Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet CausalBrain (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Humans have an extraordinary capacity to infer cause-effect relations and form beliefs about the causal effect of actions. This ability provides the basis for rational decision-making and allows people to engage in meaningful life and social interactions. In fact, alterations of cognitive processes involved in causal learning have been found in patients affected by psychiatric disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and addiction. The formation of causal beliefs relies on learning rules determined by the contingency between actions and outcomes. Although fronto-striatal areas are known to be involved in the cogntive architecture of causal beliefs, it is still unknown how these brain regions interact to learn causal structures. This project aims to unravel the link between functional brain networks and causal reasoning. We hypothesize that causal representation are implemented in a dynamic distributed network of directed functional interactions between brain regions and that this network is shaped by learning. We will characterize the modulations of brain circuits involved in learning phases as well as the brain networks responsible of internal representations of contingency values and associated uncertainty. We are going to pursue these two aims by analyzing magneto-encephalografic and intracranial electro-encephalographic data collected during a causal reasoning task. We will use state-of-the-art methods for dynamic directed connectivity estimation. In addition, we will develop machine learning pipelines to found those subnetworks that implement the cognitive architecture of causal learning. Overall, we will be able to understand whether causal learning and the psychological internal variables predicted by rational theories are reflected in dynamically changing directional influences in whole-brain circuits.

Mots clés : functional connectivity, machine learning, granger causality, whole brain modeling

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 196707.84 €
Projet FASTEST (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Hybrid perovskites represent a new paradigm for photovoltaics, showing the potential of cost-effective fabrication, viable integration for a multi-junction device, and flexible device applications. However, the viability of perovskite solar cells is still far behind commercialization due to difficulties arising from little air-stability and inconsistent power output. The FASTEST project aims to synthesize air-stable inorganic perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) for their application in high-performance photovoltaics. Inorganic perovskite NCs exhibited outstanding optical properties, with photoluminescence quantum yield above 80%, i.e. low charge recombination losses. However, current nanoparticle synthesis methods use bulky, high-boiling point ligands which hamper the formation of high quality optoelectronic thin films, i.e. films with high charge transport and limited recombination, which severely limits possibilities of applications. This project will overcome these hurdles by engineering perovskite NCs by introducing short ligands for room temperature (RT) synthesis and compositional substitution with second metallic ions to stabilize perovskite NCs with an optimal bandgap. Furthermore, to attain air-durability as well as a good dispersion in solution states, novel polymeric passivating materials which protect perovskite NCs from degradation will be incorporated. These will develop effective strategies for enhancing the durability of metal halide perovskite nanoparticles from synthesis scheme to device operations. The technological advancement will be supported by fundamental studies on the photophysical properties of perovskite NCs related with physics of defect and perovskite degradation under controlled conditions of humidity, light, and temperature. This will lead to an understanding of the degradation mechanisms in the perovskite NCs, finally a demonstration of the solution-processable perovskite NCs for flexible large-area PV applications.

Mots clés : inorganic perovskite nanocrystals, photophysics, degradation mechanism, durability, solar cells

Participants :
- Italian Institute of Technology (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 180277.2 €
Projet HydroCat (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

HydroCat proposes a simulation and theory study into the collective behaviour of catalytically-driven, self-propelled colloids. The first step of the investigation focusses on understanding the mechanism by which platinum-coated Janus particles self-propel on a single-particle level. This will be accomplished by modelling the two candidates for the mechanism, self-diffusiophoresis and self-electrophoresis, and directly comparing the behaviour of the hybrid-model to experimental results. Once sufficient insight has been achieved, the focus of the project will shift to the description of the collective behaviour of these particles. Here, HydroCat follows a three-pronged strategy: (i) development of a finely-resolved lattice-Boltzmann (LB) simulation that takes into account all relevant physical effects and is capable of simulating a large number of particles; (ii) coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to study the collective behaviour of these Janus colloids, which are benchmarked against the fine LB simulations; and (iii) a fully coarse-grained, field-theoretical description that uses input from both (i) and (ii). HydroCat will result in an improved understanding of the catalytic self-propulsion, which will serve as a solid foundation for the description of experiments and the development of applications.

