Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet SOIL-4-CONTROL (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Recent research has proven that plant-soil feedbacks (PSF) can shape plant community composition, and that soil inoculation can be used to steer this. This provides the yet unexplored potential to target PSF for the control of noxious weeds, which are among the major threats to native plant diversity and forage yield. Recent studies showed that PSF-induced changes in plant chemistry can consecutively affect aboveground herbivory, a driver of plant performance that is used in weed biocontrol. I have a solid background in biocontrol and plant population dynamics. In my project SOIL-4-CONTROL I aim to provide a proof-of-principle that integrates effects of PSF and aboveground herbivory to control common ragwort, a worldwide toxic weed of grasslands rapidly expanding in Europe. The project will also yield fundamental knowledge on the (chemical) interplay between PSF and herbivores. Hosted by Leiden University, I will join an ongoing experiment of my supervisor Prof. Bezemer, who manipulated PSF at large scale in the field by soil inoculation. By combining analysis of unpublished data, experimentation in this field, a mesocosm experiment, and chemical analysis of the plants used, I will 1) examine soil-mediated effects on ragwort establishment in the field; 2) quantify the role of soil-mediated and herbivore community effects on ragwort performance in the field; 3) disentangle effects of PSF, specialist and generalist herbivores, and plant competition on ragwort performance. I will involve nature managers for future use of our expected results in grassland restoration. With my secondment host CABI, an environmental management organisation, I will explore wider applications of PSF in invasive plant management, as urged by the EU Regulation 1143/2014. I will engage the public following my strong record in science communication. The excellent scientific environment and the training programme allow me to develop the professional maturity for a future PI position in Europe.

Mots clés : plant soil feedbacks, plant insect interactions, biological control, plant chemistry, community ecology, weed control

Participants :
- Leiden University (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 165598.8 €
Projet triloci-seq (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Recent technological advances revealed that there are many long non (protein)-coding RNA molecules (lncRNA) transcribed in the genome, many of whom regulate gene expression. However, it remains unclear how lncRNA molecule can interact directly with chromatin to regulate gene expression. One possibility that has been raised is via the formation of triple-helices. The potential for the formation of triple helices exists in any nucleic acid chain via an interaction called Hoogsteen base-pairing. However, unlike the genetic code or even Watson-Creek base-pairing, the triplex code or sequences which can function as triplex target sites and triplex-forming oligos is poorly understood. To decipher the triplex code in vivo, I propose a novel research approach based on next generation sequencing that I call Triloc-seq (in vivo). The feasibility this research plan relies on two crucial resources: first, mammalian genomes which can harbor as many as hundreds of thousands of putative high-affinity triplex target sites (TTSs), and second mixed-base oligo synthesis technology. Together these resources will allow us to over-come the greatest obstacle in triplex study, the need to match specifically a target site with its triplx forming oligo (TFO). To study the triple-helix code, we will transfect mammalian cells with a TFO libraries, and use click chemistry to join the TFO to its target site. We will then use previous TFO-TTS data obtained in vitro and multiple advanced bioinformatic approaches to extract the genomic TTSs. Finally, to prove that triplex interaction can be functional in vivo, we will design several applications that will test this functionality. In all cases we will design a cassette of known TTS target sites and position it upstream of a minimal promoter. The TTS cassette will be targeted by natural lncRNAs containing matching TFO segments, synthetic TFO-VP64 hybrids synthesized in vitro, and fluorescently labelled TFOs to confirm TTS-TFO functionality.

