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

This proposal will rigorously evaluate three approaches to reducing research waste and publication bias in clinical trials. The findings will provide a firm evidence base to inform efforts to improve the robustness of scientific evidence across the natural and social sciences.  Non-publication of results has been estimated to directly waste $85 billion per year in medical research funding. Gaps left by unreported clinical trial results systematically distort the scientific evidence base because negative findings are especially likely to remain unreported. Health systems and insurers are often unable to determine how safe, effective and cost-effective treatments really are, leading to costly procurement missteps and suboptimal and sometimes dangerous patient care. For example, governments worldwide spent over $18 billion on the drug Tamiflu before the previously hidden results of several unsuccessful clinical trials emerged.  Today, research waste safeguards for clinical trials are stronger and more advanced than in any other area of research. Multiple approaches to tackling the twin problems of research waste and publication bias have been pioneered in the clinical trials space and are now being adopted in other branches of science. However, it remains unclear which of these measures are effective because their impact has rarely been studied in a systematic and rigorous manner. This undermines efforts to improve the robustness of research across the natural and social sciences. This proposal will fill an important knowledge gap by providing robust evidence on which approaches to reducing research waste and curbing publication bias are effective. Breaking new methodological ground, it will answer three questions:  Can stronger funder safeguards reduce research waste? Can sending reminder messages to research institutions reduce research waste? What reminder messages to principal investigators reduce research waste most?

Mots clés : research waste publication bias metascience open science clinical trial

Participants :
- Institut Karolinska (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 206887.68 €
- Université d'Oxford (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet S-OECN (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Recent advancements in prosthetics, brain-computer interfaces, and neural therapy require electronics that communicate with biological systems. However, electronic circuits manipulate 1/0 binary digits, whereas biological neurons function with ion flux-induced neural spikes. To emulate biological neuron functions in hardware implementations, artificial neurons have been developed using inorganic memristors or transistors, but they have failed to integrate with biotic neurons due to their high operating voltage and inherent inertness towards ion/neurotransmitter-based modulation. In this regard, organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) distinguish themselves by using ionic species to mediate electron/hole conductance in organic semiconductors, making them the ideal candidate for fabricating organic electrochemical neurons (OECNs) with high biocompatibility and biochemical-mediated functionalities. So far, OECNs have been demonstrated by the project host (Prof. Simone Fabiano at Linköping University) with the capability to emulate biorealistic spiking patterns, response to exogenous ions or neurotransmitters for spiking modality alternation, and perform event-based neuron stimulation in animal models. However, existing OECNs still face two major limitations that impede their integration with biological nerves, including their rigidity and incapable of performing endogenous biochemical sensing and modulation with biotic neurons. To exploit the advantages of OECNs for bio-integration and bidirectional communication, I will use my expertise in soft materials, devices, and systems to devise OECNs with tissue-like softness, monolithic assembly, and seamless integration with biological nerves. Specifically, stretchable organic semiconductors and other soft constituent materials will be synthesized and prepared; soft OECTs and OECNs that operate stably under mechanical deformation will be devised; soft biochemical sensing and delivery functions will be incorporated.

Mots clés : organic semiconductors, organic electrochemical transistors, organic electrochemical neurons, soft electronics, stretchable electronics, bio integation, biochemical sensing, biochemical delivery

Participants :
- Université de Linköping (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 222727.68 €
- Université d'Oxford (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet WHEADCAP (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Early plant management and domestication have shaped the history of humanity and the evolution of socio-economic systems. Domestication processes, involving variable rates of selection over several millennia across different geographies in western Asia, resulted in complex phenotypical and genetic alterations in crop plants, while influencing new economic practices among human populations. Yet, the data for the nature of early agriculture and human-derived dynamics entangled in the selection of domestication traits is still limited. What practices did early management systems involve and how did these influence crop diversity and the protracted, non-linear selection of traits? To find answers, the WHEADCAP project focuses on one of the oldest groups of crop plants, wheats (Triticum spp.), and the archaeobotanical assemblages from three early Neolithic communities (9th-8th millennium cal. BCE) in volcanic Cappadocia, Central Anatolia (Türkiye). A rich phenotypic diversity characterises these assemblages, including the globally oldest known in situ domestication process of several wheat species. The project aims to integrate two cutting-edge methodologies to detect patterns conventional approaches cannot unveil. First, WHEADCAP will develop new Geometric Morphometric models to disentangle the high taxonomic and phenotypic diversity within the early wheat populations and to reconstruct the evolution of domesticated forms of wheats in a specific geographical context. Functional Weed Ecology will then be applied at the Secondment to assess past crop growing conditions and management practices, revealing the ecological context of the domestication and selection processes. While reshaping our perspectives on agricultural origins and contributing to my professional career through new scientific skills, the project will also provide novel and widely applicable models to study human-plant interactions and domestication at the onset of agriculture in western Asia and beyond.

