PhD in Malt Roasting Physics & Chemistry — Soufflet Malt, France

Key details

• Host institution: Soufflet Malt
• Location: Soufflet Malt, Montpellier, France
• Application deadline: June 29, 2026

Funding

Not funded by a EU programme

Funding level (from listing): partial or not via EU framework — confirm on the official call.

How to apply

• Application portal / instructions: Official application link.
• Context on Euraxess: Original listing.

About the position

We are offering a PhD position focused on understanding and modeling the physical and chemical transformations that occur during malt roasting at the grain scale. The goal is to propose control levers for managing color and aroma formation.

Scientific Objectives

• Characterize heat and water transfer within the grain, particularly thermal diffusion and moisture content evolution, to understand their influence on reaction kinetics.
• Identify key precursors and reaction products involved in aroma and color formation, and analyze their dependence on operating conditions (moisture content and temperature).
• Propose a simplified description of chemical and thermal reaction schemes linking sugars, amino acids, melanoidins, aromatic compounds, and undesirable compounds such as acrylamide.
• Identify relevant indicators for process control (e.g., color, grain temperature, spectroscopic methods such as NIR, MIR, fluorescence, or NMR) to define stop criteria and optimize roasting conditions.

This research aims to move beyond an empirical approach toward scientific mastery, improving reproducibility, sensory quality, and product safety.

Funding and Institution

Funding category: Cifre PhD
Country: France
Institution: Soufflet Malt