Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet BIORESCue (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

BIORESCue delves into the role of bacterial quorum sensing, a cell-to-cell communication in wastewater biofilms. The hypothesis posits that quorum sensing holds a key role to understanding biofilm formation, and that introducing exogenous quorum sensing signaling molecules in high-rate activated sludge biofilms has the potential to enhance biopolymer production and bioflocculation. As the global water community increasingly recognizes the untapped potential of wastewater as a resource for green energy and biopolymer, this project aims to address a significant knowledge gap in the field. I will develop advanced bioanalytical techniques combining bioassays with chemical screening to explore uncharted diversity, concentration, and activity of signaling molecules in wastewater biofilms. I will explore the dose-effect relationship of signaling molecules in high-rate activated sludge, to offer practical strategies for optimizing resource recovery. By combining this unique dataset with a detailed analysis of bioflocculation and biopolymer composition, I seek to uncover valuable insights on the role and effects of quorum sensing in biofilms. Implemented at the Aarhus University and the host research group, this project will allow me to enhance scientific, communication and project management skills, through a well-designed training program (courses, workshops, regular meeting with supervisors), as well as measures for knowledge exchange and dissemination. Aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in the interests of clean water, affordable energy, and sustainable industries, this project has the potential to revolutionize wastewater treatment, transforming treatment plants into net energy producers and fostering sustainable resource recovery, thus addressing pressing global challenges while advancing scientific understanding and innovation in wastewater treatment.

Mots clés : environmental biotechnology quorum sensing resource recovery wastewater treatment technology energy recovery biopolymers

Participants :
- Université d'Aarhus (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 214934.4 €
Projet Divir (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Viral infection remains a major health burden globally, particularly considering the recent emerging viruses. The reason why individuals differ in susceptibility to viral infection is an essential, still unresolved question, in infection immunology research. The answer has strong impact on understanding of fundamental immunological principles as well as clinical medicine. In this project, we aim to identify novel inborn errors of immunity conferring increased susceptibility to recurrent lymphocytic Mollaret’s meningitis caused by herpes simplex virus 2. By using advanced methodological approaches, including whole exome sequencing, genome editing and disease-mimicking model systems, we will search for key mechanisms of importance for antiviral defense. This project will provide new insights that can be translated into early genetic diagnosis, prophylaxis and gene therapy, and may pave the way for development of new antiviral therapies.

Mots clés : recurrent lymphocytic mollaret s meningitis, herpes simplex virus 2, inborn errors of immunity

Participants :
- Université d'Aarhus (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 230774.4 €
Projet ProPriM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Protecting user’s online behaviour is a challenging privacy problem. In this project, we will develop communication protocols for metadata privacy. Metadata is implicit information, such as when and how many messages are sent, and can therefore not be protected using standard encryption. Unlike encryption, metadata privacy is not currently available in instant messaging services, due to the impracticality of current protocols. To protect users, developing new, practical protocols for metadata privacy is therefore essential. Moreover, metadata privacy is a EU priority, which will be regulated by the ePrivacy Regulation that is currently being drafted. Consequently protocols that guarantee metadata privacy for instant messaging needs to be designed to meet EU's needs.  We propose a holistic project to address metadata privacy, ranging from conceptual design to implementations of protocols in software. By combining Nelson’s background in privacy, and Askarov’s expertise in formal methods, we expect to be able to tackle metadata privacy from a new perspective. Specifically, we will design protocols that are provably private. That is, we will guarantee that our protocols are free from unintentional leakages. In addition, our protocols will be designed to be feasible to use on battery constrained devices such as phones.

Mots clés : anonymous communication, deniability, metadata privacy, online privacy, privacy enhancing technologies

Participants :
- Université d'Aarhus (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 214934.4 €
Projet ACTiME (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

ACTiME investigates collective memory and cultural trauma in late medieval European literature. For my stay in Aarhus I will focus on two Scandinavian case studies, each representing different eras and sources. The first case study focuses on the 13th century inner-Icelandic conflict termed the Sturlungaöld (Age of the Sturlungs), which saw unprecedented battles and casualties and contributed to Iceland’s subjugation by the Norwegian crown in 1262/4. This unrest will be viewed through Sturla Þórðarson’s Íslendinga saga, a prose text written in the vernacular at the late 13th century and chronicling the century’s struggle between warring Icelandic factions. Sturla Þórðarson’s text will be read as a manifestation of autobiographical memory, since he himself plays a key role in the saga. The second case study investigates the trauma caused by the 1402-1404 plague epidemic in Iceland; while Iceland evaded the mid-14th century pandemic that plagued Europe and other parts of Asia and Africa, a major outbreak of the plague occurred in the early 15th century. Since there is very little prose evidence for this era in Icelandic history, it allows for an exciting challenge; approaching the trauma of the epidemic through the diplomatic material, which chronicles the period in a manner more concise than the sagas about the 13th century. ACTiME applies observations from collective memory and cultural trauma, two fields of study that often intersect. Disability studies’ perspective on the body and health will be applied in these studies, examining how the mental and physical injuries sustained in these turbulent times were represented. Written in the periphery of continental Europe, Old Norse texts reflect a vernacular tradition that is at once singular, while exhibiting clear influences from other genres of literature. They make for a case study that allows for detailed localized research that in turn sheds light on broader intellectual and cultural impulses within Europe


Participants :
- Université d'Aarhus (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 230774.4 €
Projet DECIZA (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Stress corrosion and macroscopic growth of cladding materials used in nuclear reactors are topics of technological interest, as the reduction in CO2 and use of green energy is one of the core objectives of the European Union. Under irradiation, material deterioration is influenced by point defects produced in large quantity and grain boundaries (GBs). In this context, investigating their interactions is of fundamental importance, which implies identifying the nature of the GBs. Therefore, in this project, the main objective will be to generate, classify and characterize GBs in zirconium alloys used as cladding tubes by resorting to relevant modelling tools at the atomic scale (molecular statics and dynamics), since this type of information is lacking for zirconium alloys and is difficult to obtain experimentally. A second goal of the project will be the specific study of the Nb alloying effect due to the technological interest of this element, through (i) the determination of its segregation energy and tendency in the vicinity of the GBs, and (ii) the influence of its GB segregation on the deformation mechanisms of zirconium alloys. Due to the expected large amount of numerical data generated mainly due to the multiplicity of the GBs investigated, a statistical analysis will be performed to assess the relevance of the descriptors used to characterize the GBs and to establish correlations with the GB properties.

Mots clés : modelling, atomic scale simulations, zirconium alloys, irradiation, grain boundaries

Participants :
- Centrale Lille Institut (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 211754.88 €
Projet SpiM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

On-surface generation and characterization under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) of π-conjugated graphenic frameworks that have open-shell electronic structure, π-magnetism, have been an advanced and active area of research since the successful nanoscale fabrication of triangulene in 2017. However, the stability afforded by on-surfae techniques under UHV carries its own bane: products remain on the solid substrate support, limiting yields, and thus their incorporation to more complex functional molecules and devices. Synthesis of pi-magnetic molecular materials (SpiM) aims (1) to contribute new π-magnetic molecules realizable in bulk by solution-phase methods and; (2) to explore their incorporation into functional molecular architectures and devices. SpiM will take advantage of chemistries of closed-shell polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, that use bulky functional groups for solubilization—the same functional groups which protect otherwise reactive π-radicals in these open-shell structures—in order to realize π-magnetic molecules in bulk outside the UHV. This would facilitate their incorporation into stimuli-responsive molecular materials (SRMs), complex functional molecular architectures that could allow modulation of spin, or magnetic state, by an external stimuli. Lastly, SpiM will explore their feasibility for OLEDs and Faraday rotators, applications hitherto unexplored in nanoscale on-surface studies under UHV. SpiM will use a combination of synthetic chemistries from different fields; chemical, photophysical, and electrochemical characterization techniques; and device testing/measurement, in order to realize the immense potential of these molecules for applications outside the UHV chamber.

Mots clés : pi magnetism, organic radicals, diarylethene, polyoxometalate

Participants :
- Sorbonne Université (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 211754.88 €
Projet DIFFUSION (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Unprecedented changes in the properties of sunlight incident on forests worldwide are resulting from regional reverberations from climate change. Climate-intervention strategies also plan to diffuse more radiation to cool the Earth. Because diffuse/direct radiation behave differently within canopies, these changes are expected to have dramatic repercussions for ecosystem carbon balance. Research has so far failed to elucidate the interplay of these mechanisms operating at each level within the canopy, limiting our predictions of forests’ responses to projected patterns of radiation. First, we will evaluate the contribution of canopy vertical structure to forest response under diffuse light. Then, we will quantify the effect of transient clouds movements on forest carbon storage. Measurements throughout the canopy and with diffuse filters will consider the canopy not only in its spatial heterogeneity, but as a temporally dynamic system subject to an ever-changing environment. I project to upscale these elements together using bottom-up modelling, to identify the key processes that underpin forest response to diffuse radiation.

Mots clés : diffuse radiation, forests, photosynthesis, transpiration, stomata, aerosols, clouds, climate change, canopy vertical gradients

Participants :
- Université de Nottingham (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 260347.92 €
Projet RELAX (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Glassmakers have known since ancient times that rapid cooling of a viscous liquid makes it stop flowing and transition into a solid glass state. Glasses are not in thermodynamic equilibrium and consequently their properties change over time as the structure relaxes toward a lower energy state. At room temperature (RT), the glass state is believed to be frozen and remain almost forever (>10^10 years). However, recent stain measurements on aluminosilicate glasses have shown that the dynamics are not fully arrested at RT. That is, RT relaxation occurs and leads to changes in glass volume and enthalpy, thus challenging the current consensus on glass relaxation.  In this project, we will decipher the linkage between structure and RT relaxation in selected glasses with different types of chemical bonding. The aim is to reveal the hidden structural mechanism behind RT relaxation. To this end, we will first elucidate the composition dependence of RT relaxation modes and subject the glasses to varying degree of relaxation to identify the crossover temperature of relaxation modes. Then the structural evolution associated with relaxation will be tracked and the corresponding atomic configurations will be constructed. Finally, we will perform rigidity and energy landscape analyses to reveal the connection between glass network topology and propensity toward RT relaxation.  The project builds on complementary expertise of the fellow applicant (structure characterization, atomistic simulations) and supervisor (relaxation, glass science). Together with the research and training environment provided by the host organization (Aalborg University, Denmark), this will ensure the achievement of this timely and innovative project as well as the dissemination and exploitation of the expected results. The research outputs will deepen our understanding of glass relaxation. The fellow applicant will emerge from the project with new skills, and the capability to launch his own research group.

Mots clés : glasses, relaxation, structure property relation, md simulations

Participants :
- Université d'Aalborg (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 230774.4 €
Projet DeepBMS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Battery Management System (BMS) plays a pivotal role in monitoring, control, and protecting the Electric Vehicle (EV) Lithium-ion battery packs. In vehicular applications, batteries are usually subjected to harsh operating cycles and varying environmental conditions leading to very complicated interactions of different aging factors and unforeseeable modeling uncertainties. Therefore, the classical model-based techniques cannot completely handle the foregoing factors, which always leave an unwanted state estimation error in the BMS. This project intends to apply a multidisciplinary approach by combining the advantages of deep reinforcement learning and classical model-based techniques to improve the BMS functionality in EVs. Specifically, DeepBMS aims to: 1-Develop efficient deep reinforcement learning-based algorithms which are able to capture the convoluted time-varying behavior of battery and can gradually improve themselves by learning in real-time 2- Combine the beneficial features of model-based and data-driven techniques to improve the state estimation accuracy in a wide temperature range and over the full life span of the batteries, thereby increasing the reliability and extending the battery lifetime. The interdisciplinary nature of DeepBMS is very strong, involving a combination of control and state estimation theory, power electronics, battery storage systems, and machine learning. The supervisor and candidate have excellent complemental research experiences in these fields providing the necessary competencies to bring the project to successful completion. The project ensures two-way transfer of knowledge including training of the candidate in cutting-edge advanced techniques in a state-of-the-art laboratory, which improves his future career prospects. Likewise, DeepBMS is in line with the EU strategic action plan on batteries and its results have a great potential to be further developed at the fundamental and applied levels through follow-up research.

Mots clés : batteries, state estimation, battery management system

Participants :
- Université d'Aalborg (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 230774.4 €
Projet TE-PAMS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The proposed research aims to develop an innovative biocompatible thermal tweezer (Bio-TT) technique for the design of multi-scale, hierarchical biomaterials, including cells, organoids, artificial cells and hydrogels, to meet multiple performance criteria (e.g., dynamic assembly, multi-scale manipulation, and standardised control). To this end, a programmable design concept will be introduced, integrating a novel TT particle manipulation method with functionalised artificial cellular materials, specifically tailored for engineered living materials (ELMs). This proposal will, for the first time, address several technical challenges in the fabrication of ELMs, such as the versatility of multi-scale active materials, precise spatialtemporal manipulation, as well as issues of automation and standardisation in the ELMs assembley process. The applicant, in collaboration with the teams at Cardiff University, will deliver internationally recognised knowledge and techniques in the fields of biomaterials, fluid dynamics, synthetic biology engineering, tiisue engineering, and hybrid living mateirlas.

Mots clés : engineered living materials, thermofluidics, 3d printed microfluidics, microengineering, artificial cells, synthetic biology engineering, organoid technology, soft materials

Participants :
- Université de Cardiff (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276187.92 €
Projet OVIS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Between 1200-800 BCE, the socio-economic and political system that characterised the Bronze Age “collapsed” on a large scale. The island communities in the Western Mediterranean experienced nearly parallel social transformations during this time period, such as increased social hierarchisation and architectural shifts aimed to controlling natural resources. The OVIS project will focus on study animal diet and mobility with the aim to reconstruct the historical role of such economic and landscapes practices in the Bronze-Iron Age transition. Crucially, the project will also provide essential data on climate events and their influence on this transformative period. To achieve these objectives, OVIS will employ cutting-edge zooarchaeological techniques, including carbon and oxygen isotopes and dental microwear analysis on sheep teeth, across a macro-regional scale (Sardinia, Mallorca and Menorca) and diachronically over 1,600 years. This will constitute the largest zooarchaeological study using high-resolution methods in these contexts. The project’s extensive geographical and temporal perspectives will help resolve existing uncertainities about the causes and consequences of the rapid transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, both locally and across the Mediterranean. Finally, OVIS will generate long-term scientific benefits by delivering paleoclimatic data and examining how island populations adapted to potential water shortages and climatic change. This work will offer vital insights into the challenges of the near future.

Mots clés : zooarchaeology, island archaeology, dental microwear, oxygen isotopes, carbon isotopes, climate change, sardinia, balearic islands, mediterranean

Participants :
- Université de Cardiff (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276187.92 €
Projet DyLiOpt (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The impact of energy-efficient lighting systems on occupant health and well-being is often not thoroughly studied. Further, the human behavioural response is barely acknowledged while using the predefined control curves in building management systems, resulting in inefficiency, discomfort, and health problems, along with increased economic costs due to energy wastage and reduced productivity. This study will develop a digital twin paradigm extension for dynamic light optimisation based on behavioural insights and occupant needs (DyLiOpt) by mapping user responses and continuously optimising lighting during the operational phase using a Building Management System tailored to occupant needs. To analyse individuals' interaction with varying lighting conditions, three distinct settings within university spaces will be analysed by integrating mental models and the Theory of Planned Behavior to understand how attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control shape occupant preferences for lighting. A key innovation of this study is the integration of Bayesian inference, enhancing the stochastic models with a probabilistic framework that accounts for uncertainties and variabilities. This approach will refine the models, enabling continuous updates based on new data. The Bayesian optimisation will be implemented within a digital twin platform, utilising patented autonomous optimisation technology to facilitate autonomous and semantic optimisation and dynamically adjust lighting parameters in real time, aligning with predicted occupant behaviour and lighting requirements. This research aims to set new standards in occupant-centric lighting optimisation, contributing to the health and well-being of occupants and energy efficiency in built environments while we race towards a climate-neutral continent by 2050.

Mots clés : human behaviour modelling, indoor lighting optimisation, occupant centric lighting, adaptive digital twin lighting

Participants :
- Université de Cardiff (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276187.92 €