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

As data generation and transfer rates have grown rapidly over the last decades, integrated photonic systems have become the key technology enabling modern communication systems. In order to sustain future economic and societal growth, continued development of arbitrarily complex and multi-functional integrated photonic systems is therefore imperative. Traditional design of these systems relies on determining device geometries using analytical electromagnetics, after which various parameters are optimized. In contrast, the flexibility for more complicated optical functionality is currently only possible with “blank-slate” optimization routines. In these algorithms, the device structure is determined by searches through thousands of degrees of freedom, which is computationally prohibitive when targeting arbitrarily complex functionality with larger devices. To this end, this project will develop an artificial intelligence-based, universal photonic neural network architecture and its optimization framework to enable and experimentally demonstrate arbitrary photonic capabilities on-chip. For the first time, this novel approach will allow solutions for designer-specified operations including arbitrary combinations of wavelength and polarization-specific transfer functions. Resulting devices will be fabricated and characterized to demonstrate previously elusive on-chip functionality, and for rapid adoption and widespread use. Customer needs in communications and sensing applications will be specifically targeted through an industrial secondment, and a structured innovation management/commercialization plan. This framework and its industrial use represent a vast leap towards universal integrated photonic design for advancing European capability and economic drivers through innovation in future optical systems. As such, the fellowship will transform my career towards future leadership at the intersection of academic research and industrial innovation.

Mots clés : silicon photonics

Participants :
- Koç University (Turquie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 157355.52 €
Projet SImCat (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As elements in metal-based catalysis are becoming increasingly high risk, organocatalysts represent versatile, green, and robust catalysts as effective alternatives. Imidazolidine-4-thiones are 5-membered thioamide heterocycles with a secondary amine at ring position 1, which have structural similarity to imidazolidinones, successfully used as chiral organocatalysts. However, unlike imidazolidinones and proline-based catalysts, imidazolidinethiones are underexplored and underutilized as catalysts in organic reactions, their catalytic cycle is not proven, and the relative intermediates involved in the cycle have not been isolated to date. Earlier in 2020, imidazolidinethiones have been demonstrated by the Trapp group as suitable catalysts in the alkylation of aldehydes in prebiotic media, and they show promise as organocatalysts in modern organic reactions. In this project, I will investigate the reactivity of relevant intermediates in the organocatalytic cycle, that is, the enamines and iminium ions derived from the imidazolidinethiones and enolizable and non-enolizable aldehydes, respectively. The reactivity of imidazolidine-4-thione derived enamines and iminium ions will be quantified by kinetic measurements and results will embedded in the comprehensive Mayr reactivity scales. Experimental kinetic data will be acquired by applying photometric methods, which cover different timescales from conventional UV-vis spectroscopy to follow slow reactions via stopped-flow techniques to laser flash photolysis for reactions close to diffusion control, which proceed within nanoseconds. This fellowship will shed light on the unproven catalytic cycle and provide a quantitative basis for the future exploitation of this underutilized class of catalysts. Furthermore, I will develop skills in physical organic chemistry using quantitative structure-reactivity relationships and time resolved spectroscopy, while also refining soft skills such as leadership and teaching.

Mots clés : linear free energy relationships, organocatalysts, nucleophiles, electrophiles, reactivity, lewis basicity

Participants :
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 149239.2 €
Projet WomENt (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As entrepreneurship is fundamental to economic development in the EU, it is essential to maximize the potential pool of successful entrepreneurs by addressing the persistent under-representation of women who constitute only 29% of all entrepreneurs in Europe-37. This is a priority as the proportion of women entrepreneurs has declined since 2008. Tourism is advocated as an accessible entrepreneurship gateway for women because of the predominance of small firms, relatively low entry barriers and the size of the sector (9% of EU GDP). Therefore; tourism provides an important opportunity for women entrepreneurs as individuals, but also for communities and economies at a European level. WomENt aims to understand the different pathways of women’s entrepreneurship journey in a changing tourism industry, and how different environments, agents, policies and actions across different scales (macro, meso and micro) influence their opportunities, motivations and challenges. While the barriers to entrepreneurship faced by women have been studied generically, research on tourism is limited, and the methodologies used have not addressed the complexity of women’s entrepreneurial journeys. Hence WomENt draws on the fresh perspectives provided by a post-structuralist feminist approach, reinforced by mixed methods analyses, to identify key contingent factors that determine effective tourism entrepreneurship practices and performances. The pathways will be analysed in the United Kingdom and Spain, which have contrasting tourism industries and entrepreneurial environments. Research on entrepreneurs’ use of social media, and close collaboration with agents of change (policy-makers, universities etc.), including secondments with key tourism organizations, will ensure the project makes an effective evidence-based contribution to policies and practices that increase the numbers of women entrepreneurs, and diversify the pool of entrepreneurship.

Mots clés : gender, entrepreneurship, tourism, women, post structuralism, mixed methods

Participants :
- University of Surrey (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet AGEING PLASTICITY (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As global life-expectancy increases so do pathological age-related conditions impacting cognition. The worldwide prevalence of Alzheimer’s Disease is expected to rise from 46 to 131.5 million affected people in the next 30 years, which will drastically compromise quality of life for many individuals and place a considerable economic burden on society. As acknowledged by the EU Commission, there is an imperative to ‘improve our understanding of the causes and mechanisms underlying…healthy ageing and disease. Older adults differ vastly in the extent to which their cognitive functions, such as memory, attention, and decision making remain healthy. Highlighting sources of interindividual variability in this resilience to cognitive ageing, particularly in the face of neuropathology such as Alzheimer’s Disease will enhance the development of targeted neurorehabilitation interventions to prevent and redress cognitive decline. Several lines of work indirectly indicate the right fronto-parietal network (rFPN) in the brain, particularly the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, is critical for healthy cognition in ageing. This proposal will combine advanced cognitive neuroscience techniques to directly investigate whether neurocognitive markers of healthy ageing (i) relate to interindividual differences in white-matter (WM) structural organisation within the rFPN, and (ii) can be improved by upregulating activity within this network. This fellowship will be conducted at the Oxford Department of Experimental Psychology under the supervision of Prof Kia Nobre, world expert on the cognitive neuroscience of attention, and in close collaboration with Prof Heidi Johansen-Berg, leading authority on white matter plasticity at the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN).

Mots clés : fronto parietal networks, visual processing speed, cognitive ageing, cognitive reserve

Participants :
- University of Oxford (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet NNI (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As human beings, we tend to connect. Yet social isolation is a widespread condition with grave consequences on life-expectancy. Ideals of self-sufficiency and new modes of communication incite to isolate rather than attach. By contrast, experiencing meaningful intimate interactions has positive effects on health. But what is intimacy, where is it to be found, has it changed and how can it be studied? Infused with a robust public engagement component, the intended programme of research involves collecting narratives of intimacy from the general public to derive elements of its every day lived experience. Be these obstacles to (shame, fear, attachment deficits) or catalysts for (authenticity, vulnerability, trust) intimacy, the project then scrutinises past and current neuroscience and psychology research that can explain them. The project also aims at finding out whether brain explanations of intimacy resonate loudly with people and in popular culture and whether they disenchant the value of social connection. Overall, the proposed approach bears a twofold potential: On one hand, the intimacy narratives identified may translate into instructive inspiration for the design of experiments by the scientific community. On the other hand, the public will be exposed to and question scientific accounts of intimacy, as well as report whether or not a scientific interpretation of intimacy reconciles with experience. Ultimately, it will be possible to probe levels of incommensurability as well as possible convergences between scientific empiricism and lived experience, data and phenomenology, measurements and narratives and, thereby, test an effective dialogue between the medical sciences and the humanities, as well as science and society. If awarded, this fellowship as well as the training and original work arising from it will allow the fellow to push innovative research boundaries and achieve the appropriate intellectual maturation for a long-term independent career.

Mots clés : neuroscience, intimacy, medical humanities, narratives, science and society, citizen science, social neuroscience, public engagement

Participants :
- Trinity College Dublin (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175866.0 €
Projet SeisMo (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As part of the Apollo lunar missions, four seismometers were deployed on the near-side of the Moon between 1969 and 1972, and operated continuously until 1977. There are many difficulties associated with determining lunar structure from these records. As a result, many properties of the moon, such as the thickness, density and porosity of the crust are poorly constrained. This hampers our ability to determine the structure, geochemical composition of the moon, its evolution, and ultimately the evolution of the solar system. This proposal uses modern seismic processing techniques to overcome these limitations. Using ambient noise tomography, it will provide a new, more accurate, model of the lunar crust and mantle. I will apply recent advances in the full waveform modelling of scattering at planetary scale by the host institution to the strongly scattering lunar crust. We will explore entirely new routes for planetary seismology by investigating single-station inverse problems building on recent work in rotational seismology pioneered at the host institution. The project is designed to develop a profile for myself as a planetary seismologist, and to position myself and the host institution to work on the Mars InSight mission in the future. InSight is a NASA Discovery mission, scheduled to land in September 2016, which will deploy a single seismometer on the surface of Mars. We combine the expertise of the researcher in surface wave analysis and tomographic modelling; the facilities and expertise of Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in ambient noise studies, full waveform modelling, modelling of seismic scatter and rotational seismology; and an interdisciplinary team of researchers with experience of the techniques and with diverse interests in geochemistry, geodynamics and planetary evolution.

Mots clés : moon, ambient noise, full waveform propagation, rotational seismology, synthetics

Participants :
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 171460.8 €
Projet DCI (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As researchers continue to search for new technological materials, they are increasingly exploring the regime of strongly correlated molecules and solids. Strongly correlated materials are those with strongly interacting electrons that cannot be accurately described by simple mean-field methods in physics. Theoretical spectroscopy for strongly correlated materials gives the ability to predict their excited states important for applications - their spectra - by numerical calculations instead of synthesizing and measuring them in the laboratory. However, accurate theoretical spectroscopy for strongly correlated systems is a considerable theoretical challenge. We present a new quantum embedding theory for strong correlation that embeds quantum chemistry inside of many-body perturbation theory (MBPT). In our theory, strongly correlated electrons are treated with configuration interaction (CI) using the exact ab-initio Hamiltonian. Weakly correlated states are treated with less expensive approximations in many-body perturbation theory (GW/BSE). The coupling between the two spaces gives a dynamical correction to the normal CI Hamiltonian, a method that we call dynamical configuration interaction (DCI). The method naturally includes non-local correlation, is systematically improvable by expanding the CI basis, and eliminates the need for frequency dependent quantities common in Green's function embedding. Our goal is to develop an efficient, scalable implementation of DCI and benchmark it against other methods in many-body physics and quantum chemistry. Eventually, we will apply our DCI implementation to porphyrin and phthalocyanine molecules. These molecules host strongly correlated d-electrons at their center and are heavily researched for their potential technological applications. DCI could give a new level of predictive accuracy to the theoretical spectroscopy of strongly correlated systems and unlock their potential for new optoelectronic applications.

Mots clés : many body perturbation theory, strongly correlated electrons, green s function, electronic structure theory, wave function, bethe salpeter equation, theoretical spectroscopy

Participants :
- Lund University (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 173857.2 €
Projet PhosphoMLO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

As the demographics of Europe and other developed countries shift ever older, neurodegenerative diseases involving aberrant protein aggregation grow more common but still lack effective treatment options. In healthy eukaryotic cells, the reversible weak aggregation of proteins and RNAs is necessary for the formation of condensates known as membraneless organelles. The roles of these condensates are still under investigation but may include concentrating proteins to facilitate reactions and buffering protein availability in a variety of cellular pathways. Identifying the molecular regulators of condensate assembly and maintenance is important to understand the transition from reversible to irreversible aggregation during disease and to determine potential therapeutic targets. The host lab has found that sufficient concentrations of the kinase DYRK3 trigger the dissolution of condensates, including splicing speckles, the pericentriolar matrix, and stress granules, by phosphorylating their component proteins. While in C. elegans, the serine/threonine phosphatase PP2A plays a crucial role in the assembly of membraneless organelles by dephosphorylating the substrates of the DYRK family kinase MBK-2, little is known about dephosphorylation of DYRK3 substrates in human cells or the regulation of DYRK3 activity. I hypothesize that feedback between DYRK3 and a phosphatase controls cycling of DYRK3 and its substrates between membraneless organelles and a dilute phase. I will apply interdisciplinary approaches including genetic perturbations, biochemical experiments, imaging, and mathematical modelling to address this hypothesis, in the process uncovering key regulators of condensate formation, emergent properties of feedback regulation, and a new mechanism for the regulation of phase-separated compartments.

Mots clés : membraneless organelles, systems biology, mathematical modelling, phosphorylation, phase separation, feedback network, protein aggregation

Participants :
- University of Zurich (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191149.44 €
Projet MarkEfficiency (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As the human population approaches 9.5 billion in 2050, and societies as a whole become more affluent, the demand for meat and milk is projected to nearly double. The current challenge facing humanity is to achieve food security in a sustainable manner. As such, sustainable livestock production must be targeted towards the efficient use of feeds not suitable for human consumption. As a result of their symbiotic rumen microbial population, ruminants are strong targets for manipulation as they can convert fibrous forages and low quality nitrogen sources into high protein meat and milk. Evaluation of the feed efficiency of ruminants fed non-competitive feed resources is an important avenue to increase the profitability and sustainability of European ruminant farming systems. Feed efficiency is a complex trait that is lengthy and costly to phenotype. Additionally, in order to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the “sustainable” phenotype, newer sustainability parameters, such as methane emissions and nitrogen losses need to be incorporated. Metabolism and digestion have been described as the two most important physiological drivers of variation of feed efficiency in ruminants. Thus, the objective of this proposal is to explore potential biomarkers and microbial indicators of feed efficiency in growing cattle fed forage-based diets to improve our understanding of the physiological basis of efficient animals. Using feed conversion efficiency and residual feed intake as benchmark indexes of efficiency, we will test and improve the use of modern isotopic N fractionation and rumen microbial phylotyping techniques as practical tools to evaluate feed efficiency in ruminants and to better understand and correlate the rumen microbial community signature to an efficiency phenotype. These biomarkers could be used as an early evaluation tool in young animals and in commercial settings for selection and assessment of nutritional management problems.

Mots clés : sustainability, ruminant, feed efficiency, biomarker, production traits, methane, rumen microbiota, metabolites

Participants :
- Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 173076.0 €
Projet MERCURYREFINEMENT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As the inner-most object of our solar system, planet Mercury is of unique relevance for e.g., solar system dynamics, planetary formation theory, and terrestrial magnetic field generation. So far, two single (NASA) space missions to Mercury have been performed. In 2018, ESA and JAXA will launch the dual-satellite BepiColombo to study Mercury from orbit with the largest and most advanced payload to date. BepiColombo’s formal objectives have been formulated prior to NASA’s latest space mission to Mercury (MESSENGER). It is now time to use MESSENGER's data return to refine our view on Mercury as support for BepiColombo’s measurement phase, starting December 2025. In this fellowship, MESSENGER data will be used to re-investigate Mercury’s interior structure, magnetic field and surface age. At the Royal Observatory of Belgium, advanced core-composition specific models on the planet’s interior will be developed. These will incorporate new experimental data on relevant metallic core-alloys which will be obtained at the High-Pressure laboratory of the VU University in Amsterdam and at synchrotron facilities. The potential of future geophysical measurements to constrain Mercury’s core composition will be the emphasize of these models. Dynamo simulations will be performed at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research to study Mercury’s magnetic field generation for a suite of dynamo constraints. These will improve constraints on the core’s dynamic state, which relates to the planet’s structure and core composition. Also, a new crater-counting-based surface dating method will be developed and calibrated by new models for the inner solar system’s dynamics. Applied to Mercury, this method will refine its surface age and its geological evolution and informs on the evolution and state of its mantle. Results of the above topics will be discussed in light of the measurement potential of BepiColombo and other future space missions and in light of the planet’s formation.

Mots clés : planet mercury

Participants :
- Royal Observatory of Belgium (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 178320.0 €