Postdoctoral Researcher: Public Issues of Data Centers - SHS TerrAINs Chair - 18-month Fixed-Term Contract

Who are we?

Télécom Paris, an IMT school (Institut Mines-Télécom) and founding member of Institut Polytechnique de Paris, is a leading institution among the top 6 general engineering schools in France.

The raison d'être of Télécom Paris is to train, imagine, and innovate to design digital models, technologies, and solutions for the service of a society and economy respectful of humans and their environment.

We are looking for our future postdoctoral researcher in public issues of data centers to join the Economic and Social Sciences (SES) research department, and more specifically the SHS TerraAINs chair.

Scientific Context:

The SHS TerrAINs Chair focuses on the territorial issues of digital infrastructure development, particularly data centers in France. It is led by Pauline Gourlet and funded by the Île-de-France Region (2026-2029).

Long considered an invisible infrastructure, data centers are now at the heart of public and industrial policy debates. The Île-de-France Region currently concentrates these infrastructures (over 165 in 2024), with numerous hyperscale data center projects under consideration.

As vectors of innovation, objects of speculation, and instruments for reaffirming national power, their rapid development also generates significant concerns, even rejection, in France (as abroad). To date, there is no concerted planning for them; it largely relies on isolated opportunities. However, these infrastructure projects lie at the intersection of local and even hyper-local issues—from territorial planning to environmental impacts—and national and international issues—from electricity grid strain to technological sovereignty and investment questions.

Within the Chair, the postdoctoral researcher will study how data centers, key objects of digital infrastructure, develop and organize various public issues related to "territories" at different territorial scales. How, in turn, can the definition and prioritization of these issues allow for concerted trade-offs to plan their deployment?

The modalities of participation in the construction of these public issues, as well as the production of data necessary to inform stakeholder positions, are as much an issue of technical democracy as a way to regain control over the planning of living environments.

By combining sociology of science and technology with urban studies, using an innovative action-research methodology, TerrAINs contributes to making digital infrastructures visible and discussable, while experimenting with tools for problem representation and participation adapted to contemporary infrastructural challenges.

The Chair is organized around three main axes:

1. Analysis of discourses on data centers, particularly regional, national, and international media discourses;

2. Description of the modalities of "infrastructure making": situated practices, relationships with environments, frictions. This axis will focus on three sites in the Île-de-France region concerned by hyperscale data center projects.

3. The chair is designed as an action-research laboratory that experiments with new modalities of representation and participation around digital infrastructures.

Your main missions will be to:

• Undertake research missions within the framework of the Terrains Chair

• Participate in the animation of the chair and contribute to projects led by other team members

• Participate in dissemination activities for the work carried out within the chair

• Supervise trainees and student workshops

Consult the detailed description of the full missions in the detailed job description.

We are looking for a candidate with an SHS – interdisciplinary profile (environmental humanities, Science and Technology Studies (STS) or experimental anthropology, social geography, architecture / design…) with a solid theoretical and empirical mastery of socio-environmental transformations, situated knowledge, public issues, collective inquiry, and the relationships between science/society.

Required degree level: doctorate or equivalent

Why join us?

You will work in a rapidly developing, pleasant, green, and accessible environment (especially for people with disabilities) just 20 km from Paris (RER B and C, close to major roads).

You will benefit from:

• 49 days of annual leave (paid leave + RTT)

• flexible working hours (depending on departmental activity)

• remote work 1 to 3 days/week possible

• 75% reimbursement of public transport pass

• Proximity to numerous sports facilities, concierge services, underground parking, on-site dining...

• Good to know: our social contributions are lower than in the private sector

Discover our work environment, our commitments in images and video on our dedicated page.

Application file to be sent before November 20th:

• a detailed CV

• a letter (max 2-3 pages) outlining the contributions the candidate wishes to make to the Chair and their motivation to participate;

• two significant publications relevant to this intention (beyond traditional academic criteria)

• a letter of recommendation

Miscellaneous Information:

Application deadline: November 22, 2026

Job type: 18-month Fixed-Term Contract (CDD)
Detailed job description available here
Salary: €36,000 gross/year

Depending on the status of the selected candidate and the number of years after the thesis defense, a research engineer contract may be considered.

Our recruitment is based on skills, without distinction of origin, age, gender identity, or sexual orientation, and all our positions are open to people with disabilities.

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