). The topic and research team presented below have been identified in this regard.

Main Research Field: Economic Sciences (ECO)

Research sub-field(s):Ecological Economics; Applied economics; Political economy 

Keywords:Inequality; Ecological transition; Labour; Union; Power; Econometrics

Research project description:

The link between inequalities and the environment is fundamental to analyze our current world in a context of polymorphous crisis, in which multiple crises, social and ecological, seem to reinforce each other. The literature on the ecological consequences of crises grew out of Boyce's initiating work (Boyce (1997) and is increasingly complex (Angel et al., 2024).

As shown in the literature review produced by Berthe and Elie (2015) and taken up by the IPCC and IPBES, this literature has mainly focused on the political and consumption mechanisms that could link these two dimensions. It also focused on a global test of causality between inequality and environment without seeking to explore the diversity of the mechanisms at work. In this literature, a set of mechanisms have been omitted around the weight of inequalities on the transformation of production in our developed economies.

However, following the work of Thomas Piketty, it seems obvious that the weight of capital is greater today in our societies and that this influences the way in which our productive apparatus seems to be transformed (technological choices, types of investment, types of process and product innovation chosen, organizational methods, capital/labor distribution, unions, etc.). Moreover, more and more articles focus on differentiated emissions between social groups based on the capital possessed by different individuals in society (Chancel and Rehm, 2023), or on the weight of workers' unions in obtaining benefits in a just transition (ILO, 2015).

The objective of this project will be threefold. It will firstly be based on the constitution of a large database on the inequality-environment nexus at the scale of OECD countries by including a new refinement on the variables characterizing production, and especially the relations of production between capital and labor within it. Then, based on work in industrial institutional economics, a new theoretical framework allowing us to rethink the production angle of the inequality-environment nexus will be proposed. Finally, in-depth econometric analyzes will have to be carried out to test the different possible hypotheses on this specific inequality-environment link. 

References:

Angel, T., Berthe, A., Costantini, V., D’Angeli, M., 2024, How the nature of inequality reduction matters for CO2 emissions. Preprint. Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. 

Berthe A., Elie L., 2015. « Mechanisms explaining the impact of economic inequality on environmental deterioration ». Ecological Economics, 116, 191-200.

Boyce, J.K., 1994. Inequality as a cause of environmental degradation. Ecological

Economics 11, 169-178.

Chancel, L., Rehm, Y. 2024. The carbon footprint of capital. Preprint.

ILO. (2015). Guidelines for a just transition towards environmentally sustainable

economies and societies for all. International Labour Organization.

Supervisor: The Postdoctoral Fellow will be supervised by Alexandre Berthe.

Alexandre Berthe is an economist working on social issues associated with the ecological transition. After having worked on the use of the concept of environmental inequality in economics and consequences of inequality on environmental deterioration, he has recently directed several interdisciplinary investigations (sociology, economics, geography) around the ecological transformation of sectors of activity and the implications in terms of social justice: ecological social security in France, agri-energy transition in Brittany, greening of prisons in Europe. Alexandre Berthe is a researcher at Rennes 2 University, but also very involved in the dynamics of transitions at Paris Cité University.

Berthe A., Elie L., 2015. « Mechanisms explaining the impact of economic inequality on environmental deterioration ». Ecological Economics, 116, 191-200.

Alexandre Berthe, Pascale Turquet, 2023, Just transition, in: Handbook of the Anthropocene by Christopher Wulf et Nathanaël Wallehnorst, Springer Editions.

Berthe, A., Grouiez, P. & Fautras, M. (2022). Heterogeneity of Agricultural Biogas Plants in France: A Sectoral System of Innovation Perspective. Journal of Innovation Economics & Management.

Profil Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aq1j7PsAAAAJ&hl=fr 

Department/Research:                      

The host research team LiRIS works on social innovations in an interdisciplinary framework (law, economics, sociology) The LiRIS laboratory is structured around two research axes: "Standards, Governance, and Globalization" and "Standards, Vulnerabilities, and Solidarities." Its members aim to play a major role in analyzing social innovations, addressing three challenges: globalization, societal changes, and environmental issues. Globalization presents various mutations that challenge norms, values, and governance principles across different regulatory scales. Societal challenges emerge from evolving normative relationships and institutional transformations, fostering new economic and social organization modalities and highlighting vulnerabilities that require solidarity efforts. Environmental challenges, particularly regarding climate change financing, are becoming increasingly pressing. The EU's decarbonization program by 2050 sets a path towards a carbon- free world, necessitating new behaviors, especially towards renewable energy. The LiRIS acknowledges the interconnectedness of creating a responsible finance market and encouraging consumer engagement, requiring diverse expertise in management, law, economics, and sociology within the laboratory. Numerous collaborations also exist with other laboratories: Arènes (political science) and ESO (social geography). 

Location: Rennes 2 University, Campus Villejean, Rennes, France 

Suggestion for interdisciplinary / intersectoral secondments and placements: Several academic secondment options could be envisioned depending on the characteristics of the candidate. A secondment at CIRED (leading laboratory in France for IPCC reports) in Paris could probably also be organised to strengthen knowledge on European issues, or at OFCE on social-ecological nexus. Secondments or placements could also be envisioned at the European level, in particular at ETUI, or at the World Bank in the group focusing on finance ministries role in ecological transition. 

Skills Requirements: 

- Specific Skill Requirements Strong knowledge in political economy and quantitative analysis (especially econometrics)

- English

-Publications: Publications in English with quantitative analysis 

Eligibility criteria for applicants

Academic qualification: By the MSCA-PF call deadline (10 September 2025), applicants must be in possession of a doctoral degree, defined as a successfully defended doctoral thesis, even if the doctoral degree has yet to be awarded.

Research experience: Applicants must have a maximum of 8 years full-time equivalent experience in research, measured from the date applicants were in possession of a doctoral degree. Years of experience outside research and career breaks (e.g. due to parental leave), will not be taken into account.

Nationality & Mobility rules: Applicants can be of any nationality but must not have resided more than 12 months in France in the 36 months immediately prior to the MSCA-PF call deadline (10 September 2025).

Application process

We encourage all motivated and eligible postdoctoral researchers to send their expressions of interest through the EU Survey application form (link here)[1], before 31st May 2025. Your application shall include:

• a CV detailing: (i) for each position you had, the exact dates and location (country) and (ii) a list of accepted publications;
• a cover letter including a research outline (up to 2 pages) identifying the research synergies with the project supervisor(s) and proposed research topics described above.

Estimated timetable

Deadline for sending an expression of interest : 31st May 2025

Selection of the applicant : June 2025 at the latest

Writing the MSCA-PF proposal with the support of the above-mentioned supervisor(s)

June – September 2025

MSCA-PF 2025 call deadline : 10 September 2025

Publication of the MSCA-PF evaluation results : February 2026

Start of the MSCA-PF project (if funded) : May 2026 (at the earliest)