Dr. Hijri obtained his BSc in 1994 in Cell Biology (option: Plant Science and Biotechnology), and his MSc in 1995 in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Burgundy (Dijon, France). His MSc research project was a study of the cytogenetics of the pea plant (Pisum sativum L.) by karyotyping and characterizing ribosomal DNA on pea chromosomes using Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). His MSc research was conducted at the INRA Dijon Centre under the supervision of Dr Mona Darmency.

He obtained his PhD in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology (option: Molecular Genetics) at the University of Burgundy (Dijon, France) in 1999. His PhD project aimed to study the organization of the genetic polymorphism of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Scutellospora castanea under the supervision of Prof. Hubert Dulieu at the INRA Dijon Centre.

In 1999, Dr. Hijri joined the lab of Dr. Ian Sanders at the University of Basel (Switzerland) as a postdoctoral fellow and worked on molecular genetics and the evolution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. He then moved with the Sanders Lab to the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) in 2000 and continued as a postdoctoral fellow until 2005. Dr. Hijri then joined the IRBV and the Département de Sciences Biolsogique of the Université de Montréal in September 2005 as an assistant professor, and was promoted to associate professor in June 2010, followed by Full Professor promotion in June 2016.