Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet THALABLIND (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The proposed project aims to investigate the contribution of thalamocortical projections to high cognitive functions such as speech processing, working memory and attention in sighted and unsighted populations. In the last decades, advances made in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have shed light on the cortical regions subserving these processes. However, less research has investigated the role of thalamocortical pathways in these high cognitive functions. This could be due to the lack of detailed probabilistic atlases of the human thalamus or the small size of the thalamic nuclei as compared to regular voxel sizes. Therefore, the recent creation of the first probabilistic atlas of the human thalamus (developed by the host group), opens the door to investigate to what extent thalamocortical connections relate to speech processing, working memory and attentional abilities. We will further investigate whether the involvement of thalamocortical projections in the abovementioned functions differ between sighted and unsighted individuals, since research conducted in blind population has reported enhanced auditory processing at the thalamic level, altered thalamocortical connectivity and superior skills in the previous cognitive functions. To address these scientific questions, we will use a multimodal MRI approach that combines functional and structural MRI indexes with behavioral measures. Using regression models, we will assess the degree to which thalamocortical connections help to further explain speech processing, working memory and attentional abilities as opposed to just considering cortical indexes, as it was done in the past. The results of the present research project may have important implications as they could open a new avenue at the theoretical level (updating pre-existing models on cognitive neuroscience and creating new ones) and regarding their application (improving the diagnosis and treatment in cases of aphasia, dementia or attentional deficits)

Mots clés : cognitive neuroscience, thalamocortical, blindness, mri, higher cognitive functions, thalamus

Participants :
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 181152.96 €
Projet AFRICANON (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

In the proposed project, I aim to prepare a comprehensive study of the most important North African collection of canon law, the Late Antique Corpus canonum Africano-Romanum (CCAR), which is also the oldest known canonical collection of the Western Church. This collection is of fundamental importance, because 1) it had greatly impacted the development of occidental canon law on a textual level (to name but a few collections: Hispana, Dionysio-Hadriana, the Hispana Gallica Augustodunensis and the Decretum Gratiani) 2) it had a long-lasting impact on the perception of Africa in Medieval Western Europe, because its textual material was extremely widely disseminated and used across the continent. Canon law texts are not only sources of legal history, but they can be evaluated as sources of historiography and social history as well; the CCAR is a prime example for how texts have been selected, reshaped and adapted by later generations. These observations also lead to several questions, which shall be addressed: To what extent is the CCAR transmitted in mss. alongside texts of African church fathers? What documents have been revised when copying the CCAR, which African texts have been omitted, rearranged, annotated? Has the legitimacy and authenticity of the African canons been contested or doubted in later periods? What role did Africa play in the “imagined landscape” of Western Christianity and Latin canon law? As ties between Western Europe and North Africa had become severed, did it follow that the now essentially decontextualized African material could be reinterpreted or even manipulated for one’s own purposes? In other words: in what ways does the textual shape of the CCAR derive from later scribes and compilers making liberal use of the past? On the basis of the CCAR, I will set out to to trace and evaluate the reception of selected North African canons both within the broader context of Western canon law and in the context of societal processes defined by it.

Mots clés : legal history, canon law, ecclesiastical law, canonical collections, church history, medieval manuscripts

Participants :
- Académie autrichienne des sciences (Autriche) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 199440.96 €
Projet FiRe2C (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The problem of tunnel fires is one of the most complex areas of fire research. Under fire, concrete linings spall resulting in the collapse of the tunnel structure causing a significant scourge in the economy, society and the environment. In summary, the design of tunnel concrete linings is based on thermal calculations, which ignore spalling. Based on such calculations new types of more durable, strong and hence denser concrete have been introduced on the market recently that are much more probable to spall due to their lower permeability. To increase the permeability of the concrete and ultimately its fire resistance, it is commonly suggested to add polypropylene fibres. However, these tend to decrease the strength of the concrete and potentially its durability. In FiRe2C I propose a new type of Fire Resistant, Fibre Reinforced Concrete to improve on the tunnel lining's performance and ultimately the post-fire structural stability of the tunnel. To enhance our understanding of the performance of the Concrete on a multi-scale level, I will employ a holistic approach between state-of-the-art numerical (Discrete Element Method) and full-field experimental methods (advanced material and fire testing & x-ray computed tomography), pushing the existing boundaries of our scientific knowledge. Specifically, I will study experimentally the effect of size, distribution and orientation of the fibres on the strength and fire-resistance of concrete linings, by employing full-field imaging techniques pre- and post-fire, which has not been done before. And finally, I will create a novel DEM model to predict the thermo-mechanical response of fibre-reinforced concrete, utilising for the first time quantitative 3D experimental measurements at different length-scales to validate accurately the material response.

Mots clés : fibre reinforced concrete, fire, tunnelling, experimental, discrete element method

Participants :
- Université Nationale Technique d'Athènes (Grèce) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 169326.72 €
Projet NewBoxDim (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Fractal geometry is a young, very active and rapidly growing field of research that is connected to different areas of mathematics and the natural sciences. Roughly speaking, dimension theory is concerned with measuring the ‘size’ of sets by defining different notions of dimension. At the center of NewBoxDim is the box counting dimension which is a fundamental concept within mathematics that has found applications outside of mathematics as well. The main objective of NewBoxDim is to open new perspectives on the study of the box dimension of sets and measures by exploring three very recent alternative approaches. In the first approach, the goal is to develop unifying machinery based on thermodynamic formalism in order to tackle a long-standing open problem about the existence of the box dimension of self-affine sets. In the second approach, we aim to fuse ideas from dimension theory and methods from percolation theory in a novel way to study the fine scale structure and connectivity properties of different fractal percolation models. The third and final objective of NewBoxDim is to advance our understanding about the time evolution of the chaos game whose convergence rate is determined by the box dimension of the measure driving this stochastic point process. We aim to obtain more nuanced information by making an interesting connection to the L^q spectrum (also known as generalized fractal dimensions) of the measure and characterizing the measure which minimizes its box dimension. As an interdisciplinary application, our results on the chaos game could have a direct impact on the Chaos Game Representation (and its variants) which is a method that was developed to analyze genomic sequences in bioinformatics.

Mots clés : dynamical systems, fractal geometry, dimension theory, stochastic processes, iterated function system, percolation theory, thermodynamic formalism, geometric measure theory, cover time, box dimension

Participants :
- Institut de recherches mathématiques Alfréd-Rényi (Hongrie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 141782.4 €
Projet PrivatePersonalData (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Personal data are constantly collected and shared via web cites, mobile applications like social networking and navigation apps, smart home devices like smart TVs and voice assistants, and IoT devices. Personal data are then monetized to support targeted advertising, personalized services, differential pricing, risk assessment and influencing public opinion. This happens at the expense of privacy and fairness for individuals and the society. To address this, governments around the world are enacting privacy laws, e.g. GDPR (European Union) and CCPA (California). Unfortunately, since profits can be at odds with privacy considerations, industry players have an incentive to circumvent the law. What is more, the technical concepts and associated tools developed so far and used by the laws are neither strong enough nor wide enough in scope. Last, users themselves are conflicted: they enjoy the plethora of personalized services but are alarmed by the loss of their privacy. In this proposal we advocate for a user-centered approach to privacy where each user may dictate how much privacy is willing to trade in exchange for services. We will systematically investigate the efficiency of state of the art privacy mechanisms, both formal, e.g. differential and information theoretic privacy, and data-driven, e.g. generative adversarial privacy, in terms of how well they protect data privacy while maintaining some utility of the obfuscated data and the services that depend upon them. We will do so not only via analysis but also via real world experiments in the context of applications at the forefront of personal data privacy leaks. We will also introduce novel privacy tools for real world use cases which allow users to select the desired level of data privacy and utility of service. Use cases of interest include mobile smartphone data leaks, online tracking via web browsing and apps usage, and user profiling within popular apps like video sharing.

