Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet RIXISAC (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Sixth Generation (6G) communication networks are envisioned to deliver omnipresent network intelligence, enabling a variety of applications, such as vehicular networks, smart health, and smart farms. These services require sensing information and then transmitting it to be processed or stored for future analysis, to take actions that are related to the objects of the application, and ultimately increase the quality of the provided service. Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) aims to combine sensing and communication within networking systems, thus enabling in practice the applications mentioned above. ISAC systems face two main barriers: (i) They are not supported by Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS), and (ii) are highly dynamic and complex. This project is termed “Reflective intelligent surface-assisted, Intelligent, and eXplainable Integrated Sensing and Communication systems” (RIXISAC). RIXISAC will combine mathematical rigorousness and experimental evidence through the deployment of prototypes, aiming at unlocking the potential of ISAC and bringing it one step closer to its practical realization in 6G networks. Within RIXISAC, I will (i) explore RIS-assisted ISAC systems by performing cross-layer optimization for (a) static and (b) dynamic scenarios, and (ii) design real-time and explainable algorithms for RIS-assisted ISAC.

Mots clés : reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, integrated sensing and communications, online learning, optimization, applied math, artificial intelligence, explainable artificial intelligence, machine learning

Participants :
- Université de technologie de Delft (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187624.32 €
- NEC (Germany) (Allemagne) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (Espagne) — Partner, associated partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet DIME (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Today, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors are being extensively used for monitoring processes/phenomena in smart cities. The data samples generated by these IoT sensors are wirelessly transmitted to servers at the network edge where compute-intensive Machine Learning (ML) models, specifically Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), are used for providing inference. However, a large percentage of data samples are redundant because they do not (significantly) improve inference. This leads to an excessive and unjustified carbon footprint of these systems as each redundant data sample will contribute to the Total System Energy (TSE) consumption. However, there is a lack of research on the design of these systems to reduce the TSE by considering the redundancy in the data. In DIME, we explore the TSE energy savings in a distributed inference setup by envisaging the deployment of the emerging small DNN models on the IoT sensors. My objective is to maximize TSE energy savings by answering two key questions: 1) when should an IoT sensor sample the process (to reduce redundant samples) and 2) where to do the inference on the sample, on the IoT sensor or at the edge server (to reduce TSE)? I will develop a general modelling framework and subsequently design and validate scheduling algorithms and sampling techniques that minimize the TSE by reducing the redundant data and maximize accuracy in ML-based monitoring systems. To achieve the objective, I will leverage my theoretical research experience on modelling and design and analysis of algorithms and the expertise of IMDEA Networks in applied machine learning and systems research. DIME directly contributes to reducing the carbon footprint of monitoring in smart cities, which is in line with the goal of Horizon Europe to achieve 100 climate-neutral smart cities by 2030.

Mots clés : algorithms, distributed inference, energy optimization, edge intelligence, remote monitoring

Participants :
- Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 181152.96 €
Projet MiRACLE (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

In recent years, wireless localization and sensing have gained significant traction in the industry, and the requirements in terms of accuracy and reliability have become tighter and tighter. Project Millimeter scale Repeatable and Absolute Coherent Localization Enablers (MiRACLE) aims to blur the line between wireless localization and metrology by pushing the accuracy of absolute wireless localization systems below the millimeter accuracy while maintaining repeatable performance over environmental changes. This will enhance the efficiency of future manufacturing plants, as well as enable life-saving technologies like telesurgery. To achieve these ambitious goals, it will exploit coherent information from a combination of all the cellular frequency bands, including the upcoming FR3 band (7GHz-24GHz) present in the 6G roadmap. Due to the recent introduction of FR3, there is a lack of commercial experimental hardware operating in that band. For this reason, the project also aims to provide an open-source experimental setup capable of operating at those frequencies.

Mots clés : localization, positioning

Participants :
- KU Leuven (Belgique) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 194074.56 €
Projet MITIGATE (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 80 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, making its reduction critical for achieving global climate goals. Despite over 150 countries signing the Global Methane Pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030, levels have continued to rise, particularly from the energy sector. In response, the European Union (EU), the world’s largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), implemented the EU Methane Regulation (EU-MER) in 2024 to reduce methane emissions from the energy sector, including imported LNG. However, the effectiveness of these newly enacted regulations, especially when compared to regions with less stringent policies, such as China, remains underexplored. In this context, this project represents a timely interdisciplinary approach that will: 1) conduct a comparative analysis of methane emissions at LNG terminals in Europe and China using field measurements, satellite surveys and advanced data analysis; 2) assess methane emissions from LNG carriers, focusing on factors such as ship age, size and engine type; and 3) evaluate the economic impact of the EU-MER on LNG pricing and market dynamics, while proposing feasible strategies to reduce methane emissions in the LNG sector. Through advanced training, provided by the host, I will deepen my expertise in methane quantification, environmental standards and economic analysis, while developing transferable skills in mentoring, leadership, networking, grant writing and impact development. These skills will be crucial for my growth as an independent and collaborative researcher. By integrating environmental science, engineering and economics, this project will inform policy adjustments, guide industry practices and reinforce the EU’s leadership in climate action, ultimately contributing to global efforts to mitigate climate change.

