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

As Giorgio Riello claims and Paula Findlen stresses, by ‘connecting objects and narratives, it is possible to write a new history of the early modern’. This project shares the same goal: by investigating the narratives of things, i.e. by investigating their epistemic, cultural, and social lives, by reconstructing their ‘previous lives’ and afterlives, it intends to write a new chapter in the cultural history of science, carry out a reconstruction and visualisation of once lost and so far still unknown part of European scientific heritage. The investigation will focus on American naturalia, i.e. ‘natural things’, kept in yet unexplored collections of a prominent noble family of Rosenberg and in the Jesuit museum in the Clementinum (Musaeum Mathematicum Collegii Clementini). The reconstruction of the memory and experience of these things will be achieved by linking the study of inventories, artefacts, or partial references to items included in those collections with diverse texts and images of institutional and personal character, which bring these things to life from various perspectives and reveal their geographic instability, slipperiness, cultural and gender hybridity, multivalence, and categorical fluidity, especially – but not exclusively – in relation to the specific conditions of Central Europe in the era of first globalisation. The research will be carried out in intensive collaboration with excellent scientists (Spain, Mexico, USA). The main investigation outcome will be 1) a monograph Hidden Spaces of American Natural History in the Early Modern Central Europe presenting the original, hitherto unexplored topics, and 2) a HISPANEMA website that will contain visual reconstructions of the above mentioned collections as well as various other materials thanks to which the ‘Central European americana’ will again come to live in interaction with an audience.

Mots clés : early modern period, cultural history of science, american natural history, iberian peninsula, central europe, circulation of knowledge, spacialization of knowledge, translation of knowledge, jesuits

Participants :
- Spanish National Research Council (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 144360.0 €
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexique) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet RADoTE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, I will develop and demonstrate remote-activated delivery of biological therapeutics loaded into an injectable hydrogel, where delivery is triggered by applying near-infrared (NIR) light that safely and non-invasively penetrates deep into living tissues. The hydrogel carrier will be designed to deliver and stabilize cell-derived exosomes and microvesicles, together referred to as extracellular vesicles (EVs), which have recently gained attention for their ability to effectively deliver biological information and cargo directly to target cells. Developing sophisticated delivery systems for EVs will streamline their translation to clinical application, enabling the huge potential for this novel biological therapeutic to be fully realized. This system will be advantageous in simultaneously providing localized delivery, enhanced EV stability, and crucially, externally triggered release. This project will provide the first demonstration of localized and controlled delivery of EVs, with the added novelty of an externally NIR-triggered delivery system. By combining my expertise in designer hydrogel chemistry, the supervision of Prof. Molly Stevens at Imperial College London (ICL) who runs a world-class interdisciplinary biomaterials-focused group, and a secondment with The Technology Partnership (TTP) specializing in technology translation, this project is ideally situated to deliver the highest quality results.

Mots clés : extracellular vesicle delivery, injectable poly ethylene glycol  hydrogel, near infrared light triggered release, upconversion nanoparticles

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet STEP (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As a cloud moves through environmental air, cloudy and cloud free air mix at the cloud edges in the entrainment process. Entrainment is a key cloud process central to understanding cloud morphology and microphysical processes such as precipitation formation. After decades of research, no reliable formulation exists that allows to describe and understand entrainment in terms of cloud- and environmental physical quantities ("the entrainment puzzle"). Differences in representation of entrainment in climate models are a main cause for spread in climate sensitivity estimates. The realistic treatment of entrainment in climate models will help to reduce a large part of the uncertainty in predictions of climate sensitivity. This project aims at Solving The Entrainment Puzzle (STEP): - By identification of the main physical parameters that govern the amount of air entrained into and detrained from clouds using controlled laboratory measurements. - By translating the experimental results into a new mathematical formulation to use in Large Eddy Simulations of clouds using computational fluid dynamics modelling. In a unique approach, STEP will combine observations from a novel turbulent cloud chamber, computational fluid dynamics, and Large Eddy Simulations to develop a new reliable entrainment calculation scheme. Solving the entrainment puzzle will allow quantifying the entrainment processes reliably and thus deliver the basis for climate model improvements. The STEP project builds on my expertise in cloud microphysics and dynamics gained at various international institutes and will be accomplished at a leading international research institution. The host will provide me with excellent complementary training and career development opportunities. Through various dissemination and communication activities, STEP will contribute to the visibility and excellence of the European Science Area, addressing one of the Europe 2020 strategy main targets "Climate Change and Energy".

Mots clés : cloud physics, entrainment

Participants :
- Leibniz Association (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 174806.4 €
Projet FAAV (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

As our world is experiencing climate changes, we need better monitoring technologies. Since most of our planet is covered in water, sample and data collection in rivers, lakes and oceans plays a leading role in our world’s understanding. While robotics shows huge promises in this task, aquatic environments remain challenging to operate in. There is thus a strong need for light, affordable and resilient mobile robots that can operate and rapidly collect multiple measurements in these environments. Aerial-aquatic robots are promising to combine the capability to cover large distance in air, overcoming obstacles with the ability to physically interact, measure, and sample our lakes, rivers and oceans. For that, we need to study new locomotion methods and platforms that (1) can effectively move from water to air and transition in-between (2) can cope with the highly complex and dynamic nature of our environment i.e. wind, waves (3) possess a high level of autonomy and reliability to reliably operate with climate scientists. For this, I propose a small-scale flapping wing approach. Animals have readily shown aerial-aquatic locomotion and therefore are a tremendous source for inspiration, already demonstrating the capabilities of flapping-wing. These devices are inherently safe thanks to their low velocities, also preventing breakage, and promise to efficiently move both in air and in water. This project will result in the first Flapping wing, Aerial-Aquatic Vehicle - or FAAV capable of carrying relevant sensory payload. This will build upon a theoretical model of this locomotion strategy and successive tests both in air and underwater, leading to an efficient, reliable device capable of sub-surface and air motion. The resulting designs will be field-tested in realistic outdoor conditions and equipped with navigation and data-collection capabilities for environmental research.

Mots clés : bio inspired, mobile robotics, multi modal, flapping wing

Participants :
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191149.44 €
Projet Aggregation selection (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As protein aggregation is associated with numerous neurodegenerative diseases, several groups study the mechanism of aggregation formation and its regulation within the cell. However, besides the association with disease, some aggregates also have a functional purpose, e.g. temporary storage of hormones. This suggests that the outcome on cell fitness is determined by the relative contribution of aggregation formation, and its effect: either loss-of-function or gain-of-function. Previous genome-wide screens already identified important processes to maintain proteome stability, but none of these quantifies the origin of the aggregation effect or considers that aggregation could be beneficial for the cell. Knowledge of how each of these are regulated, is essential to obtain a complete model of the aggregation process. Recently, the host lab developed a unique method, based on a population genetics approach using yeast, that is able to simulate these toxic and beneficial effects triggered by the aggregation process. By exploiting this model using knock-out studies, I will determine the impact of each knock-out on cell fitness, quantify what is contributing to this effect (e.g. gain-of-function) and decipher how the knock-out influences the protein aggregation process. This knowledge will allow us to explore new drug targets in order to control protein aggregation.

Mots clés : protein aggregation, cell fitness, deep sequencing, automated high throughput microscopy, network analysis

Participants :
- UK Research and Innovation (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet MemoryBasedPercepts (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

As soon as we open our eyes, we have the immediate impression of a richly detailed visual world. However, the empirical data on visual capacity suggest that people perceive and remember strikingly little of the world around them. Why people think they are highly skilled in visual perception when the empirical evidence shows that they see so little? One exciting possibility is that our perceptual experiences represent more than the physical visual input, in that they are rather constructed based on prior knowledge. Indeed, particularly when the visual information in input is limited or absent, our memories about the world allow to fill-in the visual scene, thereby generating the visual experience of objects that are subjectively perceived, but objectively not visible. These memory-based percepts may allow to render the rich visual world that people perceive, independently of capacity-limited sensory processing. In this project I ask how memory-based percepts are instantiated in the brain, and whether they are distinct from memories that do not elicit the subjective impression of seeing an object. To answer this question, I will make use of a combination of correlational and causal neurocognitive methods. First, I will characterise the spatiotemporal profile of memory-based object percepts via functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Magnetoencephalography (MEG). Then, I will use Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to test whether activity of visual cortex is causally necessary for memory-based percepts to arise. The present studies will elucidate whether visual cortex determines our visual experiences beyond the sensory information in input. In doing so, they speak to the broader question of whether there is a "joint" between perception and cognition towards a better understanding of the content of our phenomenological experiences.

