Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet DIRECtA (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Europe has the highest prevalence per capita of children with type 1 diabetes (T1D), an autoimmune disease with no cure that results in progressive destruction, and finally an absolute loss, of insulin-producing beta (β) cells in islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. This means that patients require exogenous insulin administration for life. Additionally, prolonged uncontrolled blood glucose levels increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, peripheral neuropathy, renal failure and numerous infections. The endocannabinoid receptors (ECRs) CB1, CB2 and GPR55 are regulators of metabolism and immune action and are also present on β cells. Cannabidiol, a CB1 antagonist, reduced the incidence of T1D in mice by reducing insulitis, thereby preserving β cell mass. Additionally, blockade of CB1 alters insulin secretion, increasing proliferation and autophagy in β cells. Importantly, β cell-specific CB1 knockout mice have no T-cell infiltration in islets when their pancreas is challenged. Furthermore, activation of GPR55 and CB2 are reported to be beneficial in protecting from inflammation. In this project we intend to study the interaction of the ECRs and their potential synergy for protecting β cells from insulitis. For this purpose, we will generate a non-obese diabetic (spontaneously develops autoimmune insulitis) β cell-specific CB1 knockout mouse, and use pharmacological approaches to enhance GPR55 and CB2 signalling to determine if the diabetic condition can be prevented/ameliorated. We will assess β cell damage together with mitochondrial function, autophagy, and inflammatory responses in our mouse model and after pharmacological manipulation. Thus, this project proposes a new strategy, not focusing on the immune system but on the role that β cells themselves play in modulating their own reactivity, for the development of new therapies for preventing and/or treating T1D.

Mots clés : cannabinoid, insulin, beta cell, diabetes, mouse

Participants :
- Fundación Pública Andaluza para la Investigación de Málaga en Biomedicina y Salud (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 158121.6 €
Projet IDR TOOLKIT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Europe is ageing and the changing needs of the population are constantly shaping the way we live and interact in communities and environments. Accessibility, sustainability and inclusivity are now prominent keywords that are driving the design of products and of the built environment. The United Nations, the World Health Organisation and the European Commission (through the H2020 Programme) have supported the idea that accessible solutions for improving environments can effectively support well-being & socialisation of all members of society. Despite the proliferation of guidelines, design approaches and regulations, there is still a significant gap in the current awareness among the general public, of accessible, inclusive designed buildings that has yet to be covered. This proposal, will contribute to filling this gap by developing an Inclusive Design Rating (IDR) Toolkit that will enable stakeholders to design and certify accessible, inclusive dwellings. The project will be deployed through a framework for analysing the stakeholders’ point of view that will be used to co-design a certification toolkit for assessing inclusive, smart age-friendly environments. This IDR Toolkit will be used by professionals to assess the accessibility, usability and fitness for purpose of dwellings and by individuals to enable them to make decisions about how best to adapt their home to their specific needs. The research will be carried out at University of Cambridge by using the Inclusive Design and the Quality Function Deployment approaches which enable the constant involvement of stakeholders in the co-design process, avoiding a top-down approach. The project will have impact by increasing awareness of inclusive dwellings with a scientifically validated methodology for designing, re-designing and assessing environments suitable for the changing needs of a growing ageing population and by communicating that knowledge to a wide audience in a striking, accessible way.

Mots clés : inclusive design, smart age friendly environments, user engagement, co design, assessment toolkit, user experience design, infographics, accessible dwellings, barrier free architecture, sustainability

