Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : GlobalMass (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : University of Bristol — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2397430.0 €

Sea level rise will be one of the most serious and costly consequences of future climate change. Constraining the sources and sinks of sea level change is essential for understanding the drivers of past variations and for improving predictions of future behaviour. Matching estimates of sea level rise with the components that affect it is a long standing problem in geosciences spanning multiple disciplines: oceanography, glaciology, hydrology and solid Earth physics. Traditionally, each part of the problem has been tackled separately using different data, techniques and physical understanding. This is because of the challenge in determining just one component but also because of the different expertise and understanding within the various communities. The proposed research will, for the first time, tackle all components simultaneously. I will combine all the relevant observations (both from satellites and in situ) with physical principles of the coupled system to solve for all components of the sea level budget. First, I will produce a data-driven estimate for glacio-isostatic adjustment that is independent of any assumptions about Earth structure or ice loading history. Second, I will partition the sea level budget into its steric, hydrological, cryospheric and solid earth components for 1981-2020. Third, I will apply the methods and datasets to re-evaluate the 20th Century sea level record. These advances will also result in the determination of regional mass trends of land ice and hydrology over a ~30 year period. In the process of attaining these goals in geosciences, I will also develop state of the art techniques for statistical inference of Big Data. I have developed and tested the approach, using a subset of the data, for the Antarctic ice sheet. The approach is unique, global in scale and will address fundamental problems across four different disciplines in geosciences, as well as advancing techniques in statistical inference and computer science.

Mots-clés : glaciers,ice sheet,hydrology,global mean sea level,bayesian inference,glacio isostatic adjustment,geodesy
Projet ERC : SeaLiT (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas — Pays : Grèce — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : FORTH;ΙΤΕ
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1372350.0 €

SeaLiT explores the transition from sail to steam navigation and its effects on seafaring populations in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea between the 1850s and the 1920s. In the core of the project lie the effects of technological innovation on seafaring people and maritime communities, whose lives were drastically altered by the advent of steam. The project addresses the changes through the actors, seafarers, shipowners and their families, focusing on the adjustment of seafaring lives to a novel socio-economic reality. It investigates the maritime labour market, the evolving relations among shipowner, captain, crew and their local societies, life on board and ashore, as well as the development of new business strategies, trade routes and navigation patterns. Maritime labour and shipping remains an understudied case of the transition from the premodern working environment of the sailing ship to that of the steamer, in a period of rapid technological improvements, economic growth and market integration. Therefore, the project will address a major gap in maritime historiography: on the one hand, the transition from sail to steam, and on the other, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, “the extended Mediterranean” according to F. Braudel. The project examines in a comparative approach seven maritime regions: the Ionian, Aegean, Tyrrhenian, Adriatic and Black Seas, Spain and southern France. The research team composed of the PI, three postdoctoral fellows, four senior researchers and four Ph.D. candidates from Greece, Italy, Spain, France and Ukraine will study unpublished sources: ship logbooks, crew lists, business records, and private correspondence. They will produce a collective volume, several articles, a final synthesis by the PI, four Ph.D. dissertations, three workshops, one international conference and a website with an online open access database, an archival and bibliographical corpus and reconstruction of ship voyages on a web G.I.S. application.

Mots-clés : maritime history,labour history,history of mediterranean in the modern and contemporary period
Projet ERC : BOLD (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Ben-Gurion University of the Negev — Pays : Israël — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : BGU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 300000.0 €

Searching for neutrinoless double beta decays (NLDBD) is the only practical way to establish if the neutrinos are their own antiparticles, a discovery of enormous importance for particle physics and cosmology. Due to the smallness of neutrino masses, the lifetime of NLDBD is expected to be much longer than the ones from the noise associated with the natural radioactive chains. A positive identification of NLDBD decays requires finding a signal that cannot be mimicked by radioactive backgrounds. In particular, the NLDBD decay of Xe-136 could be established by detecting the doubly ionized daughter atom, Ba2+ created in the decay. Such a detection could be achieved via a sensor made of a monolayer of molecular indicators. The Ba2+ would be captured by one of the molecules in the sensor, and the presence of the single Ba2+-complexed indicator would be subsequently revealed by a fluorescent response after interrogation with a laser system. Our proposed sensor is based on a new type of molecular bicolor fluorescent indicators, able to shift their emission spectra when complexed with Ba2+. The interrogation and detection system will be based in fast, two photon absorption microscopy. The primary goals of this proposal are: 1, a full demonstration of the feasibility of a sensor capable of detecting single Ba2+ ions in a High Pressure Xenon Chamber (HPXe), and 2) the construction of a large HPXe demonstrator, the BOLD detector, which will implement a full Barium Tagging Detector System and will demonstrate the feasibility of building a background-free experiment at the ton-scale, with large discovery potential.

Mots-clés : neutrinoless double beta decay,supramolecular chemistry,barium tagging,lasers,ion beams,sensors,particle physics,instrumentation
Projet ERC : NTSC (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : Ben-Gurion University of the Negev — Pays : Israël — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : BGU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 239625.0 €

Secure computation is a general-purpose tool for processing sensitive data without compromising its confidentiality or integrity. In recent years, significant research efforts have been invested in optimizing and implementing secure computation protocols and related cryptographic primitives such as fully homomorphic encryption and program obfuscation. The proposed project will explore new techniques for secure computation and related primitives. The new techniques are expected to enhance the asymptotic and concrete efficiency of current solutions and extend the known relations between secure computation and other problems in cryptography and computational complexity theory. The research will span the following directions: • Succinct secure computation via homomorphic secret sharing, exploring new research directions that were opened by recent works of the PI; • Protecting protocols against malicious parties, with relevance to efficient general-purpose program obfuscation; • Protecting protocols against general information leakage

Mots-clés : secure multiparty computation,computational complexity theory
Projet ERC : NTSC (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer science and informatics
Entité participante : Reichman University — Pays : Israël — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 117450.0 €

Secure computation is a general-purpose tool for processing sensitive data without compromising its confidentiality or integrity. In recent years, significant research efforts have been invested in optimizing and implementing secure computation protocols and related cryptographic primitives such as fully homomorphic encryption and program obfuscation. The proposed project will explore new techniques for secure computation and related primitives. The new techniques are expected to enhance the asymptotic and concrete efficiency of current solutions and extend the known relations between secure computation and other problems in cryptography and computational complexity theory. The research will span the following directions: • Succinct secure computation via homomorphic secret sharing, exploring new research directions that were opened by recent works of the PI; • Protecting protocols against malicious parties, with relevance to efficient general-purpose program obfuscation; • Protecting protocols against general information leakage

Mots-clés : secure multiparty computation,computational complexity theory
Projet ERC : THEMPO (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499375.0 €

Seeing persons among other persons interacting with each other and trying to understand what is happening is a fundamental task for our daily life. How the brain manifests the representational and integrative capacity necessary for this function is beyond our current understanding. THEMPO sees in the study of multiple-person scenarios an opportunity to address how human cognition deals with real-word social interactions and, more generally, how the information process is devised to go from a perceptual representation of entities (e.g. bodies) to a representation of the abstract relations that pull those entities together into a structured unit (i.e. a social event). Multiple-person scenarios are thus a case study to address the missing link between perception and higher cognition, and to understand how early visual perceptual representations make contact with relational/symbolic representations. THEMPO will pursue different levels of explanation, defining the sequence of information-processing stages involved, and their implementation in the brain in terms of large-scale network organization (functional, causal and hierarchical relations among perceptual and non-perceptual neural processes). It will further study the neural (linear and/or nonlinear) operations to transform perceptual information along the way toward abstraction. This will be accomplished by combining fine cognitive manipulations, imaging and neurostimulation techniques (fMRI, TMS), and advanced analytical approaches based on multivariate analyses of neural response patterns to define the operations behind neural activity in humans. THEMPO will culminate in the formulation of a model that will serve as a test bed to address individual variations in perceptual and neural combinatorial operations and, possibly, uncover the roots of altered social cognition. THEMPO is designed to build upon itself, from relatively simple stages to high-risk, high-gain objectives, as a safeguard to success.

Mots-clés : social cognition,person perception,object categories,object recognition,action understanding,scene perception,autism spectrum disorders,social neuroscience
Projet ERC : SELECTHAPLOID (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Entité participante : University of East Anglia — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UEA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2122476.0 €

Selection occurring during the haploid gametic phase of any sexually reproducing eukaryote may have far-reaching consequences for major biological processes. Selection acting on a haploid genome results in efficient removal of deleterious alleles and rapid fixation of beneficial alleles, which in turn affect adaptation, genetic load and the evolution of recombination rates. Despite their potential importance, we know surprisingly little about the genetic processes occurring during the time window after meiosis until the fusion of male and female pronuclei. This is particularly true for haploid selection in the gametes of predominantly diploid animals. Male gametes (sperm) are produced in vast numbers but only few fertilise eggs and therefore offer a strong opportunity for selection. A prevailing view that such haploid selection is of minimal consequence in animals has been recently overturned by evidence from our lab, which revealed strong links between sperm phenotype and offspring fitness, as well as sperm phenotype and its haploid genotype. The genetic mechanisms underlying these observations are currently poorly understood. In this project, I will tackle three key questions arising from these recent findings: i) How strong are purifying and positive selection during the haploid phase? ii) What are the mechanisms maintaining genetic variation in genes expressed during the haploid phase? iii) How does haploid selection affect the interaction between male and female gametes? By combining carefully designed innovative experimental approaches with cutting-edge single-cell genome and transcriptome sequencing technologies, this project will provide entirely novel insights into the process that is shared by all eukaryotic life. Findings from this project will illuminate not only the fields of evolutionary biology and genetics but far beyond into the areas of animal breeding and human reproduction.

Mots-clés : haploid selection,biphasic life cycle,genomic conflict,sexual reproduction
Projet ERC : Regenerate (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : University of Freiburg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498987.5 €

Self-regenerating materials are intriguing. If critical properties of a failing material or device could be easily restored, this would significantly extend its life time. In this proposal, we describe our vision of a technology platform for the self-regeneration of surface properties. Functional surfaces fail due to damage or contamination. Instead of trying to make “better” functional materials, we here propose a fundamental change in the design of such materials. We want to make a material that can shed its entire contaminated or defective layer, like a reptile shedding its skin, and present a clean, functional one. By shedding defined layers, instead of just eroding a polymer surface, the emerging surface stays homo¬geneous, and cavities or crater-like erosion are avoided. Further¬more, our vision is a material where we can selectively disintegrate the topmost degradable layer of a stack, while the other degradable layers remain in place. That way, the process can be repeated until all layers of the stack have been sequentially removed. The selective and sequential shedding of polymer layers from a multi-stack, with the aim of obtaining functionally intact successive functional layers, is so far an unresolved and therefore extremely attractive, fundamentally important concept, both from a basic science and an application point of view. We want to demonstrate the feasibility of our concept with two research objectives: (1) the sequential regeneration of a functional surface property, exemplified by antimicrobial activity; (2) the regeneration of the activity of a functional device, exemplified by a glucose sensor. We will assemble our target materials, and study their properties and disassembly using surface plasmon resonance/optical waveguide spectroscopy (SPR/OWG), atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry, and other relevant techniques. We will also develop a method to measure water diffusion through thin films using SPR/OWG.

Mots-clés : degradable polymers,polymer synthesis and characterization,polymer thin films,antibacterial polymers,surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy,conducting polymers,chemosensors,glucose sensor
Projet ERC : MonoComb (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : TU Wien — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TUW
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498230.0 €

Sensors are the heart of every smart technology. Capturing data of theSensors are the heart of every smart technology. Capturing data of the pollution in the air, infections of individual plants on a field, or our current physiological condition opens a variety of new possibilities. Cost effective and compact instruments that detect biomarkers in human exhaled breath have the potential to identify a number of severe diseases and various types of cancer. Optical sensors have the capability to realize such instruments that can be build into our mobile phones in future. The mid-infrared is the spectral region of choice, when it comes to sensing and spectroscopy, but mid-infrared technology is expensive, most components are bulky and often have a high power consumption. Monolithic integration and the possibility of large scale batch processing is a solution to overcome these limitations and to realize battery driven hand-held devices. Presently, integrated mid-infrared photonics rarely exists beyond theoretical concepts. This can be changed with this project by combining the best possible strategies to realize single-chip multi-species gas sensors. Fundamental research on frequency comb generation in quantum and interband cascade lasers will enable high resolution spectrometers without any movable parts. Optimized on-chip integrated photodetectors will allow ultra low-noise operation in or near the heterodyne noise limit even at room-temperature. Combined with on-chip integrated low-loss waveguides, extremely sensitive gas detection will be possible. Advanced stabilization schemes will enable ultra sensitive gas detection using compact low-budget electronics. All efforts are focused on the final goal to realize a miniaturized cost-effective tool to probe multiple biomarkers for breath analysis. Envisioning the early prediagnosis of diseases such as breast cancer, we particularly focus on the quantification of volatile organic components down to ppb concentration levels.

Mots-clés : frequency combs,quantum cascade laser,interband cascade laser,integrated photonics,mid infrared spectroscopy,lab on a chip
Projet ERC : GuppY (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Entité participante : University of London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : U. London
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1626880.91 €

Sex chromosomes have evolved independently countless times throughout the eukaryotes. As such, sex chromosomes represent one of the most pervasive examples of convergent evolution, as analogous yet unrelated sex chromosomes share many unique features that distinguish them from the rest of the genome. Although models for sex chromosome evolution have been proposed, they have been difficult to empirically test, largely because most model systems are at a terminal phase of sex chromosome divergence, and the majority of studies have therefore focused on the consequences of sex chromosome evolution. In order to understand the forces catalyzing sex chromosome evolution, we require a study system at earlier stages of sex chromosome divergence, ideally one where there is still extensive polymorphism among populations and closely related species in the degree and region of recombination suppression, and with easily identified sexually antagonistic traits. These traits are all exhibited by the Poeciliid fishes, the focus of GuppY, which is designed to test long-standing theories about sex chromosome evolution. The overarching goals of the project are to: 1) identify the mechanisms, catalysts and consequences of recombination suppression between the sex chromosomes, and 2) to quantify the role of sex-specific selection and sexual conflict in sex chromosome evolution and subsequent divergence. These goals will be accomplished through the synthesis of phenotypic, experimental and next-generation molecular genetic approaches in order to provide a cohesive and multi-faceted understanding of sex chromosome evolution. Moreover, these goals will be performed across three evolutionary levels, integrating patterns of variation within populations, among populations, and across related species, permitting insights encompassing short, medium and long time-spans and yielding unprecedented insight into multiple stages of evolutionary history.

Mots-clés : sex chromosomes,sexual selection,recombination