Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet FERROVOLT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The goal of this project is to help find the rules for a domain-wall engineering that optimizes photovoltaic efficiency of potential future-generation ferroelectric solar cells. The material to be studied is BiFeO3 as the most promising photovoltaic ferroelectric material known. Does the photovoltaic effect in BiFeO3 occur at the domain walls or in the bulk? What does it take a domain-wall to conduct electrons? The project aims at establishing the necessary conditions for electric fields and electrical conductivity at ferroelectric domain walls. Since experimental evidence is inconclusive, state-of-the-art ab initio methods will be applied. Electric fields have a long spatial range, so we will go beyond the standard supercell approach to obtain the spatial gradient of the band structure at the domain wall, needed to obtain charge-carrier distributions and electric fields. The Green's-function method for electronic quantum transport will be used for this purpose because it is suitable for extended, non-periodic systems. We will obtain the electrical conductivity as a function of the domain-wall type, structure, and purity. Conclusions for the role of the domain walls in BiFeO3 will be generalized as far as possible in order to apply them to other ferroelectric semiconductors as well. The applicant will receive training in state-of-the-art electronic-transport calculations by the host. In turn, the applicant will strengthen the host’s activities in the field of modelling optical properties of semiconductors. The project is positioned where fundamental condensed-matter physics meets applied solar-cell research. It is expected to advance the frontier of knowledge in basic research and to lay the ground for further research on ferroelectric photovoltaics. It is a contribution to the efforts of the European Union to develop innovative solutions for a sustainable energy supply that help achieve independence of fossil energy.

Mots clés : ferroelectrics, domain walls, perovskites, photovoltaics, electronic transport, first principles, density functional theory, many body perturbation theory

Participants :
- Trinity College Dublin (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175866.0 €
Projet MAG (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The goal of this project is to investigate how multilinguals acquire acoustic and articulatory representations of their non-dominant language. Recent research has shown that linguistic representation is distributed in the motor cortex, where it serves as acquired speech motor plans, and in the auditory cortex, where it serves as acquired acoustic-perceptual categories. In order to properly acquire a language, learners must develop a set of acoustic and articulatory representation. Acoustic and articulatory representations play a large role in speech comprehension and speech production, as well as phonological knowledge specific to the acquired languages. Research into multilingual acquisition has indicated that both early and late bilingual learners can form novel acoustic and articualtory categories in their internalized language structure. However, multilinguals have been shown to acquire representations that do not mirror the target language or the learner's L1 and it is still unclear how their representations develop. My project examines the multilingual acquisition of German and Upper and Lower Sorbian at different stages of fluency to assess how acoustic and articulatory representation develops. To do this, I am examining speech production using acoustic and ultrasound techniques. The aim of each of my studies is to investigate multilinguals at various stages of language acquisition to determine how similar sounds in each language emerge with distinct acoustic and articulatory representations. I am also using bio-mechanical models to simulate the movement of the tongue and jaw during speech. Bio-mechanical models give a unique interdisciplinary vantage point for the findings in this study and will provide robust insight into the articulatory representation that speakers develop during the language acquisition process. The results of this study has theoretical implications for cognitive and articulatory models of speech, and biomechanics.

Mots clés : phonetics, phonology, multilingual acquisition, endangered languages, language documentation, language acquisition

Participants :
- Geisteswissenschaftliche Zentren Berlin (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 162806.4 €
Projet MeMuRu (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The goal of this project is to map Islamic places of remembrance in Central Russia’s Volga region, and analyse their social, political, and affective life. The post-Soviet Islamic boom has raised acute concerns and generated debates on the place of Islam in Russia, home to an ancient Muslim community. So far, little fine-grained anthropological scholarship about Russia’s Muslim population has been produced. My project seeks to fill this gap in our knowledge by looking at the concrete places where the post-Soviet Islamic revival manifests itself. The past few years have witnessed the rediscovery – sometimes reconstruction – of numerous Islamic sites throughout the Russian Federation, along with the emergence of numerous locales where self-cultivation, ethnically inflected civic engagement, conflict, and compromise are played out by Muslims through the prism of remembrance. Anthropological methods of investigation shall be utilised to analyse how both institutional initiative and grassroots creativity are involved in the production of multi-scalar moral landscapes at the intersection of the nation-state, the ethnic community, and the ummah. Special attention will be devoted to social memory dispositifs, from institutional heritage projects to intimate practices of remembering. This project, built upon specialised skills and experiences I acquired as a graduate student, will offer fresh contributions to ongoing debates on post-socialist and Islamic personhood; memory, state-Muslim relations in Russia; and the spatial manifestations of religious life amongst Eurasian Muslims. This Fellowship will give me a unique chance to complete my maturation as a social scientist. At the Universities of Berkeley and Venice, I will undertake specialised training, broadening my area expertise, my methodological repertoire, and my theoretical competencies across disciplines such as social and historical anthropology, Russian studies, and Islamic studies.

Mots clés : islam in russia, islamic places of remembrance, moral landscapes and heritage, postcoloniality and postsocialism, muslim civil society in russia, volga region and tatarstan, anthropology of memory

Participants :
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Princeton University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 251002.56 €
Projet WPMF (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The goal of this project is to systematically analyse gender inequality in politics in a comparative perspective, as portrayed in the mainstream media, and develop operative actions to reduce such inequality in politics in the European context. This corresponds to H2020 Work Programme for 2016-2017 of reversing inequalities in Europe, and more specifically to the EU Strategic Engagement for Gender Equality 2016-2019. Applying the theoretical framework of developmental theory, this study examines whether changes occurring in the status of women in the UK and in Israel, as part of the structural and cultural transformations that this theory points to, seep into the political discourse surrounding women and politics over time. We use the print media to analyse relevant frames on women and politics during the study period (1979-2016 in the UK and 1969-2009 in Israel - in which women were realistic candidates/elected for premiership). In addition, we utilize a quantitative content analysis of the news and commentaries in newspapers to locate interpretive references to women and politics. A sub-set of these articles is used for an in-depth qualitative analysis to draw out the key themes surround the framing of women and politics. An important contribution of the research lies in the theoretical connection between the framing of women and politics to developmental theory's structural and cultural conditions. That is because the bulk of studies on framing gender and politics are descriptive and lack an empirically supported theoretical explanation of the changes in the framing of these issues. The findings of this research will help raising social, political and media awareness to the status of women and to women's issues in Europe, and encourage more women to take part in politics in Europe and worldwide by tackling stereotypical framing of women and politics issues and by suggesting operative steps to face backlashes to political gender equality in Western democracies.

Mots clés : gender, politics and media, gender inequality, developmental theory, quantitative and qualitative research methods

Participants :
- Newcastle University (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet SedSulphOx (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The goal of this proposal is to quantify the rates and processes of sulphide oxidation in coastal sediments. The marine sulphur cycle is driven by the reduction of sulphate to sulphide coupled to microbial decomposition of organic matter, a process which is responsible for up to 50 % of carbon mineralisation in coastal sediment and is intimately connected to earth’s biogeochemical evolution. The sulphide produced by sulphate reduction may either react with Fe to be buried as pyrite or may be oxidised through different pathways and intermediates. The amount of sulphide that is oxidised in marine sediments is not known, yet oxidative sulphur cycling has critical implications for estimates of sulphate reduction, sub-seafloor carbon mineralisation, methane oxidation, microbial metabolism and the interpretation of ancient and modern stable isotope signatures. Quantification of oxidative sulphur cycling, including sulphide oxidation rates, the formation of key intermediate species and associated stable isotope effects is therefore fundamental to our understanding of sub-seafloor biogeochemistry. The research proposed herein will address these yet unanswered questions through a novel combination of radiotracer experiments, stable isotope measurements, and analyses of inorganic sulphur speciation. This approach will be applied to (1) quantify rates of concurrent sulphate reduction and sulphide oxidation in coastal sediment, (2) quantify the formation of intermediate species formed during sulphide oxidation and (3) measure stable isotope effects associated with oxidative sulphur cycling. This work will result in a more accurate description of sediment biogeochemistry by resolving current debates regarding the role of sulphur for carbon mineralisation ad further constraining processes which affect the sulphur stable isotope distribution.

