Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : INTERMAPS (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Soci al World and Its Interactions
Entité participante : Université Pompeu Fabra — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UPF
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1226000.0 €

Intersectionality is a concept that has gone viral in the past decade, becoming the most prominent analytical framework for analysing inequality. Its main premises are that people differently positioned in relation to their gender, ethnicity, age, social class, sexual orientation, etc., experience inequality in different ways, showing that the interconnection of specific social positions produces concrete forms of inequality and discrimination that are differently configured in different spaces. Despite the expansion of this concept, there is a lack of theoretical or methodological proposals that characterize how this variability is configured, leading to a prevailing use of intersectionality as a vague concept. INTERMAPS aims to make a significant paradigm shift in intersectionality studies by proposing a new theoretical and methodological model that, while maintaining the original purposes and motivations of the concept, develops a specific framework that can establish a systematization and characterization of intersectional dynamics. It includes a new theoretical model for conceptualizing intersectional inequalities from a spatial and emotional perspective, the development of new specific methods that combine and integrate qualitative, quantitative, digital and spatial (GIS) approaches and an empirical application that will follow an intercategorical approach. This will allow an analysis of intersectional dynamics in themselves, the creation of new indicators of intersectional inequality and discrimination and the establishment of a characterization and mapping of intersectionality. INTERMAPS will enable a better understanding of how structural inequalities are (re)produced and how they differently affect people’s everyday lives, building bridges between feminist and postcolonial theories, critical geographies and social psychology, and overcoming the divide between quantitative and qualitative approaches in the social sciences.

Mots-clés : intersectionality feminist theory space emotions social geography gis visual methodologies discrimination inequalities
Projet ERC : POLICYMETRICS (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Université Pompeu Fabra — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UPF
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 614900.0 €

Traditionally, the evaluation of macroeconomic policy has relied on analyzing specific economic models which often do not correspond to the complex and data-rich environments in which real world policy decisions are made. To this extent, I propose to develop a new framework for evaluating macroeconomic policy decisions ---policymetrics--- that is inspired by the robust inference literature in econometrics and makes minimal assumptions on the underlying economic model. The methodology detects optimization failures, i.e. instances in which policy decisions do not minimize the (welfare) loss function, and determines the causes and dynamics of such failures, all while fully respecting the limitations imposed by the Lucas critique. Part 1. The detection of optimization failures is based on the gradient of the loss function evaluated at the proposed policy choice. The key insight is that for large classes of macroeconomic loss functions the gradient only depends on known or estimable sufficient statistics such as forecasts, dynamic causal effects and preferences. I will tailor the methodology to allow for constrained policy problems, risk aversion and the real-time detection of optimization failures. Part 2. The methodology for understanding optimization failures is inspired by the forecast evaluation literature and aims to infer which trade-offs, across mandates and horizons, dynamics and variables were overlooked when setting policy. Among others, I will develop methods that test for systematic optimization failures, optimization encompassing and breaks in policy performance.  I will apply the framework to evaluate contemporaneous and historical monetary, fiscal and climate policy decisions from different governments and institutions around the world, hereby providing a unique non-model based assessment of modern macroeconomic policy.

Mots-clés : optimal policy,hypothesis testing,robust inference,forecast evaluation
Projet ERC : GALA (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Entité participante : Université Pompeu Fabra — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : UPF
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 175372.46 €

Language is perhaps the most prominent feature that distinguishes humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. Nevertheless, many perceptual and learning mechanisms serving language acquisition are not tailored specifically to language nor to humans. Decades of research have shown that several animal species are equipped with perceptual, cognitive and neural architectures that allow to learn language but only humans end up doing so. The key features and mechanisms that make language learnable by very young humans are still unclear. The GALA project focuses on how humans begin to learn language, exploring the biological nature of the mechanisms at the ‘entry-gate’ of language through a comparative-developmental approach involving nonhuman species, human newborns, infants and adults. Syllables are essential processing units of speech at the onset of language acquisition, through which newborns and infants preferentially encode and organize the speech signal. My proposal is that the mechanisms that allow to parse syllables from speech emerge from evolutionary-ancient sensory processes that likely evolved to compute different inputs in different species. I will explore two alleged universal linguistic constraints responsible for parsing syllables, and shaping the syllabic structure: Maximal Onset Principle (Research Line 1) and Sonority Hierarchy (Research Line 2). I will test such constraints across species, and at distinct stages of human development as well as in distinct sensory modalities, with behavioral and neuroimaging techniques. The GALA project will shed light on the ontogenetic and phylogenetic origins of the mechanisms through which humans access language, and will provide invaluable new knowledge that will bring us closer to understand why are humans the only species so far able to learn language.

