Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet MBMsforDOC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Studying the brain mechanisms behind consciousness is a major challenge for neuroscience and medicine. Yet so far, there is no such thing as a unique biomarker that can precisely define the state of consciousness of a disorders of consciousness (DOC) patient. All the biomarkers proposed so far are theory-based but empirically defined (EBM; empirical biomarkers): the thresholds that separate categories are set in a data-driven way. In this project, we propose a novel approach using model-based biomarkers (MBM). This new family of biomarkers (MBMs) will not only complement the EBMs but mainly will naturally address the knowledge gaps associated with the understanding of the underlying causal mechanisms behind the different states of consciousness. The modelling of the structural and functional connectivity will be combined with novel, systematic perturbational approaches that can provide new insights into the human brain’s ability to integrate and segregate information over time. In particular, with this approach we will address the hypothesis that MBMs provide functional fingerprinting of conscious states and insights into the underlying necessary and sufficient brain networks as well as their neural mechanisms. To address the development of these biomarkers, we propose a highly interdisciplinary project that combines basic and clinical neuroscience with whole-brain computational modelling proposing a synergy between two groups with large expertise in each area to address a common question We will develop computational whole-brain models based on single-patient neuroimaging data. We will extract MBM from the adjusted model parameters and from in-silico simulations. We will test the utility of these biomarkers for the diagnosis of patients with chronic DOC. Then, we will contrast the MBM with a set of previously developed EBM. Finally, we will analyze the diagnostic and prognostic capacity of these biomarkers in DOC patients in both chronic and acute stages.

Mots clés : disorders of consciousness, consciousness, biomarkers, computational modelling, fmri, vegetative state, minimally conscious state

Participants :
- Institut du cerveau (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 196707.84 €
Projet AstroLakes (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Subglacial volcanic lakes in Iceland constitute one of the most pristine ecosystem on Earth and are analogues for similar habitats for life on exoplanets and moons such as Mars and Europa. AstroLakes aims at discovering novel bacterial and archaeal lineages in such lakes by combining metagenomic, culture and single-cell approaches. The outcome of the project will be a holistic multidisciplinary description of the functional structure of this particular ecosystem. This will lead to a better understanding of exoplanets’ analogue environments and unravel novel enzymes displaying medical or biotechnological interest for academia and industry in Europe. Subglacial volcanic lakes have long remained unexplored. Advances in drilling technology through thick ice shelves in the beginning of the 21st century enabled sampling of such lakes and led to the discovery of unique communities of microorganisms adapted to extreme conditions. AstroLakes will sequence and analyse metagenomes from one such subglacial lake, Skaftárkatlar, sampled in 2007, 2014 and 2015. The results will support the development of an ecosystem model by estimating the functional contribution of the communities at different depths and locations in the lake. New isolates and genomes will be obtained through two complementary approaches, cultivation and single-cell sequencing. The cultivation approach will be achieved by designing culture and isolation media adapted to extremophiles with the information acquired from metagenomes. The single-cell approach involves the development of cytometry cell sorting and single-cell sequencing. This will expand the sequencing expertise at the host organisation, Matís. Additionally, the project will impact the career development of the experienced researcher who will gain a wide range of scientific and transferable skills that are relevant to establish a long-term independent leading career in the field of science.

Mots clés : sugblacial lakes, astrobiology, metagenomics, biodiversity, extremophiles

Participants :
- Matís (Iceland) (Islande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 179325.6 €
Projet DUNAMICS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Submarine dunes pose a significant risk for offshore activities in coastal areas, especially for the growing development of European renewable marine energy. Their evolution is still poorly understood due to their complex non-linear behavior. DUNAMICS propose to fill this knowledge gap by putting forward an innovative methodology combining several fields of investigation. DUNAMICS pursues three correlated research objectives: understand the physical process that leads to subaqueous dunes equilibrium and control their geometry, study in situ deep water dunes in coastal waters of New Zealand, and develop an operational tool for prediction of submarine dune dynamics. To achieve these goals, an innovative methodology has been thought of, leaning on state-of-the-art numerical models, innovative instrumentation methods, and cutting-edge laboratory flume experiments. DUNAMICS is a collaborative research project supported by a highly skilled and complementary international team. My experience in bedform morphodynamics, added to Giovanni Coco’s outstanding knowledge in sediment patterns and numerical modelling, Heide Friedrich’s great experience in conducting flume experimentations, and Rolf Deigaard world reckoned expertise in sediment transport problems, give DUNAMICS strong basis to achieve its goals. Moreover, our complementarity will lead to a continuous knowledge sharing process between us that will also be highly profitable for the beneficiary institution. The world class brand new infrastructures of the University of Auckland (UoA) -outgoing phase- and of the Danish hydraulic institute (DHI) -returning phase- insure an exciting collaborative and scientific environment. There, I will be encouraged to deliver outstanding research, improve my scientific and teaching skills, and reach a level of scientific excellence allowing me to pursue my academic career.

Mots clés : renewable energy offshore windmill bedform sediment sand dune dredging channel navigation

Participants :
- Danish Hydraulic Institute (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Autres, subvention : 269273.28 €
- University of Auckland (Nouvelle-Zélande) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet KARST (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is the flow of fresh or recirculated groundwater into the ocean. This process introduces substantial amounts of nutrients to coastal areas, which significantly influences ecological systems. In karstic settings SGD dominantly occurs from submarine springs that manifest as point source discharge sites. Their identification generally relies on sea-surface changes (e.g. visual sea-surface anomalies or changes in sea-surface temperature) and is therefore confined to shallow areas with high discharge rates. As a result the distribution of offshore freshwater springs in karstic environments, which is crucial for determining the architecture and dissemination of offshore groundwater systems, is usually poorly constrained. Similarly, the negative effects of groundwater springs on seagrass diversity and biomass have been investigated at individual springs but have not been characterised over larger areas. This proposal focuses on the identification, characterisation and distribution of submarine springs and their influence on local ecosystems in karstic environments. KARST will make use of state of the art geophysical and remote sensing techniques for optimal imaging at various depths. In the shallow coastal areas (<~5 m), unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with multispectral and thermal infrared cameras will be used to simultaneously image and correlate biological habitats and sea-surface anomalies related to submarine springs. In deeper areas, a newly developed geoelectric system from the University of Kiel in combination with multibeam water column imaging techniques will provide insight into the physical behaviour of the water column as well as salinity and seagrass distribution around springs. All techniques will be guided by biological sampling and flow rate measurements, which will not only help to determine the ecological effects of SGD but will also provide valuable knowledge on the architecture of karstic groundwater systems.

Mots clés : submarine groundwater discharge, geoelectric, hydroacoustic, remote sensing, seagrass, submarine spring, karst, hydrogeology, groundwater

Participants :
- University of Malta (Malte) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 148049.28 €
Projet MicroMix (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Subsurface bacteria represent a fundamental, yet poorly known, component of the Earth’s biosphere. These communities are key in biogeochemical cycles and in a range of problems in Environmental and Geosciences, ranging from water resources management and bioremediation, to CO2 sequestration and geothermal energy. Until recently, the opacity of 3D porous media-the natural habitat of subsurface bacteria-had prevented in situ and in vivo imaging of bacterial dynamics in such environments. Recent experimental and theoretical breakthroughs at the host institution have led to the discovery that flows in natural porous media are chaotic in nature. Since chaotic mixing is known to yield and sustain strong chemical gradients at micro-scale, this discovery challenges the assumption of homogeneous nutrient distributions, broadly-used in current models of subsurface microbial processes. The goal of MicroMix is thus to explore the effect of chaotic mixing on bacterial growth and colonization in 3D porous media under positive stimuli (WP1: mixing-limited nutrient resources) and negative stimuli (WP2: antibiotic source, nutrient rerouting by bioclogging). To do so, we will develop a novel bioreactor system, primarily based upon coupling high-resolution Laser Induced Fluorescence and optical index matching, which will allow us to obtain the first joint imaging of chemical landscapes and bacterial colonies in 3D porous media. The project builds upon the combined expertise of the ER in the field of biomicrofluidics, of the supervisor in mixing dynamics, and of the secondment supervisor on biofilm dynamics in porous media. Through a detailed career development plan, a tailored training program and access to key experimental facilities and scientific networks, MicroMix will ensure an efficient re-integration of the ER and place him at the forefront of research on environmental fluid dynamics.

Mots clés : porous media, bacteria, chaotic mixing, biofilm, solute transport, microfluidics

Participants :
- Université de Rennes (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 196707.84 €
Projet GeoElectricMixing (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Subsurface reactive processes play a key role in dictating the evolution of subsurface environments, their interaction with surface water bodies and the migration and remediation of transported contaminants. In particular reactive hot spots tend to concentrate in mixing fronts between fluids of different compositions, such as recently infiltrated/injected fluids and resident groundwater, which develop in a range of situations, including CO2 sequestration operations and geothermal systems, contaminant remediation operations, and reactive hyporheic zones beneath rivers. Our understanding of the development and temporal dynamics of these hotspots is currently hampered by the limited sampling offered by boreholes. Recent breakthroughs in geoelectrics may however profoundly change our vision of these phenomena by providing non-invasive techniques with high sensitivity to many geological processes. GeoElectricMixing will hence develop a novel approach to investigate the temporal dynamics of reactive mixing processes from Complex Impedance and Self Potential signals. The coupling of reactive mixing and geoelectrics will be quantified and upscaled by integrating charge transport and polarization phenomena in a new modeling framework, recently developed by the host to predict the spatial distribution of chemical species and reaction rates across mixing fronts (WP1). Dedicated experiments will then be designed by integrating electrodes in a novel millifluidic setup to monitor jointly the temporal evolution of geoelectrical parameters and the spatial distribution of concentrations and reactions rate in a reactive mixing front progressing through the cell (WP2). GeoElectricMixing is thus expected to open a new window on subsurface reactive mixing phenomena, expanding our capacities to detect and quantify these processes in situ, and thus providing critical data to unlock current open questions on the dynamics of mixing processes and their role in reaction enhancement.

Mots clés : reactive transport, mixing, hydro geophysics, complex conductivity, self potential, porous media

Participants :
- Université de Rennes (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 173076.0 €
Projet ALIGNING MINDS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Successful teamwork is crucial to solve many of today’s key problems, but to effectively perform the tasks, team members have to build a shared mental model (i.e., a shared understanding about who does what, when, and with whom) successfully and in a timely manner. I aim to tackle the (implicit) view in the literature that one level of convergence is appropriate for all teams, by analysing the shared mental model changing patterns (i.e., trajectories) of different teams via interdependence theory. This project aims to uncover the range of possible shared mental model trajectories, and understand whether and why different trajectories occur in different types of teams and what the implications for team performance are. I will conduct two longitudinal empirical studies. Study A will analyse the individual team members’ perception of shared mental models. I will use Academic Prolific to target 400 respondents. This study allows me to determine the best timing and interval length to capture shared mental models. Study B will build upon the insights I will gain from Study A to understand which trajectories fit with each type of team and what the implications for performance are. For Study B, I will collect data in 80 teams (team members and leaders) from different industries and sectors. As teamwork is essential to create a competitive European Union, my project will contribute to the development of the European Union labour market for the 21st century. I will accomplish this project by combining my expertise with the expertise in time research and interdependence theory at Maastricht University. Overall, this project and the foreseen two top publications will increase my research-related (e.g., methodological) and transferable (e.g., valorisation of knowledge) skills, which will bring me a significant leap in my career and increase my employability and career prospects in academia.

Mots clés : shared mental models, longitudinal research, interdependence theory, task interdependence, outcome interdependence, team cognition, team dynamics, organisational psychology, organisational behaviour