Mots clés : privacy in the context of networking applications using analysis and data driven learning

Participants :
- Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (Grèce) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 169326.72 €
Projet EcoCLimEx (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The southeastern Atlantic hosts the Angola Benguela Upwelling System that supports important fisheries for Angola, Namibia, and South Africa. Every few years this region experiences extreme warm and cold events known as Benguela Niños and Niñas, hereafter Benguela variability. These events have great socio-economic importance for the countries of Southern Africa due to their drastic effects on nutrients and oxygen content along the continental shelf, and thus, the marine ecosystem. However, the impact of climate change on Benguela variability and its consequences for the marine ecosystem and economically relevant fish stocks have not been addressed so far. This is because current Earth system models have large errors in the Angola Benguela area that introduce large uncertainties in future climate projections of Benguela variability. EcoCLimEx seeks to address these limitations by applying a new method, namely the emergent constraint analysis, to reduce uncertainties in climate change projections, but also by quantifying the response of local marine biogeochemistry and ecosystem to future changes in the variability. This will facilitate the quantification of future changes in economically relevant fish stocks in this region. EcoCLimEx will be conducted at Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, under the supervision of leading experts in climate dynamics, marine biogeochemistry and fishery. This unique synergy, in addition to the researcher’s own expertise in observational physical oceanography and Benguela variability, will facilitate a mutually beneficial, two-way transfer of knowledge. Collaborations with relevant stakeholders in Angola and Namibia will ensure the full exploitation of EcoCLimEx’s results.

Mots clés : benguela ni o, angola benguela upwelling system, earth system models, emergent constraint analysis, marine biogeochemistry

Participants :
- Université de Bergen (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 267418.56 €
Projet enCAPS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

enCAPS will produce the first Phagocytic Synthetic Cell capable of superselective artificial phagocytosis. Artificial phagocytosis aims to mimic the complex mechanisms used by cells to internalize materials in minimal engineered systems, achieving a major milestone in the construction of advanced synthetic cells. This endeavour faces two main challenges: the energy barriers to particle internalization upon membrane bending, and the lack of selectivity. Previous approaches using liposomes or polymersomes did not sufficiently address these two challenges, since liposomes lack stability and polymersomes have rigid membranes. To go beyond the state-of-the-art, I will use a new class of membrane-forming polymers: ionically linked comb polymers. They self-assemble in i-combisomes with high stability and flexibility, providing an ideal platform for phagocytic synthetic cells. By carefully designing the molecular structure and the statistic composition of the polymers, I will dissect how structural variations in the molecular composition can serve to store potential energy that can be released to facilitate the engulfment. Subsequently, I will seek to introduce principles of superselectivity to particle interactions with i-combisomes, achieving an ON/OFF type response. Here I will unveil the interplay of binding strength, receptors mobility, and clustering on the membrane using supported bilayers. This will be translated to free-standing i-combisomes, generating a superselective synthetic cell that can bind and internalize particles with specific surface decorations. To demonstrate the flexibility of this approach, several colloidal systems will be internalized. Thus, enCAPS will yield general design principles for superselective artificial phagocytosis. Due to its deep interdisciplinary, enCAPS will impact several fields, providing the blueprint for new nanocarriers, theragnostic devices, and advanced synthetic cells.

Mots clés : bottom up synthetic biology, artificial phagocytosis, biomembranes, biomimetics, bioinspired materials

Participants :
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 165312.96 €
Projet FADIR (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) are pivotal regulators of the immune system capable of tilting immune responses towards effective immunity or tolerance. Over the last 15 years, an increasing body of work has highlighted how changes in the metabolic state of immune cells influence their functions. It has been shown that melanomas can promote cDC tolerogenic functions by augmenting mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation (FAO) via the β-catenin signalling pathway. Intriguingly, recent unpublished results in the host group suggest that boosting oxidative phosphorylation, a metabolic process closely related to FAO, increases cDC immunogenicity. Therefore, further work is required to delineate the relationship between mitchondrial metabolic adpatations and cDC tolerogenic and immunogenic functions. This action aims to further dissect the interconnection between FAO and cDC functions across different tissues both in steady-state and disease. To this end, I will use novel murine lines that allow for the modulation of FAO in cDCs and will combine classical immunology and biochemial assays to characterise cDCs both functionally and metabolically. This interdisciplinary approach will help us understand the relationship between metabolism and function in cDCs and how this affects the initiation of immune responses across tissues.

