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

The research project investigates the concept of “thought exhibition” (TE), a curatorial approach developed by Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel during four exhibitions at ZKM | Centre for Art and Media, Karlsruhe (Germany). Following Latour’s work in philosophy and science & technology studies (STS) the art exhibitions aim at challenging the dualistic mentality (nature/culture, object/subject, etc.) fostered by European modernity which is, according to Latour, at the heart of current crises such as climate change. TEs engage visitors in a “spatio-aesthetic thought experiment” by bringing them into a position where they can question modern preconceptions, such as the domination of culture over nature or the notion of objective distance towards phenomena, and encourage them to develop alternatives. The project will gain new insights into Latour’s work in philosophy and STS by demonstrating the significance of TEs for this work. It will also provide a conceptual framework for the role of the arts in facilitating engaging narratives on ecologically/socially critical issues. In particular, the project will investigate Latour’s concepts of “hybrids”, artefacts which cannot be put distinctively in categories of nature or culture, transgressing the dualistic distinctions, and of “compositionism”, a relational way of juxtaposing objects and actors in the exhibition space. The research will be carried out by reviewing published and, at the ZKM archive, unpublished material, by analysing ZKM visitor surveys and by conducting interviews with Latour, Weibel, co-curators and ZKM staff, all of whom have pledged to fully support the project. Despite the relevance of both Latour’s work and ZKM as a leading art museum, little research on the TE concept has been done so far. The project wants to thoroughly investigate this curatorial approach which builds on the aesthetic and participatory capacity of the arts to address crucial issues and to activate individuals for processes of change.

Mots clés : dualisms  critique of, climate change, transformative change, eurocentrism, curatorial studies, performativity of the arts, participatory art, art as forum, thought experiment, posthumanism

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 207312.0 €
Projet IMPRESS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The research proposal addresses the challenges of optimum architecture, power production and operation for distributed renewable energy systems with storage. The proposal explores the efficient arrangement of decentralized power plants using photovoltaic panels and battery storage for a long-term increase of renewable generation. The critical issues such are the increased energy yield, minimization of cost of energy and availability will be addressed. A detailed techno-economic analysis will be performed to identify the cost effective superior distributed architecture suitable for integrated photovoltaic and battery systems. Multi-objective optimization study and validation will be performed that ensures actual optimization of energy production in the integrated environment. An integrated diagnostic method will be developed for real-time performance monitoring to improve the availability of the complex integrated energy system. Two secondment partners are identified to obtain necessary data and expertise in the field of research. The action will result in identifying an optimum solution in terms of control, operation and availability, especially for local renewable energy generation and storage. Novel algorithms for optimization for the operation and control of the modular energy sources with storage will be proposed. A real-time monitoring and diagnostic algorithm for performance monitoring, early failure detection and aging of integrated PV and battery solution will be developed. The research will provide newer insights on optimized power flow and control operation in complex interconnected distributed renewable energy sources considering the storage. Besides the technological significance and scientific value, the proposed research project is opportune and timely placed within the EU renewable energy directive and focuses on the core issue in line with the aims of EU energy research projects.

Mots clés : renewable energy sources, conversion and storage, distributed photovoltaic systems, integrated renewable energy storage

Participants :
- Aalborg University (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 219312.0 €
Projet SPES (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The researcher is moving from Italy to Newcastle University in the UK to embark on a full-scale study of the role of public slavery in the Roman world. The SPES project sets out to provide a full-scale reconsideration of the position of public slaves in the Roman economy and society through a multidisciplinary and comparative study. The preliminary step will be a full overview of the primary evidence, which will combine textual sources with iconographic and archaeological material. The second step will be engaging with two major interrelated questions: a) how a comparative and diachronic study may allow us to further our knowledge of public slavery in ancient Rome; b) how a stronger understanding of the social reality of public slavery in the Roman world may be achieved by the comparison with some modern manifestations of it. The importance of the project is twofold: a) for the first time, the researcher will build a versatile on-line database, which will collect all the sources concerning public slaves in the Roman world; b) it is also the first attempt ever made to cross-fertilize ancient and modern historians of slavery in order to deal with the problem of the slaves owned not by a private person, but by a whole community both in the ancient and modern history. The significance of the project goes thus beyond the remit of Ancient History. It is expected that the project will bring about dramatic changes in understanding how slavery became deep-rooted in all the slave-owning societies: public slaves were in fact essential for the State administration both in the ancient Roman world and in some modern Mediterranean and Transatlantic countries. Working on this project at Newcastle will enable the researcher to develop new sets of expertise and skills both in the IT area and in developing comparative approaches. The host organisation will in turn benefit from the researcher’s world-class expertise in the Latin epigraphy and the social history of the Roman world.

