Post‑Doctoral Fellow – Multifunctional Hydrogels for Agriculture

About the role

The Sustainable Materials Research Center (SusMaT‑RC) at UM6P, in collaboration with MIT, seeks two highly motivated post‑doctoral fellows to develop bio‑sourced, multifunctional hydrogels for agricultural use. Fellows will work under Professor Youssef Habibi, converting locally abundant biomass into value‑added components and integrating them with fertilizers or biobased additives.

Key responsibilities

• Formulate and process hydrogels using bio‑polymer techniques.
• Design, fabricate, and characterize porous materials.
• Apply analytical, spectroscopic, and microscopic methods to evaluate material performance.
• Conduct rigorous testing for reliability and robustness.
• Collaborate with an interdisciplinary team of chemists, polymer specialists, and engineers.
• Maintain detailed experimental records and draft technical reports, research papers, and conference presentations.
• Assist in proposal writing and external funding applications.
• Supervise undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students.
• Travel to the United States for a short work assignment.

Required profile

• Ph.D. in physical‑chemical, analytical chemistry, polymer science, materials science, engineering, or a closely related field.
• Strong organizational skills, self‑motivation, and ability to work independently.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English.

Required skills

• Hydrogel formulation
• Polymer processing
• Porous material design and fabrication
• Material characterization
• Analytical techniques
• Spectroscopic techniques
• Microscopic techniques