Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet EPFLinnovators (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Cofund Doctoral programme
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The “École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne” (EPFL) is one of the two Federal Institutes of Technology in Switzerland. EPFL has three missions: i) education, ii) research, and iii) technology transfer. The EPFL is successful in fulfilling these missions, and is ranked as one of Europe’s top institutions with respect to education, research, training-through-research and innovation. EPFL’s doctoral education and training is organized by its doctoral school, which has 19 doctoral programs that cover all EPFL research fields. The doctoral school is truly interdisciplinary, and goes across all EPFL’s disciplines. The more than 2000 doctoral students are all inscribed in one of the 19 doctoral programmes. This proposal aims to (i) increase the awareness among PhD students - at the beginning of their PhD studies - of the possibilities to initiate a start-up, (ii) increase the number of PhD candidates that create a start-up and become entrepreneur/innovator, and (iii) to increase the success of the start-ups that have been created. To this end the “EPFLinnovators” programme will provide excellent PhD candidates with the appropriate training, experience, and guiding, to successfully start and develop their own company. A rich and complete training programme is offered in combination with a long stay, of minimum 6 months and up to 24 months, in the non-academic sector. The programme will result in a new type of “Industrial PhD”. After finalizing their studies, these new PhDs have to possibility to profit from EPFL’s rich infrastructure to support entrepreneurs. The EPFL innovation Park, created to nurture start-ups, is located on the EPFL campus. Through a personal coach, the new PhDs have access to investors (venture capital companies), service providers (e.g. legal), human resources, and funding possibilities. This infrastructure facilitates the transfer of technology from EPFL's research laboratories to the marketplace in Switzerland and Europe.

Mots clés : university non academic start ups innovation

Participants :
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 3767040.0 €
Projet STOPATT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There are basically three mechanisms for spatial pattern formation in systems of two coupled reaction-advection-diffusion equations; the Turing patterns, patterns created through reaction kinetics, and chemotaxis patterns. We are interested in the reaction-diffusion equation with underlying chemotaxis. The terminus chemotaxis refers to oriented movements of cells (or an organism) in response to a chemical gradient. The topic of the proposal to investigate the logistic grow equation with underlying chemotaxis. This system will be perturbed by a stochastic noise term, modelling neglected fluctuations or random perturbations from outside. The stochastic term leads to new phenomena, e.g. bifurcation are smeared out, metastability may happen, or sudden shifts to other, possible undesired, states. First, the existence and uniqueness of the solution should be investigated; then the long term behaviour will be analysed. Here, also the dynamical behaviour should be characterised. The third point, we will focus on is the numerical approximation of the system.

Mots clés : stochastic analysis, stochastic partial differential equations, mathematical biology, pattern formation, stochastic cross diffusion

Participants :
- Montanuniversität Leoben (Autriche) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 186167.04 €
Projet PURKINJEREG (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There are many degenerative diseases affecting the cerebellum (as certain cerebellar ataxia) with severe locomotor symptoms, in which the Purkinje cells (PCs), the sole-output cerebellar neurons, suffer from degeneration. The adult regenerative capacity of neurons in mammals is extremely low. However, the zebrafish is a model organism that exhibits extensive adult neurogenesis and regeneration, and is therefore most likely to elucidate key cerebellar regenerative mechanisms that are currently unknown. The proposed project will focus on the study of PC regeneration using an inducible cell type specific ablation technique, in which the recovery of PCs cannot involve the plasticity of remaining cells, making this tool superior to existing protocols which rely on mechanical injuries. In such PC-ablated zebrafish the time course of PC layer recovery will be analyzed by behavioral tests, which will also reveal specific functions of the zebrafish cerebellum. Cellular processes of regeneration will be revealed by the analysis of double transgenic zebrafish strains addressing: the cellular sources of regenerating PC progenitors, their spatial distribution, potential migratory routes of de novo differentiating PCs, and cellular interactions accompanying a proper restoration of a functional PC layer. We also expect to obtain first insights into potential molecular processes involved in the degeneration-regeneration processes of PCs, considering Stat3- signaling (with important roles in tissue restoration) as a promising candidate to promote PC regeneration by employing inhibitor studies, and to derive functional consequences for the organism. These results are fundamental to understanding and eventually treating diseases affecting the cerebellum. Therefore, these studies about PCs regeneration in zebrafish will reach beyond basic research by revealing molecular and cellular potentials and constraints for neuronal regeneration therapeutic approaches in the vertebrate brain.