Mots clés : roman history, latin epigraphy, roman slavery, modern slavery, database, epidoc use, encoding ancient documents, textual sources, iconographic sources, archaeological sources

Participants :
- Newcastle University (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet TELAIGEN (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The rise of algorithm-powered technology in the telecommunications industry has been criticised for reproducing gender bias, particularly in Artificial Intelligence-driven (AI) products. This interdisciplinary and intersectoral project explores the gender bias within the Spanish telecommunications industry as a direct consequence of the lack of women in the sector. The purpose is to develop a multi-methodological study that allows to draw attention and evidence the gender gap and the consequent lack of a gender perspective within this industry in Spain. The central hypothesis is that the current gender gap in the sector leads to lack of integration of a gender perspective leading consequently, to the reproduction of gender bias in AI technologies. This, as a result, produces a setback in gender equality. To explore this, the study asks the following questions: what is the degree of the gender gap within the telecommunications industry in Spain? Are measures being taken to address this? To answer these questions, I will gather data on two levels: first, at the general level by implementing a quantitative survey-based methodology, targeting 400 industry insiders to gain information on the gender gap in the overall sector; and second, at the specific level, by carrying out a case-study through my secondment at Telefónica, Investigación y Desarrollo (TID), a Spanish leading research centre in new technologies where I will use qualitative-based methodologies to investigate its gender bias and its lack of integration of a gender perspective. A major outcome of this research is the production of a report to be handed to TID with specific guidelines for the incorporation of a gender perspective that will help them reduce their gender bias in their AI technologies and improve the commercialisation of their products. This report will have the potentiality of becoming a benchmark study for further research in the field, particularly within the European context.

Mots clés : gender perspective, telecommunications sector, artificial intelligence, gender bias

Participants :
- Carlos III University of Madrid (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 160932.48 €
Projet OchraVine Control (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Staff Exchanges
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The risk of mycotoxins is a global issue that represents a serious risk for human and animal health. Οchratoxin A (OTA) is a very toxic mycotoxin that constitutes a severe problem for viticulture and taking into account the extreme climatic events that are frequently faced in recent years, the OTA problem is arising in wine and raisins/currants. OchraVine Control project will offer an inexistent innovative, sustainable and integrated smart ICT solution (OchraVine Control DSS) considering fungal, host and environmental indicators that affect OTA contamination along the vine grape-wine value chain. The OchraVine Control DSS will allow prediction and monitoring at pre- and post-harvest level to control Aspergillus infection and OTA contamination in vine cultivation by combining epidemiological data, biological and chemical management strategies, post-havrest technologies and precision agriculture tools. OchraVine Control DSS solution will pursue a field-to-fork approach and will link and translate the information derived from the OchraRisk and OchraDetect predictive map tools and real data obtained during the monitoring controls by the OchraSensor. OchraVine Control DSS tool will be placed in an open access web platform and in combination with data from the OchraRed Integrated Management Strategy will provide risk prediction information (i.e. geographic OTA vine alerts), practical recommended solutions for OTA management and will verify the compliance with legislation requirements in a rapid and cost-effective way. The project will have a multi-actor international approach involving 3 RTDs and 5 SMEs that will exchange skills and knowledge and will all have a vital role in the design of the solutions, implementation, testing, dissemination, communication and economic exploitation.

Mots clés : food safety, mycotoxins, ochratoxin a, vine grape wine, disease prediction, monitor, biosensor, desicion support system

Participants :
- Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italie) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 256500.0 €
- Agricultural University of Athens (Grèce) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 310500.0 €
- Agricultural & environmental solutions (Grèce) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 108000.0 €
- Neuropublic ae pliroforikis & epikoinonion (Grèce) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 27000.0 €
- M2S (France) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 67500.0 €
- Kpad ltd (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 198000.0 €
- TMD Technologies (United Kingdom) (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 148500.0 €
- Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (France) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 67500.0 €
Projet DESlRE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The robotics industry is in the process of greater adoption of machine learning. Recent reinforcement learning (RL) and AI breakthroughs, such as AlphaGo, rely on collecting large amounts of data. Such methods are unsuitable for real robots which often can only afford a few trials. Moreover, some states are unsafe to explore, e.g. running over a cliff. Conversely, works such as PILCO combine Bayesian models with model-based RL to improve data efficiency. Those frameworks typically thrive in small data regimes. The goal of this project is to develop RL algorithms that scale to high dimensions while learning with less data. The main pillars of our methodology are RL, recurrent networks, Bayesian methods, embodied exploration, and optimization. To tackle the data efficiency, we adopt model-based RL approaches. We plan to combine representation learning and dynamics in a single model, leading to high predictive power and low-dimensional internal state spaces. Notably, we use methods that can learn disentangled representations, e.g. infoGAN. In practical robots, effective exploration is a real problem in current approaches. We want to leverage recent works in embodied exploration by the host group which allows various real-world robots to explore their capabilities in minutes of interaction. I received my Ph.D. for work in optimization with Dr. William Hager. I also conducted postdoctoral research in machine learning. The Autonomous Learning group is led by Dr. Georg Martius, who has previously studied artificial intrinsic motivation, the self-organized exploration of sensorimotor coordination via information theory, and internal model learning. He also developed the robotics environment LPZRobots. I will gain extensive experience in practical robotics, embodied exploration, and information theory through the collaboration and mature as an advanced AI researcher. Both Dr. Martius and I have a track record of publishing code online. We will continue this effort.

Mots clés : reinforcement learning, robotics, practical robots, representation learning, deep learning, dynamic programming, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data efficiency, autonomous learning

Participants :
- Max Planck Society (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 159460.8 €
Projet iMAC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The rodent primary somatosensory cortex (S1) contains a malleable topographic map, in which cortical columns functionally represent individual facial whiskers. When all whiskers but two are trimmed, the cortical representations of the two spared whiskers partially fuse. This fusion is associated and possibly facilitated by an increase in NMDAR-mediated dendritic nonlinearities (plateau potentials) in L2/3 neurons, which are dependent on inputs from the higher-order posteromedial thalamic complex (POm). It has been shown that plateau potentials generated by these inputs can promote plasticity of sensory-related synaptic inputs. However, the spatiotemporal relationships between the plateau potential-generating POm and the sensory-related synaptic inputs on L2/3 neurons, and possible rearrangements therein during plasticity, are not understood. Recently developed genetically encoded glutamate indicators (GEGIs), which the fellow was involved in, have enabled the visualization of active excitatory inputs. Here, the fellow proposes a novel methodology (iMAC, Input Mapping of Active Connections), where she combines two state-of-the-art optogenetics and optophysiology tools. A presynaptic light-sensitive opsin will allow optical activation of ascending POm inputs, while a postsynaptic GEGI will allow the visualization, i.e. mapping of the activated synapses on L2/3 pyramidal neurons. First, the fellow will establish a proto-map of these higher-order thalamocortical excitatory inputs in an ex vivo preparation, followed by a proof of principle in vivo in the awake mouse. Second, the fellow will compare the POm-driven synaptic maps with those recruited by whisker sensory stimulation in vivo. Third, she will determine how these rearrange upon sensory deprivation. Altogether, this work will investigate the spatiotemporal relationships between POm and sensory-driven inputs onto L2/3 neurons and reveal possible rearrangements therein related to cortical map plasticity.

