Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet SyPoFaPIC (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

In adults, GABA acts as the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter, but during early development, GABAergic synaptic transmission has depolarising effects and can influence various developmental processes. The role of depolarising GABA in synapse formation remains unclear. Specifically, whether changes in intracellular chloride concentration influence synapse formation directly or whether it occurs concomitantly with it is not known. Moreover, the specifics of how and where this process unfolds across different subcellular compartments have not been studied. Our hypothesis posits that GABAergic synapse formation requires depolarising GABA. Subsequently, an increase in GABAergic transmission promotes the developmental switch in chloride levels, a progression that unfolds spatially and temporally along the dendritic-axonal axis within the cell. This proposal seeks to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms governing chloride balance and the formation of GABAergic synapses in living organisms. These developmental processes occur across various spatial dimensions with precise timing. The strength of this proposal lies in integrating cutting-edge methodologies to comprehensively describe both the structure and function of the dynamic chloride environment within developing neurons and its impact on the formation, function, and plasticity of inhibitory synapses in vivo. This will be accomplished by implementing an in vivo two-photon chloride imaging approach, together with precise tracing of inhibitory synapse formation over development and following manipulations of either intracellular chloride levels or neuronal network activity. Disruptions in inhibitory synapses and changes in the timing of the postnatal intracellular chloride shift have been associated with developmental brain disorders. Hence, gaining insights into the principles governing GABAergic synaptogenesis and synapse plasticity will contribute to a better understanding of these pathological mechanisms.

Mots clés : chloride, synaptogenesis, plasticity, neuronal wiring, gabaergic interneurons, two photon imaging

Participants :
- Université de Londres (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 260347.92 €
Projet THEIA (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Nanophotonics are being revolutionized by the study of time-varying media, where abrupt changes of a system’s optical properties unlock new forms of control of light. Using nonlinear optics, one can switch-on optical properties of various materials on femtosecond time scales, but the switch-off time scales remain too slow and significantly constrain technological applications. To overcome this barrier, this project proposes to explore a new promising family of materials, altermagnets. Their unique crystal structure gives them a strong potential for nonlinear optics and time-varying photonics, as their switching using nonlinear optics will exhibit both fast spin dynamics and slower electron dynamics. This is due to their electronic bands being separated in energy by spin in the absence of magnetic fields, and being reliant on this altermagnetic phase. This will go beyond the state of the art in the field, as materials currently in use have slow switch-off times and fewer degrees of freedom to leverage. For example, transparent conductive oxides are known to have high switching contrast but slow electron-phonon relaxation. Semiconductors show higher speeds but low switching contrast, and the use of long-lived resonant metasurfaces to enhance this contrast only results in a slow switch-off speed. This project aims at performing a first linear and nonlinear optical characterisation of altermagnetic materials, and establishing them as a prime platform for time-varying nanophotonics. I will first determine the individual role of electron and spin dynamics by decoupling them through Z-scan measurements. Then, I will demonstrate another key properties, optical isolation, in a nonreciprocal pump-probe experiment. The final part of the project will accurately measure the dynamics of the materials with few-femtosecond pulses, and use these new dynamics to create a synthetic motion device which will control pulses in momentum and frequency by mimicking relativistic effects.

Mots clés : time varying photonics

Participants :
- Université de la ville de New York (Etats-Unis) — Partner, associated partner, Autres, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Londres (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 280258.68 €
Projet PHILTRANS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The conviction at the heart of this project is that philosophy can no longer postpone systematic reflection on translation. This is not only due to a widespread "translational turn" in the humanities but because translation is at the core of Europe and of philosophy itself. In the European multilingual context, translation represents one of the centripetal forces of European identity and community-building. At the same time, translation offers both a praxis and a conceptual tool for orienting EU responses to migratory pressures. In order to fill the gap in the literature on translation in both the “continental” and the “analytic” tradition, I will continue an endeavour I have been pursuing for the past decade: putting translation at the centre of philosophical inquiry. This philosophy of translation must overcome the fracture between the two philosophical traditions opening a new inquiry field beyond their unilateral approaches. Throughout the history of thought, the reciprocal relation between translation and philosophy appears in two guises: on the one hand, as the translation of philosophy; on the other, as the philosophy of translation, i.e. as sporadic philosophical remarks on translation. My hypothesis is that there is an even more intimate relation between the two – one that concerns the practice and meaning of philosophy itself, which cannot do without a translational element. Translation is the motive force of philosophy; it is an inchoate and formative element of several philosophical projects, offering a transformation of the tradition’s texts and, more importantly, of the translator. In the second stage of the project, I will exploit the transformative and pedagogical dimension of translation in the context of education, fostering European multilingualism through designing specific pedagogical activities that will introduce translation into traditionally monolingual classes, e.g. philosophy classes in high schools and universities.

Mots clés : philosophy of translation

Participants :
- Université de Padoue (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 266318.4 €
- Université de Kyoto (Japon) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet CoNFine (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Microorganisms can generate serious problems for the conservation of our shared cultural heritage: bio-colonisation by bacteria, algae, and moulds can induce physical, chemical, and aesthetic damages. Current chemical methods used to remove and prevent bio-colonisation of built stone heritage involves the use of toxic biocides, despite the risk to the environment and operators. Antimicrobial nanoparticles and naturally occurring enzymes have been alternatively proposed; however, they often show poor efficacy, along with low operational and environmental stability. CoNFine aims to develop innovative and high specificity natural-based bio-deterioration mitigation solutions tested on remains at the Oxpemul archaeological site, located in Mexico's Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. The project will produce and test new formulations based on enzyme immobilisation on metal-oxide nanoparticles and polymeric hydrogels. Presumably, enzyme anchoring on naturally occurring nanostructured surfaces will enhance the inherent enzymatic activity and stability, thereby increasing their overall efficacy. The highly trans-disciplinary project involves a multi-analytical approach to provide new solutions for mitigating bio-deterioration. The efficacy, compatibility, and longevity of the CoNFine products will be monitored during the MSCA-GF funded period and afterwards, using a Citizen Science initiative for long-term feedback. In this way, CoNFine will significantly contribute to the development of more respectful conservation solutions, which are also in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. CoNFine provides innovative beyond state-of-the-art materials to protect cultural heritage surfaces and preserve cultural identities. Importantly, it creates a truly unique training opportunity for the highly skilled applicant and host institutions, who will benefit from a rewarding knowledge exchange at the interfaces between cultural heritage, microbiology, and chemistry.

Mots clés : nano chemistry, biomaterials, bio deterioration

Participants :
- Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 256753.2 €
- Autonomous University of Campeche (Mexique) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (Mexique) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet CHALKS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The project TopologiCal ApproacH to Artificial NeurAL NetworKS (CHALKS) will focus on the study of Artificial Neural Networks architecture based on computational topology approaches and sheaf theory. More specifically, towards Explainability, we plan to study the data representations through the different hidden layers of ANNs and track the topological complexity evolution. Then, we want to characterize the needed architecture based on the topological complexity.

Mots clés : computational topology

Participants :
- Université de Séville (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 262599.84 €
- Université d'Oxford (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Tokyo (Japon) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet CARMEN (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Nanoengineering techniques have been developed to reduce thermal conductivity (κ) and improve the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of materials. However, both these strategies have had their own limitations. Firstly, due to the nanopatterns only reducing the κ in a single direction, is difficult to reduce the total κ of thermal isotropic materials. Secondly, when nanoengineering the material to increase ZT by lowering its κ, the nanopatterned sample with large porosity (> 0.5) can greatly remove its volume and suppress the electron mean free path, which would also significantly reduce the electrical conductivity (σ) and resulted in a low increase of the ZT value. CARMEN will overcome these limitations by taking two advantages of emerging two-dimensional (2D) materials, especially SnSe2: a high Seebeck coefficient of 500 μV/K at 298 K and a high anisotropic κ ratio of ~ 8.4. Therefore, nanoengineering 2D materials can reduce their κ to approach the maximum value of ZT with a limited reduction in σ. Additionally, the phonon drag of SnSe2 was first revealed by the applicant during a three-month research visit in the supervisor's group, which will be further investigated by CARMEN. To understand and exploit the thermoelectric properties of 2D materials, CARMEN will design, construct, measure, and explore nanopatterned SnSe2 to approach its maximum thermoelectric ZT value above room temperature and to manipulate the phonon drag in SnSe2 at low temperatures (1 - 273 K). The project is motivated in part by the urgent need for highly thermoelectric ZT materials to harvest waste heat from electronics, and in part by the fundamental quest toward understanding and manipulating the phonon-electron interaction in 2D materials. It represents an extraordinary training opportunity on complementary scientific and soft skills for the applicant and has transformational impact potential on flexible thermoelectric devices, thermal engineering, quantum technologies, and beyond.

