Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet PLANET (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Plastic and microplastic pollution is a global environmental and societal concern. While focus has been placed on assessing the direct impacts on biota, indirect ecological effects are unexplored. Following very recent (and unexpected) laboratory evidences of a considerable binding between metals and altered plastics, I hypothesize that such an interaction can be amplified in environmental conditions due to mechanical, UV and biological degradations during plastic ageing. Plastic can change the budget and cycling of nutrients, micronutrients and toxic metals in different environments (agricultural soils, sediments). If this holds, the implications for the ecosystem might be far-reaching. The mechanisms underpinning ions/metals- plastic interaction are still mostly unexplored. Through PLANET action, I will: i) conduct artificial plastic ageing experiment on selected polymers to create testing materials for following work; ii) characterize the alterations of plastic surface physicochemical properties, iii) run sorption tests with ions and metals in batch experiments under varying pH, salinity, redox potential to disentangle mechanisms, nature and energy of this interaction; iv) build a mathematical frame describing this interaction and its implications for ions/metals distribution in the environment; v) assess model predictions in sediments/water column microcosms to enable inference for ecological effects at different scales. I will work at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, a top research centre for plastic pollution analysis and environmental modelling. The host owns advanced equipment and laboratory to enable the project. The supervisor is committed to provide training on several core and soft skills and give access to his scientific and stakeholder networks. This will largely benefit my career development. I will exploit these contacts for communication and dissemination towards concrete impacts in the scientific, policy and industrial sector.

Mots clés : plastic pollution   microplastic   toxic metals   nutrients   environmental fate   environmental modeling

Participants :
- Norwegian Institute for Water Research (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 202158.72 €
Projet MICRODEV (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Plastic debris contamination is a growing environmental concern in marine habitats. Large plastic objects break-up over time to create micro- and nano- particles, collectively called microplastics (MP), which account for the overwhelming majority of plastic particles in the sea. Little is known about the impacts of MP on wildlife or humans and this presents an important research priority. Several studies have demonstrated that MP can affect sea life negatively. Amongst these, they have been reported affecting development (causing malformations, delayed growth and increased death rates). These developmental effects have never been characterised, and their molecular basis remains unknown. Developmental defects may impact population survival by decreasing the number of individuals, or their fitness, in range of marine organisms. This pioneering project will identify the effects of MP exposure in the development of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, bridging interests for ecology, toxicology, developmental biology and aquaculture. I will characterise the developmental morphological malformations caused by MP and their underlying genetic mechanisms. This Fellowship will provide an excellent opportunity to complement my strong background in genetics and molecular and developmental biology and expertise in ecotoxicology and microplastic pollution with transcriptomic analysis and the deep understanding of this model organism for development and toxicology under the supervision of Dr. Arnone, a world leading expert in the field. This will provide me with a firm skill set and knowledge to further my research career. The knowledge and expertise I will acquire in the Arnone lab, together with being hosted by a supportive and acclaimed institution, and the prestige of the MSCA fellowship, will allow me to open a unique and timely line of research and will be crucial for my transition into an independent European researcher.

Mots clés : microplastics, developmental biology, embryo, larvae, transcriptomics, ecotoxicology, sea urchin, nanoplastics, chemical load

Participants :
- Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 183473.28 €
Projet PLENOPTIMA (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Doctoral Networks - Joint Doctorates
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Plenoptic Imaging aims at studying the phenomena of light field formation, propagation, sensing and perception along with the computational methods for extracting, processing and rendering the visual information. The PLENOPTIMA ultimate project goal is to establish new cross-sectorial, international, multi-university sustainable doctoral degree programmes in the area of plenoptic imaging and to train the first fifteen future researchers and creative professionals within these programmes for the benefit of a variety of application sectors. PLENOPTIMA develops a cross-disciplinary approach to imaging, which includes the physics of light, new optical materials and sensing principles, signal processing methods, new computing architectures, and vision science modelling. With this aim, PLENOPTIMA joints five of the strongest research groups in nanophotonics, imaging and machine learning in Europe with twelve innovative companies, research institutes and a pre-competitive business ecosystem developing and marketing plenoptic imaging devices and services. PLENOPTIMA advances the plenoptic imaging theory to set the foundations for developing future imaging systems that handle visual information in fundamentally new ways, augmenting the human perceptual, creative, and cognitive capabilities. More specifically, it develops 1) Full computational plenoptic imaging acquisition systems; 2) Pioneering models and methods for plenoptic data processing, with a focus on dimensionality reduction, compression, and inverse problems; 3) Efficient rendering and interactive visualization on immersive displays reproducing all physiological visual depth cues and enabling realistic interaction. All ESRs will be registered in Joint/Double degree doctoral programmes at academic institutions in Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany and Sweden. The programmes will be made sustainable through a set of measures in accordance with the Salzburg II Recommendations of the European University Association.