Mots clés : mouse somatosensory cortex, cortical synaptic plasticity, synaptic input mapping, glutamate sensors, higher order thalamus

Participants :
- University of Geneva (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191149.44 €
Projet DISTRICT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The role of regulatory T cells (Tregs) is crucial to maintain immune homeostasis by controlling peripheral tolerance. A better understanding in the molecular mechanisms involved in the biology of these Treg cells could improve their expansion and selection to treat immune-related diseases, achieve immunosuppression-free organ transplantation and to specifically target them in cancer. We reported on the over-expression of Tribbles-1 (TRIB1) in Tregs compared to their counterpart naïve T cells and that TRIB1 interacts with the master molecule of Tregs, FOXP3, a transcription factor essential for Treg suppressive activity. These results suggest still non explored potential links between TRIB1 in Tregs biology. Our goal is thus to decipher the role of TRIB1 in the Treg homeostasis and functions, through 3 main axes: 1) deciphering the function of TRIB1 in Tregs in vitro, 2) highlighting its implication in vivo using a combinaison of immune-related models and 3) discovering the signalling pathway of TRIB1 in Tregs. These results would not only increase TRIB1 mechanistic knowledge but also increase comprehension of Treg biology and bring opportunities to identify new strategies to modulate Tregs for immunotherapy.


Participants :
- Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 185076.0 €
Projet NemHostRangeParadox (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) is an obligate biotrophic pathogen with a remarkable ability to deliver “effector” molecules into its host plant, allowing it to reproducibly and exquisitely alter plant immunity, development, and physiology. Paradoxically, this nematode also has the widest host range of any obligate biotroph: parasitizing more than 3,000 different species. I hypothesize that the polyploid nature of its genome allows it to harbor an “effector” repertoire that not only allows for this broad host range, but its differentially deployed across its host range. To address this hypothesis, we have carefully pre-selected plant species across the botanical orders covering the main groups across the phylum. We will infect each species with M. incognita and, in a “trans-kingdom linked transcriptome” we will analysed nematode gene expression, and plant gene expression, at the same time in each susceptible interaction. These data will allow us to determine: 1) Is there a core set of effectors that are invariantly deployed, independent of host, and/or are subsets “chosen” for particular hosts or groups of hosts?; 2) Are there conserved plant genes manipulated by M. incognita during the infection?; and 3) Finally, are some plant or nematode genes required for specific interactions or group of interactions? These data will allow us to address a long-standing question in the field, and I believe understanding how M. incognita can infect such a broad host range may be a key to future control.

Mots clés : root knot nematode, polyphagia, effectors

Participants :
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet ChroMoLEME (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The rural monasteries established across Europe in the 6th and 7th centuries played a key role in establishing the church’s centrality to medieval society. Scholars have traditionally accepted the medieval hagiographers’ descriptions of these sites as remote foundations in a wilderness known as the desertum. This interdisciplinary project will contrast these textual sources with an emerging body of archaeological evidence to question the traditional narrative. It will show that monasteries were intimately linked to political and economic networks and often founded in landscapes that were not only inhabited, but quite likely also Christianised. A case study of the 6th-century foundation at Annegray (France) will use an innovative GIS (Geographical Information System) environment to integrate conventional historical and archaeological data with innovative historic landscape character analysis using new remote sensing data. The resulting model will inform comparative study with comparable sites in France, Italy and Switzerland. The Fellow will receive advanced training in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), digital 3D survey and spatial data analysis. He will learn how to integrate conventional sources with remotely-sensed data from geophysical survey, airbone lidar (light detection and ranging), and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to create an innovative approach to Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC). The method pioneered in the project will be broadly applicable to landscape studies of different periods and regions across Europe and beyond. During the project Dr Marron will develop extensive skills in a series of cutting-edge techniques, significantly enhancing his prospects of a successful career in interdisciplinary landscape research.

Mots clés : early medieval, monasticism

Participants :
- Newcastle University (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €