Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet Realist (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

This research programme aims to make contribution to comparative political and legal theory by studying the recent constitutional transformation in the Middle East in at least three grounds. First, in arguing that a constitution always comes into being as a result of a historical process and a decision (will), such historical-sociological context and power relations behind the creation of constitutions can be grappled with best by a realist political and legal theory. A realist approach sees constitutions as the ultimate battleground for the groups competing for power to constitute the foundational norms and values of society. Second, if a constitution is created by a decision, there is always an agency behind that decision that executes its will power. In democratic theory such agency is being defined as the people, but the people cannot manifest its will without a representative (e.g. a class, constituent assemblies, or conventions). To this end, a realist approach carefully examines the agency of Islamic political parties so as to understand the peculiarity of the constitution-making in the Middle-East. Peculiarity here is that the recent revolutions brought Islamic parties to government, but this has only helped destabilizing the new, or present, constitutions and weakening the hope for accommodation of Islamist groups in a liberal democratic and secular constitution. Third, a comparative realist approach examines both the Western and Islamic sources of legitimacy so as to have a nuanced understanding of the contemporary crises of legitimacy which now dominates the entire region. Such comparative study is necessary because the Western (secular) concepts and institutions such as constitution, freedom of association, competitive elections, parliamentarianism and liberal rights have already moved from the Western context to other regions, setting the agenda of political discourse.

Mots clés : comparative constitutional studies, constitutional theory, realist political theory, contemporary turkey, contemporary middle east, political islam

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212194.8 €
Projet ICCE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

This research project aims to address the intercultural interactions between the Islamic Middle East and China from the 13th to 16th centuries CE. The period from the 13th to 16th centuries CE witnessed a second wave of Chinese influence on Islamic material culture. The continuous active engagement of Muslims in the exploration of and exchange with foreign lands, such as with China through Mongol khanates in Eurasia, enabled some Chinese artworks and artistic elements to be known and appreciated by courts, noble patrons and general people in the Islamic Middle East. Islamic artists started to incorporate these Chinese artistic elements into their artworks, though sometimes in markedly revised form. New techniques and decorative motifs were invented based on inspirations from these Chinese elements to suit the aesthetic interests and tastes of local Islamic patrons and to fit the principles of Islam. This project aims to tackle the following questions: through whom and under what historical and social context were Chinese artworks exchanged to the Islamic Middle East? Who were the patrons for these Chinese artworks and Islamic artworks with Chinese artistic elements? Where were they consumed, in a court or another context? Was there a gender difference in the exchange, patronage and consumption? How were these Chinese elements incorporated and adapted in local Islamic art? How were these Chinese elements perceived at that time in the Islamic Middle East; were their original symbolic meanings retained in the local context? This project will devise interdisciplinary research of material cultures with a synthesis of methodologies and approaches of art history and archaeology. It will set up two datasets of Chinese artworks found in the Islamic Middle East and Islamic artworks with Chinese influence, 13th - 16th centuries CE, with a priority of those found from archaeological excavations and those with a detailed context.

Mots clés : islamic, china, middle east, cultural exchange, intercultural interaction, silk road, eurasia

Participants :
- Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 147815.04 €
Projet CANT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

This research project aims to recover and defend analytical and normative uses of cynicism for political analysis. Beginning with a conceptual reconstruction of cynicism (understood as a radical mode of disaffection, evincing a unique normative perspective, and tied to a definable set of political tactics and rhetorical techniques), I will develop an interpretive framework for engaging with contemporary manifestations of cynical distrust and estrangement. In the view of many theorists and pundits, cynicism remains one the gravest ills to befall any democratic society: injecting a virulent estrangement which leaves its sufferers unable to trust elected representatives and unwilling to participate in collective action. The central critical claim of my project is that this alarmist view serves only to widen the gap between the professed ideals of democratic institutions and the lived experiences of democratic publics. By conducting a more attentive and sympathetic reading of cynical disaffection, I aim to demonstrate the constructive potential of its critical ethos—which otherwise tends to be pathologised as a self-defeating, anti-democratic, and illegitimate basis for political action and protest. My project will proceed along two tracks of inquiry: (1) a normative/conceptual reconstruction of cynicism, to elucidate the differences between constructive and self-defeating forms of political disaffection (2) qualitative analyses of case studies, to facilitate the development of an empirically-based framework for assessing the relative effectiveness of cynical ‘tactics’ versus other modes of political action and protest. In a non-ideal world, replete with institutional failures and democratic deficiencies, distrust and disenchantment are not necessarily counterproductive. Cynicism’s constructive potential expresses a non-defeatist strategy for coping with the uncertainties, betrayals, and false promises that are constant features of our social and political existence.

Mots clés : cynicism and political disaffection

Participants :
- National University of Ireland (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 251555.4 €
- McMaster University (Canada) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet PolymersForSolarFuel (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

With a steadily increasing demand of the global energy consumption and reliance of geopolitically sensitive sources of energy, such as petroleum and coal, there has never been such an urgency to explore alternative clean, renewable energy supplies. Aside from the obvious limitations in availability, those raw materials and their combustion products are considered polluting and low-efficient. Attempts have been made to address these concerns by introduction of solar panels, wind and hydro-electric power. While those solutions intermittently reach high efficiencies and can be used complimentary to each other, one challenge remains unmet—the supply of storable energy. The project PolymersForSolarFuel will address globally relevant challenges in the field of renewable energy generation and storage. It will combine established concepts from the fields of photovoltaics, photocatalysis, and polymer synthesis and enable the development of novel sustainable materials for solar-driven evolution of hydrogen from water. The “PolymersForSolarFuel” project aims to: a) investigate organic materials and contribute to an overall database of photoactive compounds, b) select most promising candidates through property-related screening, c) cross-examine physical (two-component) and chemical (one-component) combinations of such materials and identify most promising final candidate(s) and d) develop scale-up protocols and assemble a prototype of a feasible size. This proposal will detail the work action and outline the beneficial synergy between the host’s experience in the field of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and the applicant’s experience in synthetic chemistry and in-depth analysis of organic compounds and their structure-to-function relationships. It will further identify contributions towards the personal and professional development of the applicant and show the overall share in advancement of science and education of the public in Europe within a cutting-edge research field.


Participants :
- University of Liverpool (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet SURFCAT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

With an expanding population and finite fossil fuel resources, society faces several major challenges regarding energy and the environment. SURFCAT seeks to address these issues by making advances in the electrochemical carbon-dioxide reduction-reaction (CO2RR), which converts carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels using renewable electrical energy. Whilst copper is the only metal able to produce hydrocarbons in the CO2RR, modifications to pure, bulk copper are required in order to bypass its intrinsic limitations. Copper nanocrystals (CuNCs) offer enhanced activity and selectivity for single products in the CO2RR, yet there is a need to improve these materials further. SURFCAT strives to take advantage of surface modification in order to deliver these improvements. SURFCAT will go beyond the state-of-the-art by modifying the surfaces of CuNCs with functional organic ligands. The objectives of the research will be to: 1) synthesise new organic molecules, judiciously designed to influence favourable interactions between the CuNCs and carbon dioxide; 2) synthesise hybrid CuNCs, consisting of a metallic, nanocrystalline core and a functional ligand shell; 3) study and optimise the electrocatalytic performance of these novel materials; and 4) use spectroscopy and computational modelling to understand their mode of action and offer insight into the role of functional ligands on catalyst surfaces. These objectives will be achieved by combining the applicant’s expertise in steering catalysis through ligand design with the host laboratory’s expertise in nanocrystal synthesis and electrocatalysis. SURFCAT is perfectly aligned with the MSCA Work Programme, combining unique skills and knowledge from both the applicant and the host laboratory. Through training during his time at EPFL, the applicant will develop professional, language and teaching skills on top of his research efforts, in order to become a mobile and World-leading researcher.