Mots clés : thermoelectricity, 2d materials, phonon drag, phononic crystals, cryogenics, seebeck, thermal conductivity

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 211754.88 €
Projet OPANDA (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Today, interactions between audiences and theatres occur to a significant extent via online platforms and digital media. OPANDA studies the impact of these transformative technologies on opera fandom. Although recent research has addressed the digital dissemination of opera, the phenomenon of cyber-fandom remains under-researched. Situated at the intersection of musicology, sociology and media studies, the project asks how opera fans perform their passion digitally. This entails the investigation of their interactions on the web, but the project also considers how cyber-fandom intersects with traditional fan behaviour. In a post-pandemic and hyper-mediatised society in which the divide between stage and screen is constantly blurred, the project reconsiders past audience practices and envisions possible future ones. OPANDA aims at providing a pioneering study of today’s opera fans (i.e. the most active operagoers), including their digital practices and communities. To reach this goal, OPANDA is based on a comparative and qualitative analysis of representative case studies, combining digital ethnography on web communities and fanzines, participant observation at opera companies (La Scala, Paris Opera, the New York Metropolitan Opera), and interviews with fans. Dr Nicolò Palazzetti (Researcher) is well placed to carry out this research thanks to an outstanding background in musicology and sociology, and a solid expertise in performing ethnography among opera fans. By situating his project at Sapienza University of Rome, he advances his career in new directions. He has the key opportunity to work with Prof. Emanuele Senici (Supervisor), a prominent opera scholar specialising in opera and media, and with Prof. Romana Andò (co-supervisor), an expert in fan studies. A training-based secondment at the Digital Ethnography Research Centre in Melbourne and a dissemination-based secondment at the Music Department of Yale University support the achievement of the project.

Mots clés : opera fandom, opera houses, fan studies, opera studies, cultural sociology, media studies, digital ethnography, ethnography, qualitative research, social media, cyber fandom, remediation

Participants :
- Université de Rome « La Sapienza » (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 188590.08 €
- Université Yale (Etats-Unis) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Institut royal de technologie de Melbourne (Australie) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet IMPACT (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : TERMINATED

The huge mass of a star and its associated gravitational forces make the nuclei of hydrogen atoms collide and fuse, releasing energy in the form of energetic neutrons. This process, called nuclear fusion, has a very high energy density, and does not produce CO2 or long-lived radioactive waste. For these reasons, nuclear fusion has attracted the attention of scientists since the 1950s, who have tried to reproduce the conditions of a star in their laboratories. So far, tokamaks are the most promising prototype for a nuclear-fusion power plant on Earth. In particular, spherical tokamaks provide an attractive configuration due to their compactness and lower cost than conventional tokamaks. This would provide a means to mitigate the actual climate and energy crisis, using nuclear fusion to complement other renewable energies in a greener future.  Control of the tokamak plant and associated systems, whose final goal is to confine a plasma by means of magnetic fields, is critical to attain the necessary conditions for nuclear fusion to happen. However, plasma control in spherical tokamaks requires specific solutions due to their challenging plasma shapes and pressures, which often trigger plasma instabilities. Under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions, the IMPACT project (Innovative Model-based Plasma Algorithms for Control of spherical Tokamaks) will design a state-of-the-art plasma-control system for spherical tokamaks and will deploy it on the SMall Aspect Ratio Tokamak (SMART). Under this project, novel algorithms based on plasma dynamical models will be developed to tackle the newest control challenges in spherical tokamaks, including negative triangularity plasma shaping to enable higher plasma confinement and ensure safety of the tokamak reactor. This project will ensure the realization and sustainment of the plasmas needed in SMART, thus enabling and accelerating its scientific and technological mission to make nuclear fusion a reality.

