Postdoc – Acoustic telemetry and spatio-temporal analysis of fish behavior to assess the impact of offshore wind farms (F/M/X)
- Reference : FEM-SAS-2026-026
- Position type: Fixed-term contract
- Duration: 12 month
- Localisation: Brest (29), Nantes (44), Marseille (13) or Le Havre (76)
- Download the offer
Job Description
The development of offshore wind farms (OWF) raises major environmental issues, particularly with regard to their impact on marine ecosystems. These questions are at the heart of the work of the “Wildlife and Interactions” team of France Energies Marines.
This position is part of the FISHOWF+ project led by France Énergies Marines (2024–2027), which aims to improve our understanding of interactions between fish and offshore wind farms. The project relies on acoustic telemetry to analyse habitat use and individual movement patterns across multiple spatial scales. It is based on the monitoring of over 350 tagged fish (including elasmobranchs, seabass, and black seabream) across six French OWF. Two of these sites are equipped with fine‑scale multilateration systems.
The candidate will analyse datasets collected from various French OWF, adapting approaches to different scales, from the fine scale of a substation to the regional scale across different OWF. A central part of the work will consist in developing analyses based on multilateration, a method that allows to precisely locate marked individuals within a study area. This approach paves the way for the modelling of individual trajectories at a very fine scale, which is essential for understanding local behaviour in the vicinity of infrastructures. The postdoctoral fellow will work in close collaboration with the project partners, in particular Ifremer and VLIZ.
The scientific objectives of the position are:
- Assess the impact of construction phases on fish habitat use;
- Characterise the aggregation and reef effect at different spatial scales (substation, wind farm);
- Analyse the behaviour of electrosensitive species in the vicinity of cables and substations to assess the potential effects of artificial electromagnetic fields.
Missions
The postdoctoral fellow will contribute to:
- Design and apply advanced statistical analytics to exploit complex spatio-temporal data from acoustic telemetry and environmental observations at different spatial scales;
- Process and interpret acoustic telemetry data, including multilateral systems for fine-scale trajectory modelling;
- Develop and optimise tools and scripts (R, Python) for the analysis of ecological and environmental data;
- Promote the results by writing scientific articles, technical reports and presentations;
- Collaborate with academic and industrial partners (Ifremer, VLIZ, RTE, EDF…) and contribute to the dynamics of the FISHOWF+ project;
- Participate in the scientific animation of the team.
Required Skills
Initial training
Ph.D. in Marine Ecology, Quantitative Ecology
Specific knowledge
- Good knowledge of movement ecology
- Strong skills in statistics, spatio-temporal analysis, and programming (R, Python).
- Knowledge of marine ecosystems and anthropogenic impacts.
Professional experience
Proven experience in acoustic telemetry data analysis (fine-scale multilateral analysis expertise would be a major asset).
Professional qualities
- Ability to work in a team environment in an interdisciplinary research environment
- Autonomy, rigor, sense of organization
- Analytical and synthesis skills
- Excellent writing and scientific communication skills (in Fr and Eng).
The +:
Interest in environmental issues and offshore renewable energies
WARNING: If you are unable to submit your application via our website, please send it by e-mail to contactrh@france-energies-marines.org, specifying the job reference in the subject field.
Job : Postdoc – Acoustic telemetry and spatio-temporal analysis of fish behavior to assess the impact of offshore wind farms (F/M/X)
Reference : FEM-SAS-2026-026
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