Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet UniFlatHolo (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

One of the most challenging open questions in theoretical physics consists in describing quantum mechanics and gravity in a unified framework. Important progress has been made towards this goal with the development of the holographic principle, whose most concrete realization is the AdS/CFT correspondence. Although AdS/CFT is the duality that has attracted the most attention, the holographic principle is believed to be much more general and to hold for other kinds of asymptotics, including for the more realistic model of four-dimensional (4d) asymptotically flat spacetime. In this regard, two proposals of flat space holography have emerged. The first consists of a 4d/3d duality, where 4d gravity is dual to a 3d Carrollian CFT living on the null boundary of the spacetime. The second is a 4d/2d duality, where 4d gravity is dual to a 2d conformal field theory, called celestial CFT, living on the celestial sphere.  The aim of this research project is to make major steps towards a holographic description of quantum gravity in asymptotically flat spacetime. To do so, we plan to provide a unified description of flat space holography by exploring the relation between the two above proposals and connecting them with the AdS/CFT correspondence through a flat limit process. Four main lines of research will be investigated: (i) the relation between 3d Carrollian CFT and 2d celestial CFT, (ii) the representations of the BMS group acting in the dual theories, (iii) the flat limit of the AdS/CFT correspondence, and (iv) the construction of explicit candidates for the dual theories. This project involves a transfer of knowledge between the host institutions and the researcher, who will receive training in new advanced techniques in the field. This unique exchange of skills and the collaborations that will emerge in this program are expected to generate major advances in the quest for flat space holography.

Mots clés : holography, asymptotic symmetry, gravity, general relativity, carroll geometry, conformal field theory, bms group, asymptotically flat spacetime

Participants :
- Université Harvard (Etats-Unis) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- École polytechnique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276681.6 €
Projet HECPC (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The search for microwave materials with tailored dielectric properties in millimeter-wave frequencies has been the objective of a significant number of manuscripts reported in the literature. Dielectric ceramics with low-loss dielectric, thermally stable and low permittivity have received extensive attention owing to their significant application prospects in microwave communication systems. It is therefore desirable to introduced new production techniques, new compositions or improves the properties. The proposed research will intellectually contribute to the scientific literature through the preparation and characterization of new dielectric materials belonging to the diopside CaMgSi2O6 based ceramics. This proposal seeks to achieve the following specific objectives: (1) Consideration of the impact of different types and concentrations of dopant such as Sr and Ba for large divalent cation (Ca) and Zn, Co, Mn and Ni for small divalent cation (Mg) via high entropy strategy on the structural, microstructural and microwave dielectric characteristics of CaMgSi2O6 based ceramics. (2) Evaluation of the effect of thermal annealing time and temperature on the final performance of high entropy CaMgSi2O6 based ceramics. (3) To explore the relationship between high entropy design and microwave dielectric properties. (4) Fabrication of CaMgSi2O6 – Polyethylene (PE) composites using cold sintering process and investigation of the pressure, temperature and transient solvent type on densification, microstructure and microwave dielectric properties. State of the art and new experimental techniques and methods will be used in order to achieve the goals of this proposal.

Mots clés : electroceramics, ceramic processing, structural and microstructural properties, dielectric properties

Participants :
- Université d'Oulu (Finlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 215534.4 €
Projet SelfOrg (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : TERMINATED

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a major health challenge, with a survival rate of 15% in stage IV cases due to therapy resistance and tumor relapse. A key barrier to effective treatment is the high degree of intratumor heterogeneity and plasticity. These features enable the coexistance of diverse cancer cell populations within a tumor, each of them specialized in key functions such as proliferation, invasion or resistance to treatment. Additionally, phenotypic plasticity grant these cancer cells flexibility to dynamically tune their phenotype, to the extent that a single surviving cell can regenerate a full heterogeneous tumor. Despite their crucial role in CRC pathology, the biological mechanisms driving tumor heterogeneity and plasticity remain poorly understood. Current research suggests that tumor plasticity is driven by microenvironmental cues, where external signals induce specific cell states within localized tumor niches. However, my preliminary data reveal that cancer cells possess an intrinsic ability to self-organize and establish heterogeneity even in the absence of external signals. SelfOrg will tackle the unexplored contribution of self-organization to tumor heterogeneity and plasticity. To do so, I will combine quantitative measurements in bioengineered human organoids with physiologically relevant mouse tumor models to dissect the intrinsic mechanochemical signals regulating tumor heterogeneity. A systematic, image-based analysis of a patient-derived organoid (PDO) biobank will further assess the clinical implications of self-organization for patient prognosis. By leveraging my expertise in organoid mechanobiology and the host lab's proficiency in PDOs and translational cancer research, SelfOrg is uniquely positioned to address the problem of tumor heterogeneity from the novel perspective of self-organization. This innovative approach has the potential to uncover new therapeutic targets to improve survival and quality of life for CRC patients.

Mots clés : organoids, mechanobiology, self organization

Participants :
- Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 209914.56 €
Projet AntPolice (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The sterile worker castes found in the colonies of social insects are often cited as archetypal examples of altruism in nature. The challenge is to explain why losing the ability to reproduce has evolved as a superior strategy for transmitting genes into future generations. The leading explanation for the evolution of worker sterility is the monogamy hypothesis. The idea is that workers don't need to reproduce because they can transmit their genes indirectly by improving the reproductive success of the queen, who carries the same genes. For this to work, the queen should be monogamously mated, ensuring workers are raising full siblings, the genetic equivalent of their own young (r = 0.5). There has been no appropriate test of this hypothesis, however, and an alternative hypothesis, that worker sterility evolved via the enforcement of cooperation by policing, has not been ruled out. According to the policing hypothesis, workers suppress each other's reproduction by eating each other’s eggs or through aggression, leading to sterility through evolutionary time. Crucially, policing is predicted to evolve when relatedness is low, in contrast to the monogamy hypothesis.  Here, I propose an interdisciplinary approach that combines a cutting-edge phylogenetic comparative analysis across ~500 ant species with novel lab-based experiments on the socially polymorphic ant, Formica exsecta, to test between the low and high relatedness evolutionary pathways to worker sterility. Contrary to common belief, workers in most ant species can lay eggs due to their haplodiploid sex determination system, making them an ideal system for answering this question. This project will fill a crucial gap in our knowledge of how complex life on Earth evolved and potentially overturn the long-held hypothesis that high relatedness is the only route to cooperation.

Mots clés : major transitions, kin selection, cooperation, policing, ants, sterile workers

Participants :
- Université d'Oulu (Finlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 200860.4 €
Projet CAPWARM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Climate change is affecting the ecosystem’s resilience, biodiversity, productivity, and health. One major societal issue is to secure food destined for human consumption. Fish are the primary resource for essential fatty acids and proteins for billions of people and they contribute significantly to species diversity and functioning of marine, estuarine, and freshwater ecosystems. Yet, we are still limited in our ability to accurately predict how climate-change stressors will affect fish populations. To date, we are crucially lacking studies evaluating the impacts of climate change linking subfields of fish ecology such as genetics, behaviour, physiology, community dynamics or spatial ecology. Other essential aspects of climate-change impacts, such as cross-generational effects and sex-specific responses of parents that could adaptively prepare the offspring, are also often ignored. The proposed project has three main objectives: (1) investigate the effects of parental thermal stress on offspring’s coping abilities to face multiple climate stressors, (2) evaluate the impact of thermal stress on sex-specific response and decipher the sex-specific parental effects on the next generation, and (3) identify, in collaboration with stakeholders from aquaculture and fishery sectors, mitigation strategies that can mediate these effects. CAPWARM includes laboratory and field work on two valuable salmonid species for human consumption: the Rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, and the Atlantic Salmon, Salmo salar. The first accounts for 60% of EU freshwater fish farming, while the second is the first produced marine fish but is paradoxically declared at risk in most European waters. The results will be further discussed along with management practices available to mitigate parental thermal stress, in both aquaculture and wild contexts. CAPWARM outputs will be of high importance for fisheries, aquaculture, and conservation and fits with the climate action top priority of the EU.

