Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet DRIVE (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Network intelligence is envisioned as the cornerstone of 6G mobile edge systems. By deploying distributed machine learning algorithms at end-user terminals, the network can harness collective intelligence from vast data sources, enabling the real-time management of numerous devices in dynamic environments. However, users’ mobility nature renders the end-user terminals constantly encountering varying physical conditions, necessitating fast convergence of the distributed model training for timely decision-making. To accomplish this target, this project aims to deliver a systematic design, grounded in solid theoretical foundations and validated through real-world prototypes, that advances the understanding, optimization, and implementation of distributed network intelligence in mobile edge systems. The objectives are fourfold: (1) establish a theoretical framework for assessing the impact of system parameters across different layers on the efficiency of model training and identifying the dominating factors that constrain the training performance; (2) develop a goal-oriented status information exchange mechanism to enable timely update of status information across the interconnected terminals; (3) design a novel distributed model training method, utilizing personalized federated learning and high-order distributed optimization methods to stabilize the model update and accelerate the convergence process; and (4) build a comprehensive prototype system that implements the proposed solutions and verify their practical efficacy. These innovations will not only enhance the interpretability of network intelligence but also improve its operability. The expected outcome of this project shall forge forward the studies in distributed machine learning as well as network communication theory, demonstrating that the innovative fusion of two traditionally hitherto unrelated fields of study will propel and facilitate the rapid development and deployment of network intelligence in 6G.

Mots clés : network intelligence, machine learning, mobile edge systems, transmission latency, convergence rate

Participants :
- Université d'Exeter (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276187.92 €
Projet WildMBI (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The ‘gut-brain axis’ comprises bidirectional communication pathways that mediate physiology and behaviour. Laboratory studies have shown the gut microbiome – the microorganismal community inside the gastro-intestinal tract – is part of this axis, exchanging metabolites that modify social behaviour, anxiety and stress. In turn, microbiomes can themselves be altered by host stress and social context. What remains unclear is whether, and to what extent, the gut-brain axis modulates behavioural and physiological variation under natural conditions. As a MSCA fellow, I will test the hypothesis that the gut microbiome impacts behaviour and stress physiology in free-living horses, and investigate the pathways involved. For this, I will make use of long-term data collected in the Sable Island Horse Project, Canada. This unique population study comprises repeated measurement of individual behaviour and profiling of gut (faecal) microbiome (taxonomically and functionally). Combined with de novo meta-transcriptomic data and statistical modelling, this data will allow me to assess the contribution of the gut microbiome to variation in behavioural and stress, and infer the causal links underpinning microbiome-host associations.  Specifically, I will determine (1) genetic and environmental contributions to risk aversion, social position and stress, and (2) the magnitude of microbiome-host interactions. I will then (3) identify the active microbial genes and pathways that mediate stress-related traits in wild horses. My results will greatly extend our understanding of the microbiome’s function in regulating stress and behaviour under natural conditions. They may also inform future applications in welfare and conservation biology that aim to help animals cope with challenging and changing environmental conditions. This project will allow me to develop new expertise and practical skills in genomics and microbiomics while also enhancing my teaching, management and leadership skills.

Mots clés : behavioural ecology, gut microbiome host interaction, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, stress physiology

Participants :
- Université de Calgary (Canada) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université d'Exeter (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 351275.4 €
Projet FORUM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

