Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet HEIVOM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Quantum computing has the potential to revolutionize various fields including life science, communication, and artificial intelligence. Strontium-based neutral atoms are emerging as a promising approach to quantum computing due to their long coherence time and scalability potential. However, a key challenge in these systems is the optimal and scalable control of qubit gates at UV wavelengths, an area where there remains a significant gap. The objective of this project is to develop high-speed integrated electro-optic modulators (EOMs) at UV wavelengths for optimal, high-fidelity control of neutral-atom-based qubit gates. To date, attempts to realize such systems have faced obstacles due to challenges of suitable materials, nanofabrication techniques, and integrated UV optoelectronic measurement strategies. To address these, I propose using the novel thin-film lithium tantalate on insulator (LTOI) material platform and exploring its nanofabrication methodologies. The first aim is to develop design guidelines and nanofabrication processes for LTOI UV photonic integrated circuits (PICs). The second aim is to explore a high-efficiency UV coupling method based on 3D nanoprinting. The third aim is to establish an optoelectronic measurement setup and realize high-speed UV EOMs with a high extinction ratio. To achieve these goals, I will collaborate with leading experts and interdisciplinary researchers in my host group at UHEI, and leverage my strong background in photonics, nanofabrication, and electrical engineering. The integrated EOMs developed through this project will fill the gap in UV PICs and bring us closer to the full potential of quantum computing. This fellowship will enhance my scientific and transferable skills, foster pioneering work in UV optoelectronics and enable further collaborations. It will expand my international network and strengthen my leadership and management skills, which are crucial for my growth into a senior researcher.

Mots clés : nanophotonics, waveguides, electro optic modulator, nanofabrication, ultra violet photonics, lithium tantalate on insulator, lithium niobate on insulator, quantum computing

Participants :
- Université de Heidelberg (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 217965.12 €
Projet SORTED (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Carotenoids, prized for their antioxidant properties, are essential precursors for crucial human vitamins and, in plants and algae, they play roles in light absorption and photoprotection against excessive light-induced damage to photosynthesis. However, it is very challenging to achieve carotenoid market- required yields. Carotenoids complex chemical synthesis in fact, limits the possibility to obtain them artificially while in plants (i.e., the main natural producers) excessive carotenoids in chloroplasts can disrupt thylakoid membranes, making biotechnological manipulation aimed to increase carotenoid yield particularly hard.  To address this problem, a sustainable approach is crucial, and microalgae offer a promising solution as natural, scalable carotenoid producers. A novel strategy involves repurposing cellular factories to overcome chloroplast limitations for carotenoid biosynthesis and accumulation. Diatoms, like Phaeodactylum tricornutum, are ideal candidates due to their multiple cellular compartments, including the periplastidial compartment (PPC), suitable for carotenoid storage, and access to precursors synthesized through various cellular pathways. Moreover, diatoms excel as synthetic biology platforms with efficient genetic tools, modular DNA assembly, and genome editing capabilities.  The SORTED project aims to advance understanding through a multifaceted approach. Firstly, we will investigate prenyltransferases (PTSs) in P. tricornutum's cytosol to unveil their role in carotenoid precursor synthesis (Objective 1). Subsequently, rational redesign will enable the extraplastidial relocation of the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway (Objective 2). Furthermore, we will assess the physiological implications of genetic modifications on performance (Objective 3). Through SORTED, we anticipate gaining innovative insights into diatom carotenoid production, revolutionizing both biotechnology and our fundamental understanding of cellular dynamics.

Mots clés : biosynthesis, carotenoids, microalgae, synthetic biology, isoprenoids

Participants :
- Université du Danemark du Sud (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 214934.4 €
- Wageningen University & Research (Pays-Bas) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet IAM-Circ (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

