Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : EXTREME (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Pompeu Fabra University — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UPF
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1467736.0 €

In the recent years in advanced democracies there has been a wave of electoral successes of populist politicians supporting extreme messages. Is populism caused by negative economic shocks? If so, what are the mechanisms? What explains heterogeneity in responses to such shocks? In this project, I will test empirically if personal experiences, information environment, and their interaction with aggregate economic shocks shape people’s political decisions. The project consists of three parts. First, I will study how personal employment histories, potentially affected by globalization and technological shocks, individual predispositions, and information environment influenced voting for Trump. I will use a unique database of more than 40 million resumes for the period 2010-2016, the largest available repository of resumes of job-seekers in the US, which was not previously used in academic research, and match it with zipcode-level economic and voting variables. Second, I will study how negative social experiences during the formative years affect subsequent labor market outcomes, antisocial behavior, and the support of populist agenda. I will examine how corporal punishment in schools in UK affected subsequent educational attainment, employment, antisocial behavior, and voting for UKIP and Brexit. I will digitize archival records on regulations and practice of corporal punishment in different educational authorities in the UK during 1970-80s, combining it with contemporary outcomes. Third, I will examine what makes people actively resist extremist regimes even when it is associated with high personal costs. I will study a historical example of resistance to Nazi regime in Germany during the WWII, which provides unique methodological opportunity to study determinants of resistance to extremism in a high stake environment. I will use a self-collected dataset on treason cases to measure resistance, combining it with data on bombing and exposure to foreign propaganda.
Projet ERC : AlgoQIP (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : École normale supérieure de Lyon — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : ENS de Lyon
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 0.0 €

In the road towards quantum technologies capable of exploiting the revolutionary potential of quantum theory for information technology, a major bottleneck is the large overhead needed to correct errors caused by unwanted noise. Despite important research activity and great progress in designing better error correcting codes and fault-tolerant schemes, the fundamental limits of communication/computation over a quantum noisy medium are far from being understood. In fact, no satisfactory quantum analogue of Shannon’s celebrated noisy coding theorem is known. The objective of this project is to leverage tools from mathematical optimization in order to build an algorithmic theory of optimal information processing that would go beyond the statistical approach pioneered by Shannon. Our goal will be to establish efficient algorithms that determine optimal methods for achieving a given task, rather than only characterizing the best achievable rates in the asymptotic limit in terms of entropic expressions. This approach will address three limitations — that are particularly severe in the quantum context — faced by the statistical approach: the non-additivity of entropic expressions, the asymptotic nature of the theory and the independence assumption. Our aim is to develop efficient algorithms that take as input a description of a noise model and output a near-optimal method for reliable communication under this model. For example, our algorithms will answer: how many logical qubits can be reliably stored using 100 physical qubits that undergo depolarizing noise with parameter 5%? We will also develop generic and efficient decoding algorithms for quantum error correcting codes. These algorithms will have direct applications to the development of quantum technologies. Moreover, we will establish methods to compute the relevant uncertainty of large structured systems and apply them to obtain tight and non-asymptotic security bounds for (quantum) cryptographic protocols.

Mots-clés : information theory,optimization
Projet ERC : BioMechMeniscus (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Radboud University Nijmegen — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

In this BioMechMeniscus project we will develop a workflow for optimal placement of a novel meniscus implant. The medial meniscus implant (named ‘Trammpolin’) has been developed using methods developed during the BioMechTools project such as 1) principle component analyses based on MRI-segmented image to assess the anatomical shape of the meniscus, 2) assessing sensitivity of cartilage stresses and implant strains on size and design-parameters using finite element techniques and 3) utilizing load-predictions from our award-winning musculoskeletal models. All data shows that the biomechanical behaviour of Trammpolin in the knee will be sensitive to appropriate sizing and positioning within the knee. Therefore, this BioMechMeniscus project focuses on developing a surgeon-friendly platform to pre-plan the size and position and to execute the surgery as accurately as possible. The software will automatically perform MRI-segmentation of the tibia, femur and meniscus insertion sites. Subsequently, the best meniscus implant size and position (leading to the lowest cartilage stress and acceptable implant strains) is proposed by the program. The surgeon can adapt the proposal and gets feedback about the expected changes in biomechanical performance. After the pre-plan is accepted a patient-specific arthroscopic surgical guide is 3-D printed which will be used as an aiming device for an external (standard) surgical guide for fixation of the horns. The project is subdivided in four Tasks and will last for 18 months. An experienced team will supervise a post-doc during the various activities. A project scheme is made and a risk and contingency plan is defined. A detailed competitor and commercial analysis has been made and we are convinced that with the BioMechMeniscus project we have a unique opportunity to bring a novel implant to the market and support it with a distinct pre-planning and surgical assistance tool to optimize clinical performance.

Mots-clés : biomechtools,meniscus,implant,patient specific,surgery,biomechanics
Projet ERC : TES-FlexThin (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : Aalto University — Pays : Finlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

In this Proof-of-Concept project we will create a completely new kind of integrated energy solution platform based on thermoelectric (TE) heat energy harvesting materials that are capable of converting various types of heat flows directly into electricity. The strong basis for the project is the new oxide-based thermoelectric inorganic-organic hybrid materials discovered in the PI's ERC Advanced Grant Project “Molecular-Layer-Engineered Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Materials (LAYERENG-HYBMAT)”. These hybrid thin-film materials are fabricated by the combined atomic/molecular layer deposition (ALD/MLD) technique which uniquely allows for fabrication of highly conformal thin-film coatings on various flexible, sensitive, functional and/or nanostructured surfaces. Within this PoC project we will (1) design and construct a few prototype devices based on the flexible inorganic-organic thin-film thermoelectrics and (2) integrate the devices with novel material platforms (textiles, polymers, coatings). The novel integrated TE energy solutions will enable heat-based energy harvesting for usage scenarios that are not possible with the existing bulky and fragile TE materials/generators. In addition, (3) the market for flexible thermoelectric generators will be analysed and the commercialisation and the IPR strategies will be created for TE generation solutions.

Mots-clés : integrated flexible energy solutions,heat based energy harvesting,thermoelectrics,inorganic organic hybrid materials,flexible thin films,atomic layer deposition,molecular layer deposition
Projet ERC : FORAGING (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Social World and Its Diversity
Entité participante : Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : LMU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999625.0 €

In this moment of economic and environmental breakdown, an unexpected source of income has risen in global importance: foraging. In Tibet and Nepal, scores of collectors rush to the mountains each spring to collect yartsagunbu – a rare mushroom more valuable than gold. In Siberia, “tuskers” scavenge for woolly mammoth ivory in the thawing permafrost. From Amazonia to Mongolia, artisanal miners extract precious minerals where transnational conglomerates have left. In the US, “Amazon nomads” tour foreclosed shops and sell their bounty online. Broadly understood as practices of collecting, scavenging and gleaning, foraging is a global phenomenon of our times. However, it only gains patchy attention in mainstream debates on conservation and development. What is missing is a conceptual understanding of foraging as a basic economic strategy and a form of socio-environmental entanglement. The objective of this project is to take on this task and develop a political ecology of foraging in the Anthropocene. The project is timely. In the aftermath of the world financial crisis between 2008 to 2011, foraging has gained in relevance around the globe. In an era when the dream of a middle-class life based on a stable, salaried job no longer seems viable, and in places where the welfare state is under pressure, has never existed or has vanished, foraging is often the only avenue to upward social mobility. At the same time, the climate crisis and concerns for the rapid loss of biodiversity are raising the urgency for environmental conservation. To understand the evolving frictions at this interface is highly relevant at this historical moment – both in academia and beyond. Interdisciplinary in outlook but grounded in anthropology, the project will be carried out by an international team of five researchers at the Rachel Carson Center, LMU Munich. Outputs include 2 monograph, 3 edited collections, 3 PhD thesis, 12 peer-reviewed articles, a film and an exhibition.

Mots-clés : social and cultural anthropology,environmental humanities,political ecology,foraging,livelihoods,capitalism,values,conflict,resources,frontier economies
Projet ERC : xMEMSRAY (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : KTH Royal Institute of Technology — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : KTH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

In this project we aim to demonstrate and test a MEMS-based miniaturized electronic x-ray source enabled through a vacuum packaging concept developed under an ERC AdG. The source should be capable of delivering doses up to approximately 1 Gy/min at a 2 mm distance while still having a millimetre overall size. This will be achieved by combining the vacuum packaging technique with a pointed field emission array developed in another project. The goal of the project is to demonstrate key functionalities and take the technology to TRL 4 with the ambition establish collaboration with leading company in brachytherapy.

Mots-clés : mems,x ray,vacuum packaging,radiotherapy,medical technology
Projet ERC : SPEEDER (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : University of Freiburg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1433750.0 €

In this project we develop a new approach, using the conducting polymer poly (3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT) to apply electrical fields (EFs) for guidance of cells. EFs are recognised as important guidance cues in the development and life cycle of human tissues. However, better tools are urgently needed to support experiments and applications. By developing supercapacitive PEDOT electrodes, able to support an ionic flow over extended time frames, we here target the most widely studied clinical application for EF stimulation, accelerated wound healing. Our technology facilitates the transfer from petri dish to device by offering an alternative driving process to metals. In addition, we establish a strategy where electrodes can be recharged in situ, by using intermediate periods of current flow in the reverse direction and below the threshold for triggering a biological response. Ionic flow driven by PEDOT electrodes can, in contrast to metals, be reversed with any small ion present in the electrolyte. The project will be driven in several steps: after proving the principle in scratch assays in vitro, we will proceed to three dimensional culture systems. The versatility of our concept will allow more complex wound healing models to be studied including human ex-vivo models. We will employ microfluidics to make high-throughput screening possible, thereby efficiently mapping EF parameters and especially the effects of sub-threshold stimulation. The ultimate goal at the end of the project is to transfer technology in the form of a polymer based wound-dressing for accelerating repair, the SPEEDER. In summary, we present a new concept which greatly facilitates EF stimulation in vitro and shows great promise for clinical use. Studies will better reproduce the biological situation, provide data essential for understanding this important effect, and point the way for how it can best be exploited for future applications.

Mots-clés : conducting polymers,pedot,electromigration,wound healing,tissue engineering
Projet ERC : HILTRAC (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Entité participante : University of Birmingham — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1948696.01 €

In this project, I will build, optimize, and apply a Highly Instrumented Low Temperature Reaction Chamber (HILTRAC) to study organosulfur chemical reactions. This chamber is the first of its kind to couple a uniform supersonic flow (USF) capable of achieving a wide range of cold temperatures (30 – 250 K) with the unique detection capabilities of an infrared direct frequency comb spectrometer (DFCS). The combination of DFCS with two additional detection methods (laser-induced fluorescence and time-of-flight mass spectrometry) will make HILTRAC a highly versatile instrument, with sufficient sensitivity and selectivity to measure very low concentrations of molecules in a gas phase chemical reaction. The spectrally broadband and high resolution frequency comb laser enables both reactants and products to be identified and monitored simultaneously as a function of reaction time. For the first time, a single instrument will have the ability to collect multiplexed information on temperature-dependent reaction kinetics, product identification, and product branching ratios. This will set a new benchmark for what should be considered a more complete understanding of the way a reaction progresses. As a first target for the newly commissioned HILTRAC, I will study three different organosulfur reactions relevant to chemical environments ranging from the interstellar medium to biological systems. There is very little information about organosulfur reactions in general and especially at low temperatures due to experimental challenges which the USF is able overcome. By using the combined power of the HILTRAC detection methods and the temperature controlled environment, with supporting quantum chemical calculations and reaction kinetics simulations, I will be able to draw conclusions about the reaction potential energy surfaces which govern the branching to reaction products. This in turn will allow predictive abilities beyond achievable experimental conditions.

Mots-clés : frequency comb spectroscopy,low temperature kinetics and dynamics,vibrational spectroscopy,laser induced fluorescence,time of flight velocity map ion imaging,pulsed laval uniform supersonic flow
Projet ERC : BIGGER (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems
Entité participante : Uppsala University — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2411410.0 €

In this project, we will develop and use technology that combines synthetic genomics and live-cell imaging. These methods make it possible to study the intracellular biophysics at single-molecule detail in thousands of genetically different bacterial strains in parallel. Our approach is based on in situ genotyping of a barcoded strain library after phenotyping has been performed by live-cell imaging. Within the scope of the proposed project, the new technology will be used to solve mechanistic and structural questions of the bacterial cell cycle. To this end, we will explore two parallel but complementary applications. In the first application, we will determine the dynamic 3D structure of the E. coli chromosome at 1kb resolution throughout the cell cycle. The structure determination can be seen as a live-cell version of chromatin conformation capture, where we will follow the 3D distances of 10 000 pairs of chromosomal loci over the cell cycle at high resolution. In the second application, we will make a complete CRISPRi knockdown strain library where we can follow the replication forks of the E. coli chromosome and septum formation over the cell cycle in individual cells. Using this strategy, we will resolve how individual gene products contribute to the cell-to-cell accuracy in replication initiation and cell division. In particular, this approach allows us to address the challenging question of size sensing at replication initiation. How the cell can decide that it is large enough to initiate replication is still an open question despite decades of investigations. The general principles for high-end imaging of pool-synthesized cell libraries have nearly unlimited applications throughout cell biology. The specific applications explored in this project will take the understanding of the bacterial cell cycle to a new level and answer general questions about the chromosomal organization and cell size sensing.

Mots-clés : single molecule tracking,cell cycle regulation,microfluidics,chromosome structure,live cell imaging,crispri
Projet ERC : ElecOpteR (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Proof of concept grants)
Entité participante : National Research Council — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNR
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 117531.0 €

In this proposal we plan to bring to a development stage TRL 3 an electro-optical device working at room temperature and based on polaritons (an hybrid photon-exciton particle) made of 2D perovskites and of an optical surface mode in a Distributed Bragg Reflector waveguide. Such a device could lead to extremely compact and ultrafast electro-optical modulators that can be fully integrated in a microchip to allow for fast signal communications between each peripheral component of a processor. As a matter of fact one of the major bottlenecks in processing speed is caused by retardations and dissipations in the interconnections between the CPU and the memory elements as well as other interconnect functions. Conversion of the electrical signal into an optical one can allow for faster and more efficient processing. Our prototype can allow for switching and routing of guided optical beams via electrical signals using the intrinsic nonlinearities of the hybrid photon-exciton states.

Mots-clés : exciton polaritons,electro optical switching and routing,optical circuits,surface electromagnetic,waves,perovskites
Projet ERC : CUTACOMBS (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : University of Warsaw — Pays : Pologne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UW
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1228250.0 €

In this proposal we plan to extend mathematical foundations of algorithms for various variants of the minimum cut problem within theoretical computer science. Recent advances in understanding the structure of small cuts and tractability of cut problems resulted in a mature algorithmic toolbox for undirected graphs under the paradigm of parameterized complexity. In this position, we now aim at a full understanding of the tractability of cut problems in the more challenging case of directed graphs, and see opportunities to apply the aforementioned successful structural approach to advance on major open problems in other paradigms in theoretical computer science. The specific goals of the project are grouped in the following three themes. Directed graphs. Chart the parameterized complexity of graph separation problems in directed graphs and provide a fixed-parameter tractability toolbox, equally deep as the one in undirected graphs. Provide tractability foundations for routing problems in directed graphs, such as the disjoint paths problem with symmetric demands. Planar graphs. Resolve main open problems with respect to network design and graph separation problems in planar graphs under the following three paradigms: parameterized complexity, approximation schemes, and cut/flow/distance sparsifiers. Recently discovered connections uncover significant potential in synergy between these three algorithmic approaches. Tree decompositions. Show improved tractability of graph isomorphism testing in sparse graph classes. Combine the algorithmic toolbox of parameterized complexity with the theory of minimal triangulations to advance our knowledge in structural graph theory, both pure (focused on the Erdos-Hajnal conjecture) and algorithmic (focused on the tractability of Maximum Independent Set and 3-Coloring).

Mots-clés : theoretical computer science,fixed parameter tractability,parameterized complexity,structural graph theory,cut and flows in graphs,directed graphs,planar graphs,graph decompositions