Mots clés : electrocatalysis, carbon dioxide chemistry

Participants :
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191149.44 €
Projet Microbial-light (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

With an increasing world population growth, prediction of climate change on the sustainability and resilience of farming ecosystems is key. Since the nitrogen cycle's role within the farming ecosystem is of utmost importance, and an environmental disturbance leads to farming production loss, understanding the cycle's resilience is crucial. The main actors within this cycle are microorganisms, yet these are ignored when predicting ecological effects to climate change (black box models). Microorganisms do not exist as isolated entities, but are mixed in high numbers, maintaining a diverse number of social interactions created through adaptation and evolution. Microbial-Light will illuminate black box models via the acquisition of a multi-parametric database. Physicochemical disturbances will be applied to a large combinatorial number of mixed microbial populations of well studied nitrifiers. Microbial growth monitoring at microtiter scale will include strain tracking (FISH-flow cytometry), while function (i.e. nitrification) will be determined at a larger scale. The ample data collected will enable elucidation of functional landscapes for each synthetic community under combining environmental stresses. Additionally, the role of microbial interactions (BSocial tool) across disturbance gradients will be sought. Microbial-Light, will engage in modelling individual growth from synthetic mixed population growth, thereby validating the models with previous experimental evidence. Moreover, the optimal social nitrifying community will be coated on tomato seeds, and plant growth efficiency will be compared with uncoated seeds. Parallel to the acquisition multi-parametric database, evaluation of the nitrification potential of poor and rich soils will be tested coupled with microbial diversity (Illumina sequencing). The analysis of synthetic and natural communities, will allow for a more comprehensive ecological model on nitrification.

Mots clés : nitrification, social biofilms, bsocial, microbial modelling

Participants :
- University of Granada (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 172932.48 €
Projet DevelopMed (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Cofund Postdoctoral programme
Statut du projet : SIGNED

With cancer expected to soon become the leading cause of mortality within the European Union, there is an urgent need for a new generation of scientists and clinicians with interdisciplinary training and intersectoral experience to drive future scientific development and make an impact on the lives and health of EU citizens. While recent advances in genomics, artificial intelligence and computational modelling have provided a new arsenal of powerful weapons in the fight against cancer, there is an acute shortage of skilled scientists and clinicians capable of deploying them, as the scientific progress driving these innovations is compartmentalised into traditional academic disciplines. “Developing the Next Generation of Research Leaders in Precision Oncology” (DevelopMed) is an innovative fellowship programme that provides interdisciplinary training and intersectoral mobility within a learning environment that supports career development, scientific innovation and practical application equally. The programme will fund 12 three-year incoming fellowships to Ireland in the area of precision oncology, with fellows recruited during 2 calls for proposals over the 60-month duration of the project. The aim of DevelopMed is to develop the next generation of skilled researchers who will gain hands-on experience developing cross-disciplinary and entrepreneurial skills through individual research projects with a mandatory 3 month secondment at an accredited research organisation (academic, industrial, philanthropic) or a clinical research centre during their fellowship. DevelopMed thus will generate a diverse, mobile, skilled workforce and will contribute to European research and innovation. DevelopMed will also contribute to sustainable economic growth through supporting evidence-based research to drive innovation and new product development. DevelopMed will provide the international mobility, intersectoral exposure and interdisciplinary research opportunities that are essential to develop the scientific leaders of tomorrow.

Mots clés : precision oncology, personalised medicine, diagnostics, targeted therapies, drug discovery, drug development, data integration, computational modelling, clinical studies

Participants :
- National University of Ireland (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 1324080.0 €
Projet BIHC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

With current consumer-grade personal computers, it is possible to display 3d virtual scenes with thousands of animated individual entities at interactive frame rates. Crowd simulations are, however, too often limited to characters lacking individuality and wandering in an environment without a specific goal. This situation is particularly problematic in the field of cultural heritage in real-time simulations of the past where the realism of individual behavior is critical. This proposal, through a collaboration across the computer science and the archaeology fields, seeks to address this problem. It aims at exploring bio-mimicking techniques in the development of a generative model for heterogeneity and spontaneity in behavioral animation of crowds. More specifically, the goals can be defined as (i) the development of a bio-inspired model of agency for virtual humans (which upgrades a previous prototype, part of my earlier research), (ii) the development of an authoring tool to interact with the parameters of that model and develop context-specific behaviors/animations, and finally (iii) the development of a proof-of-concept - the simulation of a historical environment, with the assistance of non-programmers using the authoring tool developed earlier.

