2 minute read

We are thrilled to announce that the CNRS concours 2026 has officially been announced, as published in today’s edition of the Journal officiel de la République française (JORF), the official journal of the French Republic. This marks the formal opening of the concours, and the online application portal will be live tomorrow, December 12th 2025.

Key Details

  • Opening Date: 12 December 2025 at 13:00 CET
  • Closing Date: 12 January 2026 at 13:00 CET

Candidates now have one month to submit their applications for the CNRS associate research positions (chargé.e de recherche). Please note that all applications must be completed and submitted online or sent via mail before the deadline. The planned calendar for the full concours can be found on the section 19 website.

Important Information for Applicants

Please note that since this year, the sections have been renamed and renumbered. As mentioned in our previous blogpost, the Astronomy and Astrophysics section is now Section 19. Please be careful when filling in your section in the online application form!

This year’s concours is opened for:

  • concours n°19/02: 5 positions as associate researcher (Chargé.e de Recherche Classe Normale)
  • concours n°19/03: 1 targeted position as associate researcher labeled “Study of dark energy with large surveys”, affiliated in either of the following institutes: Institut de Physique des 2 Infinis (IP2I) in Lyon; or Laboratoire de Physique des 2 Infinis Irène Joliot-Curie (IJCLab) in Orsay; or Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille (CPPM) in Marseille
  • concours n°04/10: 1 position as associate researcher working on high energy astrophysics and extrem phenomenons in Section 04 (Interactions, particles, nuclei, from the lab to the cosmos). The research has to apply to an institut linked to the CNRS Earth and Universe (e.g., INSU)

Resources for Applicants

The Section 19 website gathers the recommandation for your application and soon the CNRS concours webpage will be updated with the official candidate guide for this year.

A Reminder About the Recruitment Process

Until the arrêté d’ouverture des concours is published in the JORF, no official information can be communicated regarding the concours. With today’s publication, all details have now been confirmed, and the application portal is fully operational.

The timing of the deadline right after the Christmas holidays

As usual, the concours opens during the difficult period over Christmas, when the month of December is split between finishing important work related project before the new year and some supposedly relaxing time over Christmas. At least, this year the deadline is really a full work-week after the standard Christmas/New Year break. We mentioned in a previous post how challenging this period can be and we would like to remind all the candidates that you are not alone in this and your work/life balance matters!

Stay tuned for further updates and tips for preparing your application. Best of luck to all applicants in the CNRS concours 2026!

Links:

Updated:

You may also enjoy

Preparing Your CNRS Research Synthesis

12 minute read

In this post, we first walk you through a brief reminder of the required documents for a CNRS application and then spend the rest of the article on one of th...