Mots clés : self propelled, catalytic, hydrodynamic, lattice boltzmann, field theory

Participants :
- University of Edinburgh (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet RHINE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Hydrogen is an alternative future energy carrier. However, the drawback associated with its compact storage is still a scientific and technological challenge. Metal hydrides offer a suitable combination weighing both safety and cost. In particular, magnesium hydride (MgH2) is an ideal candidate with a high gravimetric capacity of 7.6 wt %, low cost, and abundance in nature. However, the high stability of Mg-H is a significant limitation for practical application. Although, recently, interface and strain induced-modification is proposed as a strategy to reduce the MgH2 stability in Mg nanoalloys. Nonetheless, they are not well understood in Mg nanoalloys. Moreover, understanding and interpreting these effects on a single nanoparticle (NP) from bulk measurement techniques is a significant problem. Since the effect of averaging and low spatial resolution plagues the collected data, it prevents in resolving the intrinsic impact of size, strain, and interface on a structure-property relationship of single NPs. Therefore, we propose (i) to use STEM-EELS with insitu gas holder(H2) at operando conditions in an aberration-corrected microscope to unravel the metal-hydride phase transition of individual Mg nanoalloys. (ii) apply state of the art iDPC and 4D-STEM to resolve the role of the interface and precise measurement of strain to identify the effect of destabilization on individual Mg nanoalloys. Moreover, advanced training on insitu TEM at DTU, iDPC, and 4D-STEM techniques @secondment and other transferable skills will diversify my competence further and positively impact my future career prospects and networking across Europe. The infrastructure/expertise at DTU, my experience, and knowledge in NP synthesis and hydrogen storage, along with the DTU support office, will ensure the successful implementation of the proposal. Finally, disseminating research and communication to the stakeholders and the general public will ensure the maximum impact of the project's results.

Mots clés : mg nanoalloys, interface and strain effect on nanoparticles

Participants :
- Technical University of Denmark (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 328968.0 €
Projet IRIDOX (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Hydrogen-borrowing catalysis is a fantastically powerful method of constructing new bonds and synthesising key small organic molecules. However, despite recent advances, many hydrogen-borrowing methodologies do not embrace asymmetric catalysis, limiting its use in targeted synthesis of chiral molecules. The goal of this proposal is to address these issues and develop new methodologies that involve enantioinduction. In particular,focusing on using hydrogen-borrowing catalysis in combination with forms of asymmetric catalysis (such as organocatalysis) and using hydrogen-borrowing catalysis to transiently activate substrates in order to facilitate reactions that appear unlikely to occur on paper. Following the development of these methodologies, they will be applied to the synthesis of biologically active molecules and natural products. The high quality and novel research contained within these goals will be met due to the knowledge and experience of the experience researcher and the host, Professor Timothy J. Donohoe, along with the excellent facilities and opportunities afford by the University of Oxford. Following the completion of the research, the results will be highly interesting and useful to the greater chemistry community in both academia and industry.


Participants :
- University of Oxford (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet CLOPRESS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Hypertension, or elevated arterial blood pressure, is a significant global health concern. A major cause of hypertension is the abnormality in salt (NaCl) handling in distal nephron segments within kidney. Although there has been long a debate with regard to the relative importance of Na+ vs. Cl- in inducing salt-sensitive hypertension, previous research demonstrated that excess intake of Cl- could lead to severe salt-sensitive hypertension. Thus, better understanding on molecular mechanisms of renal Cl- handling would provide useful insights in treatment of hypertension. Previous studies largely focused on the identification and regulation of apically expressed Cl- transporters, including Na+-Cl- cotransporter, Na+-K+-2Cl- cotransporter (NKCC1/NKCC2) and pendrin, but mechanisms and regulation of Cl- transporters on basolateral membranes (i.e. an exit of Cl- into the interstitial space) remains poorly described. Thus, the current proposal will investigate the physiological role of basolateral Cl- channel distributed in distal nephron, specifically ClC-kb. Using a transgenic ClC-kb knockout line of mice, I propose to investigate the physiological role of this channel within isolated tubule and at the whole animal level. In addition, ClC-kb channel is known to interact with a functional β-subunit, barttin, and this interaction could affect Cl- conductance. I propose to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which barttin can affect ClC-kb-mediated chloride transport. The proposed studies will shed new insights into the molecular mechanisms of Cl- reabsorption in distal nephron, and could provide a basis for novel approach in treatment of hypertension.