Mots clés : computer animation, crowd simulation

Participants :
- University of Lisbon (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 220882.5 €
- University of Geneva (Suisse) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet HOPELEC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

With feature sizes of integrated circuits rapidly approaching molecular length scales, historical motivations to pursue the use of individual molecules in electronic circuits can no longer be justified based on their size alone. Instead, the focus has shifted towards the identification and exploitation of unusual transport phenomena unique to molecular materials (dominated by quantum mechanics) which can complement or supplant current silicon-based technologies. With the large majority of previous studies centered around the study of organic, redox-inactive molecules - typically transporting charge via single-step tunnelling processes - investigations of analogous systems that explicitly involve multi-step tunnelling, or ‘hopping’, behaviour are comparatively rare. In this project I propose to systematically study hopping processes in molecular-scale electronics (HOPELEC), with two primary objectives: (i) to construct the first single-molecule current oscillator; and (ii) probe under-explored current rectification mechanisms for single-molecule diodes. This highly interdisciplinary research area will involve the synthesis of new multi-site redox-active metal complexes capable of binding between nanoscale electrodes. Transport through these systems will be studied both at the single-molecule level using the scanning tunnelling microscope-based break junction technique, and in large area measurements using the eutectic Ga−In method. This work will expose new molecular-scale device mechanisms at the intersection of Marcus and Landauer theories, and contribute to our understanding of related processes in biology and materials science. Project results will be actively promoted through Outreach workshops on electronics/computation (translated also to YouTube). The extensive training, enhanced international profile, networks, and new experiences provided by this Fellowship will function as a 'springboard' in propelling me from Ph.D. student to independent research scholar.


Participants :
- University of South Carolina System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Groningen (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 170419.2 €
Projet DEPRET (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

With populism, ethnonationalism, and right-wing radicalism on the rise around the globe, the analysis of the Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution in Montenegro (1988–1990) provides unique empirical material to understand how and why an inclusive and tolerant society (demos) can be rapidly transformed into one based on a more exclusive and intolerant ethnic identity (ethnos). DEPRET’s objective is to understand under what conditions civil society turns “uncivil”. It proposes to do so by taking an interdisciplinary approach to investigating two interrelated processes: popular revolt and elite transformation. More specifically, the project aims to: (1) improve understandings of elite transformation through a critical interpretation of elite public discourses, with a particular focus on how they articulated, framed, and legitimized themselves and “the people” to bring about what they saw as “necessary changes to the system”; (2) identify, map, and analyze repertoires of contention and tactics of resistance used by protesting citizens in advancing or resisting right-wing populism, with a particular focus on key grievances, frames, and justifications used to reconstitute themselves from a socialist demos into a nationalist ethnos or to oppose this process; and (3) contribute to theory development by investigating the relationship between grassroots and elite expressions of right-wing populism as a two-way process of elite–mass interaction during turbulent times. To achieve these objectives, DEPRET uses a mixed-method research framework that combines two methods of textual analysis: the qualitative approach of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and the quantitative approach of Protest Event Analysis (PEA) to analyze publicly available textual corpora in Montenegrin libraries and archives. The proposed research conducted within the MSCA-IF framework will significantly contribute to my academic growth from an early-career researcher to an established interdisciplinary scholar.

Mots clés : anti bureaucratic revolution, social movements, contentious politics, civil society, montenegro, postsocialist transformation, southeast europe, populism, ethnonationalism

Participants :
- University of Gothenburg (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191852.16 €