Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet EngageME (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Engaging children with ASC (Autism Spectrum Conditions) in communication centred activities during educational therapy is one of the cardinal challenges by ASC and contributes to its poor outcome. To this end, therapists recently started using humanoid robots (e.g., NAO) as assistive tools. However, this technology lacks the ability to autonomously engage with children, which is the key for improving the therapy and, thus, learning opportunities. Existing approaches typically use machine learning algorithms to estimate the engagement of children with ASC from their head-pose or eye-gaze inferred from face-videos. These approaches are rather limited for modeling atypical behavioral displays of engagement of children with ASC, which can vary considerably across the children. The first objective of EngageME is to bring novel machine learning models that can for the first time effectively leverage multi-modal behavioural cues, including facial expressions, head pose, vocal and physiological cues, to realize fully automated context-sensitive estimation of engagement levels of children with ASC. These models build upon dynamic graph models for multi-modal ordinal data, based on state-of-the-art machine learning approaches to sequence classification and domain adaptation, which can adapt to each child, while still being able to generalize across children and cultures. To realize this, the second objective of EngageME is to provide the candidate with the cutting-edge training aimed at expanding his current expertise in visual processing with expertise in wearable/physiological, and audio technologies, from leading experts in these fields. EngageME is expected to bring novel technology/models for endowing assistive robots with ability to accurately ‘sense’ engagement levels of children with ASC during robot-assisted therapy, while providing the candidate with a set of skills needed to become one of the frontiers in the emerging field of affect-sensitive assistive technology.

Mots clés : affective computing, machine learning, computer vision, multi modal learning, autism, humanrobot, interaction

Participants :
- University of Passau (Allemagne) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Augsburg (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 239860.8 €
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet TEXTUAL NETWORKS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Engaging with one of the most important elements of Europe’s cultural heritage, this project employs material evidence and technological tools to analyse relationships among texts in the Middle Ages. The Trojan narrative constitutes an ideal case for considering networks of texts. Not only did the story of the conquest of Troy by the Greeks provide some of the most important literary motifs for ancient Greek and Roman culture, it also played a role in the genesis of the nations of medieval Europe and continues to touch us in the modern day. This project investigates the manuscripts of three late antique accounts of the Trojan War that have received little scholarly attention even though they were exceptionally influential during Middle Ages: the De excidio Troiae historia, the Ephemeridos belli Troiani and the Excidium Troie. Although they were composed independently and include different details, all circulated during the same periods, sometimes travelling together in the same manuscripts. This project is based on the proposition that a comprehensive study of complete manuscript contents can reveal that texts that circulate together display how narratives are transmitted and received. Its main output will be an online catalogue of all the manuscripts in which these works are found. It not only will make accessible a hitherto disregarded corpus but also will address the phenomenon of texts that travel together by cataloguing all the other texts found in these manuscripts. The project will respond to recent transformations in the field of medieval studies resulting from increasing use of digital methodologies and changes in our understanding of the role and use of manuscripts. The UCPH Department of Nordic Research is a prominent centre of this transformation in terms of their approach to both digital humanities and manuscript studies, and hence is the perfect place to conduct this project, which will be a first in the field and provide a model for future research.

Mots clés : trojan narrative, textual transmission, transtextuality, manuscripts, network analysis, catalogues, text encoding initiative

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 200194.8 €
Projet WHIPCAT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Engineering of atomic (two-dimensional (2D)) layered solids is receiving immense attention from the scientific community due to the possibilities of tuning the optical, mechanical, electronic and electrochemical properties by combinatorial stacking of different atomic layers as novel candidates for energy and environmental applications. Van der Waals solids (vdW) of Semiconducting Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (STMD) have been largely investigating 2D materials, where its physico-chemical properties show a drastic contrast in comparison to its bulk. Visible light absorption, indirect to direct bandgap transition, layer dependent photoluminescence (PL) etc. are some of the stark contrasts in atomically layered STMD vdW crystals from bulk, making them unique for photocatalysis and photo-(electro) catalysis (PEC) applications. In this work, Fabrication of variety of novel heterogeneous STMD clusters with combinations of different transition metal (TM): Mo, W and V and chalcogenide (C): S, Se and Te by cluster beam deposition will be carried out for the efficient visible light photocatalysis and PEC applications. Size and edge termination dependent photophysical properties will be investigated and further implemented for the efficient visible light PEC from this kind of vdW solids. A dual-target, magnetron-sputtering gas condensation cluster source will be used to deposit pristine combinatorial stacked nanoclusters of TMs and Cs onto various substrates. The photocatatlytic reaction kinetics will be estimated from the visible light absorption, Raman/PL spectroscopy and photoconductivity studies. Further PEC activity towards HER/oxygen reduction reaction (ORR)/oxygen evolution reaction (OER) from the STMD vdW nanoclusters will be evaluated from linear sweep voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry in acidic and basic electrolytes in dark and light conditions.

Mots clés : two dimensional layered semiconductors, van der waals solids, graphene, semiconductor, transition metal dichalcogenides, cluster beam deposition, photo  electro  catalysis, stem, raman spectroscopy

Participants :
- University of Birmingham (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet 3DQuant (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Enhancers are regulatory elements that control the spatial and temporal expression of genes in metazoans. Enhancers are able to modulate transcription of a target gene from large genomic distances, as a result of the formation of chromatin loops that bring them in close spatial proximity to cognate promoters. The manner how specific patterns of enhancer-promoter physical interactions are established is linked to how chromosomes are folded in the three-dimensional (3D) space. Recent studies based on chromosome conformation capture (3C) have shown that mammalian chromosomes are partitioned into self-associating sub-megabase domains called Topologically Associating Domains (TADs). Genetic evidence suggests that 3D chromatin organization within and across TADs contributes to the establishment and partitioning of enhancers-promoters physical communication. Yet it is still unknown by which biophysical mechanisms chromosome architecture modulates enhancer action, and thus transcription. The goal of this proposal is to determine the quantitative relationship between 3D chromatin architecture and enhancer-promoter activity to unravel the mechanism of long-range transcriptional modulation mediated by enhancers. Addressing this goal requires a system where transcriptional outputs can be measured precisely and quantitatively, and correlated with 3D distances. To this aim, we will use state-of-the art genome engineering techniques to generate mouse embryonic stem cells with engineered enhancer-promoter pairs in an isolated chromatin environment, where a selected enhancer can be mobilized at different distances from its cognate promoter. We will use this system to quantitatively assess how 3D chromatin structure influences enhancer action by measuring transcription and promoter-enhancer interactions using 3C-based technologies, single-cell methods and live-cell imaging. This will lead to an unprecedented view of the mechanisms underlying long-range transcriptional regulation.


Participants :
- Friedrich Miescher Institute (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 175419.6 €
Projet QEAH (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Entanglement Entropy and other measures of quantum entanglement have recently given great insights into the physics of both quantum field theories and gravity. In the context of quantum field theories, entanglement entropy emerged as a useful measure of degrees of freedom whereas in gravity it proved as an indispensable tool to constrain gravitational entropy (e.g. Bekenstein Bound, Covariant Entropy bound). For these and other recent achievements, embedding entanglement in holography was crucial because the holographic principle, and its precise realization, the AdS/CFT correspondence, allow one to learn about gravity using quantum field theory and vice-versa. The objective of the current proposal is to investigate and highlight quantum aspects of the AdS/CFT correspondence (such as the emergence of space-time and gravity) by relating entanglement in integrable models to entanglement in quantum field theory and gravity. The arena for the study will mainly be N=4 Super-Yang-Mills (SYM); a super-conformal theory, integrable in the planar limit. The study however will have greater applicability since many non-integrable theories contain integrable sectors. Among questions to be addressed are: What does entanglement entropy of the spin chain computes in the dual CFT? What does it correspond to in gravity? The proposed plan will add significant developments to the rapidly growing field of research on entanglement in holography. On the quantum field theory side, the current proposal will deepen understanding of the quantum dynamics at both weak and strong coupling. Via holography the information obtained will provide further insights on aspects of black hole physics.