This project investigates the formation and regulation of spaces designated for commercial exchanges in Iberian and Ibero-American cities during the height of global trade, between the 15th and 17th centuries. It addresses a significant historiographical gap by raising an essential question: how were Iberian urban models of commercial spaces transplanted and adapted in the "New World", interacting with pre-existing indigenous practices and local contexts? The main hypothesis of FORUM is that these adaptations resulted in hybrid urban forms, where colonial markets functioned both as instruments of imperial power and as spaces for cultural negotiation and resistance. Structured around three key areas — commerce, urbanism, and architecture — the project emphasises the evolution of commercial spaces, such as squares and streets, which played a crucial role in the mercantile organisation of colonial cities. The interdisciplinary approach, combining documentary, cartographic and iconographic analysis with architectural and urban investigations, offers a comprehensive perspective on how these spaces shaped the daily life and structure of colonial cities. By reconstructing the process of implementing commercial spaces, FORUM reveals how market regulation was used as a tool to maintain social order and colonial hierarchies, while also allowing for adaptations to new economic and social realities. The project addresses a significant gap in the historiography of Ibero-American cities by innovatively investigating the interactions between European urban models and local realities, contributing to broader debates, both in academic and non-academic contexts, on the enduring impact of colonialism on our contemporary societies.

Mots clés : urban history economic history commercial architecture marketplaces cultural heritage, material, visual and textual culture renaissance iberian peninsula europe america

Participants :
- Université d'Exeter (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276187.92 €
Projet VariabiliTeen (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Why do teenagers often seem to engage in seemingly reckless or unpredictable behavior? Why do they make more variable or inconsistent decisions than other age groups? Remarkably, we currently still lack the understanding of where this choice variability originates from. My project will investigate two complementary hypotheses: 1) ongoing neural development leads to imprecise learning about option values, resulting in suboptimal decision-making, and 2) the adolescent-specific volatile and unpredictable social environment might render it adaptive to explore more information about alternative options, thereby sometimes foregoing to opt the current best option. To disentangle these hypotheses, I will computationally decompose participants’ choice variability into the cognitive processes of imprecise learning versus directed exploration, while they make choices in a social versus a non-social context. I will test a large group of adolescents and compare their decisions to those of children and adults. My working hypothesis is that a volatile social environment, as assessed by self-reports, makes adolescents more biased toward exploring more information about alternatives, an effect that will be more pronounced in a social versus a non-social context. My experience in developmental cognitive neuroscience, combined with the host group’s expertise in computational modeling of uncertainty and cognitive processing and their position within the Paris Brain Institute (ICM), the largest research institute for neuroscience in France, are expected to generate empirical foundations to advance our models of developmental decision-making. This proposal anticipates to bring together researchers and theories of cognitive development and computational neuroscience, as well as educational policy makers. It will allow me to strengthen my skills in computational modeling and theories of decision-making, and launch my career as an independent researcher.

Mots clés : development, decision making, computational modeling

Participants :
- Institut du cerveau (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 195914.88 €
Projet BRAINMOS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Epilepsy, a global neurological disorder affecting around 70 million people, poses a significant medical challenge, with one-third of patients facing drug-resistant epilepsy. Cortical malformations such as focal cortical dysplasia type II (FCDII) are associated with pediatric drug-resistant epilepsy for which surgical intervention serves as the main therapeutic approach for seizure control. FCDII is marked by cortical dyslamination and the presence of abnormal cytomegalic cells. Recent findings show that FCDII results from brain mosaicism due to postzygotic mutations in genes of the mTOR pathway, which produces excessive activation of the pathway. Nevertheless, as the human surgical FCDII samples represent an advanced disease stage, we poorly understand its developmental origin and mechanisms. Moreover, the link between mTOR activation and epileptogenesis remains unclear. To address these critical knowledge gaps, a disease-relevant FCDII model is needed. For the preservation of human-specific features, I will use a mosaic cortical organoid model that expresses an inducible MTOR-S2215F mutant construct to reflect the somatic nature of FCDII. Induction of the mutation at different time points will shed light on the specific time frame during which mutations occur in FCDII patients and enable us to generate a preclinical model replicating an FCDII-like phenotype. Next, I will perform single-cell transcriptomic profiling at various developmental stages to uncover the cellular and molecular mechanisms behind FCDII development. Finally, the neuronal network activity of mosaic FCDII cortical organoids will be characterized, focusing on identifying the primary drivers of epileptiform activity among mutant cytomegalic or non-mutant nearby cells. In brief, this preclinical FCDII model has the potential to unveil novel developmental mechanisms, offer new non-invasive avenues for treating FCDII patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, and boost my career trajectory in the field.

