Postdoctoral researcher ‘Discrimination, Racism and Mental Health’

Deadline for Application: 27/06/2025

General Information

Workplace: 7 rue Guy Môquet 94801 Villejuif
Type of contract: Researcher in FTC 21 months – full time
Expected date of employment: September 2025
Salary: Contract employees: 2,866.90 gross per month, depending on professional experience in equivalent positions.

Context

This recruitment is linked to the Gender and Health Inequalities (Gendhi) research project. The purpose of Gendhi is to understand how gender intersects with other social relations systems of power relations, such as class and race (racism), to construct social inequalities in health, throughout the life course. The project focuses on four diseases types: cardiovascular pathologies, depression, colorectal cancer, and COVID-19, as well as ageing-related processes.

The research is structured around two interrelated questions:

• How are (un)healthy bodies socially constructed?
• Are the uses of the health care system and the care it provides different according to gender?

The analysis is based on data from existing cohort and cross-sectional surveys, as well as qualitative materials (ethnographies, observations, interviews, documentary analysis) that will be produced as part of the project.

The project is led by Nathalie Bajos, sociologist and demographer, Inserm research director, Muriel Darmon, sociologist, CNRS research director, Pierre-Yves Geoffard, CNRS research director, and Michelle Kelly-Irving, epidemiologist, Inserm research director. It brings together researchers from INSERM, CNRS, INED and universities, as well as clinicians. The project has received funding from the European Research Council through the ERC-Synergy-2019 call for proposals over a period of 7 years.

For more information on the project: http://gendhi.eu/en/home/

Missions

As part of the ERC Gendhi project, the postdoctoral researcher will work on the mental health impact of the different forms of racism and discrimination experienced by people of East et South-East Asian origin in France. The general objective of this postdoctoral research will be to establish the links of scientific interpretation, using a mixed method and from an intersectional perspective, between the experience of racism and discrimination on the one hand and mental health, in particular the expression of depressive symptoms, on the other, focusing on the case of people of East and South-East Asian origin living in France.

Based on the results of the previous work, the present postdoctoral research aims to articulate qualitative data (those of the REACTAsie survey – a study to be carried out between 2020 and 2022 and dedicated to the experiences of racism and discrimination of people of East and South-East Asian origin with higher education qualifications aged between 20 and 40 – and others to be collected) and quantitative EpiCov (Epidemiology and Living Conditions linked to Covid-19) data produced by engineers. The analysis of the part of the EpiCov data relating to people of East and South-East Asian origin will also allow us to situate the ANR MigraChiCovid quantitative data on people of Chinese origin within migrant and descendant groups and, more broadly, within the French population in general, in order to identify specificities in the experience of differential treatment and its psychological consequences or in self-reported mental health status (mental depression in particular).

For the new qualitative survey, the person recruited will open up two new fields (medical and non-medical). He/She will interview a broad public (people with or without medical follow-up, anti-racist activists or not, from different immigrant generations, aged between 20 and 50, who have experienced racism or discrimination in different places).

Several research questions could be formulated, including the following:

• How does psychic suffering linked to racism and discrimination differ according to social class and gender?
• How does psychological suffering linked to differential treatment vary over the course of a life cycle? In particular, depending on the places where racism and discrimination are produced: school, work, public space (before, during and after Covid-19), family and intimate relationships, etc.
• What links can be established between “racist and discriminatory experiences” and “depression scales”?

The candidate will devote the first year of his/her post-doctorate to the scientific documentation and appropriation of the research results of the REACTAsie qualitative survey. At the same

time, the candidate will produce original qualitative material (semi-structured interviews, observations, documentary analyses) based on his/her new fieldwork.

For the quantitative component, the candidate will participate in the scientific analysis with the support of a team of statisticians and data engineers who will be responsible for the preliminary exploitation of longitudinal quantitative data from the French EpiCov survey.

The second year of the post-doctorate will be devoted to scientific valorisation, particularly the writing of scientific articles. The postdoc is expected to participate in at least two publication projects, including one scientific article in French and one in English. All publications resulting from the post-doctorate will mention the ERC grant number, as well as the REACTAsie and EpiCov surveys.

The candidate is expected to be familiar with scientific work in one or more of the following fields: sociology of health and mental health, migration studies, sociology of discrimination, sociology of race.

The candidate is also expected to have an excellent command of qualitative methods in the social sciences, and a good understanding of quantitative methods (without having to do the statistical analysis themselves). Experience of surveys using mixed methods would be an asset.

The successful candidate will work under the joint supervision of Simeng Wang (CNRS, Cermes3) and Nathalie Bajos (INSERM, Iris) and will be based at Cermes3. He/She will also take part in Gendhi’s working groups and seminars held on the Condorcet Campus (Aubervilliers), and will regularly report on the progress of his/her research to his/her co-supervisors.

Main activities

• Participation in the scientific life of Gendhi (Presentation of work and participation in working groups and seminars)
• Participation in the scientific life of Axis 1 of Cermes3 and of the REACTAsie team (Presentation of work and participation in working groups)
• Reading and appropriation of scientific literature on health and mental health, migration, discrimination and racism, bringing together different disciplinary approaches and theoretical frameworks.
• Analyzing existing qualitative data and collecting qualitative data through interviews, transcribing interviews, keeping a field diary for observations
• Interpretation of statistical data with the support of a research support team
• Writing scientific articles (in French and English)
• Participation in scientific symposia and scientific dissemination to the general public

(This list is neither exhaustive nor limitative.)

Working environment

Supervision by Simeng Wang (CNRS, Cermes3) and Nathalie Bajos (INSERM, Iris)

The person recruited will be based at Cermes3 (axis 1 “Diversity of practices and places of care”), where the above-mentioned REACTAsie study and the multidisciplinary research network “Migrations est et sud-est asiatiques en France” (MAF) are based. This working environment will enable him/her to benefit from the dynamics of researches carried out on anti-Asian racism and, more generally, on migration studies from East and Southeast Asia to France. In addition, a working group dedicated to studies of the links between racism and discrimination on the one hand, and health and mental health on the other, is also being developed at Cermes3.

The person recruited will also participate in the activities of the Gendhi project at IRIS.

Knowledge

• Experience and mastery of qualitative methods (observations and interviews) in the social sciences and humanities
• Fluency in written and spoken scientific English and French
• In-depth knowledge of international migration, racism and discrimination
• Knowledge of mental health issues and social inequalities in health
• Familiarity with quantitative methods (in particular, the ability to conduct literature reviews, dialogue and collaborate with quantitative scientists)

Skills

• Ability to conduct research independently and as part of a team
• Analytical and writing skills in English and French
• Coordination and planning of the various phases of an analysis plan
• General knowledge of data management
• Animation of research using digital tools
• Dissemination of scientific knowledge to a variety of audiences

Soft skills

• Autonomy
• Team spirit
• Rigour
• Initiative
• Ability to work with colleagues from a variety of disciplines and scientific backgrounds
• Interest in promoting scientific knowledge to the general public
• Interest in East and South-East Asian migration and Asian societies

Experience

Mixed-methods work in the field of migratory studies, notably on the subjects of racism and discrimination, or health and mental health.

Degrees and trainings

PhD in social sciences (sociology, anthropology, demography, geography, political science, or other SHS disciplines), in one (or more) of the following fields: migration studies, ethnic and racial studies, health and mental health.

Contact and information

simeng.wang@cnrs.fr

Application

Send at camille.villebesseix@psemail.eu (Gendhi project manager) :

• CV (5 pages max.)
• Cover letter (max. 2 pages)
• Post-doctoral research project, outlining the methods and fieldwork forseen (max. 4 pages)
• Copy of Ph.D thesis and Ph.D thesis defense report, if applicable
• Copy of doctoral diploma, attestation if not yet published, or document attesting to upcoming defense (date agreed with jury)