Mots clés : string theory, entanglement, integrability

Participants :
- Trinity College Dublin (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187866.0 €
Projet EvISC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Enterovirus infections are of public health concern as globally millions of people become infected each year. Enteroviruses (HEV) are an assemblage of highly diverse positive-stranded RNA viruses that belong to the Picornaviridae family. Four out of the 13 known enterovirus species are human pathogens, with poliovirus being the most prominent member. The entry point for these viruses is the gastrointestinal or the respiratory tract from where they can spread to other organs and cause severe pathologies. Vaccines exist only against polio and no therapies are currently available against any HEV. Thus, there is a great need for new antivirals. I aim to identify host factors crucial for the HEV life cycle by performing a whole genome CRISPR loss-of-function screen in primary cultures of human intestinal epithelial cells. Importantly, the lytic nature of HEVs will allow a straightforward selection of cells that survive virus infection upon small guide RNA-mediated deletion of host genes that support HEV infection. This interdisciplinary project demands expertise both in stem cell, enterovirus biology and host-pathogen interaction, which is provided by the Jensen lab (host), the Tapparel lab (partner) and myself, respectively. Through access to intestinal stem cells and organoids from various donors and multiple HEVs I have the unique possibility to dissect host-enterovirus interactions by taking host and virus variations into account. By integrating this data, I will be able to dissect tropism both from a host and a pathogen perspective, and identify host factors that are necessary for HEV infection. This knowledge will contribute to the discovery of novel drug targets for broad-spectrum therapies against HEV infections and moreover provide me with the unique opportunity to move forward in academia and establish my own research group.

Mots clés : human intestinal organoids, human intestinal stem cells, crispr, cas9, host pathogen interactions, enterovirus

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 200194.8 €
Projet SHIFT2SOLVE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Environmental conditions in the Anthropocene are rapidly changing triggering important ecological shifts in the Earth system and approaching tipping-point levels faster than previously expected. Macrophytes are an important tipping element in the ocean, disproportionally contributing to climate regulation and in under global decline given the coexistence of multiple anthropogenic impacts. To date, most of the studies on macrophytes have focused on understanding their performance in relation to certain disturbances, but still few information exists about their overall capacity to mitigate global environmental change and their capacity to continue doing so in the future. This interdisciplinary project (SHIFT2SOLVE) comes timely at this aim addressing societal priorities for climate action and the efficiency of natural resources. The main objectives of the action are: 1) quantifying macrophytes’ capacity to buffer environmental change, 2) assessing macrophytes acclimatization and adaptive capacity, 3) forecast the resilience and mitigation capacity of macrophytes in the future based on IPCC climate scenarios and 4) use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and machine learning to early identify ecosystem contractions at a landscape scale. These objectives will be accomplished by mixing surveys along natural gradients of temperature and ocean acidification (i.e. latitudinal gradients in the Western Mediterranean and natural CO2 vents), manipulative experiments in the field and in the laboratory, genetic analyses and mechanistic mathematical models based on ecophysiological processes. This project will importantly contribute to my career development and professional maturity increasing my independence as a researcher and the oportunities to continuing my research in Europe. Overall, the outcomes of the project will contribute to securing the maximum mitigation capacity possible associated with marine macrophytes, essential to preserve the resilience of the Earth System.