Mots clés : brain organoids focal cortical malformations epilepsy mtor pathway somatic mutations single cell transcriptomics

Participants :
- Institut du cerveau (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 195914.88 €
Projet ExpAND (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Asymmetry is a fundamental principle of nervous system organization and can be seen across species in various forms, ranging from subtle differences in neuron size, synaptic connectivity, or axonal branching, to more pronounced cases where entire brain regions are lateralized to one hemisphere. These asymmetries play a critical role in cognition, species-specific behaviors, and neural circuit physiology. While studies in model organisms and human brain imaging have provided some insights into the role of asymmetry in behavior, the underlying neural and computational mechanisms remain largely unexplored. Navigational tasks, such as locating food or mates and driving a car rely on these neural asymmetries. In Drosophila, dorsal cluster neurons (DCN) exhibit asymmetric axonal branching between hemispheres and are crucial for navigation between targets. Flies with more asymmetric DCN wiring show improved performance when orienting toward an object, and inducing asymmetry in originally symmetric wiring enhances this ability. In this project, I aim to test for the first time the computational, physiological, and behavioral advantages of neural circuit asymmetries within a single animal model. I hypothesize that structural asymmetry within a circuit influences its physiology by promoting specific neural activity dynamics across hemispheres. To test this, I will combine anatomical reconstructions, functional calcium imaging in freely behaving flies, and computational modeling. My expertise in linking specific neural circuits to visually guided behaviors uniquely positions me to uncover how structural asymmetry benefits neural physiology. The rapidly advancing tools and resources in Drosophila research make DCN an ideal model for this study. Overall, this integrated approach provides a promising avenue for revealing fundamental principles of neural circuit function and the advantages of asymmetric wiring.

Mots clés : drosophila melanogaster, asymmetric neural circuits, visual target navigation, lc14 neurons

Participants :
- Institut du cerveau (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 226420.56 €
Projet TERRA (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Real-world data (RWD) refer to routinely collected data relating to patients’ health status and the delivery of health care originating from a range of sources other than traditional clinical trials. Electronic health records, patient registries or personal information collected from wearable devices are all examples of RWD. The Covid-19 pandemic saw the expansive use of RWD. Governments used these data to monitor populations’ health, while industry and drug regulators relied on RWD to assess the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines. Many of these RWD came from Israel and its data repositories. However, constructing the ‘real-world’ through data is not a simple task. Producing data takes work from database curators, researchers or policy-makers, while it entails making decisions about what and who to include in the data to represent the ‘real-world’. In other words, producing RWD means representing, and enacting, versions of the ‘real-world’, while creating populations. Taking Israel as an empirical case study, TERRA aims to crack open the concept of RWD. Combining a literature review and an ethnographic study, TERRA has four objectives: 1) To map the emergence of the concept of RWD; 2) To develop an empirical analysis of the production, curation, uses and governance of RWD; 3) To build a conceptual framework to understand and theorize the making of population and value through RWD; 4) To deliver a series of innovative dissemination events aimed at engaging the public and key stake-holders with RWD and its implications for practice. As lives are being datafied through RWD, we must critically investigate how such data are produced from individuals’ bodies. Specifically, when data are understood to capture the ‘real-world’, we must interrogate what and who is represented through these data, because this shapes who can be treated and governed, with what, and in which ways.

Mots clés : critical data studies, health data, data infrastructure, valuation studies

Participants :
- Université Ben Gourion du Néguev (Israël) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 200538.24 €
Projet CONFINED (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The main research objective of CONFINED is to define the ways in which literary representations of coercive confinement contribute to Irish national memory. The project focuses on Irish literary representations of coercive confinement from the mid-nineteenth century to the present under the supervision of Prof. Emilie Pine. Its outputs will include a peer-reviewed article in a leading interdisciplinary journal, a digital exhibition on coercive confinement, a podcast on confinement as well as a monograph proposal submitted to a leading university press by the end of the fellowship. These outputs will be enriched by access to unique archival holdings in UCD Library, the National Library of Ireland and RTÉ Archives. I will develop research-specific skills learned via training-through-research in collaboration with experts at UCD; transferable skills developed through hands-on training courses at UCD; and inter-sectoral skills gained through prestigious collaborations with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI). While undertaking a short visit at MoLI, I will host an online conference on Writing Coercive Confinement as well as a workshop with key stakeholders and policy-makers. I will apply for a COST Action Network on Writing Coercive Confinement, strengthening and expanding my networks as well as building towards an ERC Starting Grant application in the immediate aftermath of the fellowship.

Mots clés : coercive confinement cultural memory ireland literature prison asylum magdalene laundry industrial school borstal mother and baby home direct provision prose theatre poetry media

Participants :
- Newman house literary centre company limited by guarantee (Irlande) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- University College Dublin (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 215534.4 €
Projet OTHREN (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

This research proposal studies how 16th century Renaissance Aristotelian authors theorized otherness and dealt with outcasts in their political works. The very idea of political community in early modern political philosophy is based on the view that, as stated by Aristotle in his Politics, some categories of people - women, foreigners, infidels, slaves, children – must be excluded from citizenship because they are considered ontologically different and, therefore, politically unequal. This makes some people outcasts of the political community and raises important questions: on which grounds are outcasts excluded from citizenship? What is their relationship to citizens? Which type of inequality does the exclusion of outcasts entail? Are there different forms of inequality at stake in the exclusion of others? OTHREN provides the first comprehensive study of how some 16th century Aristotelian thinkers theorized three figures of outcasts (foreigners, slaves and infidels) in their political thoughts and how this helped shape their ideas on such different minorities as Jews, Muslims and Amerindians. The proposal focuses especially on political works that were influenced by political Aristotelianism both in the humanist and scholastic traditions. These works are assessed against the backgrounds of Roman political thought (especially Cicero and Seneca), Roman law and the teachings of Christian anthropology that shaped early modern political thought.

Mots clés : renaissance thought, history of political thought

Participants :
- Université de Pennsylvanie (Etats-Unis) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université Ca' Foscari de Venise (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 265099.2 €
Projet XB-LIVAT (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

With the obesity epidemic and prevalence of 25%, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most prevalent liver disease in the world. Despite the enormous economic and clinical burden that MASLD poses, there are still no approved therapies. Mechanisms regulating disease progression are largely unknown, but the crosstalk of liver and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in the context of obesity, appears to be instrumental in driving the onset of steatosis and progression to metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and fibrosis. This is also due to the role that VAT has in mediating immune modulation, inflammatory and metabolic alterations. The hypothesis is that VAT-driven intercellular communication involving hepatocytes and liver non-parenchymal cells (NPCs), has a significant role in MASLD progression. To study the liver-VAT axis in vitro, it is of utmost importance to reproduce the complex and multicellular nature of these tissues. Contrary to previous studies based on simplistic two-dimensional co-cultures of single cell types, XB-LIVAT proposes to use a holistic, interdisciplinary and translational approach to study liver-VAT axis. XB-LIVAT will use a novel co-culture system consisting of an advanced human hetero-cellular liver three-dimensional spheroid model and clinical VAT explants, together with state-of-the-art ‘omics’ technologies to unravel key cell players, early molecular events, and targets in MASLD. In combination with in-depth molecular analysis of MASLD liver biopsies, this advanced in vitro co-culture model with high translational value will shed light on molecular mechanisms in MASLD, with particular focus on the role of NPCs. In addition to contributing to the discovery of novel therapeutic targets and interventional approaches for improving the clinical management of MASLD, XB-LIVAT will shape the researcher into an expert in advanced in vitro disease modeling and translational hepatology.

Mots clés : liver, translational hepatology

Participants :
- Italian Liver Foundation (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 193643.28 €