Mots clés : immunometabolism, dendritic cells, immune regulation, fatty acid oxidation

Participants :
- Ministry of Health (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 194074.56 €
Projet ECOSYSTEM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : TERMINATED

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the impact of cosmic rays (CRs) on the evolution of galaxies. The fact that the local CR energy density is comparable to the turbulent and magnetic energy densities implies that CRs can potentially influence the dynamics of the interstellar medium (ISM), regulating the level of star formation and driving large-scale outflows. Moreover, CRs have long been known to be a key source of heating and ionization in the dense ISM shielded from photoionizing radiation. Despite the considerable progress made in the field, there are still uncertainties in modeling the galactic-scale transport of CRs. As a result, the extent to which CRs impact ISM structure and evolution is yet unclear.  ECOSYSTEM will provide a significant step forward in the field, thanks to state-of-the-art MHD simulations modeling the transport of spectrally resolved CRs and their interplay with the ambient gas, with unprecedented physical detail. These simulations will employ a new algorithm in which the propagation of CRs depends on the properties of the multiphase ISM and CRs themselves. To cover multiple ISM scales and conditions, the project will combine simulations of kpc-sized portions of galactic disks representative of galactic environments typical of Milky Way-like galaxies with zoom-in simulations of individual molecular clouds, and will explore different galactic properties in terms of star formation rate, gas surface density, and gravitational potential.  This project will deliver a comprehensive theoretical investigation of how the distribution of CRs, in space and energy, vary with the dynamical, thermal, and magnetic properties of the gas. Three questions will be addressed thanks to ECOSYSTEM: 1) What is the impact of CRs within the ISM disk and for galactic wind driving? 2) How do the large-scale spatial and spectral distribution of CRs depend on galactic environment? 3) What sets the CR ionization rate in the dense ISM?

Mots clés : magneto hydrodynamical simulations

Participants :
- National Institute for Astrophysics (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 172750.08 €
Projet EREN (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Before the European Union, the late Roman Empire was first in the pre-modern world a uniform hierarchically structured system with infrastructure across most of Europe and Mediterranean grounded in the overarching institutional, legal and cultural framework. An extraordinary phenomenon of central supra-regional institutions and networks of governing elites is rarely scrutinized in scholarly accounts from an epigraphic and digital humanities perspective. As MSCA Fellow, Dr Mariana Bodnaruk will receive crucial training in digital humanities and mix-methods approach at Warsaw University and study the late Roman state’s elaborate centralized machine whose officials with high political mobility were set apart from other social strata as bureaucrats in the imperial service. The aim is to investigate what generated empire-wide mobility networks of Roman elites, and how despite regional differences officials were able to construct and sustain a supra-regional institutional framework. She will collect data in an online database and construct a digital map to visualize elite networks. A three-month secondment at the Austrian Academy of Sciences will help her extend her training and research. Overarching research objectives are to conduct a comprehensive empirical inquiry into court office-holders across the fourth-century empire, study epigraphic data applying the novel methodology informed by the digital and material turn, and compare the urban epigraphic representation of state bureaucrats and their networks in wider socio-political and cultural contexts answering the research question: What were the diachronic transformations of spatial and social representation and networks of Roman palatine functionaries? Dr Bodnaruk will produce groundbreaking mixed-methods research beyond the state of art in Roman epigraphy, history and digital humanities; an online database and map; outreach and dissemination to crucial target audiences; and publications on new methods in epigraphy.

Mots clés : roman epigraphy, later roman empire, elite networks, senatorial representation, digital humanities

Participants :
- Académie autrichienne des sciences (Autriche) — Partner, associated partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Varsovie (Pologne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 139953.6 €