Participants :
- Maastricht University (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187572.48 €
Projet SYMBIOTIC BODY (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Successfully fighting eating disorders (EDs), whose prevalence is rising and expected to be one of the highest-ranking causes of mental illness in the Western world by 2020 with ever-increasing costs of institutional healthcare in and beyond Europe, interdisciplinary efforts to elucidate their underlying, enigmatic, mechanism of body image disturbance, BID (the experience of one’s body as fatter/larger than it actually is) and improving the effectiveness of existing evidence-based interventions are now imperative, also according to the European Council of EDs and the National Institute of Mental Health (USA). Substantial advances in this area crucially depend on improved understanding of disease mechanisms while extant treatment strategies are hindered by the lack of specified conceptual models underlying the mechanism driving the extremes of BID in EDs, causing huge costs to individuals and society at large. However, as reported in the top-tier journals, the applicant and co-workers’ “allocentric lock” model of EDs provides a rich conceptual framework for elucidating the source of BID and factors causing ED patients to be “locked” in a “virtual body” (e.g. my body is fat) that they detest and differs from the real one. This interdisciplinary project (with integrated training), going beyond the state-of-the-art not only aims at a) providing further evidence for the existence of allocentric lock in EDs and b) assessing its neural bases, but also c) setting and tuning a virtual reality-based embodiment device able to unblock the “virtual body” by exploiting the symbiotic relationship between an avatar and its user, and testing it in integrated first-line ED treatment approaches (randomized controlled clinical trial). The Symbiotic Body project work, also having the potential to open a path to a new vision of e-health (strategic H-2020 area) -e-mbodied health, will be disseminated and notified to the international scientific/clinical community and the general public.


Participants :
- University of Barcelona (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 158121.6 €
Projet SufiVisual (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Sufism, the mystical path within Islam, is spreading extensively throughout European society. However, despite its growing significance, we know little about the religious visual culture of ‘mystical Islam’ or Sufism, and no comprehensive study for the visual culture of Sufi orders in Europe exists, constituting a major gap in our knowledge. The proposed two-year research project SufiVisual will fill this gap. Combining anthropology, ethnography, religious studies, gender studies, and art history, the study will apply an innovative interdisciplinary approach to generate unprecedented insights into the visual culture of three key Sufi-based organizations. In combination these create a balanced case study in two research fields, France and Germany, which can be seen as paradigmatic for the European situation and beyond, narrowing the scope of the project so that it is feasible within the timeframe proposed while establishing a foundation for future projects to expand and build upon. The project will break new ground by being the first comprehensive interdisciplinary study on Sufi visual culture in a transnational context. It will produce pioneering work on gender-specific Sufi visual culture and contribute important scientific data on Sufi visualizations of belief and piety. The research findings will identify the ways in which visual culture actively constructs and shapes religious concepts and impacts our understanding of Islam, secularism, and European identity. A central working hypothesis of this project is that visual culture and religious practice is a counter movement to religious fundamentalism and a driving force for religious pluralism.

Mots clés : sufismus, islam, visual culture, figural imagery, vision, image, iconoclasm, religious practice, mysticism, european identity, religious pluralism, fundamentalism, france, germany, piety, ritual

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 173076.0 €
Projet AMIABLE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Summary Most animals crucially depend on bacterial symbionts for digesting food and for optimal health, and such associations are particularly relevant for farming societies that produce their own food. Next to humans, the fungus-growing ants have realized the largest and most complex animal societies on Earth and also these societies depend on the services of multiple bacterial symbionts. The experienced researcher is a cell biologist with state-of-the-art training in electron microscopy who teamed up with the Copenhagen Centre for Social Evolution (CSE) to realize a uniquely interdisciplinary research program of microbial symbiosis. She focuses on three abundant gut bacteria of fungus-growing ants that were recently discovered by the host group, and which appear to function as nutritional and disease resistance mutualists in this complex symbiosis that has become one of the best-studied model systems of social evolution. The objectives of this project are: 1. To reconstruct the acquisition process of symbiotic bacteria during development of individual leaf-cutting ants; 2. To resolve structural adaptations of the bacteria for intracellular versus extracellular lifestyles. Neither of these objectives have been addressed before and both have high potential to change the way in which biologists think about bacterial symbioses. The project includes training-through-research of the researcher in molecular biology, bioinformatics and evolutionary theory, and considerable knowledge transfer in advanced microscopy from the researcher to the CSE host group. The project has been initiated with CSE funding, proven to be very synergistic and highly feasible, and the researcher has already built a collaborative network in Copenhagen. The present application seeks to realize the project’s full implementation, allowing the European Research Area to harvest the full benefits of the pioneering work already initiated.

Mots clés : evolutionary biology, transmission electron microscopy, social insects, acromyrmex echinatior, bacterial symbionts

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 200194.8 €