Mots clés : resilience, tipping points, global environmental change mitigation, adaptation, macrophytes

Participants :
- Sorbonne Université (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 196707.84 €
Projet COMOVE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Environmental conflicts and related social movements can, under some conditions, help to improve the management of natural resources at local levels; we do not know yet, however, what those conditions are. This project uses social movement and common-pool resource theories to address this gap. For this purpose, the project builds on the work of environmental justice scholars pointing to the uniqueness of socio-environmental movements that involve the participation of local resource-dependent communities. This is a project of substantial policy relevance. Environmental justice conflicts are an endemic phenomenon in our societies, with more than 1200 instances registered across the world. Many of those conflicts have great potential to improve natural resource management or just the opposite depending on how they are treated. Most importantly, there is an international consensus about the benefits of decentralized management and community stewardship for socio-ecological sustainability; however, such stewardship faces problems of cooperation and institutional failure. The study will shed light on the role of social movements in helping communities with these problems. Objectives and methods of the project include: 1) a meta-analysis of environmental justice movements in Spain and Mexico to explore variation in movements’ activities and membership across environmental and governance contexts; 2) a comparative case study of irrigation communities in the Yaqui and Ebro valleys (Mexico and Spain) to explore whether the impact of social mobilization on cooperative management varies depending on the type of leadership and discourses used to mobilize communities, the mobilization activities, and the movements’ membership; 3) a new model that integrates mobilization and cooperation to better understand community-based natural resource management; and 4) policy recommendations vis a vis the integration of conflict resolution and resource management policies at local levels.

Mots clés : ommon pool resources  cpr, community based natural resource management, irrigation systems, mexico, spain, environmental justice conflicts, social movement theory, cpr theory

Participants :
- Autonomous University of Barcelona (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 158121.6 €
Projet GSTHgNDD (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Environmental factors, including the heavy metal mercury, are recognized as having a dominant influence on the aetiology and prevalence of neurodevelopmental behavioural disorders. This proposal will develop a new model for assessing the role of gene:environment interactions, specifically genetic predisposition for toxicity, in risk for disease, and identify early markers predictive of toxicity and later phenotypes. This will directly relate to the EC work program for Health, demographic change and wellbeing, with respect to both 'Personalized medicine' for non-communicable diseases and 'Early development' addressing mental health from childhood to older ages. The project uses the zebrafish model to investigate the relationship between glutathione-S-transferase (GST)-related genetic background, developmental exposure to mercury, and risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. This will be achieved by exposure of wild-type and CRISPR-generated Gst mutant embryos to mercury, and testing whether genetic predisposition leads to increased risk for toxin-induced behavioural phenotypes. We will test for altered biochemical, transcriptomic and epigenomic modifications that may serve as potential early markers for insult. The results obtained in this proposal will have significant impact on the ability to conduct individual and population specific toxicity risk assessment, and may lead to novel measures for early detection of increased risk and alleviation of potential adverse outcomes. The high-quality original research presented in the proposal will not only enable the Experienced Researcher to reach a position of professional maturity in her career, but will also allow her to develop a spectrum of new and interdisciplinary skills, integrating her previous training and knowledge into the behavioural genetics skills set. This project will also allow Dr. Brennan's group to integrate developmental toxicology into existing behavioural research, and will generate new collaborations.

Mots clés : gene environment interactions

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet lanloss (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Environmental upheavals generate losses across diverse sectors of society, and can heighten risks of social conflict (UNCCD 2017). Mapping the histories, memories and affective experiences of such losses among impacted communities could help expose incipient social tensions before they escalate. In the South American Gran Chaco, the rate of deforestation – which is among the highest in the world – is impacting the landscapes and livelihoods of indigenous, peasant, and white settler groups in both shared and competing ways. By working together with satellite data researchers, this multi-disciplinary project proposes an innovative collaborative approach to mapping the lived social and affective experience of rapid deforestation in the Gran Chaco through participatory memory-mapping: a process where local communities with antagonistic histories are invited to interact with the satellite data themselves, generating their own narratives of the various landscapes they have lost through a technique I call “affective mapping.” This collaborative approach enables both multi-disciplinary researchers as well as locals to develop new comparative understandings of how deforestation impacts communities in both shared and unequal ways, thus providing contexts for better understanding incipient tensions over resources.

Mots clés : latin america, indigenous people, affect studies, environmental inequalities, settler colonialism, gran chaco

Participants :
- Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 171473.28 €