Mots clés : sulphide oxidation, sediment biogeochemistry, sulphur cycling, sulphur isotope

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

The goal of this proposal is to understand how animals emerged from their unicellular ancestors. It is clear that the role of the genome regulation at the level of chromatin organization plays a crucial role in cell type specification, a hallmark of animals. However, how these genome regulatory mechanisms arose and whether they were already present in the unicellular ancestor of animals remains an open question. So far, there is minimal information to address this question from a comparative point of view. To fill this gap, we will characterize histone modifications, DNA methylation and open chromatin regions in one of the closest unicellular relatives of animals, an ichthyosporean Creolimax fragrantissima, which exhibits a multicellular-like developmental cycle. In particular, we will carry out a comprehensive genome-wide analysis of histone modifications by ChIP-Seq, ATAC-Seq, as well as techniques for detecting the distribution of 6-methyladenosine DNA marks, during the developmental cycle. In parallel, we will also investigate the Myc transcription factor network. Myc, along with its partners Max and Mad have been discovered in unicellular holozoans, suggesting that the network has already regulated cell proliferation and differentiation in the unicellular ancestor of animals. We will detect the genomic targets of Myc, Max and Mad proteins by performing ChIP-Seq. To complement these results with functional studies, we will develop genome editing tools in Creolimax. The data and the comparative analyses will provide significant insights into the nature of the regulatory genome of the last unicellular ancestor of animals. Specifically, we will learn whether the last unicellular ancestor already possessed features of complex genome regulation, such as distal enhancers, gene silencing, and dynamic regulation of chromatin states during development, and to what extent the complexity and function of the Myc transcription factor network was already present.

Mots clés : origin of animal multicellularity

Participants :
- Spanish National Research Council (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 158121.6 €
Projet RELOAD (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The goal of this research is to identify and characterize genetic, behavioural and biochemical mechanisms underlying reciprocal local adaptation between partners in a complex mutualism. It will focus on a unique and outstanding model system found in the New World tropics: the “devil’s gardens” created by the ant, Myrmelachista schumanni, whose workers systematically attack and kill seedlings of foreign plants that germinate too close to their host plants. This cultivation behaviour results in low diversity, orchard-like stands of their host plants in the middle of some of the most diverse rainforests on earth. This project will bring together researchers from Harvard University and the Max Planck Institute to address three main questions through a combination of newly developed genome sequencing techniques, large-scale field-ecology behavioural experiments and state-of-the-art chemical analyses: (1) Do Myrmelachista schumanni and its host plants reciprocally influence each other’s population sizes, level of gene flow and genetic structure? (2) How specialized are interactions between Myrmelachista schumanni and the several species of plants that it cultivates? (3) What are some of the proximate mechanisms underlying host specificity, and in particular, can ants recognize different plant species and if so, how? In carrying out this research, postdoctoral fellow Pierre-Jean Malé will expand his expertise by gaining training in phylogenomics and chemical ecology. The project, referred to here as "RELOAD" (forREciprocal LOcal ADaptations), will also enable him to broaden the ecological and evolutionary scale of his research, and enhance his long-term goal of obtaining a faculty position at a European university and/or research institution.

Mots clés : mutualism, biological adaptation, chemical ecology, biological chemistry

