Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : CoreInstincts (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : Société Max-Planck pour le développement des sciences — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Société Max Planck
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1522288.0 €

Instinctive behaviours that achieve defence, feeding, aggression and parental care have evolved across animal phyla to ensure survival without the need for learning. Contrary to common belief, instinctive behaviours are not ‘hard-wired’ reflexes, but can be flexible in both action selection and execution. They are modulated by internal states, such as stress, hunger or oestrous cycle, and may undergo short- and long-lasting adaptations in order to accommodate environmental changes and individual needs. The aim of this proposal is to gain a mechanistic understanding of adaptive instinctive behaviour output within a quantitative neuroethological framework and by combining molecular, cellular and circuit-level approaches. I will focus on the vertebrate periaqueductal gray (PAG), an evolutionarily conserved brainstem region that plays a crucial role in the initiation and execution of virtually all instinctive behaviours. Despite this, a comprehensive analysis of the cellular and network properties of the PAG, and their behavioural correlates, is lacking. In addition to generating the first dataset of PAG network topology using high resolution in vitro anatomical and electrophysiological approaches, we will study its neural computations across multiple instinctive behaviours and during motivational conflict using neural activity recordings in freely behaving mice. Building on these results, we will test the role of neuromodulation in imparting flexibility to this circuit (and the selection of appropriate behaviours), focussing on naturally-occurring neuromodulatory changes during the oestrous cycle. By establishing how the PAG – a critical circuit that closely precedes motor neuron recruitment – controls and imparts flexibility to instinctive behaviours, this proposal will expand our knowledge on the neural and molecular basis of adaptive behavioural output that is fundamental for the survival of all animals, with an emphasis on the female brain.

Mots-clés : instinctive behaviour,neuroethology,behavioural flexibility,motor execution,mechanistic neuroscience
Projet ERC : BoundaryTheory (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Mathematics
Entité participante : Université Ben Gourion du Néguev — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BGU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499750.0 €

The general goal of the proposed research is to gain a deeper understanding of group properties which are reflected by the theory of random walks. Another goal is to reveal further connections between this theory with the rigidity phenomenon. The main mathematical fields appearing in this research plan are measurable and topological group actions (Ergodic Theory and Topological Dynamics), and group actions on C*-algebras.  One of the main objectives is developing a theory towards solving a specific case of Connes’ Rigidity Conjecture, formulated for C*-algebras. Namely, differentiating reduced C*-algebras of irreducible lattices of different ranks. The suggested approach is inspired by a well-known rigidity result of Furstenberg. This involves studying the relationship between measurable and topological boundaries, as well as their C*- and von Neumann algebraic counterparts. Related to this relationship, it is also conjectured that the existence of uniquely ergodic models for probability measure preserving actions in a much wider setup than is currently known.  Another goal is to develop a theory of automorphism groups of Markov chains. Two potential applications are discussed: the first is developing new techniques for realizing the Furstenberg-Poisson boundary, and the second, is to relate the boundaries of groups, which are measure equivalent.  An additional line of research suggests new systematic studies of operator algebras related to groups. This direction is inspired by the fruitful theme in Geometric Group Theory, studying the space of all subgroups, of a given group. The dynamics on the space of subalgebras is suggested to provide a new set of invariants attributed to groups, unitary representations, and group actions. A subalgebra rigidity phenomenon is conjectured to hold for higher rank groups, and a strategy based on Boundary Theory is being presented. This direction opens many new horizons to the study of groups’ operator algebras.

Mots-clés : dynamics,ergodic theory,poisson boundary,random walks on group,c algebra
Projet ERC : GLOBCOADEV (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Université nouvelle de Lisbonne — Pays : Portugal — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1370996.0 €

Healthy coastal waters play a critical role for global food security. Worldwide, the ocean sustains the livelihood of more than 3 billion people, the vast majority of which live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Worryingly, recent evidence shows that human contamination of coastal waters is having a significant impact on marine life. With a large share of communities relying on fishing for survival, it is likely that coastal water contamination is already disrupting local socio-economic development in LMICs. However, knowledge about this phenomenon remains highly limited. GLOBCOADEV will provide novel insights into the causal effect of coastal water contamination on economic development. Using a novel approach exploiting exogenous variation in coastal water contamination determined by rivers' release and by climate change, we will identify this effect for the last five decades and at a global scale for all LMICs. By gathering a wide array of micro-level datasets, ranging from household surveys to satellite imaging, and applying advanced micro-econometric techniques, we will pursue three major objectives: 1) to provide the first global evidence of the effect of coastal water contamination on early-childhood development, focusing in particular on the role of nutrition; 2) to determine how coastal water contamination affects local economic activities, concentrating on the pattern of fishing and on indicators of overall economic development; 3) to investigate side effects of coastal water contamination that are impacting local economic development, which include changes in political attitudes, the insurgence of violence, and rural-urban migration. GLOBCOADEV will not only fill an important gap in the literature, but also inform the design of policies protecting the environment. As highlighted by UN's Sustainable Development Goals, knowledge in this area is crucially needed in these challenging times for the ocean.

Mots-clés : ocean,early childhood development,economic development,fishing,conflict,political attitudes,migration
Projet ERC : DATA-ADDICT (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Soci al World and Its Interactions
Entité participante : Université d'Helsinki — Pays : Finlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499956.0 €

The DATA-ADDICT project studies data-driven market power in the production of addiction. It focuses on online gambling as a key empirical example of a highly addictive, digital, and data-driven industry. Commercial operation in online environments produces unprecedented amounts of data. Data are circulated within networks and used to increase profit via extractive commercial practices and political influence. Data-driven practices can be particularly harmful when employed by industries that produce and sell addictive commodities, such as gambling. Yet, and largely due to existing asymmetries in accessing data generated and held by industry actors, there has been a notable gap in our understanding of how data translate to power for addictive industries in online environments. What kind of data do addictive industries collect and circulate within their networks? How do these industries mobilise data to influence consumers and regulation? The project builds a theoretical understanding of data-driven market power in the production of addiction via four interrelated research streams. First, it charts how data are collected, used, and circulated by the online gambling industry and related actors; Second, it looks at how data are mobilised by these industries to leverage power over consumers; Third, it analyses how these industries mobilise data to influence regulation; Fourth, running alongside the three empirical streams, it forms a theoretical conceptualisation of data-driven market power by using empirically informed middle range theory building and by drawing on social theories of digital capitalism and power. The project produces a novel theoretical understanding of power in digital addictive commodity industries and beyond. The project also formulates and systemises new empirical methods to access and analyse industry data. At a societal level, the project generates crucial information on how to prevent harmful practices employed by addictive commodity industries

Mots-clés : gambling,addiction,commercial determinants,qualitative
Projet ERC : QuantuMDs (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials Engineering
Entité participante : Université Ben Gourion du Néguev — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BGU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2457970.0 €

In the past decade the study of Quantum Materials for Quantum Devices (QuantuMDs) has been recognized as an important research goal in both academia and industry. QuantuMDs are predicted to be the building blocks of next-generation modern technology. The material group most suitable for use in QuantuMDs is the group of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), which exhibit exotic properties, such as superconductivity, charge order, Mott physics and topological states.  My main goal is to develop new and exotic QuantuMDs from a variety of pure or intercalated TMDs; these new materials will enable the establishment of a new material platform suitable for quantum technology. I will pursue the fabrication and investigation of various highly correlated systems via multiple measurement techniques including electrical current pulse manipulation. I will adopt a unique combined approach of material synthesis control, high-end device fabrication and broad measurement techniques. My ability to perform a full experimental cycle on any system studied, from crystal growth to advanced fabrication and application, will enable me to undertake the most complex problems and produce creative routes to achieve the proposal goal.  The impact of this work will be two-fold; First, the manipulation of exotic phases will open vast scientific possibilities in the exploration of nontrivial physical effects, specifically of single-material low-dimensional highly correlated condensed matter systems. Second, the ultra-low power, ultra-fast dynamics and robustness towards external unwanted perturbations of our expected QuantuMDs will create unlimited opportunities for the future of technological applications. The enticing possibilities include ultra-fast slidetronics-based devices, fault-tolerant superconducting quantum bits and low-power topological magnetic random-access memory devices.

Mots-clés : quantum materials,quantum devices,superconducting qbits,spintronics,highly correlated electronic systems,ultra fast low power memory,novel magnetism for applications,low dimensional systems,intercalated systems,inorganic single crystal synthesis,focused ion beam machining,high resolution nano fabrication
Projet ERC : DREAM (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials Engineering
Entité participante : Université Ben Gourion du Néguev — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BGU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2000000.0 €

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is an attractive route for green hydrogen production. Despite nearly half a century of research efforts, no material has successfully met the stringent requirements for a photoelectrode material, the light harvesting semiconductor within the PEC cell. Metal-oxides are widely viewed as the most promising photoelectrode materials for their exceptional stability in aqueous electrolytes, but those with suitable band gaps for visible light absorption typically have open d shell configurations, and suffer from low photoconversion efficiencies. I hypothesize that the underperformance of such materials is related to their electronic configuration which reduces the photogeneration yield of mobile charge carriers, an overlooked yet critical loss mechanism in metal-oxides. Thus, unlike conventional semiconductors where all absorbed photons generate electrons and holes, in metal-oxides with open d shell configuration, many of the photons give rise to localized electronic transitions that do not contribute to the photocurrent. In addition, polaronic transport and charge carrier recombination reduce the charge carrier collection efficiency. DREAM will address these challenges and provide a leap forward in understanding the photogeneration processes in metal-oxide photoelectrodes and their effect on photoconversion efficiency. To achieve these goals, we will couple systematic control of crystallographic structure, d orbital occupancy, and local cation environment using heteroepitaxial thin film growth together with wavelength and temperature-resolved characterization of the photogeneration yield spectrum. The knowledge gained by these fundamental investigations will lead to new design rules, which we will employ to engineer new metal-oxides with near unity photogeneration yield, and integrate them into novel device architectures, enabling highly efficient PEC-PV tandem cells for unassisted solar water splitting.

Mots-clés : transition metal oxides,photoelectrochemical water splitting,solar water splitting,thin films,photogeneration,charge carrier transport,epitaxial growth
Projet ERC : TypoMetaLing (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Entité participante : Université de Coimbra — Pays : Portugal — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499058.0 €

This project explores metacognitive monitoring: the ability of individuals to track decisions, cognitive states, and behavior in uncertain situations. In earlier studies, I showed that Basque-Spanish bilinguals outperform monolinguals in metacognitive efficiency in tasks that engage cognitive processes activated when we hear natural speech. I suggested that bilinguals estimate the likelihood of making an error in language tasks better than monolinguals, i.e., they have enhanced error-monitoring skills in language tasks. However, bilinguals do not represent a homogeneous population. They differ in age of acquisition, relative proficiency in their languages, switching behavior, and also in typological distance between languages in their inventory. Basque and Spanish are typologically different languages. I hypothesize the variety of typologically different structures presents additional cognitive challenges and increases speech processing load, enhancing metacognition. I will test that the modulatory effect of bilingualism should be more modest in those bilingual populations where languages are typologically closer and the variety of language structures to be processed is narrower. I predict that exposure to more diverse phonological cues will enhance monitoring phonological tasks of any type, irrespective of phonological properties in bilinguals' native languages. I will also explore whether this metacognitive enhancement will be transferred from phonological to syntactic tasks, even if bilinguals' languages have typologically different phonology but similar syntax. Finally, I will explore if metacognitive enhancement in language tasks is transferred to non-linguistic behavior. In contemporary society, where bilingualism is a norm rather than exception, it is important to be aware to what extent metacognitive enhancement due to individual linguistic experience is transferred to non-language behavior and influences decision making both at individual and group levels.

Mots-clés : metacognition,bilingualism,typological difference
Projet ERC : StemCellSize (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and R egeneration
Entité participante : Université d'Helsinki — Pays : Finlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

The failure to regenerate tissue underlies a challenging health issue in elderly. A main contributor to this decline is the loss of stem cell function during aging. Despite the essential role of stem cells, it is unclear how they fail to maintain their functions during aging and disease. I discovered a new aspect of stem cell aging in vivo: cellular enlargement. With age, stem cells increase in size leading to their functional decline. However, it is unclear how size impacts stem cell fitness. Moreover, the physiological importance of this process remains unsolved.  My team at the University of Helsinki will address these questions by: (1) identifying pathways that promote stem cell dysfunction during enlargement, (2) assessing the effects of size reduction on stem cell rejuvenation, and (3) illuminating the effects of stem cell size on cancer.  Supported by preliminary data, I hypothesize that cell size is a driver of stem cell aging and cancer. Using hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) of mouse models, I will identify the molecular mechanisms impairing fitness of large HSCs. I will also perform a screen to identify pathways that modulate the size of HSCs to test for rejuvenation. These will allow me to establish how HSC size affects other cellular aging pathways, organismal health and whether this relationship is causal or correlative. I hypothesize that cellular size impacts HSCs to transform into cancerous cells. To test this, I will use differently sized, oncogenic HSCs from mice and humans to test their potential to facilitate leukemia in vivo and to investigate the underlying mechanisms of this process.  The novel concepts outlined here have exceptional potential for scientific impact as they add a new paradigm to stem cell aging, provide transformative treatment perspectives and examine cancer from a new dimension.

Mots-clés : cell size,hematopoietic stem cells,metabolism,leukemia
Projet ERC : GRETA (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Université d'Helsinki — Pays : Finlande — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499743.0 €

The European Union’s ambitious climate policies will have wide-ranging distributional impacts in societies. Yet, it is poorly understood how to mitigate the adverse impacts and how compensation mechanisms can be designed to allocate funds to those most in need. GRETA introduces an integrated approach for climate policies and inequality, and will increase our understanding on how to reach climate targets equitably. In the theoretical part, we characterize a green tax reform that creates sufficient incentives to cut emissions, generates public revenue for the green transition, and ensures that costs are fairly distributed across the society. Individuals hold private information about their productivity and abatement costs. In this setting, income taxation and carbon pricing are not separable and, strikingly, effective carbon prices should vary by income-level. The theory shows that the optimal tax design depends on a limited set of sufficient statistics, including: (1) carbon price incidence per income group, (2) emission semi-elasticity per income group and (3) individuals’ perception of within- and across-income inequality.  In the empirical part, we quantify these sufficient statistics (1)-(3) using price variation created by the Energy Crisis of 2022 and a rich administrative data covering all Finnish firms and individuals. First, we estimate the within- and across-income inequalities created by the sudden rise in electricity prices and, using plausibly exogenous ending dates of fixed-term contract, estimate the individual-level emission semi-elasticities. Second, we study how the energy price spikes contribute to inequality though their different impacts on firm owners and workers, where our identification is based on a shift-share instrument approach. Third, we study the fairness perception by a large-scale survey where responses are linked to the administrative data. These empirical findings allow us to quantify the optimal tax design numerically.

Mots-clés : green tax reform,climate change,optimal income taxation,carbon incidence,inequality