Mots clés : plenoptics, light field, nanophotonics, metamaterials, computational imaging, machine and deep learning

Participants :
- Mid Sweden University (Suède) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 845948.88 €
- Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Bulgarie) — Partner, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 423172.8 €
- Tampere University (Finlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 1060821.76 €
- Technische Universität Berlin (Allemagne) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 758365.2 €
- Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique (France) — Partner, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 824406.12 €
Projet NOTsoQUANTUM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Polaritonic chemistry is an emerging field aiming to manipulate chemical dynamics and reactivity as well as material properties through the formation of polaritons. These are hybrid light-matter states emerging from the interaction between molecular transitions and confined light modes, leading to unique properties in the so-called strong coupling (SC) regime. Recent investigations have demonstrated several examples where polaritonic states prove beneficial to a variety of distinct processes, including the modification of nonadiabatic dynamics and molecular photophysical processes. Despite all the efforts placed into understanding how polaritons affect these processes, many unanswered questions still remain in the field. At the present time, the only way to achieve a deeper understanding on how to control the effect of polaritons in chemistry and predict new phenomena is to have a physically sound, accurate and low-cost methodology capable of including all key ingredients responsible for the formation of polaritons, while describing the dynamics of the light and matter entities on an equal footing. Such a framework remains to be explored, and this proposal precisely aims at developing the necessary methodology and simulate a realistic setup of molecular polaritons. The outcomes of this proposal will provide insight on the manipulation of chemical dynamics in polaritonic chemistry and additionally predict plausible modifications of photophysical processes. This will be possible by extending the Ehrenfest+R approach, a promising method for the simulation of coupled photon-molecular dynamics, to SC situations. Taking advantage of its ability to recover quantum effects of light-matter interactions with semiclassical dynamics, we will follow a “NOTsoQUANTUM” approach that will allow for feasible simulations which would otherwise be prohibitive with a full quantum description of both light and matter.

Mots clés : strong coupling, polaritonic chemistry, semiclassical dynamics, light matter interaction

Participants :
- University of Pennsylvania (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Autonomous University of Madrid (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 245732.16 €
Projet ONTOMUSIC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Political Ontologies of Music: Rethinking the Relationship between Music and Politics in the Twenty-first Century (ONTOMUSIC) explores with an innovative theoretical framework the relationship between composers’ ontological assumptions, political thought and ethical concerns. Ontological assumptions are defined as personal or collective assertions about the nature and means of music, which reveal our beliefs on what music is as well as what music can do or accomplish. ONTOMUSIC argues that integrating composers’ ontological assumptions into the exploration of their political or ethical commitments makes possible the study of a broader range of living composers and their views about issues such as social justice, human rights and the environment. The three main research objectives are: 1) to understand how composers’ ontological assumptions shape the political possibilities of their music within a specific symbolic and social order; 2) to examine how composers have embedded their ethical concerns in specific compositional processes, performance settings and musical works; 3) to produce new first-hand sources and testimonies by composers, in particular women composers, where they develop their ontological assumptions connected to their ethical and political concerns. This timely and interdisciplinary research seeks to connect empirical investigation and theoretical analysis: empirical methods include data collection through open-ended interviews and selective archival research; theoretical methods involve a variety of music analyses related to compositional processes, musical practices and works, as well as conceptual analysis on ontological assumptions mobilised by the composers themselves. ONTOMUSIC will allow new research avenues on the relationship between music and political orders, advancing our understanding of how composers engage critically with the major ethical and political challenges facing our societies.

Mots clés : music, musicology, anthropology of music, music ontologies, music and politics, twenty first century, sound art, ethics, sound studies, sound activism, music ecology

Participants :
- McGill University (Canada) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Bern (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 265606.08 €
Projet iPILs4Bionics (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Poly(ionic liquid)s or PILs are expanding classical property profiles of polymers and stirring great interest in the development of diverse areas, as green chemistry, energy, biotechnology, materials or membrane science. One of the common concerns of PILs consist of its biodegradability due their bioaccumulation and negative effects to the environment and the human body. The main goal of this project is to develop the first generation of biodegradable PILs. The most successful biodegradable polymeric backbones such as polycarbonates or polyesters will be combined with readily biodegradable cholinium-based ionic liquids. The polymers will be synthesized by controlled ring-opening polymerization using recently developed organocatalysis tools. The most promising biodegradable PILs will be investigated as ion conductive soft membranes in bioelectronic devices. This MSCA Fellowship will open the best career possibilities for the Experienced Researcher (ER), and excellent young female scientist. After a successful PhD and 2 years Post-Doc in ionic liquid-based materials and gas separation membranes at ITQB-Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal), she decided to move to a different environment, where she can exploit all her materials science expertise. The Innovative Polymers Group directed by Prof. David Mecerreyes at POLYMAT-University of the Basque Country (Spain) is one of the top-class groups in the emerging area of PILs. This multidisciplinary project will broaden the scientific knowledge of the ER and help her to grow and expand her network in order to reach a future group leader position in the materials science field.

Mots clés : ionic liquids, biodegradable, bioelectronics

Participants :
- University of the Basque Country (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 170121.6 €
Projet NETPAC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are major soil pollutants causing special concern due to their high recalcitrance and (geno)toxicity. Despite the extensive knowledge gathered on microbial PAH degradation, current biorestoration technologies are still not sufficiently effective to decontaminate contaminated soils. One of the main characteristics that constrain PAH biodegradability in the environment is their low bioavailability for natural microbial communities, and the concomitant limited degradation rates. In addition, at PAH-polluted sites, other toxicologically relevant polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC), such as oxygenated PAHs (oxy-PAHs) and nitrogen heterocyclic PAHs (N-PAHs), are generally present, their fate and, in the case of oxy-PAHs, formation being normally neglected. As a result, the success of bioremediation and its ecotoxicological assessment are often limited. NETPAC aims to identify the microbial communities and functions relevant for PAC biodegradation, and their adaptations to low bioavailability conditions, to further exploit them in novel and more sustainable approaches for biologically mediated restoration of PAH-impacted soils. Molecular microbial ecology and analytical chemistry methods in combination with stable isotope tracers will allow a systems biology insight into the complex microbial metabolic networks dealing with PAH-biodegradation and bioavailability in situ, by integrating genomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics data. Diagnostic tools will be developed and applied to monitor a lab-scale Green remediation approach based on enhanced natural attenuation, and to identify the natural microbial adaptations to promote the degradation of the expected low bioavailability residue. Understanding these processes will provide us with tools to assess biodegradation occurrence and, as a final outcome, predict the success of bioremediation thus reducing its uncertainties, one of the main drawbacks of this technology.

Mots clés : biodegradation, polycyclic aromatic compounds, stable isotope probing, microbial ecology, bioavailability, microbial networks, high throughput sequencing