Mots-clés : language learning,comparative cognition
Projet ERC : DynanoNet (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials Engineering
Entité participante : KTH Institut royal de technologie — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1488854.0 €

This research program will develop materials, methods, and technologies that enable adaptive separation of molecules and particles using dynamic nanofibril networks. The ground-breaking nature is the development of dynamically tunable membranes/gels for next-generation separation technology.  Current separation technologies are based primarily on polymeric membranes or gels for membrane filtration or chromatography. Membrane filtration is versatile but lacks selectivity, while chromatography is selective but with limited throughput. As pharmaceutical companies move toward protein or nanoparticle-based therapies, the size limitation of chromatography is a concern. The future separation technology should be adaptive and selective, with high resolution and throughput. It is time to develop next-generation separation technology that enables dynamic adaptability and integration with our electronic infrastructure and AI technology.  Hydrated nanofibril networks with unique nanomechanical behavior, a vast dynamic density range, and large pore sizes enable tunability that polymer networks cannot achieve. It is an unexplored class of materials for separation purposes, now available at scale due to recent cellulose and amyloid nanofibrils developments. Nanofibrils assemble in anisotropic hydrogel networks with a uniaxial swelling, ranging from 0 to 1000 g/g water content with pore sizes from a few to 1000 nm. I will study how different pretreatments or stimuli, such as electrochemistry, enable direct control of this 1000-fold change in pore size, which is unachievable for polymers. I will explore different modes of separation: centrifugation, filtration, electro-filtration, and ion-selectivity, using nanofibril networks as an adaptive mesh to sieve/repel molecules and particles of different sizes and charges. The outcome is a scientific foundation exploring how low-density nanofibril networks can lead to disruptive separation technology in a multi-billion-dollar industry.

Mots-clés : adaptive separation,adaptive fractionation,nanofibril,tunable membranes,electrotunable membranes
Projet ERC : CHIPzophrenia (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : KTH Institut royal de technologie — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499375.0 €

A well-controlled microenvironment is paramount for reproducible biomolecular studies. Organs-on-chips are in-vitro cell culture systems that employ microfluidic and biomaterial engineering towards that goal. They combine the advantages of animal models (physiological environment) with those of plastic-dish culture (human cells), and thereby hold exceptional promise in unraveling the biological processes that underlie health and disease. Yet control over the biochemical environment remains poor. With CHIPzophrenia, I propose to develop a new generation of organ-chip, one that features feedback-enabled control of the biochemical environment. I aim to realize dynamic and well-controlled application of stable therapeutics (via feedback sensors and flow control), and crucially also of highly volatile oxygen/nitrogen stressors by relying on electrochemistry to generate them in situ. My goal is to moreover implement a highly functional modular architecture so that the system can easily be repurposed and sensor/control modules reused – all with negligible dead volumes and displacement (key challenges in current organ-chips towards novel functionalities). I intend to leverage this organ-chip to elucidate how nitrosative stressors disrupt the complex multicellular interactions of the blood-brain barrier, where existing in-vitro models fail to provide the requisite cellular and chemical microenvironment. Yet such disruption is implicated in a wide array of disorders – including schizophrenia, where our biological understanding remains poor and in-vivo models are uniquely challenging. I will specifically test the hypothesis that nitrosative dysregulation of perivascular cells plays a causative role in neuronal dysfunction associated with the disorder. Not only will CHIPzophrenia thus reveal new potential treatment targets, but it will also establish the platform as a transformative tool for dynamic and well-controlled in-vitro research into stress-related disorders and beyond.