Mots clés : hypertension, ion transport, chloride channels, sodium transport, kidney

Participants :
- Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 173076.0 €
Projet SHAPE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

I aim to address association of health, wellbeing, smartness and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) with nearly zero energy buildings (nZEBs) in Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain, Belgium) under the supervision of Professor Sergio Altomonte. We are living in a decade in which problems such as climate change, global warming, lack of resources, detrimental impact on human health and solutions such as sustainable development, resilient environments, mitigation of carbon emissions, excellence in energy efficiency have never been much more significant before. The Directive 2018/844/ EU amending the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) Directive 2010/31/EU) indicates the requirements for nZEBs. Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) and building performance evaluation (BPE) are significant processes to assess user satisfaction, identify problems in buildings and develop solutions. The main aim of SHAPE project is to propose, deploy, and validate a new BPE tool for healthy and smart nZEBs, tracking holistically and measuring rigorously user comfort, health and well-being, alongside buildings’ energy efficiency and smartness. As the first step of the research methodology, a framework of performance indicators for healthy and smart nZEBs will be created. Secondly, a BPE tool will be developed for assessing health, wellbeing, productivity, IEQ and smartness for new and renovated nZEBs in use. In the third step, the developed BPE tool will be validated in selected existing smart nZEBs. Furthermore, the BPE tool will be finalised in the fourth step and disseminated in the fifth step. In conclusion, the BPE tool will identify problematic areas in nZEBs and recommend improvements for a better building performance with a higher quality for occupants considering human factors. The lessons learned from implementation of the BPE tool can provide guidance for the design of new nZEBs.

Mots clés : nearly zero energy buildings  nzebs, post occupancy evaluation  poe, building performance evaluation  bpe, health and well being in the built environment, indoor environmental quality  ieq

Participants :
- Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 166320.0 €
Projet SNAP-Vax (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

I aim to expand the broad clinical potential of self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) vaccines by crafting nanomaterial formulations that will target intracellular delivery of saRNA and molecular adjuvants to the key cells that mediate immunity. Both the devastating SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and annual flu seasons expose a significant need for more rapid development of effective vaccines. Nucleic acids such as self-amplifying messenger RNA (saRNA) are an exciting new class of subunit vaccine cargoes that promise to address the need for more adaptable, scalable, and more efficacious vaccines in comparison to those rooted in laboriously produced recombinant proteins. Although saRNA-based vaccine production offers a powerful platform to address these major issues with vaccine development, there is a huge need for innovative methods that can deliver nucleic acids across the body's many physiological barriers and generate protective immunity. This project seeks to apply the materials expertise of the applicant and the Stevens group (Imperial College London [ICL]) to the improved delivery and function of first generation saRNA vaccines that have been pioneered in the Shattock group (ICL). We hypothesize that polymer nanomaterial design can enable delivery of saRNA vaccine components to key cells responsible for generating adaptive immune responses and that this "targeted" saRNA vaccine delivery will lead to enhanced protective immunity compared to current vaccines. I will apply advanced polymerization techniques to tailor the delivery of saRNA to antigen presenting cells and to master cutting-edge imaging techniques to characterize the cellular response to targeted vaccine uptake (Raman, FIB-SEM). I will then collaborate with the Shattock lab to evaluate vaccine targeting in mice in vivo and in human skin explant models ex vivo, and complete a secondment at AstraZeneca that will provide invaluable insight into translational development of nanomaterials for nucleic acid delivery.