For most of history, economic growth has gone hand in hand with increased material use. For a sustainable future we need to break this relationship. We can reduce the material impact of the economy through less intensive use of materials, longer use of materials over time and develop a circular economy where material loops to reduce losses. The circular economy implements a more sustainable economic paradigm, as opposed to the current linear economic model, which is based on the "extract/consume/discard" tryptic. The European Union (EU) and member states also promote the circular economy as a political and economic target. To inform policy makers on how to address sustainability issues, researchers develop models, such as integrated assessment models, considering long-term growth and linking economic variables to biophysical features such as climate change. However, these models rarely include full material consistency and thus have limited say for circular economy innovations. The objective of this project is to bridge the existing scientific gap between economic modelling and material flows. To this end, IAM-Circ will develop an integrated assessment model that combines macroeconomic characteristics with growth and circular economy features through material use constraints. Building economic theory and running calibrated scenarios with the model will allow to contribute to scientific research on circular economy and identify policy measures that combine socio-economic objectives, circularity, and environmental strategies, to be implemented at national and EU levels.

Mots clés : integrated assessment models policy material flow analysis recycling

Participants :
- Université de Tilbourg (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187624.32 €
Projet MultiPhon (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The proposed project will assess bilingual, trilingual, and quadrilingual speakers of different combinations of Romance, Germanic, and Slavic languages on their phonological acquisition of an entirely foreign language- Modern Hebrew. This will be the first study to compare phonological acquisition of consonant clusters in a typologically distinct language between speakers of two, three, and four languages, allowing us to contribute to a long-standing debate in the field: do multilinguals have a cognitive advantage in subsequent language learning, or are they only transferring knowledge from previously acquired languages? This study will yield valuable theoretical implications in language acquisition and applications in the field of foreign language learning. First, from a theoretical perspective, it will allow us to tease apart mechanisms of language acquisition to understand whether phonological acquisition is a general language function (wherein more acquired languages lead to a greater ability to acquire new phonologies) or specific to the known languages (wherein the ability to acquire a new phonological system depends on the phonologies of previously learned languages). Second, although studies on bilingualism are now abundant, and L3 acquisition is a steadily growing field, little work has been conducted on the acquisition of further languages, and less still within the field of phonology. Thus, this study will pave the way in understanding how increasingly multilingual systems may differ amongst each other and facilitate the acquisition of new languages. In the field of language learning and pedagogy, this research will elucidate the ways and extent to which prior language experience can be harnessed when acquiring a new language. As part of the dissemination aspects of this project, the researchers will collaborate closely with local teachers and language instructors, as well as language-learning companies, to maximize the practical impacts of our findings.

Mots clés : multilingualism, language assessment, phonology, hebrew

Participants :
- Université de Constance (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 217965.12 €
Projet SpaceTimeFerro (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Giant bulk photovoltaic effect in non-centrosymmetric ferroelectric materials is currently gaining tremendous research interest due to its above-bandgap photovoltage and the observed output voltage is around 3-4 orders of magnitude higher than the Si-solar cells. Hence, the ferroelectric photovoltaic response is considered the next-generation photovoltaic device. However, researchers currently lack a profound understanding of the exact mechanism of the bulk photovoltaic effect, and the proposed mechanisms are contradictory to each other. This, in turn, restricts the progress of the field towards efficient solar cells. The difficult part of finding the exact mechanism is due to ultrafast carrier dynamics and atomic relaxation times are of the order of ≈ 0.1 to 10 femtoseconds, which made it experimentally inaccessible. At present, the excellent infrastructure and facilities of my host institute dealing with the ultrafast carrier dynamics can record the meticulous dynamics in space-time resolution and hence can provide the exact mechanism towards the above bandgap photovoltage in the ferroelectric system. Therefore, through this project, we are going to investigate the origin of the anomalous bulk photovoltaic effect in perovskite ferroelectric oxides by “filming” the ultrafast photo-absorption and subsequent photo-excited carrier relaxation dynamics with femtosecond time resolution and nanometre spatial resolution using laser-driven electron microscopy. In contrast to the spectroscopic approach, ultrafast electron pulses in a femtosecond electron microscope or diffraction apparatus can provide nanometre spatial and femtosecond temporal resolutions at the same time and hence can provide a movie of evolving electromagnetic field in space and time. Based on the data generated, a comprehensive physical mechanism will be put forth, which will act as guidance for the selection and design of future ferroelectric systems for an improved photovoltaic response.

