Doctoral Candidate "Development and characterization of a multi-sensor platform for monitoring onshore CO2 storage sites" - Doctoral Contract

ENGLISH VERSION

Joining Mines Saint-Étienne means committing to an institution where science and innovation are building a more sustainable future. A school of excellence where everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential and contribute to meeting the challenges of tomorrow.

Ranked among the best engineering schools in France and recognized worldwide, our school, a member of Institut Mines-Télécom, trains the talents of tomorrow while actively contributing to addressing major industrial, digital, and environmental challenges. With us, you join a community of 500 employees and 2500 students, and participate in an ambitious project: combining academic excellence, cutting-edge research, and positive societal impact.

Institut Mines-Télécom brings together leading French schools around major industrial, digital, energy, and ecological challenges. With its 8 public Grandes Écoles and 2 affiliated schools, it is the leading public institute dedicated to engineers and managers. Together, we imagine and build a sustainable future by training the actors who will shape the transitions of tomorrow.

At Mines Saint-Étienne, our research centers are the beating heart of our School.

Designed as true innovation hubs, our five Training and Research Centers combine their expertise around major industrial, environmental, societal, and technological issues.

Their mission? To imagine the world of tomorrow by combining academic excellence and concrete impact.

Do you dream of a clean, efficient, and sustainable industry? The SPIN center makes it its priority.

Energy, environment, industrial processes… we design systems there to produce better, with less.

The objective? To limit environmental impact, reduce energy consumption, and boost efficiency.

🔧 In a rapidly changing world, our teams deploy their scientific creativity to support the industry of the future.

And you, are you ready to innovate with us?

🎯 What we expect from you

As a doctoral candidate, you are at the heart of our research and innovation missions and, to a lesser extent, our teaching missions. You will be assigned to the SPIN center – LGF (Laboratoire Georges Friedel, UMR CNRS 5307). Within this center, you will combine scientific passion with societal impact.

The SPIN center (Science des Procédés Industriels et Naturels), which will be heavily involved in the thesis, develops, within Mines Saint-Etienne, its expertise in the field of Process Engineering applied to dispersed systems: grains, particles, droplets, bubbles, porous media. It also has skills in sensor development and instrumentation.

CO2 capture and storage technologies are key technologies for the decarbonization of the industrial sector. Offshore storage has already demonstrated its feasibility, but onshore storage seems necessary to increase storage capacities while reducing CO2 transport. However, the proximity of these sites to populations makes their deployment uncertain and raises questions about social acceptance.

The long-term monitoring of CO2 storage sites, required by the European CCS directive, provides an opportunity to strengthen transparency and local acceptance of storage by engaging stakeholders in data acquisition and interpretation. However, current monitoring systems do not allow for in-situ measurements, numerical simulations, and interactive visualization for an integrated approach to storage site monitoring. The CO2MET project aims to develop and advance key units or elements to prepare a future integrated long-term digital monitoring system to improve the reliability and acceptability of geological CO2 storage.

To achieve these objectives, the CO2MET consortium has been formed and comprises IFPEN, BRGM, Mines Saint-Etienne, and Cerema.

Long-term monitoring requires reliable and efficient tools, particularly in the field of environmental sensors, which raises the issue of implementing corrective measures to process the signal, as well as the influence of long-term variations in external parameters on sensor response (and the impact of climate change). Given that CO2 concentration signals alone may not be sufficiently discriminatory (biological concentrations in soils can exceed 10% vol.), due to their diverse origins (deep sources, from storage or gas-rock interaction; respiration processes; methane oxidation), preventing false positives in storage site monitoring must rely on CO2 sensors (NDIR or photoacoustic) and other sensors (e.g., an O2 chemical sensor), as well as environmental sensors (humidity, pressure, temperature) to enable correct attribution of the CO2 source.

Among the missions assigned to you, the doctoral candidate will have to:

· Select existing sensors meeting specifications to develop a detection platform

· Study, under laboratory conditions, the selectivity of sensors towards interfering gaseous species, using multivariate analysis

· Define prediction algorithms taking into account reproducibility, drift, linearity, and variability in complex gaseous mixtures and variable environmental conditions (temperature, pressure, and relative humidity)

· Study the influence of sensor aging on their response and on the established predictions, in order to propose a compensation algorithm

· Finally, conduct concrete case studies on the Sainte-Marguerite site (Puy-de-Dôme), with varying CO2 emission levels, to test and validate the developed sensor platforms.

Your ability to work in a project-based manner and to foster dialogue between teaching, research, and concrete application will be essential for success.

🔍 What we are looking for

You hold a:

· Bac + 5 degree or equivalent

And ideally:

· Hold a Master 2 degree in the following fields: Measurement / Instrumentation / Metrology; Data acquisition, processing, and analysis

· With internship or professional research experience (strong interest in the experimental aspect)

· Junior candidates accepted: yes

Your additional assets:

• The subject matter being multidisciplinary, solid knowledge in instrumentation/sensors, data processing, and multivariate analysis will be necessary. Furthermore, knowledge in probability/statistics will also be appreciated.

• The subject includes a significant experimental component, but solid digital knowledge will be useful for the data processing part (especially coding in Python).

• Aptitude for oral and written communication (especially in English).

🌍 Why join Mines Saint-Étienne?

We support each of our employees on the path to excellence, with the conviction that together, we can have a lasting and significant impact on our world.

Joining Mines Saint-Étienne is an opportunity to find:

· A stimulating environment: state-of-the-art experimental facilities, a strong international network (T.I.M.E., EULIST), and human-scale campuses with an urban environment.

· A real impact: contract research projects amounting to €11 million/year, mainly with industrial partners, a science and culture center, La Rotonde, which has been committed to science mediation for 25 years with over 50,000 visitors/year.

· An incomparable quality of life: 49 days of leave and RTT, partial remote work, 75% coverage of public transport costs, financial support for carpooling and cycling, and a social barometer where 83% of employees praise their quality of work life.

Let's build a more sustainable future through science, engineering, and meaningful projects.

📩 Apply now!

Application deadline:

🔗 Applications (CV, cover letter, letter of recommendation if applicable, ID) should be submitted on the RECRUITEE platform:

https://institutminestelecom.recruitee.com/o/doctorante-developpement-et-caracterisation-dune-plateforme-multi-capteurs-pour-le-monitoring-de-sites-de-stockage-onshore-de-co2-contrat-doctoral

As part of its Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion policy, École des Mines de Saint Etienne is an employer committed to fair treatment of all applicants.

Informational additions

Doctoral contract - Fixed-term contract of 3 years

Desired start date: February 2027

· Recruitment openings are open to all, with accommodations available upon request for candidates with disabilities.

· Position open to contractual employees

· All applications may be subject to an administrative investigation

Candidates selected after review of their application will be interviewed by video conference during ongoing interviews.

📞 Contacts

· On the content of the position:
Riadh LAKHMI – Assistant Professor
Email:

· On administrative/HR aspects:

Milica PETKOVIC– HR Manager

Email:   
Tel.: + 33 (0)4 77 42 02 08

Useful links:

School:

https://www.mines-stetienne.fr/

IMT:

Protection of your

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