Mots clés : object perception, scene perception, fmri, category selectivity of visual cortex, abstract representations, visual experience, top down processing

Participants :
- Radboud University Nijmegen (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175572.48 €
Projet HAES (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As the Central Arctic Ocean’s ice melts, the Arctic region is attracting more and more attention from countries around the globe, including European states. To understand the risks and potentials of the Arctic ice melt, governments depend on scientific research. The more the Arctic becomes the focus of European and world-wide governments, economies and socio-cultural endeavours, the more the communicational infrastructure that carries scientific findings and knowledge on this region needs to be reliable and robust. This action aims to further a central element of this infrastructure—namely the scientific journal. This action approaches today’s scientific journals on Arctic research in a novel and innovative way: through the transnational study of historical scientific journals of the long nineteenth century (1789-1914). As human-made artefacts, science journals have mirrored political, economic and socio-cultural forces since their very beginnings—and this action’s aim is to investigate how exactly these forces have shaped editorial contents and contexts. More concretely, this is an investigation of both the editorial contexts and contents of articles related to the Arctic that appeared in scientific journals within the geographical area that today is home to Austria, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Russia, Switzerland and the United States. If we understand how editorial processes formed earlier journal-based discourses on the Arctic, we can compare them to their counterparts of today, consider their strengths and weaknesses and take editorial action to bolster current scientific discourses on the north polar region. This action aims to do so by bringing together history of science, media history, Arctic research and historical geography. Moreover, by way of two strategic Secondments, the action seeks to translate its findings into practical commentary and editorial suggestions for today’s science journals on north polar research.

Mots clés : long nineteenth century, editorship, journals, communication instrument, discourse, science, circumpolar arctic

Participants :
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet H-3D-SOC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As the device size is shrunk to its quantum limit, Moore’s law is becoming more difficult to follow. By exploiting the z-direction in the gate, block or system level, three-dimensional (3D) integrated circuit (IC) technology has the potential to extend Moore’s law. Face-to-face wafer by wafer Hybrid-bonding (H-b) based 3D System-On-Chip (H-3D-SOC) is one of the most promising 3D IC solutions. However, an exclusive IC design flow for H-3D-SOC for high-end processor with parameters of H-b pads from process is not available yet. This proposal aims at developing the first H-3D-SOC IC design flow for a two-tier multi-core processor considering the impact of process variation of H-b, including the geometrical and defects variation, leading to its resistance and capacitance change. Several novel methods will be developed for the H-3D-SOC IC design: machine-learning inspired techniques exploited to guide the top and bottom tiers netlist partitioning; two-tier mutual-aware optimization realized during placement and routing; capacitance coupling between the top metal layers of the two tiers considered during parasitic extraction. Moreover, impact of H-b pad parameter variation will be evaluated from the device level up to the system level: electrical variability modelling for the H-b pad, calibrated by experimental data; incorporating the device model of the pad into the H-3D-SOC based multi-core processor characterized by various industrial benchmarks. To mitigate the H-b variability, the critical H-b pads of higher utilization and larger potential to fail during working can be first identified efficiently by using a heuristic search algorithm and then hardened by attaching a spare pad to each of them. The proposed research will enable the applicant to become an expert of 3D IC design of high-end processors for applications such as AI and cloud computing, having great impact on both academia and industry of semiconductor.

Mots clés : 3d ic design, multicore processor, variability analysis and improvement, device modelling, system simulation, eda tools development

Participants :
- IMEC (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 178320.0 €
Projet NanoALS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As the life span of the population extends, the prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases is rapidly increasing representing a considerable impact for the quality of life and economy of many countries worldwide. Most of these diseases, including Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are currently considered as proteopathies, where some proteins (SOD1 in the case of ALS) adopt misfolded conformations prone to aggregate and cause cellular toxicity and motor neuron death. Moreover, these proteins are secreted to extracellular media contributing to the widespread of the disease in a prion-like manner, by acting as scaffolds for the misfolding of endogenous proteins when uptaken by surrounding cells. The aim of NanoALS is to bring together Neuro and Nanoscience fields to design a novel passive immunization therapy to target the misfolded SOD1 released into cerebrospinal fluid in ALS. It will be based on the systemic delivery of gold and PLGA nanoparticles functionalized with specific antibodies against the different isoforms of misfolded SOD1. These nanoconstructs will bind the different aberrantly folded SOD1 forms preventing their reuptake by neighbouring cells and blocking the cytotoxic epitopes exposed after misfolding. The multidisciplinary work program in NanoALS covers the synthesis of the functionalized nanoconstructs as well as validation of their therapeutic potential in neuronal cell lines and in the SOD1-G93A mouse model of ALS. Immunization against misfolded extracellular proteins has showed an encouraging success in ALS mouse models and in recent clinical trials with Alzheimer patients. Optimizing the delivery systems and targeting different misfolded isoforms as well as the active exploitation and dissemination strategy designed for NanoALS will maximize the benefits of these therapies both in ALS and other proteopathies.

Mots clés : amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, passive immunization, nanoparticles, misfolded sod1, proteinopathies, neurodegeneration, nanomedicine, active targeting, theranostics

Participants :
- Universidad de Zaragoza (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 158121.6 €
Projet WaterfallModel3D (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As the link between the fluvial network and hillslopes, bedrock channels mediate the response of the landscape to changing boundary conditions, such as tectonics and climate through migrating ‘knickzones’ or ‘knickpoints’, yet the complexities of the mechanisms of knickpoint retreat are often ignored in studies of landscape evolution. This fellowship aims to understand the controls on knickpoint retreat rate and explore the implications for landscape evolution (e.g. channel-hillslope coupling) and other processes that respond through an ‘upstream incision wave’ such as gully erosion, using a range of complementary experimental and numerical modelling approaches. The experimental modelling will isolate the impact of different controls (discharge, knickpoint erosion mechanism, bedrock strength, sediment flux) on knickpoint retreat which will be used to develop an understanding of the key factors that can be used to predict knickpoint retreat through landscapes. This understanding will then be implemented in the numerical landscape evolution code €ros, through the adaptation of the parameters that control knickpoint retreat (currently based on the stream-power incision model assumption that knickpoint retreat scales with drainage area). The model will be run on several mountain landscapes ranging from areas where previous work has identified a strong correlation between knickpoint retreat rate and discharge/drainage area (e.g. New Zealand) to study areas where other factors are thought to be more dominant in controlling the retreat rate (e.g. Iceland). This will improve the understanding of how these landscapes have responded to changes in past changes tectonic/climate forcing, and can also be used to predict how the landscapes will respond to future transient forcing over short and long timescales.

Mots clés : fluvial geomorphology  waterfalls  knickpoints  experimental modelling  numerical modelling  lidar

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 173076.0 €
Projet PerSiSTanCe (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As the world population grows, the total energy demanded increases, despite the limited reserves of fossil energy. Energy sources based on new technologies, such as the photovoltaic cells, emerged as a sustainable and environmentally clean option. However, given that silicon, the base material for most of these cells, fails to absorb the energy of the entire solar spectrum, one interesting option to increase device efficiencies is to produce stacks of complementing cells, thus taking advantage of the full solar spectrum. Tandems of Si and novel perovskite cells are a feasible alternative and can be synthesized from cheap materials. On the other hand, the main requirements of industry are low cost, high throughput and process reliability. Thus, processing techniques and materials should be selected bearing in mind a compromise between cost reduction, acceptable efficiencies and process yield. The aim of this project is to obtain the best suited Transparent Conductive Oxides (TCO), as well as the most appropriate synthesis and deposition methods for their implementation in tandem Si/perovskite cells, substituting other layers whose use would involve scarce/strategic materials or difficult and/or expensive processes. The result should be a more robust process, which helps to close the gap between laboratory devices and the future mass production cells.

Mots clés : solar cells, perovskite, perovskite silicon tandem solar cells

Participants :
- University of Fribourg (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 203149.44 €