Mots clés : ultrafast microscopy femtosecond laser ferroelectric photovoltaic nonlinear optics terahertz radiation thin films

Participants :
- Université de Constance (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 189687.36 €
Projet FLORISH (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

This project explores the unique potential of historical fiction as a transformative method to create counter-representations of Indigenous peoples in Brazil, where they are often seen as inferior and savage because of their close connection to nature. These stereotypes, spread by European colonisers through literature and historiography, have become ingrained in collective sensibilities and are currently used to justify racism against Indigenous peoples, the illegal occupation of their lands and the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Historiography has criticised these views, but due to its dominant epistemology, which relies firmly on written records, the field does not usually go beyond deconstructive ambitions. Indigenous ethnic groups, on the other hand, tend to pass on their histories orally, so their ecocultures and resistance to colonialism fall outside the lens of prevalent epistemology. The central research question of this project is:  How can historical fiction help us explore pluralistic views of the Indigenous pasts and open up new visions for a sustainable and diverse future?  Answering this question calls for innovative and interdisciplinary methods to achieve three goals: (1) to understand how Brazilian writers have used historiography and fiction to represent Indigenous peoples in historical novels; (2) to identify how the epistemology of historiography constrains (or even silences) the writing of Indigenous historical fiction; (3) to develop a method of collective writing with Indigenous authors that allows us to co-create representations of their pasts and ecocultures. The project draws on Decolonial Studies, Theory of History and Literary Theory, and combines methods of discourse and intertextual analysis, qualitative interviews and collaborative writing with Indigenous writers from Brazil. The proposal moves from deconstruction to reconstruction in a context of growing appeal for a sustainable, multicultural and decolonised world.

Mots clés : indigenous peoples historical fiction decolonial methods ecology brazil

Participants :
- Université Érasme de Rotterdam (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187624.32 €
Projet POCOF-CO2 (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The escalating atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) pose a critical threat to global climate stability, with CO2 contributing to prolonged thermal retention and CH4 exhibiting over 25 times the global warming potential of CO2 on a per-molecule basis over a century. To address these pressing challenges, the POCOF-CO2 project aims to revolutionize Covalent Organic Framework (COF) through the integration of Porous Organic Cages (POCs) as monomeric units. The project hypothesizes that POCs, with their precisely engineered cavities and functional groups, will significantly enhance the porosity, stability, and catalytic efficiency of COFs, thereby optimizing their gas capture capabilities. The project aims to optimize POC synthesis through a streamlined one-pot multicomponent reaction to enhance chemical stability and yield, integrate these POCs into COFs to improve structural diversity, stability, and scalability, and rigorously evaluate the COFs for CO2 capture and CO2/CH4 separation using advanced analytical techniques such as temperature-programmed desorption and sophisticated spectroscopy. The innovative one-pot MCR approach not only enhances POC stability but also simplifies production processes compared to conventional multi-step methodologies. This integration of MCR-derived POCs into COFs establishes a new benchmark in COF technology, offering unprecedented stability and performance. Advanced characterization techniques will deliver in-depth mechanistic insights into CO2 capture, addressing existing limitations and pushing the boundaries of COF research. The POCOF-CO2 project represents a significant leap forward in material science and environmental technology, contributing to global climate mitigation efforts and providing transformative applications in catalysis, energy storage and environmental remediation.

Mots clés : gas sorption, adsorption isotherms, framework stability, post synthetic modification, pore size distribution