Mots clés : nuclear fusion, tokamaks, plasma control, model predictive control

Participants :
- Université de Séville (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 181152.96 €
Projet SafeSea (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Ultraviolet (UV) filters, used in sunscreens and other consumer products, are effective at blocking UV radiation but can enter marine environments due to inadequate wastewater treatment and human activities. This contamination poses significant risks to marine ecosystems, especially in tourist-heavy coastal regions. Coastal biota, such as mussels and seaweeds, are exposed to these contaminants, leading to their accumulation in tissues and posing significant ecotoxicological risks, including endocrine disruption and DNA damage. Furthermore, these contaminants may enter the human diet through seafood consumption, posing substantial exposure risks. There is a critical need to understand the impact of UV filter contamination on marine ecosystems and human health, especially in Australia, where these compounds remain under-investigated. In response, the SAFESEA project will adopt a holistic strategic approach to monitor and assess the ecotoxicological risks associated with UV filter bioaccumulation in marine organisms along the southeast coast of Australia. The methodology includes metabolomic studies, functional analysis, and metabolic pathway assessments to establish correlations between contaminants and metabolites, while also considering spatial variation. The project will evaluate dietary intake and exposure risks from seafood consumption by comparing data from Australia with that of Mediterranean countries. By employing rigorous methodologies and interdisciplinary approaches, the SAFESEA project aims to provide significant insights into ecological and human exposure resulting from UV filter contamination in marine environments, and to advocate for the reduction of water pollution and the protection of marine ecosystems.

Mots clés : uv filters, seafood, ecotoxicological impact, environmental monitoring, risk assessment

Participants :
- Université de Grenade (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 309369.36 €
- Institut royal de technologie de Melbourne (Australie) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet PhotoFLPs (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

In 2006 Douglas Stephan described the first reversible metal-free hydrogen activation via frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs). In these pairs, the presence of bulky substituents in both the Lewis acid and base precludes the formation of the Lewis pair, creating a highly polarised pocket that can activate small and organic molecules. Although mostly of the FLPs seem to react via two electron processes, a few FLPs have shown radical reactivity, namely frustrated radical pair (FRP). This radical reactivity has been already used in synthetic applications of interest like C-C bond formation. However, there are very limited of examples of main group FRPs, which formation depend entirely of the nature of the substituents of the Lewis acid and Base. Another interesting type of FLPs are those in which either the LA or the LB is constituted by a transition metal (TM), which eases the possibility of catalytic applications, due to the high versatility and reactivity of TMs. Regarding transition metal only FLP (TMOFLPs), the first example was described recently by the group of Jesus Campos. Constituted by Au/Pt as LB and LA and LB respectively, this pairs have shown activity in the activation of small molecules like hydrogen or acetylene. In this project, the family of known MG FRPs will be extended with the rational design of a family of photoactivated FRPs. This novel FRPs will be then tested in the activation of small molecules and C-O bond activation reactions. Following this approach, a family of hybrid transition metal/main group photoactivated FRPs will be prepared, and their reactivity will be tested both in small molecules activation and potential catalytic applications of interest such as ethereal C-O bond activation. Finally, a family of photoactivated TMOFLPs will be prepared. The family of known TMOFLPs will be extended to 1st row TMs, and the photoexcitation of these pairs will be explored for unprecedented catalytic applications.

Mots clés : main group chemistry, frustrated lewis pairs

Participants :
- Université de Séville (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 181152.96 €