Mots-clés : organs on chips microfluidics reactive oxygen and nitrogen species feedback control blood brain barrier schizophrenia
Projet ERC : META-SURVEILLANCE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: B iological  Mechanisms , Structures  and Functions
Entité participante : Université du Danemark du Sud — Pays : Danemark — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : SDU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499329.0 €

Metabolic fluctuations and changes in DNA replication and cell cycle dynamics orchestrate early development and tumorigenesis. Of particular interest are reactive oxygen species (ROS), by-products of basal metabolic reactions, and major signaling molecules driving cell proliferation, differentiation, and cancer cell growth. However, despite their utmost importance in cell physiology, how ROS signals communicate to the cell cycle and genome safeguard mechanisms remains poorly explored. My postdoctoral work has illuminated this topic by discovering novel redox-sensitive mechanisms that directly couple metabolic nucleotide fluctuations and oxygen starvation to DNA replication dynamics. These findings revealed that ROS-signaling could operate as a prime and cell cycle checkpoint-independent surveillance for replicating genomes. Since profound alterations in metabolic pathways and redox state naturally entail embryonic growth, cell differentiation, and cancer transformation, in such scenarios, can metabolic cues in the form of ROS align cell cycle states and DNA replication? In this application, I propose to address this question by dissecting the mechanisms that align core cell cycle machinery and replisome dynamics to endogenous ROS fluctuation in tailor-made cellular models of early mammalian development (stem cells) and cancer. By combining innovative analytical tools, including CRISPR-based tagging of endogenous proteins with biochemistry and advanced cell biology (e.g., quantitative single-cell imaging of redox-state, Cyclin-CDKs, and genome caretakers; replication fork sequencing), I will define the molecular nexus coupling metabolism with genome surveillance at the global (genome-wide) and local (replisome) level. These investigations will provide an unmatched picture of regulatory foundations of cellular and genome integrity in normal and pathophysiological contexts, enhancing understanding of genome surveillance in development mechanisms and disease.

Mots-clés : dna replication,cycle cycle,cycle cycle checkpoint,replication stress,genome protection,metabolic signaling,redox homeostasis,early development,cancer,quantitative imaging
Projet ERC : FishTRIM (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Integrative B iology : from Genes and Genomes to S ystems
Entité participante : Université de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : USC
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499228.75 €

FishTRIM aims to study the evolution and function of the TRIM family of E3 ubiquitin ligases in fish. This family has undergone several clade-specific expansions across the fish phylogeny, with single-copy mammalian TRIMs frequently present in large numbers in fish genomes. TRIM E3 ligases and their direct interactions with viral proteins are key in host-pathogen relationships, and several fish TRIMs have been associated to antiviral responses. Additionally, positive selection has been observed in fish TRIM protein domains involved in protein-protein interactions and pathogen recognition. This suggests that this family of fish E3 ubiquitin ligases may act as an immune mechanism against specific viral pathogens, and therefore the repeated independent expansions of the TRIM repertoire in fish could be the result of an arms race between fish and viruses. To address these questions, FishTRIM will focus on understanding the function of this family in fish, and their potential co-evolutionary interactions with viruses. Recent advances in the fields of functional genetics and genomics, such as single-cell technologies and genome editing, allow us to interrogate gene function at unprecedented scale and resolution. Nonetheless, a phylogenomic approach will be fundamental to determine potential functional overlap across independent expansions, and selection patterns in the context of TRIM protein domains will contribute to illuminate the function of the expanded TRIM repertoire. FishTRIM aims to deliver frontier knowledge on the biological significance of the different fish TRIM expansions, with potential to revolutionise our understanding of fish immune systems and the evolution of the ubiquitination machinery. FishTRIM will also explore the role of TRIMs in resistance to viral diseases in fish, with potential transformative outcomes leading to improved fish welfare and food security.

Mots-clés : trim,fish,ubiquitination,e3 ligases,host pathogen interactions,gene expansions
Projet ERC : smartGROW (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and Processes Engineering
Entité participante : Université de Bergen — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Diamond, due its outstanding properties, is a desired material to coat various objects for medical, bioelectronics, optical, aerospace, marine and other applications. However, achieving uniform coatings on complex-shaped 3D objects is still a not overcome challenge due to 2D nature of current deposition techniques. The aim of this project is to develop a new diamond growth technology, which will allow diamond synthesis in 3D and accelerate the widespread use of diamond-based materials in new research fields and industry. The technical challenge of diamond growth in 3D will be addressed by leveraging on two ground-breaking ideas: 1) exploiting the unique properties of metamaterials and fractals to achieve uniform plasma excitation in 3D; 2) using new protonuclei-enhanced gas phase diamond nucleation pathways to overcome the nucleation barrier. The diamond growth will be achieved by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition technique in a unique deposition system. The plasma in the system will be excited by traveling surface waves in 3D using fractal apertures on composite right/left-handed materials with infinite wavelength propagation property. As a result, plasma is expected to be distributed homogeneously in space, which is a necessary condition to achieve uniform diamond synthesis on 3D objects. The growth of diamond is expected to proceed via nonclassical protonuclei-enhanced gas phase nucleation pathway proposed to significantly increase diamond nucleation rate and allow diamond growth that is independent on a substrate temperature. The use of metamaterials with fractal apertures for diamond synthesis via nonclassical gas phase nucleation pathway is an absolute novelty, which will address fundamental questions about diamond growth in a gas phase. Beyond that, this new technology could enable other researchers to explore new applications of diamond on temperature sensitive materials, which require good electronic, chemical, or surface tribological properties.

Mots-clés : diamond,chemical vapor deposition,metamaterials,fractals,plasma
Projet ERC : WarEffects (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : Université de Bergen — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1784229.0 €

WarEffects aims to advance a systematic, nuanced, and rigorous understanding of how civil wars affect women’s social and political empowerment at the local level. Recent quantitative research suggests that civil wars promote women’s political representation, but these accounts reflect country-level aggregate measures and often focus on a minority of political ‘elite’ women. Thus, they do not inform us how subnational and individual-level variation in civil war experiences affect the majority of ‘non-elite’ women at the local level. To address this challenge, I propose a novel theoretical framework that simultaneously explores the effects of civil wars on i) multiple dimensions of women’s empowerment in the household and family, the community, and local politics. Moreover, I introduce ii) nuanced definitions for different types of exposure to civil wars, iii) the difference between changes in gender roles and gender attitudes, and iv) the moderating effect of context conditions. Building on the variation of each of these four dimensions allows me to generate a large set of hypotheses to advance a systematic and nuanced understanding of when, why, and how civil wars promote women’s empowerment, and when they do not. To empirically explore these hypotheses, I will combine novel quantitative survey experiments and qualitative research in Colombia, DR Congo, and Sri Lanka. While each country case has experienced several decades of civil war, there is significant within-case and between-case variation in social context, conflict dimensions, patterns of violence, and conflict status, rendering them ideal for exploring the local effects of civil war violence on women’s empowerment. Drawing on this comparative design will allow me to make statements about common patterns, divergences, and conditional effects. Altogether, this wealth of findings will establish a new conceptual and empirical research platform on the impact of civil wars on gender relations.

Mots-clés : civil wars,women s empowerment,quantitative,survey experiment,micro level
Projet ERC : CONSPIRATIONS (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Soci al World and Its Interactions
Entité participante : Académie slovaque des sciences — Pays : Slovaquie — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : SAV
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 228765.0 €

In recent years, conspiracy theories have become an important issue not only to the people who propagate them, but also to those who fear their consequences and design initiatives to push back against the ‘post-truth’ era. Perceived as a major threat to liberal democracies, they are increasingly subjected to state-led interventions. Also many NGOs are now dedicated to preventing and combating conspiracy theories. Clearly, conspiracy theories have become a highly polarizing topic. The objective of CONSPIRATIONS is to analyse this growing tension over conspiracy theories in Europe. The project proposes an innovative approach which moves beyond an exclusive focus on ‘truthers’ to examine the perspective of ‘truth defenders’ as well. This project will analyse conspiracy theory not as a standalone phenomenon, but instead as an outcome of the complicated relationship linking stakeholders who are both separated and connected by the conspiratorial divide. By expanding the scope of study from conspiracy theories to conflicts over conspiracy theories, CONSPIRATIONS will explore the possibility that the worlds of these actors are mutually constitutive. This approach goes beyond the question of who is wrong and what to do about it. Instead, it offers a deeper understanding of the conflicts themselves, which are clearly of urgent importance for contemporary Europe. That understanding in turn will provide better knowledge for tackling the damaging effects of the conspiratorial divide. An important premise of this proposal is that the answer lies not in addressing the content of the conspiracy theories themselves, but rather the kinds of conditions that give rise to them. The secondary goal is to understand how these conflicts are influenced by social contexts, and how they unfold across diverse European settings. The objectives of this project will be achieved through ethnographic case studies in Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and EU institutions.

Mots-clés : conspiracy theories,social anthropology