CNRS application files and slides

08 Mar 2023

This post is about application to CNRS, a French research institution (and my employer since October). If you are not French and want to know more about CNRS, let me redirect you to this blog post by Nathanaël Fijalkow, that explains it all very well. Let me just highlight that non-French people are very welcome, that there is no need to speak French, and that the positions come with no teaching duties.

In this post I want to share the documents I used for my applications in 2022:

• report on past research,
• research project,

and the slides of my two applications:

• 2022 interview slides,
• 2021 interview slides.

These are all in French, but automatic translation can probably give some decent versions of the report and project, and the slides are heavely based on drawings.

The reason why I am sharing this is that when I prepared my applications and interviews, it was very useful to have some examples, in particular the ones of the post I already mentioned. When I applied for the first time, I had no idea what an application could look like, and having a few different examples was reassuring and mitigated the writer’s block.

Now, I want emphasize that this is an example, in the sense of an illustration/instance, and not in the sense of a model. First, there are tons of things to be improved there. Second, there are many of ways of writing this kind of document, every researcher has different strengths and tastes. For example, I like making links between different areas and drawing stuff, which is why the slides look like they do.

I hesitated for quite a long time before making this public. I hope I will not look too stupid when some research directions I propose ends up being complete non-sense. The reason I do it is because I think these are useful to applicants and that it is unfair that some of them have access to such documents (because they know well people who have applied recentely) and some do not.

Also, I’d like to take the opportunity to say a word about the questions of the committee, because this was mysterious and a bit scary to me. The questions I had were of two types.

• Making sure that some aspect is solid enough. For example, if you have a very good publication in a field a bit far from your field of expertise, be prepared to explain what you did, in which way you were useful, etc. Also if a part of your project is connected to a field you do not know (eg A.I., biology), then be prepared to explain how you are going to work in this area, with which experts, on which timeline.

• Relating to a topic the committee members knows. The people who will ask the most of the questions are people who do not know your topic, but work in a close area. Think about someone who could go to the same conference, but not attend the same sessions. It is difficult for them to ask very meaningful technical questions on your core topic. So they will probably ask questions about a topic that is in their area of expertise and related to your work, although not to your specific area. You can try to imagine what these questions can be.

If you are applying, good luck to you! Bon courage!