Mots clés : climate change sex specific response parental specific contribution offspring coping abilities aquaculture fisheries salmonids physiology behaviour reproduction genetic molecular biology ecology

Participants :
- Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195914.88 €
Projet ActiMech (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

ActiMech aims to establish a groundbreaking class of stimuli-responsive molecules that merge the unique properties of activated carboxylic acids (ACAs) and triarylmethane-based mechanophores. These innovative Activated Mechanophores (AMs) will be developed to serve as mechanochromophores and initiators of reactions in solid-state materials, paving the way for novel mechanically adaptive materials. The systems incorporating AMs will be able to change both their color (even multiple times) and rheological properties in response to mechanical forces. The successful execution of this project will allow, in the long run, the fabrication of advanced materials that can serve as damage sensors in industrial facilities and instrumentation, enhancing the safety of places and technical operations. ActiMech is structured around three specific objectives that involve (1) the synthesis and characterization of AMs and their functionalization with linear polymer chains, (2) the investigation of the operating mechanisms of AMs under mechanical stimulation, and (3) the analysis and exploitation of AMs behavior in a solid polymeric matrix to promote solid-state reactions. Through these objectives, ActiMech will combine the dissipative properties of ACAs and those of triarylmethane-based mechanophores, bringing together two classes of compounds of increasing popularity in chemical science. Overall, ActiMech will allow me to develop the skills and expertise necessary to establish myself as an independent researcher and a future organic chemistry professor in Europe. This fellowship will provide me with the unique opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research in a leading technical institution, such as the Institut Català d'Investigació Química (ICIQ), and under the careful supervision of Dr. José Augusto Berrocal, a young and rising leader in the field of polymer science.

Mots clés : mechanophores, activated carboxylic acids, polymers, dissipative systems, mechanochromophores, adaptative materials, smart materials

Participants :
- Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 194074.56 €
Projet IMPULSE (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The synthesis of novel monomers that combine a bio-origin, scalability, low cost, and structural modularity merged with the synthesis of custom-degradable plastics is one of the major objectives in sustainable development. Realization of these goals can contribute to a circular rather than a linear economy. Within this context, the IMPULSE project aims to develop novel strategies for the catalytic synthesis of renewable polyethers featuring tunable properties using isopropenyl esters (iPEs) as biobased and inexpensive precursors. The key polymerization strategy that is used entails ring-opening polymerization (ROP) through proper activation of iPE-derived oxides using Host-developed catalysts with known potential. The epoxide monomers are obtained through enzymatic epoxidation to streamline the green efforts of this research program. The main strengths of IMPULSE are the versatility of the starting precursors, the possibility of modulating the polyether structures and their properties before or after their synthesis, and the potential for degradation of the polyethers through controlled depolymerization, thereby creating a circular atom approach by repurposing the degradation products. The creation of a wider range of commercially attractive polyether macromolecules can boost a transition to biobased analogues with a significantly expanded application potential, and an increased tunability of the mechanical, thermal and optical properties while enabling an improved carbon footprint.

Mots clés : functional macromolecules, chemical recycling, ring opening polymerization, renewables, catalysis, epoxides, sustainability

Participants :
- Polykey polymers sl (Espagne) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 165312.96 €
Projet HARVEST (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

With the global production of ammonia playing a pivotal role in food and chemical industries, the nitrogen cycle is essential for sustaining modern life. However, the challenging nitrogen redox chemistry demand innovative solutions for sustainability. HARVEST aims to advance our understanding of the ammonia oxidation reaction (AOR) by designing molecular catalysts for efficient NH3 splitting. With only incipient progress made in AOR molecular catalysis, HARVEST will systematically target new iron and manganese catalysts for the AOR. These will be integrated into dye-sensitized (photo)electrochemical cells (DSPEC) for solar conversion. Thus, HARVEST not only promises to advance our knowledge on nitrogen chemistry, but also holds potential for carbon-neutral fuel production and energy storage. For the postdoctoral candidate, HARVEST marks a critical phase in career development. With prior multidisciplinary experience, the focus now shifts to building a solid profile in molecular electrochemistry and photoelectrocatalysis. HARVEST includes a flexible training program, targeting teaching, management, and supervision roles, vital for future research leadership positions. Overall, this research not only will advance sustainable technology but will also nurture a versatile and skilled researcher ready to contribute significantly to both academia and industry research units.