Mots clés : synthetic biology, triple helices, hoogsteen interactions, lncrna

Participants :
- Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (Israël) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 181365.12 €
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet ComAlive (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Recent work has shown that up to 42% of patients diagnosed with a disorder of consciousness (DOC) are misdiagnosed. New EEG system have revealed that some DOC patients can follow basic instructions that do not require any movement, such as imagining movement or counting vibrotactile pulses, which has even allowed them to answer YES/NO questions. This work has provided the foundations for new EEG-based solutions that could go even further – such as predicting clinical outcomes and even providing rehabilitation to facilitate cognitive and motor recovery and emergence into consciousness. The ComAlive project will develop new methods for combining EEG-based assessment and communication tools with prediction and rehab to provide new hope for these patients. The applicant is a practicing neurologist with excellent experience with DOC patients, but does not have training in business, EEG classification methods or software engineering. ComAlive is led by an R&D performing SME with a long history of real-time EEG and biomedical systems, and the other beneficiary is a hospital that is renowned for work with target patients. ComAlive includes extensive dissemination and communication activities to convey our project results to numerous audiences and supplement the ER’s training-by-research. This project will help prepare the ER for a high-impact career working across business, academic, and medical sectors while developing a new industrial system, methods and knowledge that could dramatically impact thousands of lives in the EU alone.


Participants :
- Guger Technologies (Austria) (Autriche) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 174167.04 €
Projet IBERHUNT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Recent zooarchaeological analyses have suggested that Neanderthals were skilled hunters. Yet, there is still a vivid debate on whether Middle Palaeolithic human groups were also capable of more effective, and diverse, sophisticated food-processing behaviours, in particular through specialised hunting. Traditionally, archaeologists have relied on the osteological analysis of bone assemblages to determine prey mortality patterns, where species variability, age and seasonality data are calculated. Although this approach has yielded a great deal of important information about the Pleistocene hominin hunting strategies, there is a considerable lack of sex-based prey data for most Pleistocene bone assemblages, a key information that has direct implications for hominin planning depth, anticipatory abilities, mobility and land use. IBERHUNT project will conduct advanced biomolecular analyses in ungulate dental assemblages and sediments from six rich-faunal Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites in the eastern Iberian Peninsula. The anthropic occupation deposits range Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 5 to 3, making them exemplary case studies for comparative-based research. We aim to address 1) the determination of the biological sex of ungulate remains, by reading protein sequences through the analysis of tooth enamel amelogenin, and 2) the identification of palaeoenvironmental biomarkers, by the analysis of sediments’ compound-specific isotope ratios. This combination of state of the art techniques will provide contextualised and quantifiable high-resolution data on Pleistocene human foraging efficiency, allowing to re-evaluate Neanderthal predatory economics through an optimal foraging perspective that includes climate adaptations. IBERHUNT results will bring the discussion of evolutionary relationships between Neanderthals and modern humans in a broader perspective, and will contribute to the development of new methods for archaeological research.

Mots clés : palaeolithic, proteomics, stable isotopes, ungulates, hunting, iberian peninsula

Participants :
- University of La Laguna (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 263732.16 €
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet OPAN (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Recently, I have pioneered the development of a technique of light-induced reconfigurable nanostructured materials. This process consists of the displacement of the nanostructures inside a solid host medium with the action of light. When an incident light beam interacts with the nanostructures, a photon momentum transfer takes place. This momentum serves to displace/rotate the nanostructures inside the medium. During the writing process, the standing waves can assemble complex patterns in a reversible fashion. My research plan includes both the theoretical and experimental aspects of this light-induced self-assembly phenomenon. Theoretical developments will provide an insight into the effect that standing light waves have on embedded nanoscale objects. It is necessary to model the optical, mechanical and thermal characteristics of materials to identify the optimal conditions for low energy assembly of complex nanostructured architectures. Experimentally, I aim to demonstrate the assembly of a metamaterial consisting of crystal nanostructures through standing waves of both, linearly and circularly polarized light. This device will function as an active wave plate that can rotate the polarization of incident light. Subsequently, I will fabricate and demonstrate a tunable laser device by arranging nanoparticles into photonic crystal-like structures. Standing waves will be employed to record multilayer assemblies that will act as resonant cavities. The addition of a fluorescent organic dye, quantum dot or perovskite nanocrystal dispersed into the multilayer structure will provide the necessary conditions to induce stimulated emission to produce laser light. This project will set the ground for the fabrication of low-cost composites for photonic crystals for programable lasers and metamaterials for active wave plates. It is envisioned that this assembly mechanism will also permit the development of a new class of ‘robotic material’ with unprecedented functionalities.

