Back in the Game: Why Now Is the Time to Start Preparing Your 2026 Concours Application

After the summer slowdown, the dust has finally settled from last year’s CNRS and CNAP concours. Some of us are still decompressing after the intensity of the application season, others have just joined new labs as freshly appointed researchers. But for those planning to apply this year, mid-October is the time to get back into the game.

If you’re eyeing a permanent position in 2026, this is the quiet moment before the storm, the window where careful planning pays off later. By starting early, you give yourself room to shape a strong, coherent application rather than scrambling to meet deadlines in January.

Why Now?

Because the concours is not just about writing: it’s about strategizing. Two documents in particular take time and coordination to mature:

• your past research summary, and
• your proposed research project.

These are not just summaries of what you’ve done and what you want to do. They are carefully crafted narratives that need to align with your scientific trajectory, demonstrate independence, and fit strategically within the priorities of your potential host institution and the French ecosystem. Those last two parts take time: discussing with the lab, adjusting your project, and securing institutional support. None of this happens overnight.

A Gentle Reminder of the Timeline

If you need a refresher, we’ve summarised the general timeline for the CNRS concours in our earlier post, which applies with the same rough timeline to the CNAP concours: Surviving the Application Marathon

In short:

• Autumn (now): Draft your documents, reach out to potential hosts, and start collecting feedback.
• Winter (December-January): Calls open and close quickly; submit your polished dossier.
• Spring: Pre-selections and interviews.
• Early Summer: Final results and the next cohort of researchers.

This rhythm does not change much from year to year, which is why starting in October is key. It allows time for reflection, iteration, and the inevitable rewriting that turns a decent proposal into a compelling one.

Don’t forget that both the CNRS and CNAP concours depend on the French political climate and budget decisions. This has shifted the timelines in the past and can easily happen in the future.

Updating Your Application: The “Committee Memory” Question

If you have applied before, you might be tempted to resubmit last year’s dossier with only minor updates. Unfortunately, that approach rarely works. The committees have an excellent institutional memory - reviewers tend to recall projects and candidates from previous rounds. Reapplying with the same text risks giving the impression that nothing has evolved since last year.

That said, this year brings a particular twist: the CNRS hiring committee has just been renewed, as it is scheduled to do every five years. This means a completely fresh set of reviewers will be reading your application. If your previous dossier was already in excellent shape, you might indeed reuse parts of it with only minimal adaptation. However, keep in mind that the previous jury left some notes for the new committee concerning their hiring rationale.

Still, what remains absolutely crucial is to show what you have achieved since your last submission. Demonstrate that you can produce meaningful new work on roughly a one-year timescale. A new publication is, of course, ideal, but depending on your field, this can also take other forms: new data analyses, instrument development milestones, project leadership, or contributions to a major proposal. The point is to show momentum and continuity: that you are moving forward, not standing still.

Finding Momentum Again

Getting started after the summer can be hard, especially if you went through the process last year. But take it one step at a time: open your previous drafts, look at your latest results, think about where your work is heading. Ask yourself: “What is the story I want to tell this year?”

The concours is demanding, but it rewards consistency and forethought. A few hours invested now can make the difference between a rushed dossier and one that stands out for clarity and coherence.

So grab a notebook - or a fresh Overleaf file - and start sketching. The 2026 concours season begins today.