Mots clés : molecular elmolecular electrocatalysis transition metal catalyst ammonia oxidation artificial photosynthesis nitrogen cycle hydrogen fuel solar fuel ammonia splitting photoelectrochemical cell

Participants :
- Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 165312.96 €
Projet HEMGEN (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Infertility is estimated to affect an average of 14% people worldwide. It is an issue that affects equally both men and women, although it is often associated with a women’s social burden and the case of Islam is not an exception. While religion influences Muslims’ health beliefs, behaviours and decisions, health providers are not always aware of cultural and religious preferences and norms. Thus, Islamic norms on health treatments can result in Muslim’s exclusion from the health care system, especially affecting Muslim women. This can especially impact issues on infertility and reproduction, which holds exceptional moral and social significance across religions. Through an innovative focus, this project aims to advance scientific knowledge about how Sunni Muslims in a minority context in Europe navigate between the authority of medical science and the authority of religion, and to what extent this affect their access to health care.. The project will provide empirical data and develop a theoretical framework based on gender studies, sociology of religion and anthropology of health literatures. This will be achieved by applying intersectional perspective and qualitative methodologies, consisting of semi-structured interviews with Health Professionals and Muslims who have had fertility treatments. The research will be conducted in two European cities: Oslo and Barcelona. Both cities have experienced a rapid increase in religious diversity in last decades but are different in their organisation of religious communities and of health systems. The comparison between the two cities will provide insights into differences among Sunni Muslims around negotiating health, religious and gender issues. This project will contribute to new avenues of investigation concerning the life conditions of Sunni Muslims in Europe and will develop new knowledge on health inequality that may be adapted for future research on other religious minorities or vulnerable groups.

Mots clés : islam infertility religious authority health inequality

Participants :
- Université métropolitaine d'Oslo (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 226751.04 €
- Conseil national de la recherche scientifique et technique (Argentine) — Partner, associated partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet X-AIDRON-6G (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The X-AIDRON-6G project aims to develop an innovative, autonomous framework for outage detection and network recovery in disaster-affected areas using a combination of Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs), Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) architecture, Terahertz (THz) communications, and advanced 6G technologies. The primary goal is to ensure resilient communication systems by leveraging NTNs, including satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which will complement cellular networks in the event of network failure. X-AIDRON-6G’s approach involves the integration of NTNs with cellular networks through O-RAN architecture, allowing for seamless interoperability. This integration will enable rapid detection of network outages and dynamic recovery, ensuring connectivity in disaster scenarios. Additionally, the project will utilize explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms to detect outages in an explainable and reliable manner. Data collected from O-RAN interfaces and packet core will be used to train these AI models, enabling rapid response to network disruptions. Upon detection of a network outage, X-AIDRON-6G will optimally deploy UAVs and utilize existing satellites to restore connectivity. These UAVs will act as temporary access points, while satellites provide high-speed and capacity midhaul/backhaul to the ground stations through THz links. The combination of AI-driven outage detection and THz-enabled NTNs will ensure fast, scalable, and cost-effective network recovery. Moreover, zero-touch network automation vision of X-AIDRON-6G will enable rapid recovery in dynamic network conditions. X-AIDRON-6G is highly relevant to the objectives of 6G, contributing to more resilient, autonomous, and sustainable networks. X-AIDRON-6G’s outcomes will serve as a critical foundation for achieving global connectivity, especially in disaster-prone or remote areas, advancing the vision of a truly resilient and ubiquitous 6G system.

Mots clés : open radio access network o ran , non terrestrial networks ntns , explainable ai xai , terahertz thz communications, zero touch network automation

Participants :
- Université Sabancı (Turquie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 165205.2 €