Mots clés : photonics, optics, lasers, holograms, materials, nanotechnology

Participants :
- University of Oxford (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet MIGGEN (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Recently, public debates on migrants’ integration have become increasingly skeptical. A recurring topic in these debates is how migrants view women. Migrants – especially non-Western migrants – are often portrayed as unilaterally rejecting gender equality, and some have argued that this means that their integration has failed. However, there are marked differences in support for gender equality between migrants from non-Western origins. The research I propose aims to explain this diversity in non-Western migrants’ gender attitudes. Doing so, this research provides policy-relevant insights into when migrants integrate in a cultural sense, which may also help nuance public debates. At its core, this research argues non-Western migrants’ support for gender equality is shaped by the contexts in which migrants are embedded. Existing quantitative studies have paid little attention to how contextual forces shape migrants’ support for gender equality. However, more qualitatively-oriented fields as gender and transnationalism studies have provided valuable – although somewhat scattered – insights into how migrants’ gender attitudes are shaped through gendered contextualized processes. Unfortunately, those interdisciplinary insights have rarely been integrated by quantitative scholars. Therefore, this research aims to refine and synthesize insights from diverse disciplines to develop a novel “gendered embeddedness” framework. This framework argues that contextual forces explain the diversity in support for gender equality among non-Western migrants, albeit in gendered ways. This framework is consequently subjected to rigorous empirical scrutiny by applying advanced statistical techniques such as multi-membership models to existing, newly-harmonized large-scale data that cover about 10,000 non-Western migrants. Ultimately, this research lays bare when migrant groups culturally integrate and support gender equality and under what (gendered) conditions they do not.

Mots clés : support for gender equality, public opinion, non western migrants, cultural integration, survey data, comparative, context dependency

Participants :
- University of Essex (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 106466.88 €
Projet MOSPhotocat (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Recently, visible light photoredox catalysis has come to the focal point of the organic synthetic field and holds promise to use solar irradiation to establish important chemical bonds in the synthesis of complex organic molecules. However, most reports thus far use transition metal complexes based on rare and expensive iridium and ruthenium. In this Marie Curie proposal, metal oxide semiconductors (MOS) will be applied as abundant and cheap visible light photocatalysts to establish C-C and C-N linkages in organic molecules in batch and photomicroflow reactors. To extend their absorption to the visible light range, I will study the formation of so-called ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) complexes with different adsorbates/ligands covalently linked to the surface of the MOS. The effect of linkers, ligands, different organic solvents, concentrations, as well as reaction times will be studied in the formation of these complexes. The LMCT complexes will be fully characterized with spectroscopic techniques. Next, these new photocatalysts will be evaluated in valuable C-C and C-N forming organic reactions. Furthermore, mechanistic studies will be carried out to aid the discovery process and to further optimize the photocatalysts. Finally, the reactions will be carried out in continuous-flow reactors to increase the efficiency of the photocatalytic transformation. Hereto, a slurry Taylor flow regime will be used and a recycling strategy will be developed to efficiently reuse the photocatalyst. We will also use so-called Luminescent Solar Concentrator PhotoMicroreactors (LSC-PM) to enable the use of solar energy. During this fellowship, I aim to strengthen both my scientific and soft skills required to start an independent researcher career. In addition, I intend to expand my scientific network by starting collaborations with leading experts in both academia and industry.

Mots clés : flow chemistry, photoredox catalysis, metal oxide semiconductors, microreactors

Participants :
- Eindhoven University of Technology (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 177598.8 €
Projet FDtoQG (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Reconciling general relativity with quantum physics is the Holy Grail of theoretical physics. Today the major physical predictions involving both gravity and quantum fields, in the framework of quantum field theory in curved space-times, are black hole radiation and particle production in an expanding Universe. These phenomena are the corner stones of our present knowledge about the quantum nature of space-time, and it is of crucial importance to understand deeply their features and consequences in the quest for a quantum theory of gravity. Unfortunately, these features are still poorly understood, and are experimentally out of reach in astrophysics. This project will bring together an experienced researcher with expertise in Hawking radiation and black hole physics, with a world leader physicist in artificial space-times in fluid flows to tackle these questions in the innovative approach of analog gravity. Unlike in astrophysics, artificial black holes can be experimentally realized using fluids, showing both their classical and quantum properties. Because these fluids are well understood, both experimentally and theoretically, many conceptual questions can be explicitly addressed in such systems. By working in a world-leading group in the field at the University of Nottingham, the local expertise and mine will be the perfect match to tackle these questions.