Mots clés : zebrafish, cerebellum, inducible cell ablation neurodegeneration regeneration, in vivo imaging, cellular and molecular regenerative mechanisms, behavioral analysis

Participants :
- Technische Universität Braunschweig (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 159460.8 €
Projet BEMADE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There are over 5000 species of mammals alive today, the vast majority of which are placentals (which give live birth to well-developed young). How did these mammals become so successful? Intrinsic and extrinsic factors may have played a role: mammals have many specialised features such as enlarged brains with a novel structure (the neocortex) that imparts heightened memory and senses, but they also were presented with the freedom to diversify after the dinosaurs went extinct at the end-Cretaceous (66 million years ago). This raises a major question that the BEMADE project will address: did large brains and keen senses help mammals survive the apocalypse that killed the dinosaurs, or did they appear later as mammals began to fill niches left empty by dinosaurs? As the rise of mammals is a textbook example of an evolutionary radiation, resolving this dilemma will give critical new insight into what drives diversification over deep time. Until now, little has been known about the brains of mammals evolving during the ~10 million years after the extinction (the Paleocene), due to the rarity of fossils and the difficulty of reconstructing the brain in extinct species. BEMADE will remedy this by subjecting 16 Paleocene mammal skulls—many of which were recently discovered by the Supervisor—to cutting edge high-resolution x-ray and neutron computed tomography (CT) scanning, which permits 3D visualization of the brain cavity and sense organs. CT data will be used to measure key features of the brain related to intelligence and senses, which will be mapped onto the mammal family tree to test hypotheses about how and when neurosensory changes occurred. This will provide an unprecedented look at how the brain and senses changed across the end-Cretaceous extinction and whether sensory changes may have been key drivers in the rise of mammals. Additionally, BEMADE will enable the Fellow to learn new techniques in neutron scanning and statistical methods for studying evolution.

Mots clés : brain, neocortex, mammals, paleocene, senses, behaviour, k pg boundary

Participants :
- University of Edinburgh (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet Wealth-Taxation (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There has been a growing concern in public and academia about rising wealth inequality. In his book Capital in the 21st Century, Thomas Piketty has proposed implementing a global progressive “wealth tax” in order to reduce wealth inequality. The book has spurred discussions on wealth inequality and made taxation of wealth a subject of current debate. Wealth can be taxed by different means. While most countries tax income from wealth (capital income tax), some countries have also taxed wealth stock (wealth tax). Given that capital income tax is already used as a means to tax wealth in many countries, what would be the gain in using wealth tax instead or on top of capital income tax? This is one of the main questions that this proposal addresses. Despite the fact that many papers have studied whether it is desirable to tax wealth, the previous literature has been silent about whether capital income or wealth stock should be taxed. This was because most of the previous papers have made the strong assumption that everyone in the economy earns the same rate of return on wealth. Under this assumption, it turns out that capital income and wealth taxes are equivalent. Thus, the previous literature could not provide any rationale for or against using wealth tax instead or on top of capital income tax. The broad objective of this project is to study quantitatively the optimal structure of taxes on wealth and its implications for wealth inequality, economic efficiency, and overall economic welfare by constructing a framework that includes rate of return heterogeneity and other features emphasized to be important in determination of wealth inequality. Wealth taxation is a subject of current debate not only in academia but also in policy circles. This project contributes to this debate by providing a rigorous analysis that enhances understanding of determinants of wealth inequality and the structure of optimal taxes, and providing guidance for government policy.

Mots clés : wealth inequality, heterogeneity, capital income tax, wealth tax

Participants :
- European University Institute (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 90138.6 €
Projet FRoST (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There is a critical need for accurate space weather forecasting, due to the growing use of technologies vulnerable to space weather hazards. However, refining the current models requires a more detailed understanding of solar-terrestrial relations, especially during extreme events such as magnetic clouds (MCs) which drive the fiercest storms at Earth. To this end, FRoST will investigate a previously unexplored aspect of the interaction of MCs with the terrestrial environment: the role played by the foreshock, a turbulent region extending upstream of the Earth's bow shock. The objectives of FRoST are (1) to characterise the foreshock properties during MC events, (2) to investigate how these alter in turn the properties of the region at the interface between the solar wind and the magnetosphere, the magnetosheath, and (3) assess whether the influence of the foreshock can be significant and thus should be included in space weather models. To undertake this challenging task, we will take on an interdisciplinary approach, combining numerical simulations and spacecraft observations. This project is now made possible by the extensive datasets acquired in the recent years and by the pioneering Vlasiator simulation, developed by the Host Group, which is the world's only global hybrid-Vlasov simulation and offers an unprecedented description of the near-Earth environment. Through FRoST, the Experienced Researcher (ER) will develop her skills in numerical physics, while bringing to the Host Group her expertise in data analysis. This diversification of her competencies will significantly increase the ER's career prospects. The Supervisor's strong record of scientific excellence and experience in mentoring early-career researchers will further ensure the successful execution of FRoST. This project has the potential to reinforce the position of Europe at the forefront of numerical space physics, and will contribute to the European efforts in space weather forecasting.

Mots clés : space plasma physics, space weather, solar terrestrial relations, foreshock, magnetosheath, magnetic clouds, kinetic global simulation, spacecraft observations, bow shock, geomagnetic storm

Participants :
- Ministry of Transport and Communications (Finlande) — Partner, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Helsinki (Finlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191325.6 €
Projet SIW-SAT-ANTENNAS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There is a currently increasing interest for broadband mobile satellite communications that can fulfil the Digital Agenda 2020 objective for fast Internet everywhere. Furthermore,European regulators have recently agreed to harmonize the spectrum for Earth Stations on Mobile Platforms that will use parts of the Ka-Band (17-30 GHz). Operators such as Inmarsat are planning to launch Ka-Band broadband satellite data services. New antennas and related components are required for the mobile terminals. It is proposed that broadband and miniaturized Circularly Polarized (CP) Antenna Arrays Using Substrate Integrated Waveguides(SIW) enhanced with metamaterials will be developed. SIW is a progressively important technology for millimeter waves and metamaterials (artificially macroscopic structures that mimic materials) have been transforming many wireless system components. Few papers have reported SIW CP antenna arrays and no compact flat antenna designs have yet been published for such applications. Antenna arrays with at least 8x8 elements are expected to satisfy link budget requirements. A synthetic approach is proposed that combines SIW with metamaterials for miniaturization and broadbanding. Moreover, evolutionary algorithms are exploited for efficient array geometry optimization in order to reach the desired broadband performance. Complementary circuit components will also be investigated; waveguide transitions and couplers that affect the size of the feeding network and consequently the array size. The innovative antennas coming out of this project can contribute to a competitive advantage for European industry and have an impact on the adoption of broadband mobile satellite Internet. The IPR potential is significant and offers future research opportunities on antennas for emergent millimeter wave applications. Moreover, the training plan arms the experienced researcher with research management skills that are critical to arrive at a leading independent position.

Mots clés : antennas, satellite communications, broadband internet

Participants :
- CERCA Institution (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 170121.6 €
Projet SAbDA (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There is a pressing need for clear and understandable information regarding the sustainability of products, companies and policies. To achieve this, one of the main priorities for the European Commission is strengthening the integration of Sustainable Development (SD) principles into the policy-making processes. For this to occur there is an impelling need for: (i) enhancing the economic profitability of businesses employing the principles of a circular economy; (ii) providing consumers with a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of products from a sustainability perspective, including environmental (e.g. energy consumption), economic (e.g. raw materials costs) and social considerations (e.g. workers’ safety); and (iii) accounting for limited availability of primary resources. These objectives can be achieved if robust evaluations for the sustainability of products, companies and policies are conducted and communicated. The premier tool to support the achievement of these objectives is Sustainability Assessment (SA). Due to the importance of such societal challenges, an increasing number of criteria have been proposed to conduct a SA. A main challenge is the ability to communicate effectively the sustainability of the target alternatives in an easily understandable format, being as a score of performance, a preference class, or a ranking. Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding (MCDA) is an excellent approach to achieving these goals. Frameworks applying MCDA to SA have been proposed, but they are tailored to a set of MCDA methods and only support a limited typology of data and preference elicitation techniques. This SAbDA project will tackle these shortcomings by introducing a step-wise framework to support the development of SAs and selection of the most relevant MCDA method(s). This will include assessing the MCDA methods currently available and developing new ones, including those for evaluations at the micro (product) and meso (organization, region) levels.

Mots clés : sustainability assessment, decision support, decision analysis, stakeholders  involvement, sustainable development, knowledge engineering, policy, decision making, european commission, european union

Participants :
- Poznań University of Technology (Pologne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 227361.6 €
- Government of the United States of America (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche), subvention : 0.0 €
Projet treeMAAP (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There is a striking diversity of tree architectural and anatomical forms worldwide. The functional meaning of several conspicuous architectural and anatomical spectra, and their costs and benefits remain obscure. For example, it is unknown why some tree stems are composed of large portions of living cells while others are mainly built of dead cells. Moreover, we do not understand how architecture and anatomy are coordinated. Better comprehension of these two types of structural variation is critical because they both govern tree resource acquisition, distribution and usage, as well as mechanical stability. These processes, in turn, affect tree competitive ability and reproductive success. Ultimately, tree structural strategies shape forest structure and function, and its response to current and future climate. Our present understanding of tree architecture hinge on theory and models due to a lack of architecture data, but recent advances in terrestrial laser scanning methods allow quick and precise measurements of tree architecture. Seizing this technological opportunity, treeMAAP will quantify architectural, anatomical and physiological traits to assess how they govern three major functions: water transport, mechanical stability and respiration. 15 diverse tropical tree species will be studied. TreeMAAP main objectives are: 1) to determine how anatomy and architecture coordinate to achieve a given functional outcome, and 2) to examine how water transport efficiency, mechanical stability and respiration rates trade-off at the local, organ and whole-tree level. By integrating architecture, anatomy and physiology, treeMAAP will provide entirely new perspective on tree structural diversity and its functional implications. The new knowledge will advance functional wood anatomy, functional ecology, physiology and vegetation modelling and will likely stimulate fresh and innovative research directions.

Mots clés : plant ecology, structure and function, tree architecture, wood anatomy, functional traits, respiration, functional ecology, tropical forests, biomass, terrestrial laser scanning

Participants :
- Institut de recherche pour le développement (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 184707.84 €
Projet SABRE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There is ample evidence that our Milky Way is embedded in a halo of Dark Matter. While the sun is revolving around the galactic center, it moves through this halo resulting in a constant Dark Matter wind on earth. The revolution of the earth around the sun produces then an annual modulation of the intensity of this wind. Dark Matter detection experiments have produced contradicting results so far. While the DAMA/LIBRA experiment reports the measurement of an annual modulation consistent with a Dark Matter signal, other experiments have not seen an interaction so far. The SABRE experiment aims to shed light on this controversy by detecting the annual modulation in the same target material as DAMA but with improved the sensitivity and using twin detectors in the northern and southern hemispheres. SABRE is currently preparing for a proof of principle at the same underground laboratory in Italy where DAMA operates, and will upgrade afterwards to the full-scale experiment. This fellowship will enable me to drive the SABRE experiment through the proof-of-principle stage to the full-scale instrument. To fully understand the detector response to a dark matter signal or background radiation, end-to-end simulations are essential: I plan to include the interaction of the incoming particle/radiation with the detector, signal dispersion and collection including a full optical model, as well as the subsequent processing by the data acquisition electronics. Measurements with a high-purity crystal during the proof- of-principle phase will allow their intrinsic radiopurity to be fully characterized, which is a key input to the simulation. I will also measure the optical properties of the materials involved, another crucial part of the end-to-end simulation software. Using these results, I will also optimize the light collection efficiency of the detector and, with that, the sensitivity of the full-scale experiment.

Mots clés : dark matter, nai tl, low background, experiment, monte carlo simulations, data analysis, light collection, design

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €