Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : HELIMIDE (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Université de Cologne — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 546221.54 €

The introduction of chirality in conjugated organic compounds gives rise to properties such as absorption and emission of circularly polarized light, spin-selective charge-transport, and magneto-chiral anisotropy, which enable conceptualization of new functions. Therefore, chiral organic semiconductors (OSCs), which utilize both charge and spin of the carriers, are needed as new materials to drive the development of next-generation (opto)electronics such as spin-LEDs, 3D displays, and quantum-based optical computing. While the field of OSCs has matured, there is an urgent need for chiral OSCs, which can offer high charge-carrier mobilities along with the strong chiroptical response to transform the laboratory-based proof-of-concept research on chiral OSCs into real-world applications.  The objective of the proposed research is to develop chiral OSC materials, which will exhibit (i) effective chiroptical responses, (ii) high fluorescence quantum yields, and (iii) dynamic spin-selective charge-transport.  To achieve this goal, I plan to develop a new class of functional chiral molecules, namely, [n]helicene diimides ([n]HDI), where two six-membered imide moieties are spanned by an [n]helicene spacer. The proposed research bridges two well-established research fields: (i) planar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons bearing diimide units, which are excellent semiconductors, and (ii) 3D [n]helicenes, which display strong chiroptical responses. The research plan will capitalize on three synthetic strategies: (1) A small-molecule approach to gain a fundamental understanding of the structure-function relationship, originating from the through-bond and through-space coupling between imide moieties. (2) A multi-helicene approach to expand the application scope by taking control over the electronic energy levels and self-assembly behavior. (3) Macromolecular approach to develop homochiral multifunctional materials employing enantiopure [n]HDIs as molecular synthons.

Mots-clés : n helicenes,rylene diimides,polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,organic semiconductors,chirality,stereoselective synthesis
Projet ERC : VIRAL (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Université de Cologne — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

This proposal seeks to study economic narratives. Narratives may both shape expectation formation and influence economic decisions. Using large-scale experiments, this proposal seeks to better understand the drivers of the virality of narratives as well as the mechanisms underlying their persuasive effects. A key feature of this proposal is the combination of qualitative data on economic narratives, as measured in speech recordings, with quantitative data on beliefs and economic behaviors. In Part 1, I seek to study the production and transmission of narratives. In Part 1a, I plan to study which types of narratives about economic phenomena tend to get retold and thereby go viral. The experiments will examine which features of narratives are predictive of their virality and how narratives mutate through the transmission process. In Part 1b, I plan to study how incentives to entertain shape people’s narratives and how the resulting distortions affect downstream belief formation. Part 2 aims to combine administrative data on high-stakes economic behaviors with economic narratives, as measured with speech recordings. I aim to measure narratives about the labor market effects of Artificial intelligence in large representative samples as well as among journalists, politicians and labor market experts. I then plan to relate narratives to important labor market behaviors and educational choices and to examine their origins. Finally, Part 3 proposes to study the mechanisms behind the persuasiveness of narratives. Our experiments will allow us to cleanly identify how narratives affect belief updating and confidence compared to well-defined Bayesian benchmarks. We plan to examine the mechanisms, with a particular focus on how narratives facilitate the process of mental simulation. These projects trace the journey of economic narratives from their inception and spread to their impacts on behaviors and beliefs, and unveil the underlying cognitive and social mechanisms.

Mots-clés : narratives,expectation formation,information,communication
Projet ERC : MODES (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Université de Cologne — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1497285.0 €

Expectations are central in macroeconomics and finance. I propose to study modes of expectation formation in macro and finance: the ways in which expectations are constructed. These modes can differ in the inputs used and in how these inputs are processed. For instance, agents could consider relevant macroeconomic state variables and process this information through a developed mental model of the economy. A different approach could be based on spontaneous recall of easily accessible personal experiences and use of a simple heuristic.  Empirical studies suggest that different modes are relevant, but we do not understand their relative importance, drivers, decision-relevance, and aggregate consequences. This poses a barrier to a unified understanding of belief formation, preventing the field from moving forward. My objective is to answer these questions for the most central domains in macro and finance. I use a novel portable, survey-based approach building on an AI chat, laying the groundwork for a unified account of macroeconomic expectation formation.  In Part 1, I study modes of forming inflation expectations among households, managers and experts. I use experiments to understand how rational inattention and memory shape modes of belief formation. I use a New-Keynesian model to study macro consequences.  In Part 2, I study modes of expectation formation about aggregate stock returns using surveys with investors. I use linked administrative bank account data to study the consequences of the mode of belief formation for the pass-through of beliefs to decisions. I explore aggregate implications in an asset pricing model.  In Part 3, I study modes of expectation formation about aggregate unemployment. I conduct household surveys linked with administrative register data to understand drivers such as cognitive skills, exposure to aggregate fluctuations, and first- and second-hand past job loss experiences. I use a search and matching model to study macro implications.

Mots-clés : expectation formation consumption and financial behavior memory and experiences rational inattention
Projet ERC : MACAUTH (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Institute of national history - skopje — Pays : Macédoine — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : INSTITUT ZA NATSIONALNA ISTORIJA SKOPJE
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 71500.0 €

The project aims to investigate a little-explored and usually neglected aspect of the Macedonian Question throughout the late nineteenth and most of the twentieth century: namely, the function of the Macedonian Question as a catalyst and a testing ground for the emergence, development and consolidation of authoritarian state policies on a nation-wide scale in all the Balkan nation-states involved. In other words, how the tools used by the rival nation states to extract national loyalty in late Ottoman Macedonia, where nation had been widely conceived first and foremost as a political party, were subsequently transformed into a far broader method of social and political control.  MACAUTH will examine the transfer of particular administrative practices of surveillance, control and political indoctrination, as well as state-sponsored violence and its ideological justification in the name of national expediency, from the initial field of their application in Ottoman and post-Ottoman Macedonia to the mainstream political and social life of Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia/Yugoslavia, as well as to the respective diasporic communities. The impact of the same heritage in Romania, Albania, the Ottoman Empire and its successor nation state, the Turkish Republic, will also be assessed. The research team consists of historians from all five Balkan countries which have been historically involved in the Macedonian conflict (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania), plus experts on Albania and the Ottoman Empire. It is composed of the PI, nine post-doctoral fellows and senior researchers, two research assistants and two PhD candidates with their supervisors. They will produce a main monograph, at least a thematic collective volume and 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals, two Ph.D. dissertations, three workshops, an international conference, a journalists’ conference for the dissemination of the project’s output and a website.

Mots-clés : macedonian question,balkan history,national identities,political surveillance
Projet ERC : DIGIDEV (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Université Bocconi — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498500.0 €

An estimated 5.7 million people die every year and another 100 million are pushed into extreme poverty due to limited access to essential public services in low-income countries (Lancet Health Commission, 2018). Governments across the globe have responded by adopting digital technologies — e.g., by making services available to citizens virtually — in the hopes of providing broader, faster, and cheaper access to public services. While high-income countries have made impressive strides in this regard, low-income countries continue to struggle with nearly one-third of digitalization projects being abandoned and substantial resources being wasted (World Development Report, 2016). Moreover, even when successful, these digitization projects they risk excluding vulnerable individuals with limited connectivity, potentially widening existing inequalities.  This research proposal aims to advance our understanding of (i) the determinants of the success or failure of digitalization in the public sector of developing countries, and (ii) the ways digital technologies can be harnessed to improve the efficiency and inclusion of public service delivery, thereby producing more robust and inclusive economic growth. In collaboration with local governments and NGOs, I will design and carry out four large-scale randomized experiments in countries where public services are being digitized (India, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Liberia). In these experiments, I will study digital technologies that influence (i) the demand for public services by allowing citizens to access them digitally, and (ii) the supply of in-person services by remotely monitoring or supervising the delivery agents. The results will inform public policy in low-income countries, ultimately helping a broader segment of the population access more and higher quality public services.

Mots-clés : digitization,public service delivery,inclusive development,inequality,low income countries
Projet ERC : SOME (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Université Bocconi — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1494625.0 €

Social media was initially expected to generate widespread improvements in individual well-being and to have positive externalities in the political domain. Such optimistic expectations soon gave way to a host of concerns about possible negative effects of social media. At the societal level, many started worrying that social media might exacerbate political polarization and propagate misinformation. At the level of individual users, many became concerned that social media might have detrimental effects on mental health, especially among the youth.  This research proposal has two major goals: first, to fill critical gaps in our knowledge of the causal effects of social media on users and society; second, to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at mitigating the downsides of social media. On the political front, I will deploy a novel empirical strategy to investigate the impact of social media on political engagement and conduct a large-scale field experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at increasing the quality and reducing the partisanship of the news consumed on social media. On the users’ front, I will conduct two large-scale field experiments: one aimed at evaluating the impact of an intervention encouraging parents to delay the acquisition of a smartphone for their children on outcomes related to child development; the other aimed at evaluating whether tweaks to the social media environment can mitigate the negative effects of social media on mental health.  The overarching goal of this research project is to generate new scientific knowledge on the use and impact of social media, to highlight potential areas of policy intervention, and to evaluate ecologically valid and scalable remedies to the downsides of social media. The unique blend of cutting-edge causal inference techniques from observational data and large-scale field experiments will generate insights that can benefit researchers, users, and policymakers alike.

Mots-clés : social media,political participation,political polarization,news consumption,mental health,child development
Projet ERC : uStemGel (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : Université technique de Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Myocardial infarction continues to claim the lives of millions of people every year, and survivors are often left with severe health issues. Transplanting cardiac cells engineered from human stem cells into the injured heart is a particularly promising approach to repairing damaged cardiac tissue. Despite extensive research on stem cell-based therapies, a major limitation is effectively regulating stem cell differentiation. Mechanically training stem cells throughout culture could be solution, by exploiting their mechanosensitive nature. However, there is currently a lack of technology that can recreate the mechanically dynamic microenvironment of tissue. Therefore, I aim to develop an innovative cell culture technology, based on designer microgels and nanorobotics, which will allow control over stem cell differentiation. To achieve this goal, I will package pluripotent stem cells in smart microgels using microfluidics. By rigorously adjusting material properties, I will ensure culture conditions that simulate the native tissue microenvironment. The smart microgels will have tunable stiffness, which I will use to improve cardiogenic differentiation in pluripotent stem cells. I will integrate wirelessly controlled nanoactuators to mechanically train stem cells to decipher the relationship between forces and stem cell differentiation. Together with my team, I will develop rapid culture and stimulation methods based on microfluidics to identify the best conditions for stem cell preparation. This multifunctional technology will contribute to achieving efficient cardiac regeneration, and has great potential to make a big impact in regenerative medicine.

Mots-clés : nanorobotics,soft microrobotic systems,stem cells,mechanobiology,microfluidics,active biomaterials
Projet ERC : LipID (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: B iological  Mechanisms , Structures  and Functions
Entité participante : École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : EPFL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Organelle identity, defined by membrane and protein composition, is crucial for maintaining cellular organisation, functions and communication pathways. Disruption of organelle identity can lead to cellular dysfunction and severe health issues, such as fatty liver disease, cardiovascular diseases and lipid storage disorders. Although it is known that lipids are a hallmark of membrane identity, we still have a limited understanding of organellar lipid compositions. Particularly since lipids are very dynamic through transbilayer movement, local metabolism and lipid transfer between organelles, which requires a high temporal resolution to capture. While existing methods are effective for protein analysis, lipid profiling at the organelle level remains challenging. To answer the outstanding question of how organellar lipidomes shape organelle function, we propose an innovative chemical biology approach for organelle-specific lipid profiling. We will label the lipids of individual organelle membranes in vivo and determine their chemical identity and concentration by lipidomic profiling. We will first design and synthesise functionalised lipid probes for distinct organelles, allowing for their release and photo-crosslinking to endogenous lipids. By analysing the labelled lipids, we will acquire a precise and detailed lipid profiles of individual organelles, and furthermore characterise the lipidome of specific suborganellar membrane domains. This will allow us to define the organelle membrane identity of the major organelles with unprecedented spatial and chemical resolution. Such data will provide the much-needed basis to connect organelle identity and maintenance with function and the research community with open access, high-resolution lipid maps. This has the potential to change the way we think about biological membranes on a fundamental level, advancing not only our understanding of organelle function, but setting the stage to study its impact on health and disease.
Projet ERC : MULTIPLEX (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Université de Fribourg-en-Brisgau — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1577500.0 €

Photochemical reactions are the central driving force in nature and in sustainable technologies. Understand-ing photochemical reactions on the quantum level is thus a primary goal in science. However, this task re-mains a major experimental and theoretical challenge even on the single-molecule level due to the involved ultrafast time scales, predominantly nonradiative processes and strongly coupled degrees of freedom. Methods are needed that provide a gap-less view on the molecular mechanisms with the necessary sensitivity and selectivity to uncover and disentangle the participating reaction pathways. In this project, we will for the first time establish ultrafast multidimensional extreme ultraviolet (XUV) photoelectron spectroscopy to solve this problem. This method is capable of mapping photochemical processes with unprecedented spec-tro-temporal resolution along the entire reaction coordinate, while unraveling otherwise degenerate path-ways in multidimensional correlation maps. This becomes possible with the unique combination of concepts from coherent multidimensional spectroscopy with femto to attosecond XUV light sources and photoelectron spectroscopy. As spectroscopic probes, well-controlled model systems will be investigated, ranging from isolated, cold molecules and molecular complexes to individual species embedded in tailored nano-cluster environments. The proposed project will (a) establish laboratory-based high-resolution XUV photoelectron spectroscopy as a widely accessible alternative to experiments at synchrotron and free-electron-laser facilities (b) introduce the concept of coherent multidimensional photoelectron spectroscopy (c) develop new theoreti-cal analysis methods of transient multidimensional photoelectron data (d) resolve the details of fundamental intra and intermolecular photochemical processes including elusive non-adiabatic and quantum coherence mechanisms (e) elucidate the role of tailored environments in molecular dynamics.

Mots-clés : photoelectron spectroscopy,extreme ultraviolet spectroscopy,coherent multidimensional spectroscopy,molecular dynamics,ultrafast dynamics,non adiabatic dynamics
Projet ERC : RESPECT-LM (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer Science and Informatics
Entité participante : École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : EPFL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499597.0 €

The technical advances, and resulting societal opportunities, of Large Language Models (LLMs) have principally benefited communities whose primary languages are well-represented in the written data used for training LLMs (e.g., English). While these few high-resource languages are used by many around the world, they do not cover large segments of the global population of 8.2 billion, who collectively speak over 7000 languages. For intelligent natural language systems to be adopted and useful, they must enable interaction in the preferred languages of their users and be knowledgeable of the environments of those users. This expansion of LLM functionality requires re-thinking the cross-lingual transfer paradigm for enabling systems in low-resource languages. In an era where LLMs are knowledge bases, naive reasoners, and interactive agents, our intuitions that held for cross-lingual transfer to linguistic tasks will not extend to transferring regional and cultural knowledge understanding, which may differ even among similar languages.  In this proposal, we reformulate cross-lingual transfer using inference-time algorithms that dynamically localize, augment, and adapt implicit language and knowledge representations of multilingual LLMs for queries presented in any language. These new algorithms will leverage shared linguistic knowledge for cross-lingual transfer to new languages while disentangling regional and cultural knowledge that is tied to language but unique to individual language environments. Second, we will develop novel modular architectures to catalyze our adaptation algorithms by disentangling language and knowledge representations within multilingual LLMs during pretraining. Finally, we will develop new benchmarks, settings, and standards for reliable evaluation of regional knowledge in multilingual contexts.

Mots-clés : multilinguality,large language model,foundation model,evaluation,multiculturality,deep learning