Participants :
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet WOLFRAM2 (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Cofund Postdoctoral programme
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Europe is in need of highly skilled researchers: an adequate supply of skilled human resources is vital for the European Research Area (ERA) development. More specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic has particularly damaged the career of early career researchers in Europe since job opportunities for them are rapidly diminishing during the pandemic. We cannot afford to lose a generation of early career researchers since they are the future of European science and technology-intensive economic sectors. WOLFRAM2 will recruit excellent junior researchers and equip them with the skillset to: i) answer to the need of the ERA, ii) fulfill the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and iii) contribute to the RIS3 strategy of the Basque Country. WOLFRAM2, which will run for 60 months, is framed around an already well and successfully established postdoctoral fellowship programme in the Basque region. Within the programme, the beneficiary, Ikerbasque, will offer 36 fellowship positions for incoming postdoctoral fellows of any nationality. Each fellowship/contract will last for 60 months, being implemented in the framework of WOLFRAM2 36 months. The remaining fellowship duration not covered by WOLFRAM2 (24 months) will be fully taken over by the hosting institutions and Ikerbasque on all terms (financial, training and supervision). The fellowship will be carried out at the 23 partner organisations which recruit and host the fellows. Each fellowship will be complemented by a secondment of up to 6 months at institutions outside of Spain, from a different sector, and of the fellows’ choice in line with their career development plan. WOLFRAM2 offers unique features regarding working and employment conditions, neither provided by other research private foundations or the Spanish government: 5 years contract with the possibility of achieving a permanent position, competitive financial allowances, international and intersectoral secondments.

Mots clés : post doctoral fellows, excellence, mobility, training, international and intersectoral secondment, transfer of knowledge, interdisciplinarity, mentoring, consolidation opportunity

Participants :
- Fundacion ikerbasque-ikerbasque fundazioa (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 3972240.0 €
Projet Wearonics (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Europe needs to take action to develop stretchable conductive materials to lead to the wearable electronics industry, which will be worth over $30 billion dollars in 2020. Although flexible electronics are dominating the current wearonics industry, their applications are restricted due to significant reduction in their conductivity under the applied strain. All stretchable conductors with mechanical compliance materials like human skin are required for epidermal electronic devices and wearable electronics. The ideal solution to this problem would be using a stretchable conductive material that can be woven into washable and breathable fabrics, which remains a significant challenge. To address this challenge, I have formulated an innovative and interdisciplinary strategy based on my research experience to develop stretchable conductive fibres (SCF) using silver nanowires and spandex fibre. After developing SCFs, I will bring together diverse academic and industrial experts to utilize SCFs in 4 different research environments. First, I will receive intensive training at the Wireless Communication and Research Lab to utilize SCFs in wireless communication and pervasive computing systems. Then, I will integrate these systems into the disabled friendly apparels at Universal Textile Centre. Finally, I will be seconded to two industrial organisations, ComfTech and Antelope, to create SCF based prototypes of Health Monitoring Systems and Electro Muscle Stimulation technologies. This fellowship will allow me to gain new expertise in multiple disciplines, and build complementary international partnerships between academia and industry, which will enable me to enhance my independence as a researcher in the wearonics field. The successful completion of this timely and innovative project will result in an advanced material that will contribute to the competitiveness of Europe in the wearonics field.

Mots clés : stretchable conductor, conductive fiber, smart textiles, wearable electronics, wireless health monitoring, pervasive computing, silver nanowires, surface instabilities, electro muscle stimulation

Participants :
- Istanbul Technical University (Turquie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 157845.6 €
Projet BICEPSvsHIV (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

European Commission considers HIV/AIDS as a top priority and significantly invests in research devoted to the development of alternative therapeutic strategies leading to new antiretrovirals, which are urgently needed to overcome the emergence of resistance to existing drugs. The “BICEPSvsHIV” project proposes a novel and innovative strategy that draws the spotlight on RNA. Specific RNA sequences of the viral genome are substrates of the HIV-1 nucleocapsid (NC), a highly conserved protein known for promoting remodeling of nucleic acid structures in essential steps of the virus replication cycle. The proposed strategy consists in the employment of bis-3-chloropiperidines (BICEPS) as RNA cross-linking agents able to freeze selectively the tridimensional conformations of the RNA partners of NC, thus impairing its activities. RNA is a challenging molecule from the medicinal chemistry perspective, but the rewards it can yield are invaluable. The Experienced Researcher (ER) will work at The RNA Institute (SUNY Albany) during the outgoing phase, aimed at 1) the elucidation of BICEPS detailed molecular mechanism of reaction towards RNA and 2) the identification of BICEPS targeting selectively the RNA substrates of NC. During the incoming phase at the University of Padova (UNIPD), the achievements will be translated into 3) the thorough biological evaluation of the in vitro NC inhibition by BICEPS, leading to 4) the identification of anti-NC lead compounds. The project provides the ER with an outstanding training-through-research opportunity by means of a personalized multidisciplinary project, in which the ER will enlarge her scientific profile with new excellent skills. The training includes both scientific and transferable skills, aimed at the reinforcement of the ER professional maturity and independence and at the establishment of long-term international collaborations.

Mots clés : hiv 1 nucleocapsid protein, drug development, antivirals, rna cross linking, rna protein complexes, nucleic acids mass spectrometry

Participants :
- State University of New York (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Padua (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 164203.8 €
Projet ULISSES (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

European landscapes are the result of millennia of socio-cultural exchange through trading, migratory and colonial processes. Societies largely dependent to their local ecosystems and when societies move their landscapes move with them, creating in this way the ‘so called’ transported landscapes. The Mediterranean Sea has been the cradle and contact route of ancient and influential civilizations, but little is known about how cultural exchanges, migratory and colonial processes contributed to the cultural landscape shaping of Mediterranean environments. This ancient Mediterranean cultural landscape development achieved a universal importance when, during the colonization of America, the transport of European agro-pastoral landscapes configured a shared cultural landscape heritage between both World regions. Despite its significance in cultural landscape shaping, the study of transported landscapes has been poorly addressed so far. ULISSES project is designed to (1)identify the environmental impacts, land-uses and landscape changes involved in migratory and colonization processes during the Holocene and (2) evaluate the role of transported landscapes in the shaping of cultural landscapes both in Europe and overseas. An integrated approach joining multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental analyses (eg. pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, charcoal analysis, sedimentology), and the study of archaeo-historical sources will be applied in Mediterranean areas of Spain and California (USA). These have been selected for having ancient colonial relationships and for accounting for a long and intense history of colonial, migratory and socio-economic exchanges. By analyzing the cultural dimension of landscapes and the mobility of cultural landscapes, ULISSES will significantly contribute to 1)a better understanding of the European Mediterranean cultural landscape heritage, 2) the formation of European identities and cultures and 3) the influence of European culture and societies in the World

Mots clés : transported cultural landscapes, colonization, human environmental relationships, mediterranean coast, multi proxy palaeoecological analyses, pollen, late holocene, spain, california

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 173076.0 €
Projet HotPolitics (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Europeans and Americans are anxious about the number of refugees entering their country; angry about unresponsive political elites; or sad how immigrants are treated. To answer the question whether these emotions influence citizens’ political attitudes, the state-of-the-art relies primarily upon self-reported emotions. Yet, when asked to self-report emotions, people are likely to mix their initial emotion with their cognitive evaluation which leads to an invalid measure of the emotion. In HotPolitics, I employ a ground-breaking methodological design by not relying upon self-reported emotions but measuring emotions via the actual physiological responses that citizens experience. Physiological responses are automatic, directed by the autonomous nervous system, when the brain experiences emotion. I test which citizens experience which physiological responses to political messages in two studies. First, I assess whether citizens experience physiological responses to political messages. Next, I assess whether political sophistication - i.e., political knowledge and political interest - as well as political ideology condition these physiological responses. The second Research Objective addresses whether physiological responses influence political attitudes. I expect that the experience of negative physiological responses triggers the disconfirmation bias which leads citizens to formulate counterarguments and disregard the political message they received. As a consequence their attitudes should become stronger and more extreme. The experience of positive feelings triggers the confirmation bias which makes people likely to accept the message. This should make attitude stronger and more extreme. Building upon research in psychology, political science and communication science, I move beyond self-reported measures of emotions and theorize and assess whether emotions – measured using physiological responses – influence citizens’ political attitudes.

Mots clés : political psychology, political communication, emotions

Participants :
- Temple University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Amsterdam (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 174864.6 €
Projet HyThermEl (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Europe’s 2030 climate targets make the development of renewable energies a key challenge for researchers across many fields. Thermoelectric generators (TEG) are an emerging technology that promises conversion of the huge amount of waste heat into useful electricity. However, despite big research efforts, they remain niche applications. The reasons are low efficiencies, high costs and scarcity and toxicity of suitable inorganic materials. There is a recent and growing interest in organic-inorganic hybrid TEG. The idea is to combine the advantages of an organic semiconductor (low thermal conductivity, high thermopower) with those of an inorganic nanostructure (high electrical conductivity) by forming a blend of both. Exciting results have very recently been obtained with hybrid materials far outperforming the isolated constituents. This is also a remarkable achievement, given the multi-dimensional parameter space and the absence of a formal framework, forcing progress to be made by mostly heuristic approaches. HyThermEL aims to develop the first predictive, quantitative model for the performance of hybrid thermoelectric systems. By explicitly accounting for morphology, energetics, interfacial effects and the different transport mechanisms of the constituents, the outcome will be physics-based design rules. In a continuous feedback between experiment and theory, these will be employed to fabricate improved hybrid thermoelectric devices while refining the model. The field of hybrid thermodynamics is still in an initial state, so improved fundamental understanding and practical design rules are expected to have great impact on the community. In particular, we are convinced that current hybrid TEG are still far from their upper performance limits and that this project will open new avenues towards competitive TEG.

Mots clés : organic semiconductors, hybrid thermoelectrics, kinetic monte carlo model, morphology

Participants :
- Chalmers University of Technology (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 82955.96 €
- Linköping University (Suède) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 90901.24 €
Projet ICH-Bildung (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Europe’s Intangible Cultural Heritage – the skills, music, dance, drama, gastronomy, festivals, crafts, etc which have been passed from one generation to the next – is a hugely important economic and social resource. Yet this aspect of cultural heritage is poorly researched. ‘ICH-Bildung’ proposes to redress that balance and study the Impact of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in formal, non-formal and informal education and its contribution to the Key Competences for Lifelong Learning in the European Reference Framework. The project will consider the wider European policy debates on Cultural Education how they can be oriented to ICH education; explore social and economic indicators to measure the impact of ICH education of both individuals and communities; and explore methods for measuring the contribution of ICH experiences to education, covering quantitative and qualitative methods, across social and economic areas. A prestigious multi-disciplinary, international consortium has been gathered to support ICH-Bildung including: UNESCO (France) which has an ICH department; the French Centre for ICH at the World Cultures Institute (CFPCI); the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany (FAU) which holds the UNESCO chair in arts and culture in education; the Tartu Environmental Education Centre, Estonia (TEEC) and the Cultural Informatics Research Group – University of Brighton (UoB) which provides considerable experience in the area of modelling the impact of cultural heritage. Each partner belongs to a different educational setting – formal, informal and non-formal. Modelling the impact of ICH will raise awareness about the potential value of ICH to European society and allow organisations working with ICH to gain greater clarity regarding the contribution of ICH to education and society.

Mots clés : cultural education, intangible cultural heritage safeguarding, key competences for lifelong learning in the eu framework, cultural awareness and expressions in educational settings

Participants :
- University of Brighton (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet DYNAMO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Ever since living organisms arose in the oceans, they have competed for resources and space. However, many planktonic species developed peaceful cooperation involving mutualistic interactions between two partners. Within unicellular eukaryotes, such symbiotic association between heterotrophic hosts and microalgae is widespread and sustain ecologically important taxa, such as the Rhizaria, in the open ocean. While knowledge of bipartite symbiosis has greatly improved, it is only recently that scientists disclosed more intricate relationships involving additional partners such as bacteria. Wherever bacterial communities (i.e. microbiota) have been found in tight association with other organisms (e.g. humans or plants), its critical role for the biology and ecology has been demonstrated. The DYNAMO project will explore the diversity of multipartite symbiosis in the plankton and characterize the cellular metabolites they produce. Radiolarians and foraminifers will be used as relevant model for marine ecology. An original combination of single-cell sorting and sequencing coupled with microscopy will be used to characterize and specifically localize the partners of the association. Then, a cutting-edge approach of single-cell metabolomics, of the different partners taken individually or together, will allow us to disentangle the role of the associations in the physiology of the holobiont. The exceptional metabolomics facility and knowledge on marine photosymbiosis available at the host institution, combined with the original analytical expertise at a partner organization, will bridge the gap between a descriptive approach and the functional understanding of the biological processes involved in plankton associated microbiota. DYNAMO provides an innovative perspective on marine ecological research and represents an important step in my career development with the ambition to place me as one of the very few experts in the field of plankton metabolomics in Europe.


Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 185076.0 €