General information

Reference

2025-3852  

Position description

Category

F10 Geophysics - Engineer / Researcher

Job title

Postdoc in ground motion data analysis and broad-band synthetic seismograms

Contract

Post-doctoral contrat

Contractual hours

Full-time

Contract duration

12 months

Context and contributions of the position

Joining the French Geological Survey (BRGM) means becoming part of France's leading public institution for Earth Science applications bringing together 1,000 wholeheartedly committed experts across 29 bases in Mainland and Overseas France.

BRGM focuses on enhancing geological knowledge and understanding of surface and sub-surface-related phenomena, with a view to meeting the challenges of environmental changes through innovative projects with societal implications.

The Energy and Decarbonization Division (DED) conducts scientific activities aimed at promoting the sustainable and safe development of low-carbon subsurface energy production and use, while helping to increase energy autonomy. The division focuses in particular on geothermal energy and heat storage, carbon capture and storage (CCS), natural hydrogen, underground storage of energy carriers, and radioactive waste disposal.

Job description

The unit's main areas of focus include:
(i) Assessing the integrity of natural and engineered barriers (through modeling, experimentation, and monitoring),
(ii) Determining the impacts of subsurface exploitation and usage (e.g., induced seismicity, pollutant migration, CO₂ and associated impurity leakage),
(iii) Evaluating interferences and potential conflicts between subsurface uses,
(iv) Monitoring underground infrastructure (sensors, passive seismic methods, etc.) and surface impacts (e.g., satellite interferometry),
(v) Predictive modeling of coupled processes (e.g., reactive transport, water-rock interactions),
(vi) Uncertainty analysis (Monte Carlo simulations, surrogate modeling),
(vii) Risk analysis.

The position contributes to the ANR project IM-SURF (Impact and Mitigation of SURFace Seismic Waves on Large-Scale 3D Structures, 2024-2028), focusing on the seismic data collection and synthetic seismograms for the engineering study from the recent earthquakes (e.g. 2023 Turkey, 2024 Noto-Japan earthquakes).

Your main responsibilities will include:
- Enrich the database of surface waves from the recent earthquakes as well as to provide broad-band synthetic seismograms. The broad-band seismograms are usually generated by a combination of a deterministic low frequency part and a stochastic high frequency component. We target principally two recent earthquakes; 2023 Turkish sequences and 2024 Noto, Japan, earthquake, for which ground motion data are abundantly available.
- Contribute to the project from the seismological analysis and numerical simulations for providing input ground motions for the other tasks brought by GDS (Géodynamique & Structure), CentraleSupélec and ENSTA.
- Construction of database from the observation and synthetics, processing the time-series data for the partners and the redaction of a scientific paper.

Profile

Requested start date: 01/01/2026
Education: Ph.D.
Experience: Beginner

The role will require the following skills and qualities:
- Solid research skills in seismology and engineering seismology through Ph.D. work and publications with international outreach.
- Experience of strong ground motion analysis.
- Efficient teamwork and good communication skills.
- Fluent in English (spoken and written), and knowledge of French will be an advantage.

Working conditions

Within an environment that promotes a healthy work/life balance, particularly thanks to remote working, BRGM prides itself on providing a friendly and caring place to work.

Awarded HRS4R certification in 2021, we are committed to supporting you throughout your career at BRGM. We provide you with a range of tools for developing your skills and expertise, with scope for career progression and geographic mobility.

At BRGM, you will gain from such benefits as a 13th month salary, days off compensating for unpaid overtime, a company canteen, sports facilities as well as holiday and leisure options.

At BRGM, you are guaranteed a transparent recruitment process. To apply, please send us your application (up-to-date CV and cover letter) by August 31th 2025.

Because diversity matters to us at BRGM, all of our job vacancies are open to everyone!

We will examine your application as soon as the closing date has passed. If your application is short-listed, we will contact you for recruitment interviews during which you will have the opportunity to talk with the recruitment and HR departments as well as a cross-functional department.

Position location

Job location

France, Centre-Val de Loire, Loiret (45)

Location