Mots clés : archaeobotany, west asian neolithic, wheat diversity and domestication, geometric morphometrics, functional weed ecology

Participants :
- Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 226420.56 €
- Université d'Oxford (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet MEGALITH (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The transition to farming provided the foundation for evolution of modern complex societies. This process, also known as a change from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic involved a radical shift in subsistence practices, from hunting and gathering to management of domesticated plants and animals. In north-western Europe, the development of farming was accompanied by a significant change in culture, with the construction of large megalithic monuments. This tradition emerged in France with the growth of farming here during the 5th millennium BC. It subsequently spread across the Channel to Britain and Ireland as farming arrived in these regions (from c. 4000 BC).  Despite very many decades of excavation, the question of why monuments began to be constructed with the growth and expansion of agriculture remains uncertain. It is hypothesized that this tradition may have emerged through the interaction of Mesolithic communities and migrant Neolithic groups in north-western France, as farming developed in this region. How people were chosen for burial in these immense and impressive monuments remains unknown. It has been suggested that these tombs were used for the burial of a dynastic elite, indicating that the growth of agriculture provided the foundations for development of social inequality in Europe.  A breakthrough in archaeological approach is needed to investigate these important questions. The methodology required must push beyond conventional excavation techniques to reveal how monuments were used, who is buried in these iconic monuments and why this tradition spread across north-west Europe. This project takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining multi-isotope and ancient DNA analysis to answer these questions. Using these methods MEGALITH will provide new direct evidence for population ancestry; social organization; gender relationships; mobility; settlement patterns and diet, to understand how monuments were used and why they were constructed.

Mots clés : neolithic europe, dna, isotopes

Participants :
- Université de Bordeaux (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 242260.56 €
- Université d'Oxford (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet RUJOI (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The RUJOI project aims to introduce a new paradigm for the design of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings by developing low-cost, flexible, and highly dissipative rubber joints for protecting the masonry infills and enhancing the global structural performance of the RC frame. Many past and recent earthquake-induced disasters have shown that masonry infills are highly vulnerable components of RC buildings, undergoing damage even under minor earthquakes, and causing casualties and significant economic losses. Flexible rubber joints, recently emerged as effective devices for protecting the infills, have also the potential to provide enough energy dissipation capabilities to minimise the RC frame damage and increase the building resilience to earthquakes. The RUJOI project aims to unlock the potential of rubber joints through a combination of experimental and numerical research. Work will be carried out in collaboration with Tun Abdul Razak Research Center (TARRC), a world-leading research center in anti-seismic rubber-based devices, to reduce the cost and improve the performance of the joints, by introducing unvulcanized and recycled rubber compounds. Moreover, a novel 3D macro-element modelling strategy for masonry infill walls with joints will be developed and validated in collaboration with University of Catania. The proposed strategy, implemented in advanced nonlinear structural software, will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the joints in reducing the seismic vulnerability and losses for typical infilled RC buildings in Europe and worldwide. This will help to quantify the benefits of introducing the rubber joints in increasing the resilience of masonry-infilled RC buildings in areas with different seismic hazard levels, in line with the EU’s objectives of Resilient and Secure Smart Cities and Disaster Resilient Society. Finally, simplified design tools will be developed, allowing the exploitation of the research outcomes by practitioners.

