Surviving the Application Marathon: A Timeline for the CNRS and CNAP Concours

Applying for the CNRS or CNAP concours can feel like a marathon, with some key stages throughout the year. The online application portals typically open in mid-December, right before the holidays—a time when you’d probably rather be relaxing than scrambling to finalize paperwork! Deadlines are usually mid-January, so it’s best to start preparing even before December. You’ll want to review, revise, and get feedback multiple times to put your best foot forward.

Once you submit, you just have to wait and see if you make it to the next round—interviews. If you don’t get selected, that’s it for this year. But if you do, it’s time to gear up and prep for those auditions! Then comes the final wait for the official announcements. If you made it, congratulations! If not, take it as experience, refine your approach, ask for feedback, and come back stronger next year.

In the following, we present the overall process and timelines of the CNRS and CNAP concours. This is useful to avoid a late-minute rush to submit your applications, and to allow yourself for enough time to iterate with your support network.

CNRS Concours Process

Key Resources for CNRS Candidates

Official CNRS Concours Website

The official CNRS concours des chercheurs website (https://carrieres.cnrs.fr/concours-externes-des-chercheurs-h-f/) is the most important resource for candidates aspiring to apply for a permanent researcher position at CNRS. It provides a wide range of information, including the application guidelines, required documents, eligibility criteria, and a detailed description of the selection process. Candidates can also find information on how to prepare their applications, tips for successful submissions, and detailed explanations of the evaluation phases. The website and all documents are available in both French and English, ensuring accessibility for international candidates.

An important part of the website is the provisional calendar. This calendar outlines key dates for the entire concours process, including the opening of the application portal, submission deadlines, and interview schedules. Since the concours covers multiple sections across different research domains, the timeline for each section varies, resulting in extended time frames for some stages. For example, the audition phase may span several weeks as each section has a specific slot allocated for interviews. Understanding these timelines helps candidates to prepare better and avoid last-minute rushes.

The website is also the place to find the official applicant guide, which provides essential instructions for preparing and submitting a successful application. This guide includes detailed information on the steps of the competition process, eligibility requirements, and the specific documents needed for submission. It is intended for both those applying for Chargé de Recherche as well as Directeur de Recherche positions. It also offers guidance on writing a compelling research project, choosing the right competition for your profile, and understanding the evaluation criteria used by the CNRS.

Section-Specific Resources

For certain research fields, individual sections provide additional resources specific to their area. These section websites, such as the Section 17 website (https://section17.obspm.fr/), are unofficial sources usually provided by the respective section committees rather than CNRS itself. Section 17, which covers a wide part of astronomy and astrophysics, serves as a good example of this. Their website offers a variety of information specifically tailored to candidates interested in applying to the concours. It is not unlikely that the website name changes once the CoNRS sections get restructured in September of 2025.

On the Section 17 website, candidates can find detailed information on an ongoing concours process, including timelines specific to astronomy and astrophysics. This includes provisional dates for important milestones like interview periods, which are different for each section. The current provisional calendar can be found here: https://section17.obspm.fr/?page_id=181, which puts the auditions into the week of 31 March - 4 April 2025, held in Paris. The Section 17 website also features relevant updates, additional resources, and recommendations for applicants.

In addition to Section 17, there are other section-specific websites that provide helpful information for applicants. Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of these websites:

Section 2 - Théories physiques: http://www.lpthe.jussieu.fr/section02/en/

Section 6 - Sciences de l’information: https://cn6.fr/

Section 18 - Terre et planètes telluriques: https://morpho.ipgp.fr/cn18/

Section 19 - Système Terre: https://sites.google.com/view/section-19-du-cnrs/accueil

Keep in mind that all of these are unofficial sources and the only official reference is the CNRS website.

Application Process

Timeline Overview for CNRS Concours

The CNRS concours process follows a structured timeline that begins at the end of each year and extends into the following months. Below is an overview of the typical timeline for applicants:

• Early December: The application portal opens, and candidates can start submitting their written applications online. It is usually not possible to find concrete information about the upcoming concours before the application portal opens. Until such time, the CNRS concours website contains the information from the past year.
• Early January: Submission deadline. The portal typically closes in early January, allowing candidates roughly one month to complete and submit their applications. Since the deadline coincides with the holiday season or is right thereafter, candidates should plan accordingly to avoid last-minute issues. The concrete date becomes known when the concours opens, although it is sometimes announced a week or so before that.
• February to March: Application reviews and evaluations take place. The review process involves assessing the eligibility and quality of the applications received, with sections conducting several steps of reviews. Applicants are not involved in this process.
• March to April: Interview period, usually held in Paris. Candidates who pass the review (i.e., eligibility jury) are invited for interviews (auditions). Each section has its own specific audition schedule, which is communicated in advance to allow for preparation. As a basic CNRS rule, audition candidates are notified at least 15 days in advance of their concrete interview appointment.
• April to June: Final selection. After the auditions, final deliberations by the hiring committees take place, and the successful candidates are chosen. Results are published, and selected candidates are notified of their positions.

This timeline is indicative, and specific dates may vary from year to year or across different sections. For the concours 2024 for example, the application deadline was exceptionally pushed back to 8 February 2024. While one could argue that this is preferred over a deadline that inflicts major stress during the holiday season, the classic calendar uses an early-January deadline.

Section-Specific Details

For the 2025 CNRS concours at the Section 17, the provisional timeline includes the following key dates for applications as Chargé de Recherche de Classe Normale (CRCN), as identified on the Section 17 website. The classe normale is the beginning status of a CR when hired into the CNRS. We omitted some dates that are only relevant for people candidating as a Directeur de Recherche (DR).

• Early January: Deadline for submission of applications.
• January 16, 2025: Equivalence instance and jury bureau meeting.
• February 24 to 28, 2025: Eligibility jury based on dossiers for Chargé de Recherche (CRCN) and Directeur de Recherche 2 (DR2). In 2025, this is a full month before the interviews, so interview candidates will have a month to prepare.
• March 31 to April 4, 2025: Auditions for Chargé de Recherche (CRCN).
• April 7 and 8, 2025: Eligibility jury for Chargé de Recherche (CRCN) - this is where the hiring decisions are made.

These dates provide a general structure of the 2025 concours process, but candidates should refer to the official CNRS publications to prepare accordingly.

Results

Official results will be posted in PDF documents, listing all sections, on the official CNRS website, and selected candidates will be notified personally.

CNAP Concours Process

Key Resources for CNAP Candidates

Official CNAP Concours Website

The official CNAP astronomy concours website (https://cnap.obspm.fr/CNAP-Recrutement/concours.html) is the primary source of information for candidates applying at CNAP. This website provides comprehensive details about the recruitment process, including eligibility criteria, submission requirements, and specific guidelines for the research positions Astronome-Adjoint and Astronome.

The website includes a provisional calendar that outlines key dates for the entire recruitment process, including application opening, deadlines, and interview schedules. Unlike the CNRS concours, the information available is primarily in French, which may pose challenges for non-French-fluent candidates. The website also provides instructions on how to prepare and submit applications, as well as detailed explanations of the evaluation and selection stages.

Applicants can also find specific details about the dossiers required for submission, which are typically more extensive compared to the CNRS concours.

Comparison with CNRS Concours Resources

The CNAP concours has some differences when compared to the CNRS concours. These are:

• Language Accessibility: All the documents and website information for the CNAP concours are available only in French. This differs from the CNRS concours, which provides bilingual resources (French and English), making the CNRS concours more accessible to non-French-speaking international candidates. This is often justified by the fact that CNAP astronomers need to teach, although there is no hard requirement in full fluency in French for this at the time of the concours - it is assumed that people can learn enough French in 1-2 years to teach.
• Documentation Requirements: The CNAP concours typically requires more extensive application dossiers compared to the CNRS concours. This includes an additional teaching plan and project description for the proposed tache de service that the applicant plans to join.

Application Process

Timeline Overview for CNAP Concours

The CNAP concours follows a similar schedule to the CNRS concours, beginning late in the year and extending into early spring. The interviews are scheduled around the same time like those for Section 17 of CNRS. The one big difference is the application deadline, which is usually a week to two after the CNRS deadline, allowing candidates a bit more time to complete their applications.

Expected Timeline:

• December: Application portal opens.
• Mid- to end-January: Deadline for application submission. Concrete date becomes public when the concours opens.
• February: Eligibility review of dossiers.
• March to April: Interview period for eligible candidates, usually in Paris.
• April: Final selection and results announcement.

The interviews for the Astronome-Adjoint positions in the 2025 concours are scheduled for 1-4 April 2025 in Paris.

Results

The official results for the CNAP concours will be published on the CNAP website. Candidates can expect to find the results listed in PDF format, detailing the successful applicants for each available position. The results are typically announced shortly after the final selection process in April. Moreover, they are also announced through the SF2A mailing list, which we highly recommend to subscribe to here: https://sf2a.eu/website2023/messages/#Messages.

Rinse and repeat…

If you’ve made it this far through the blog, you might be thinking that the application process for both CNRS and CNAP concours is a lot of work—and you’d be absolutely right! Each year, it’s a cycle of preparing, submitting, waiting, and, if needed, trying again. It’s not uncommon for researchers to go through this process multiple times before maybe landing a position. But each attempt refines your approach, strengthens your application, and brings you closer to that goal. So, keep pushing forward. Whether it’s CNRS or CNAP, perseverance is key!

Links:

• CNRS concours des chercheurs: https://carrieres.cnrs.fr/concours-externes-des-chercheurs-h-f/
• CNAP concours astronome et astronome-adjoint: https://cnap.obspm.fr/CNAP-Recrutement/concours.html
• Section 17 website: https://section17.obspm.fr/
• SF2A newsletter: https://sf2a.eu/website2023/messages/#Messages