Mots clés : methane emission, eu methane regulation, lng terminal, lng carrier, techno economic analysis

Participants :
- Queen Mary University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276187.92 €
Projet SWEET (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The UN's Sustainable Development 2030 report highlights the urgent need for net-zero emission energy to combat climate change. Renewable energy and improved energy efficiency are key, as a significant portion of energy is lost as heat. Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) offer a solution by converting waste heat into electrical power through thermal gradients. Recognising the significance of thermoelectric energy conversion materials, the Henry Royce Institute and the Institute of Physics have identified them as a critical area of materials research to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Current ceramic thermoelectric materials face sustainability challenges due to their reliance on scarce, toxic elements. In this context, the search for efficient ceramic materials is a necessity. Moreover, the development of hybrid materials combining ceramics with conductive polymers provides a promising alternative due to their flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and low thermal conductivity Notably, recent developments have yielded printed TEGs based on conductive polymers for energy harvesting. Nonetheless, challenges impede their optimal power output, including limited temperature differentials across the TEG. Conventional cooling solutions like pumped fluids or rigid metal fins are unsuitable for flexible TEGs, hindering their progress. This project aims to enhance flexible TEG efficiency by integrating photothermal materials, which increase the thermal gradient through sunlight-induced photothermal conversion. Comprehensive TEG modelling will guide materials optimization, fabrication, and testing. The project has broad applications, including energy-efficient wearables, remote power sources, and sustainable energy harvesting systems. Improving printed organic TEGs and addressing thermal management aim to contribute significantly to global net-zero efforts, reduce energy waste, and advance sustainable energy solutions for society and the environment.

Mots clés : thermal energy harvesting, additive manufacturing, finite element modelling, nano scale chemistry, interface engineering, photothermal materials, conductive polymers, copper chalcogenides, green chem

Participants :
- KTH Institut royal de technologie (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 295425.0 €
- European Thermodynamics (United Kingdom) (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- Queen Mary University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet batAVIRPro (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Numerous recent disease outbreaks have been linked to zoonotic viruses originating from bats, including Marburg, Nipah, and the severe acute respiratory viruses like SARS-CoV-2. Countless virus-host encounters during bat evolution have shaped chiropteran immunity to balance defense and tolerance to viral infections, ultimately participating in bats current interplay with viruses and capacity as a viral reservoir. One of the first barriers against invading pathogens is the innate immunity, which notably includes antiviral factors that directly or indirectly inhibit the replication of invading viruses in the host cell. Recent research on bats showed the functional diversification of several antiviral effectors underscoring their pivotal role in bat immunity. However, because only a handful have been studied, my goal is to identify key and novel antiviral effectors within bat genomes, employing a bioinformatics-driven approach coupled with cellular and molecular virology techniques. First, I will perform genomic, transcriptomic and phylogenomic analyses to identify the genes expressed in immune pathways and under strong positive selection during bat evolution (denoting their in vivo importance). Second, I will characterize the most promising candidates, by genetic knockout and overexpression of variants in bat and human cell lines. Finally, the antiviral activity of the candidates will be tested against a broad spectrum of viruses: retroviruses, positive- and negative-strand RNA viruses. Taken together, the proposed project will not only identify novel antiviral factors in bats, which are also active in human cells, but will also shed light on the adaptive processes of chiropteran innate immunity, which occurred during bat evolution.

Mots clés : bats, innate immunity, antiviral immunity, virus host coevolution, species barriers, comparative genomics

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 195914.88 €
Projet SUPCAP (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The SUPCAP project aims to develop a new 2D heterostructure electrode material that embeds metal phosphides between graphene oxide sheets for enhanced energy storage applications. This method will address the difficulty of developing conductive, high-capacitive, and stable charge storage materials by combining battery-type and capacitive materials in a layered configuration. We will use a "Nano-to-Nano" approach to make all-solid-state symmetric devices using electrophoretic and electrochemical deposition (EPD/ECD) techniques. This will eliminate the need for binders, making the process cheaper and more useful in industry. The research will use in-situ Raman spectroscopy to monitor electrode structural changes in real time throughout charge and discharge cycles.  Furthermore, scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) will allow for localized deposition of 2D materials by varying local pH and ionic strength. Our goal is to reach a specific capacity of more than 1000 mAhg-1 and a power density of more than 100 kWkg-1. We intend to employ these materials to create 3D-printed micro-supercapacitors for wearable devices, biomedical applications, and airplane backup power systems. This work aims to significantly advance flexible energy storage technology by integrating synthesis, density functional theory (DFT) analysis, and deposition technique optimization to bridge the gap between batteries and supercapacitors.

Mots clés : 2d heterostructure material, electrophoretic deposition epd , electrochemical deposition ecd , scanning electron microscopy secm , 3d printed microsupercapacitor

Participants :
- Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 209914.56 €
- Université hébraïque de Jérusalem (Israël) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet LATECO (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The European Union advocates learning multiple languages in school as a cornerstone for addressing challenges and opportunities of increased linguistic and cultural diversity in Europe. However, teachers often struggle to adopt multilingual approaches, and effective collaboration across language subjects is scarce. This results in languages being taught in isolation, failing to fully utilize students’ linguistic repertoires. LATECO addresses this urgent issue by exploring language teachers’ mindsets and the impact of their collaboration across three language subjects in schools. The project aims to transform language teaching in European schools, making multilingualism an inclusive experience for students while fostering shared practice and growth among teachers. LATECO will pursue three objectives: 1) to investigate language teachers’ mindsets about cross-linguistic collaboration, 2) to assess the effects on teachers’ mindsets, practices, and students’ perceptions of a professional development intervention regarding cross-linguistic collaboration in Norway, 3) to adapt and replicate successful collaboration strategies across Europe. This innovative project combines psychological and multilingual dimensions, adopting an exploratory mixed-methods approach with a longitudinal multiple case study in Norway and a focus group study across Europe. LATECO will be hosted at the University of Bergen under the supervision of Prof. Åsta Haukås, a leading scholar in multilingualism and language teacher education. A secondment at the University of Graz and a short visit to the University of Copenhagen will refine data collection tools and discuss findings. The project’s outcomes promise enhanced multilingual competences among students, increased teacher efficacy, and adaptable strategies for cross-linguistic collaboration to diverse educational contexts, directly responding to the European Union’s call for advancing multilingualism and educational innovation.

Mots clés : multilingualism, multilingual education, language teacher collaboration, mindset, teacher professional development, language learning

Participants :
- Université de Bergen (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 251578.56 €
- Université de Graz (Autriche) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet DREAMS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The DREAMS (Dynamics and REplica Analysis of Monitored Systems) project aims to understand the physics of monitored quantum systems, i.e., many-body systems that periodically undergo a series of repeated local measurements. The competition between the monitoring and the unitary dynamics, which respectively favor and hinder the building up of non-local quantum correlations, can give rise to a measurement-induced phase transition. Such a transition can be detected, for example, by looking at the growth of the entanglement of a subsystem or the purification time-scale of an initially mixed state. As entanglement is a central quantity in quantum information, a complete understanding of the dynamics of monitored systems and their critical behavior would have significant consequences both at the theoretical level and in the development of quantum technologies—such as error correction and quantum control via feedback. To this end, a replica approach has been recently proposed. This has the advantage of framing the evolution of the system in terms of linear equations, at the price of introducing the need for an analytic continuation of our results. DREAMS is divided into three parts. First, the dynamics of some fully-connected models will be investigated through the replica formalism. As the physics of these models is dominated by mean-field effects, it is possible to derive exact analytic solutions and understand the conditions under which critical behavior could emerge. Then, more realistic, finite-range interacting systems will be taken into account to probe the validity of our predictions in the presence of a spatial modulation of the coupling. An extensive numerical activity will be carried out to test our prediction. Finally, these results will be reinterpreted in light of the existing theoretical frameworks for monitored systems, trying to extract general predictions.

Mots clés : quantum physics, entanglement, open quantum systems, monitored systems, measurement induced phase transitions, critical phenomena, replica symmetry breaking

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 195914.88 €
Projet MINOTEE (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Ongoing crises like the return of war to Europe, economic hardships, and the illiberal challenge raise worries about minority-majority relations anew, while one can hardly expect the adoption of strong pro-minority reforms in the short run. Innovative solutions are needed that strengthen minority rights while remain politically realistic. MINOTEE builds on the trend that, faced with limits of current approaches to legal enforcement, European institutions have been experimenting with forms of collective redress. The logic and benefits of this type of remedy are relevant to guarantee minority rights, but its potential is understudied. I argue that more reliance on collective redress should ensure better enforcement and can work independently from major pro-minority reforms. By drawing from methods in legal studies and political science, MINOTEE would open up novel understandings of how opportunities shaped by ethnic bargaining positions and perceptions of power relations play out in legal procedures and beyond. Open-ended, this new approach should gauge the impacts of aggregation while delving into the actor-based dynamics that empower minorities against the lack of rights enforcement. The research will explore how collective enforcement shapes questions of representation and costs, improves evidence, triggers organization, builds agency. Building on insights from early cases of minority reparation, e.g. Holocaust cases, and seeking to develop solutions that are applicable for a range of minorities, the research will focus on a limited set of cases: Roma and Hungarian minorities in Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania will be studied, also allowing to assess how collective redress mechanisms can play out amid rule of law challenges. MINOTEE will develop proposals on how European institutions could adopt regulation on collective redress mechanisms to mark a leap in minority rights enforcement, ultimately promoting effectiveness in ways that are tangible in local settings.

Mots clés : minority rights, collective redress, ethnic bargaining, legal procedures, empowerment

Participants :
- Université d'Europe centrale (Autriche) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 199440.96 €