Participants :
- Harvard University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Max Planck Society (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 239860.8 €
Projet FUCOMICS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The growing awareness towards health and disease prevention holds a great future globally for naturally derived nutraceuticals. This has led to a dramatic increase in demands of naturally synthesized carotenoids, particularly fucoxanthin. This golden-brown carotenoid is used as anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and anti-obesity component making it a valuable product for nutraceutical and food industries. Diatoms, particularly Phaeodactylum, naturally synthesize fucoxanthin in high amounts as compared to their counterparts (seaweeds), making them one of the most promising candidates for sustainable fucoxanthin production. However, to exploit these diatoms for commercial fucoxanthin production, highly productive strains capable of growing at low operational costs along with a detailed understanding of the fucoxanthin biosynthesis pathway to steer conditions towards most favourable for high yields are imperative. To this end, FUCOMICS will develop an integrated omics pipeline (transcriptomics and proteomics) to gain insight into fucoxanthin synthesis and identify key regulatory elements/genes for enhancing fucoxanthin synthesis in the local Norwegian isolate Phaeodactylum tricornutum B58. Further, by utilizing Response Surface Methodology culture conditions will be optimized for maximum fucoxanthin synthesis. The identified key regulatory elements/genes will be validated by generating engineered strains of P. tricornutum B58 using the advanced CRISPR/Cas 9 technique. The results generated by FUCOMICS will not only be a starting step towards commercialization of microalgal fucoxanthin, but can also act as foundation for more difficult components, such as omega-3 fatty acids and biomass as whole. Furthermore, the fucoxanthin-extracted biomass, still rich in omega-3 fatty acids, can be utilized as feedstock for aquaculture, a major industry in Norway. As such, this project is in line with the EU strategy for the sustainable development of algae and aquaculture.

Mots clés : microalgae, fucoxanthin, omics, crispr, cas9

Participants :
- University of Bergen (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 214158.72 €
Projet DYNAVOLC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The growing number of inhabitants, tourists, and economic activities near volcanoes, require adequate volcanic hazard-assessment and -mitigation plans to guide decision-making in the case of volcanic unrest. Especially the Campi flegrei caldera (Naples, Italy) is a significant threat to the EU, as a large scale eruption is foreseen within the coming century. Accurate forecasting of volcanic behaviour is hampered by a lack of understanding of the magmas transport properties. Changes in viscosity due to the interaction between primitive and evolved magmas are documented to trigger volcanic eruptions across the globe. In the past decades, two key transition zones in magma rheology were identified that separate effusive from explosive and eruptible from non-eruptible magmas: 1) solidification through crystallization and 2) fluidization through vesiculation. Even though these transition zones are identified and the computation capacities to forecast volcanic eruptions have grown exponentially over the past decades, none of the available computer models are able to produce coherent results and no model scenario is verified in nature. This is because predictive approaches rely on accurate rheological data, which are absent to date. Recent technological advances, in combination with a new, interdisciplinary research approach now allow us to address this knowledge gap. Measuring the evolution of magma viscosity across the two change zones is one of the most interesting challenges at the interface between geo- and material-sciences. This project aims to develop a systematic understanding of the evolution of rheological transition zones from magma chambers to super eruptions. The results allow more precise forecasting of volcanic eruptions and may find application in the glass and ceramic industries. The proposed research and training will set me up as an independent researcher who can lead a cutting-edge research group bridging the gap between geo- and material-sciences.

Mots clés : magma, lava, rheology, eruption, transition, prediction, natural hazards

Participants :
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 243352.8 €
- McGill University (Canada) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet LYSOKIN (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The lysosome is a eukaryotic organelle that coordinates degradative pathways with nutrient sensing and signalling. It therefore dictates cell growth and survival depending on nutrient availability. Dissecting the molecular machinery that enables these functions is of key importance to cell biology. The mTORC1 complex controls cell proliferation and metabolism by nutrient sensing at lysosomes and late endosomes (LyLEs). Recent work from the host revealed that during nutrient starvation, mTORC1 is repressed by the lipid PI(3,4)P2 at LyLEs which is produced by the class II phosphoinositide 3-kinase PI3KC2β. PI3KC2β is recruited to LyLEs via an interaction of its N-terminus with the Raptor subunit of mTORC1. The precise mechanisms of PI3KC2β regulation at LyLEs are unknown. Using a diverse suite of structural and biochemical methods, I propose to define how complex formation of PI3KC2β with mTORC1 and other LyLE associated proteins governs nutrient signaling and protein turnover at LyLEs. The proposed research may pave the way to combat diseases ranging from diabetes to cancer.

Mots clés : nutrient signaling, nutrient sensing, pi3kc2, lipid kinase, lysosome, lipid metabolism, protein complexes, protein protein interaction, protein lipid interaction, mtorc1, rab7, disease, hdx ms, xl ms

Participants :
- Forschungsverbund Berlin (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 162806.4 €