Participants :
- Spanish National Research Council (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 239191.2 €
- University of North Carolina System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet Net2Gel (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Polymer hydrogels contain over 90% water and are very useful materials in many biomedical areas such as contact lenses, drug delivery, wound healing, among others. However, many hydrogels are mechanically underperforming in that they are either too weak or too brittle. Double network hydrogels have shown significant promise to overcome this issue and mechanically strong or stretchable, elastic double network hydrogels have been reported. The overall aim of this project is to develop a new class of stretchable biocompatible double network hydrogels based on polypeptides as patches for transdermal drug delivery. The project will develop novel chemistry to achieve materials with enhanced properties validated for a drug delivey application by a multidisciplinary approach combining expertise in polymer chemistry, material science, drug delivery and biomaterial science. The project will foster new collaboration opportunities between research groups from different scientific fields. The high-level science is complemented by bespoke training activities, which will significantly advance the career opportunities of the applicant. A particular feasture of the project is the proposed development of a hydrogel school experiment in collaboration with the teachers-in-residence programme of the Irish Centre for Medical Device (CURAM) to foster scientific interest, motivation and encouragement for pupils in schools located in disadvantaged communities. Moreover, commercial exploitation of the scientific findings and developments will be explored.

Mots clés : polypeptides, hydrogels, interpenetrating networks, mechanical properties, transdermal drug delivery

Participants :
- Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 184590.72 €
Projet TSFP (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Polymer-based organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) can be used to create solution-processed flexible, transparent and large area next-generation lighting and displays. OLEDs are cheaper, mercury free, more energy efficient than the current lighting and display technologies. The wide-scale adoption of this technology is hampered due to the very expensive fabrication costs of vacuum-deposited OLEDs, which are based on small molecule emitters. Polymer-based emitters offer an enticing alternative as the devices can be fabricated using cost-effective solution-processing techniques. What is presently required are polymer materials that show performance metrics comparable with their small molecule analogues. In this proposed project, to realise 100% utilization of excitons in conventional fluorescent polymers, a series of TADF sensitized fluorescent emitting polyfluorenes are designed by introducing TADF pendant groups onto the conventional fluorescent polyfluorene emitter for low-cost mass production of highly efficient OLEDs. These TADF pendants with higher singlet energy level than that of polyfluorene backbone are expected to efficiently up-convert triplet excitons into singlet excitons, after which all generated singlet excitons will be transferred to polyfluorene backbone for efficient light emission. In addition, to avoid direct capture of triplet excitons by polyfluorene backbone, large volume steric pendants to surround the emissive polymer backbone will be incorporated. Moreover, the light emission spectra can be tuned by copolymerizing low bandgap monomers to cover the full colour range from blue to red. At last the energy transfer mechanism will be revealed by photophysics characterization. Thus, a novel design strategy for highly efficient and narrowly emissive TADF polymers is established.

Mots clés : organic light emitting diodes  oleds, thermally activated delayed fluorescence  tadf, forster resonance energy transfer  fret, light emitting polymers, solution processed technique

Participants :
- University of St Andrews (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet MIGWAR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Poor countries are often plagued by civil wars. They are also, in many cases, emigration countries. Anybody interested in the development of such countries must understand to what extent these phenomena are interrelated, and how they interplay with each other. If it is pretty clear that civil wars push people to leave the country, it remains understudied how diasporas play a role in the emergence and evolution of violent conflicts. Indeed, the interactions between diasporas and conflict have roughly been overlooked by the economic literature to date, in spite of the very suggestive pieces of evidence provided by related research fields and of the very important policy questions that it raises – in particular, how to optimize the contribution of diasporas to peaceful development. Based on case studies such as those of Erytrea or of Sri Lanka, the literature in history and political science underlines diverse mechanisms through which diasporas have intervened in the evolution of violence in their home country, either as peace-builders or as peace-wreckers. On the other hand, in these case studies, the evolution of civil wars also appears to have been determinant of emigration and return migration patterns and, eventually, of the nature of diasporas’ involvement in the political situation in the homeland. This project will investigate the joint dynamics of civil conflicts and migration in developing countries. It will first build a theoretical framework to characterize how diasporas and civil wars interact together, accounting for the endogeneity of both migration and violence. The theoretical predictions derived from this framework will then be empirically tested, relying on recent and original data. Through a multi-disciplinary perspective, nourished by the findings of the qualitative research and relying on economic tools – both theoretical and empirical – this project will allow to build the first comprehensive investigation of the diasporas – conflict nexus.

Mots clés : diasporas, violent conflicts, political economy of development

Participants :
- Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 160800.0 €