Post-doc M/F 18 months – Anthropology – Microbial diversity, dairy technology

Organisation/Company CNRS Department Eco-anthropologie Research Field Anthropology Anthropology » Ethnology Researcher Profile Established Researcher (R3) Application Deadline 22 Oct 2026
- 23:59 (UTC) Country France Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 35 Offer Starting Date 1 Feb 2027 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

The postdoctoral position is offered within the framework of the interdisciplinary ANR project “Maintaining dairy microbial diversity in a globalized market (FERMENTS)”, which brings together researchers in SSH and LS (microbiology) to investigate how microbial diversity is preserved within dairy socio-ecosystems (SES) in the context of the globalization of the lactic ferments used in dairy production. The project aims to study, in France, Jordan, and Mongolia, the biological ecological, social, economic, and political factors that shape three types of dairy microbial SES: the industrial SES (pasteurized milk, industrial ferments), the artisanal SES (raw milk, lactic ferments derived from a previous production run), and the mixed SES (raw milk, industrial ferments).
The successful candidate will conduct ethnographic fieldwork and archival research for the Mongolian component of the project. This research will provide an anthropological analysis of the Mongolian dairy technologies and lactic ferments, the functioning of the different SES, and the communities that inhabits and shape them.
The successful candidate will work closely with Sandrine Ruhlmann (Mongolian component's scientific leader) and will also contribute to the broader activities of the FERMENTS project as a whole.

Research. The ethnographic survey in Mongolia, conducted in Ulaanbaatar, in one or two provincial capitals, and in the steppe, will aim in particular to assess the impact of these inoculation practices on the native milk microbiota, as the Mongolian dairy industry relies on imported industrial lactic ferments.
Mongolia provides an especially valuable setting for studying the microbial industrialization of dairy production. The project will focus on products with strong territorial anchoring that are found across these three SES and that are produced through industrial, artisanal, and/or mixed processes. Tarag (“yogurt, fermented milk”) is one such example. Nomadic herders make it from raw milk inoculated with a small quantity of “yogurt ferment” (targijün höröngö), or “old yogurt” (huêcín tarag), originating from a previous batch. In Ulaanbaatar, the dairy company Cü, founded in 1958 and privatized in 1992, produces tarag, as has the Milkman cooperative since 2020. Given the volumes produced, these companies presumably rely on imported, ready-to-use industrial lactic ferments (starter cultures), as Mongolia does not yet produce its own industrial ferments (Tsend-Ayuush C., Mashentseva NG. et al. 2016). However, inoculation practices in the Mongolian dairy industry remain very poorly documented. The recruited researcher will therefore be expected to prioritize fieldwork in the industrial and mixed SES.
The postdoctoral researcher will participate in the FERMENTS project and contribute to its final interdisciplinary synthesis. The priority research areas will be defined with the project leader, Sandrine Ruhlmann, for the Mongolian component, and will address the following questions:
1) What dairy-processing techniques are implemented across the three SES? The aim will be to analyze their political, economic, ecological, social, and cultural determinants, as well as the recent transformations of an industry that emerged in the 1960s under the communist regime. Particular attention will be paid to technology transfers between artisanal, mixed, and industrial SES: who initiated them, how and where were they carried out, and for what purposes?
2) What dairy-related knowledge, techniques, and practices are mobilized in companies in Ulaanbaatar, provincial cooperatives, and the yurts of nomadic herders? The research will document local knowledge and know-how, their transmission and administration, while taking into account the enduring links between settled populations and nomadic pastoralism. In particular, the study will examine technology transfers within their political, economic, and ecological contexts and assess their outcomes. As early as the 1960s–1980s, French anthropologist Françoise Aubin was already investigating the “coagulants” used in the emerging dairy industry: animal rennet or lactic ferments, whether artisanal or industrial (Hille & Ruhlmann 2022). This question relates to the preservation and transmission of knowledge associated with pastoralism and dairy-processing techniques. The hypothesis of