Mots clés : quantum gravity, black hole, hawking radiation, cosmology, lorentz violations

Participants :
- University of Nottingham (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet REEFCLAM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Records of pre-industrial climate change are vital for accurately simulating Earth’s climate system and reducing uncertainty in 21st century climate predictions. Giant clams are particularly valuable archives of past climate as they are fast-growing, long-lived, and their dense shells have annual growth bands that can be subsampled and analysed to produce sub-annually resolved climate proxy records spanning multiple decades. Furthermore, they are common in the tropical Pacific, where paleoclimate data is particularly valued as sub-annual to decadal-scale changes in this region have been linked to dramatic global temperature and rainfall anomalies with far-reaching socioeconomic and environmental effects. Giant clams are/were a common food and tool supply in the tropical Pacific, and are abundant in Lapita-age shell middens, providing unique opportunities for paleoclimate research that have surprisingly not been exploited. In REEFCLAM, I will use giant clam shells in a ~3,000 year old shell midden to generate the first sub-annually resolved record of pre-industrial climate variability in Fiji. Specifically, trace element and stable isotope profiles across multiple shells will be generated and stitched together, and used to reconstruct patterns of variability in sea surface temperature and salinity. Fiji’s climate is highly sensitive to changes in the SPCZ and WPWP, and so these records will provide a snapshot of Mid-Late Holocene variability relating to the El Niño Southern Oscillation that will be of great value to the climate community. I will generate the first modern clam-based geochemical proxy calibrations for Fiji providing an important platform for future work. Importantly, the data will be also used to test the hypothesis that the pulse of eastward ocean voyaging by the Lapita people and their rapid colonisation of the Pacific coincided with more frequent El Niño events (more westerlies), a novel opportunity to marry the sciences and the humanities.

Mots clés : paleoclimatology, paleoceanography, mollusca, trace elements, stable isotopes, lapita

Participants :
- Cardiff University (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet ADAPTED (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Doctoral Networks - Joint Doctorates
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Reducing absolute poverty and ending extreme poverty is at the top of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) the member states of the European Union together with all other United Nation’s members agreed to work upon towards the year 2030. Since 1990, almost all developing countries have made considerable progress in reducing their population shares living below the poverty line. However, this progress was less dynamic in the 49 countries in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA), where in 2017 out of a total population of 1 bn people 400 million still lived in absolute poverty. As poverty is a root cause for spreading instability and conflict the high numbers of the poor on its neighbouring continent is of special concern for the EU and the EU member states. In literature, there is somehow consensus that progress in poverty reduction may result from economic growth, from the implementation of social protection schemes and of minimum wages and from governance conditions, which influence a country’s performance in reducing poverty. Reviewing the literature shows that the academic debate on the determinants of poverty reduction takes place in disciplinary silos, that modelling and empirically analysing replicates approaches that work for high-income economies but ignores structural differences between high-income and developing countries, and that there is a large gap in understanding the determinants of poverty reduction. ADAPTED is a doctoral training framework that breaks the existing silos. It delivers high-level training with intersectoral relevance *in validating pathways towards poverty eradication, *in analysing interactions between poverty reduction and other policy areas, *and in optimising the impact of poverty reduction policies to early stage researchers to bridge the existing knowledge gap by equipping them with a unique skills portfolio that is equally attractive for research institutions, development organisations and internationally active firms.

Mots clés : development studies, political economy  comparative governance, economic growth  informal, sector and failing macroeconomic labour markets, law  comparative legal studies

Participants :
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Pays-Bas) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 531239.76 €
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Partner, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 1038370.04 €
- Ruhr University Bochum (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 1011153.6 €
- Boğaziçi University (Turquie) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 261386.8 €
- Erasmus University Rotterdam (Pays-Bas) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 973939.56 €