Participants :
- Université technique de Berlin (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 202125.12 €
Projet ASTROCHEMISTRY (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The Unidentified Infrared (UIR) bands are discrete emission features observed in the interstellar medium (ISM), circumstellar regions, galactic and extragalactic sources. The UIR bands are very characteristic for the C=C and C-H vibrational modes of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are thought to occur in the ISM either in the neutral, cationic, protonated, hydrogenated, dehydrogenated or substituted forms. In spite of many theoretical and experimental investigations for several decades, the exact form of PAHs or the group of PAHs responsible for the emission of the UIR bands still remains a major challenge in astronomy. Observations reveal that large PAHs (with 30 to 100 carbon atoms) harbors 10–15% of elemental carbon in the ISM. These PAHs are suggested to play an important role in the ionization and energy balance of interstellar gas. Fullerene, C60 has also been identified in the ISM through its infrared bands and its electronic transitions. Observations have revealed that the abundance of C60 increases rapidly while the abundance of PAHs decreases close to stars. This has been attributed to photochemical fragmentation and isomerization processes under the influence of the strong UV radiation field but the details of this are not at all understood. This project focuses on larger (>20 C, >30 C) and compact PAHs that have the high photo-stability to withstand the intense UV radiations in space and hence could be present at high abundances in the ISM. I propose to study the photo-fragmentation pattern of astrophysically relevant PAHs using the “Instrument for photo-dynamics of PAHs (i-PoP)” housed at the University of Leiden. I would further extend this research to record the infrared spectra of the PAH ions stored in a 22-pole cryogenic ion-trap at FELion using intense and tunable Free Electron Laser for Infrared eXperiments (FELIX) facility. The data obtained in this project will be timely for the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.

Mots clés : astrochemistry, laboratory astrophysics, interstellar chemistry, spectroscopy of pahs

Participants :
- Université de Leyde (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187624.32 €
Projet OceanVisions (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Ocean science is no longer the sole domain of public research institutes and their vessels. Private oceanographic vessels are increasingly able to influence its governance and research practices. The business model of private vessels relies on producing wildlife documentaries that feature telegenic discoveries and charismatic animals, alongside ocean scientists themselves. While their vessels actively enable scientific research, companies like OceanX also ensure the steady production of striking moving images for wildlife documentaries, such as BBC’s Blue Planet. OceanVisions aims to understand how these private vessels affect the daily governance of ocean science research, and specifically how their emphasis on documentary film production shapes ocean scientists’ objectives and routines. By foregrounding practices of visual content production for scientific analysis and documentaries, OceanVisions explores everyday governance arrangements in ocean science and analyses how scientists adapt their knowledge creation practices to the requirements of film-making onboard oceanographic vessels. This research project utilises an innovative research design, conducting a comparative ethnography between one public research vessel, owned by the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, and one private vessel, owned by OceanX. This interdisciplinary project – which brings together studies on the governance of science with the anthropology of science – will be carried out at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University, a leading institute focusing on scientific research and its connections to technology, innovation, and society. The project will also benefit from a secondment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mots clés : anthropology of science, ethnography of scientific practices, governance of science, ocean science, oceanographic vessels, wildlife documentary making

Participants :
- Université d'Oslo (Norvège) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Leyde (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187624.32 €
Projet ExplicitRatPoints (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The theory of rational points on curves and their Jacobians is distinguished by being both attractive and notoriously difficult. Despite major theoretical advances, explicit methods are of particular importance in this area. For instance, the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer (BSD), one of the Millennium Prize problems, was formulated based on numerical evidence. A proof of the strong version of this conjecture for abelian varieties seems out of reach at present, and even the verification in examples was, until recently, only possible in dimension 1.  Besides being interesting in its own right, the importance of explicit methods for the computation of the rational points on curves stems from the fact that many moduli problems can be reduced to such computations. Therefore, explicit methods can be used to solve theoretical problems, but in the other direction, theoretical advances often lead to improved explicit methods. One example is the recent computation of the rational points on the "cursed curve" X_ns^+(13) using the quadratic Chabauty (QC) method, an explicit special case of Kim's non-abelian Chabauty program.  We propose two research projects, connected by height theory, to significantly advance the state of the art in explicit methods for rational points on curves and Jacobians. In the first one, we will develop an explicit theory of heights to compute Mordell-Weil groups of Jacobians of non-hyperelliptic curves of genus 3. We will use it for the verification of the strong BSD conjecture for modular examples, going beyond the hyperelliptic case for the first time. In the second one, we will drastically increase the applicability of the QC method by removing several restrictive conditions, and apply it to Atkin-Lehner quotients of modular and Shimura curves, thereby solving several open moduli problems.

Mots clés : computational arithmetic geometry, explicit methods, rational points on curves and their jacobians, birch swinnerton dyer conjecture, quadratic chabauty, non abelian chabauty, modular curves

Participants :
- Université de Groningue (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187624.32 €
- Université de Leyde (Pays-Bas) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €