• Employer description :

The French Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) contributes to strengthening the resilience of societies in the face of global upheavals. It operates in over 50 countries across Africa, Latin America, Asia, the Pacific, as well as in mainland France and its overseas territories. 

His research activities directly address priority needs: climate change mitigation and adaptation, poverty and inequality reduction, biodiversity preservation, access to healthcare, and the integration of social dynamics. Research questions are developed in collaboration with local stakeholders and communities. Teams combine diverse perspectives, disciplines, and knowledge through long-term partnerships to build robust, high-impact solutions. The IRD champions research that benefits the greatest number. It shares project results and puts science at the service of action, supporting the transformation of societies toward fairer and more sustainable social, economic, and ecological models.

• The structure you will be joining :

The postdoctoral position will be shared between two IRD joint research units (UMR):

• UMR LEDa (Université Paris Dauphine PSL, CNRS, IRD), specifically within the DIAL team, which brings together around forty researchers and teacher-researchers in international economics and development, as well as an equal number of PhD students. For more details, see leda.dauphine.fr and dial.ird.fr.
• UMR CES (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CNRS, IRD), which includes around a hundred teacher-researchers and as many PhD students. For more details, see ces.pantheonsorbonne.fr.

• An attractive mission :

The postdoctoral researcher's mission will focus on social norms and women's well-being in Africa.

At DIAL, the researcher will support participants in the ANR BASAF project by studying factors that may contribute to changes in opinions and gender norms. For example, they may develop research on: the influence of religious leaders on attitudes toward gender norms, the impact of conflict-related violence on women’s political mobilization and opinions about gender norms, the role of migration in shaping gender social norms.

At CES, the researcher will contribute to the work led by Paola Villar and her co-authors, particularly on the effects of progress in gender parity in political representation on women’s trajectories and various aspects of household dynamics, such as decision-making power or domestic violence, using individual-level microdata. More broadly, they may develop research on the links between women’s political representation and participation in Africa, the evolution of gender norms, family dynamics, and individual well-being.

The postdoctoral researcher will work with a team of 5 to 7 development economists at DIAL.

At CES, they will primarily collaborate with Paola Villar, but may also work with her co-authors, including CES PhD students, as well as her network of researchers in France and Senegal.