Mots clés : nucleic acid delivery, immunoengineering, rna vaccine

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet PERPREP (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

I intend to investigate the representation of genocidal perpetrators in documentaries from a narratological perspective. There is a large corpus of documentaries representing perpetrators. Many feature in-depth interviews with perpetrators and are directed by victims, who in some cases spent several years filming perpetrators. Yet despite this remarkable corpus of films, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the representation of perpetrators in academic literature. ‘Representing Perpetration’ will investigate documentary filmmakers’ political and ethical narrative strategies of representing genocidal perpetrators across four different genocides: The Holocaust, the 1965–1966 Indonesian massacres, the Cambodian genocide, and the genocide of the Tutsi. I will examine the ways in which documentary filmmakers reframe the perpetrators’ self-deceptions and seek to undermine (successfully or not) the perpetrators’ accounts of history. In so doing, many of these documentary filmmakers manage to wrestle testimonies of atrocities from those most invested in concealing them. Methodologically, I will use narratology to systematically analyse directors’ depiction of genocidal perpetrators. This approach is particularly suitable to investigate the double role these documentaries play in providing an evidentiary record of perpetrators’ testimonies but also in shaping the historical narrative in accordance with the directors’ ethics.

Mots clés : representing perpetration, documentary film, narrative ethics

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 328968.0 €
Projet AH-GCOLSYM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

I plan to investigate colour symbolism among African hunter-gatherers (AHGs), using the results to help interpret findings of my previous archaeological research on southern African pigment use before, during, and after our morphologically diagnosed speciation. Having previously shown that earth pigments were primarily chosen for their saturated redness and/or sparkling brilliance, I am interested in discovering the part played by similar perceptual properties in the cosmological systems and rituals of AHGs whose voices can inform us today. AHGs are distinguished by high levels of gender egalitarianism, including the coexistence of women’s rituals alongside those of men, often in ways which augment women’s solidarity and power. One aim, therefore, will be to investigate the use of coloured substances in ritual performances and how this relates to broader cosmology and gender dynamics. I will also undertake structuralist analysis of selected myths where similar percepts play a significant role (having access to a previously unpublished store of narratives which can be analyzed in these terms). While attentive to ethnographic detail, I will go beyond mere description, drawing on current theoretical frameworks addressing either our emergence in Africa as a symbolic species or colour symbolism in myth and ritual, investigating whether any of them make sufficiently detailed predictions to test in the light of my findings. I hope to publish my results in three peer-reviewed scientific papers. Within the MSCA Work Programme, the project is relevant to the societal challenge of inclusive, innovative and reflective societies. Modern human origins research attracts high levels of public interest, but has suffered from low levels of cultural sensitivity or self-awareness. Bringing the insights of social anthropology to bear on our emergence in Africa as a symbolic species is intended to help remedy this.

Mots clés : earth pigments, middle stone age, speciation, analogy, hypothesis testing

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet DIGESTIVO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

I propose to carry out the ‘DIffuse Galaxy Expansion SignaTures In Various Observables’ (DIGESTIVO) project, a joint theoretical and observational effort alongside observers at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), to study the evolution and formation of Low Surface Brightness galaxies (LSBs), including the recently discovered Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies (UDGs). LSBs are extremely dark matter dominated, faint objects hardly distinguishable from the night sky. In the last decade it has became clear that large numbers of LSB galaxies exist, opening a new window on galaxy evolution and formation. How do such diffuse galaxies form and evolve? How are they linked to their dark matter haloes, and how do they fit within the current cosmological model of galaxy formation? To answer these questions, I will make use of state-of-the-art, sophisticated hydrodynamical numerical simulations of galaxies, my field of expertise, combined with new observational data of LSBs/UDGs, which will be attained by observers at the host institution thanks to new techniques that will push the frontier of LSB imaging with optical telescopes. The goal is to study and understand the properties of diffuse galaxies: we will test our current theory according to which LSBs/UDGs arise from gas outflow episodes driven by supernovae feedback, which give rise to an expanded distribution of dark matter and stars. Searching for signatures of dark matter and stellar expansion in LSB galaxies is indeed a central theme of the proposed research, as we try to understand how LSBs arise in a galaxy formation context, which is currently an open issue. This is the first time that a joint theoretical and observational effort on LSBs is developed: ultimately, this will offer invaluable insights on the formation of such elusive galaxies and increase our understanding of the role of baryonic feedback in galaxy formation.

Mots clés : low surface brightness galaxies, galaxy formation, dark matter, new techniques with optical telescopes

Participants :
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 170121.6 €