Mots clés : reinforced concrete buildings seismic resilient structures rubber joints recycled rubber computational structural mechanics optimal design

Participants :
- Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, associated partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Strathclyde (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276187.92 €
- Université de Catane (Italie) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet RADIATE (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Titled “Reconstituting the Acceptance and Daily Integration of Technology: X-Rays in the Late Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey, 1895 to Present” (RADIATE), this project pioneers a new methodological approach to the study of technology in non-Western contexts. By tracing the longue-durée historical trajectory of X-ray technology, from its discovery by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen in Germany to its widespread adoption in modern Turkey, RADIATE moves beyond conventional narratives that simply focus on the moment of its first introduction in the Ottoman Empire. Instead, it highlights the complex path X-ray technology took to gain acceptance, a journey marked by deep-rooted fears and societal anxieties, such as concerns about exposing the human body to invisible forces. The project explores the deeper and often overlooked economic and legal processes that helped transform X-ray technology from a foreign innovation into an integral part of daily life. Rather than treating X-ray machines as prepackaged technologies simply transplanted into the Ottoman world, RADIATE examines their gradual integration across different sectors of society despite initial scepticism and rejection. This includes investigating lesser-studied uses of X-rays beyond medicine, such as in industrial applications and border control – areas that have been almost entirely neglected in previous scholarship. By incorporating a diverse array of historical actors – ranging from technicians and marketers to investors and ordinary citizens – RADIATE challenges the traditional focus on elite scientific figures in the history of radiology. The project’s multidisciplinary and holistic approach aims to offer a groundbreaking understanding of how technology changed society – and how society changed technology.

Mots clés : ottoman empire, turkey, x rays, radiology, radiotherapy, history of medicine

Participants :
- Université de Warwick (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276187.92 €
Projet PlanetArt (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

This project proposes to rewrite the history of porcelain production from a planetary perspective. Titled PlanetArt, the project focuses on the energy regime of Jingdezhen porcelain manufacture in southeast China, where billions of porcelains were produced for global consumers from ca. 1300 to 1900. Porcelain, a human-made material of chemistry, technology, and art, demands energy to produce, releases pollutants and generates waste in production, and remains roughly intact in soil or under water for millennia. As massive production consumed enormous amounts of energy and generated multiple environmental disturbances (e.g. deforestation, air pollution), how did the manufacture continue to thrive over six centuries without causing severe ecological collapse in the region? How did regional inhabitants, transregional (e.g. merchants, porters) and transcultural actants (e.g. non-Han Chinese travellers, Jesuit missionaries) perceive and tackle ecological problems? This project hypothesises that the impact of energy consumption in porcelain production did not diminish but actually enhanced ecological resilience in the Jingdezhen region. The resilience is theorised in the correlation between energy, ecology, and material literacy (i.e. environmental knowledge, technical expertise, and skilled practice in processing materials). Toward the end of the long duration, Jingdezhen porcelain indeed lost its dominant position in global competition, viewed conventionally as a decline of Jingdezhen factories vis-a-vis Euro-American industrial enterprises. PlanetArt proposes a fresh look at the commercial decline as ecological resilience, a form of survival and renewal in favour of ecosystems over anthropogenic infrastructure. Departing from human-centred perspectives, the project aims to tell a story of art informed by geophysical science, to realise the potential of energy as historical method, and to empower museum professionals to effectively communicate ecocritical awareness.

Mots clés : energy history, material culture, environmental history

Participants :
- Université de Warwick (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276187.92 €
Projet MOMAT (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The MOMAT project restores the place of the Maghrib in the early modern material exchange across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Covering the period from the late fifteenth century, with the inception of the Spanish conquest of the Americas, to the mid-seventeenth century and the fall of the Saadī Empire, MOMAT investigates how materials and knowledge stemming from the Spanish Americas were disseminated into North Africa. Specifically, the project traces the introduction of American foodstuffs, materia medica, intoxicants, and dyes, as well as the creation of local expertise about their use. Drawing on archival sources and surviving artefacts, MOMAT employs an innovative methodology which combines archival research, quantitative analysis, and research in museum collections. Connecting Iberian and Maghribi empires, the project aims to show that the influx of American goods transformed the economic, social, and intellectual life of the Ottoman and non-Ottoman Maghrib more profoundly than previously acknowledged. Moreover, MOMAT goes beyond the state of the art by reorienting the history of global material exchanges and consumption through the repositioning of the early modern Maghrib as a pivotal region in the early modern consumer revolution. Challenging a historiography typically centred on Asia and Western Europe, MOMAT aims to demonstrate that, as the meeting point of three different processes of imperial expansion (Iberian, Ottoman, and Saadī), North Africa emerged as a key but overlooked space of material innovation, where commodities proceeding from these three imperial spaces were used in conjunction. Through research, dissemination, and communication activities in the UK, North Africa, and continental Europe, the MOMAT project will enhance the Fellow’s research skills and expertise in the study of global material circulations and the history of the Maghrib.

Mots clés : early modern global history history of consumption material culture north africa americas

Participants :
- Université de Warwick (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276187.92 €
Projet Biloba.bio (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Ginkgo biloba extracts are among the most widely used plant-based health supplements in the United States and Europe. However, increasing demand has led to unsustainable overharvesting, resulting in Ginkgo biloba being classified as an endangered species. These extracts contain bioactive compounds, such as ginkgolides and bilobalide. Bilobalide, in particular, is valued for its neuroprotective, anti-ischemic, and insect-repellent properties, with potential applications in treating Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, sclerosis, and as a biopesticide. To address these societal and environmental challenges, this project aims to develop a scalable, sustainable production platform for bilobalide using synthetic biology in baker’s yeast. This approach will reduce pressure on G. biloba populations, contributing to biodiversity preservation while promoting innovative biotechnological solutions to meet the demand for natural products. A central focus of this research is to elucidate the biosynthetic pathway of bilobalide, which remains poorly understood. It is hypothesized that bilobalide is synthesized either via sesquiterpenoid pathways or through the degradation of ginkgolides. Using complementary experimental systems in yeast and tobacco, I will systematically test both hypotheses to uncover the key biosynthetic steps. Once the bilobalide biosynthesis pathway is elucidated, I will engineer it in baker’s yeast to create a cost-effective, scalable, and sustainable production system. This project will leverage the tools and datasets available in the host lab, along with my expertise in plant secondary metabolism and pathway gene characterization, to achieve its goals. It aligns with the European Union’s priorities of fostering innovation, sustainability, and natural resource conservation, while advancing biotechnology for health and agriculture. Ultimately, this research will contribute to the green transition and aid in the conservation of endangered species like G. biloba.


Participants :
- Université de Copenhague (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 263393.28 €
Projet REMAP (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Chemical reactions are normally conducted in bulk solution. In some cases, the rate of such bulk reactions is quite slow, limiting the throughput of a synthetic route. In recent years, a novel field of research based on microdroplet chemistry is emerging as an analytical tool for reaction monitoring, as well as a mean for accelerating chemical reactions. By using droplet chemistry, reaction rates can be increased by several orders of magnitude compared to the bulk counterpart. It is therefore beneficial to systematically investigate the reactivity of microdroplets and to understand the role of the underlying mechanism and individual parameters that can influence their reactivity (e.g., pH, temperature, concentration and surface effects). A better fundamental knowledge will make microdroplet reactions faster and allow for novel approaches to be developed. The goal of my research proposal is to achieve a broader fundamental understanding of microdroplet chemistry, and use this knowledge to investigate the novel field of plasma-microdroplets interaction, which is expected to open the doors for a completely novel chemical reactivity. The highly reactive species generated by plasmas will be allowed to react with the highly reactive surface of microdroplets. The possible outcome is a substantial increase in reactivity, promoting reaction pathways normally not significant in bulk or even droplets. By exploiting the unexplored field of plasma-droplets interaction, I plan to identify reaction pathways that can significantly increase reaction yields of high added-value compounds, aiming at more sustainable, efficient and competitive industrial synthetic processes, and at the possible conversion of existing waste products into chemicals which could still be useful for our society.

Mots clés : plasma chemistry

Participants :
- Université de Padoue (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 172750.08 €