The Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (a non-profit organisation) is today one of the world’s leading public research centres dedicated to musical creation and scientific research. A unique venue where artistic vision meets scientific and technological innovation, the institute is directed by Frank Madlener and brings together over 160 staff members.

Working alongside the Analysis of Musical Practices team at the STMS Laboratory (CNRS, IRCAM, Sorbonne University, Ministry of Culture), the postdoctoral researcher will join the ANR JC/JC Project ‘Inside Artificial Improvisation’ (InAI) under the supervision of Pierre Saint-Germier.

Artificial improvisation, a subfield of musical AI, aims to design algorithms and musical agents capable of participating in collective improvised performances with humans or other agents. However, the opacity of generative models — particularly when trained using machine learning — limits our understanding of the music thus produced. 

InAI posits that this opacity can be reduced by analysing artificial improvisation as more-than-human music, combining a detailed study of the algorithms with the experience of the co-improvisers.

The project is structured around four work packages targeting distinct issues of opacity :

1. The opacity of software notations and graphical interfaces (e.g. Somax2, Dicy2, George Lewis’s Voyager).
2. The emergence of musical forms from local computations.
3. The distribution of agency among algorithms, operators and performers.
4. The representation of improvisational identity in corpus-learning-based approaches.

The postdoctoral researcher will focus primarily on modules 3 and 4.

Their tasks will include :

• The collection and analysis of data on co-improvisation processes, via:
• • logs of the algorithms’ internal computations.
  • recordings of co-improvised performances with musicians.
  • quantitative and qualitative data on the behaviour and experience of musicians.
• Contributing to scientific publications and the dissemination of results.

Essential qualifications and skills :

• PhD in musicology, computer music, or cognitive music science.
• Demonstrable proficiency in empirical musicology and/or computational musicology.
• Familiarity with improvised music.

Desired skills :

• Proficiency in the Max language (or willingness to learn quickly).
• Experience in experimental design and statistical analysis.
  

Languages :

• Fluency in English is essential.

• Compensation based on education and professional experience.
• 32 days of paid annual leave.
• Meal vouchers worth €11 per working day.
• 50% reimbursement of your Paris region public transport pass.
• A competitive and mandatory supplementary health and welfare insurance scheme.
• Social, cultural, and sports benefits (staff association offering outings and leisure activities at attractive rates).
• A “Culture Card” providing free or discounted entry and reduced prices for cultural venues and products under the Ministry of Culture, as well as priority access (for the cardholder and one accompanying person).
• Option to work remotely 2 days a week.

Applications must be submitted by 15 July 2026 to:

pierre.saintgermier@ircam.fr

Your application must include:

·      A CV.

·      A research statement (maximum 1,000 words) relevant to the post.

·      2 significant publications (articles, book chapters, thesis chapters, etc.).

Our hiring policy is committed to equal opportunity and the inclusion of people with disabilities.