Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : CULT_ORIGINS (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Culture – the inheritance of behavioural phenotypes through social learning – is one of the most pervasive and influential characteristics of the human species. However, we lack knowledge about the origins of culture and to what extent its sub-components reflect species universals. Studying primates enables us to identify the evolutionary origins of human culture and the extent of its human uniqueness. Until now, it has largely been assumed that the social and cumulative components of human culture are derived phenomena that emerged after the phylogenetic split with the ape lineages. However, this claim may reflect a lack of adequate methodologies and research attention, leaving primate social culture underestimated. Now, combining novel techniques to investigate primate culture (deep learning) with innovative experiments in naturalistic settings, CULT_ORIGINS will overcome this issue by providing the first systematic study on social culture in primates. Rich datasets on macaques will be compared across an unprecedented number of groups to identify cultural variation in primate sociality and the existence of cooperative cultures. Great apes will be studied for their capacity to adopt cultural information flexibly and generate increasingly adaptive cultures – the pinnacles of human culture. Combining the strengths of experimental rigor and naturalistic observation in an unparalleled multi-group approach, CULT_ORIGINS will deliver step-change insights into the origins of human culture that go far beyond the State-of-the-Art. We will test the hypothesis that culture permeates the fabric of primates’ sociality, where it impacts the expression of cooperation, social learning and cumulative culture, like in humans. By synergizing approaches across biology, psychology, ethology and anthropology, CULT_ORIGINS will advance our understanding of the origins of culture, one of our most remarkable capacities, and challenge current perspectives about its human uniqueness.
Projet ERC : Q-Light-Topo (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed Matter Physics
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 : 1274766.0 €

Using quantum light to control material properties is an emergent field of research that is sparked by the recent experimental advances in controlling chemical reactions, enhancing transport in semiconductors or even inducing superconductivity in polymers. Inducing topological phases of matter with light is particularly interesting research direction due to their robustness and their possible application in quantum technologies. This theoretical proposal will focus specifically on using quantum nature of light to probe, control and engineer topological phases of matter arising in solid-state materials coupled to cavity photons. I will study semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures, which have been under intense experimental scrutiny recently in the context of topological superconductivity, coupled to cavity photons with the aim of distinguishing trivial from topological zero-energy bound states arising in such setups. Cavity response will be also investigated as a tool for probing corner states in second-order topological superconductors. This proposal will explore how to control topological phase transitions in various topological materials, including semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures, strongly coupled to light, and also focus on topological characterization of the hybrid polaritonic light-matter excitations arising in such systems. The overarching goal of this project is to propose a protocol for engineering topological states in initially trivial electronic materials with quantum light. The implementation of this proposal requires a study of various coupling regimes between a solid-state material and quantum light, and is based on my experience in mesoscopic physics and circuit quantum electrodynamics. Moreover, design of new topological systems will help to move forward the field of quantum technologies.

Mots-clés : circuit quantum electrodynamics,cavity resonators,topological phases of matter,topological superconductivity,majorana bound states
Projet ERC : MultiDry (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth System Science
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Recent decades have seen a doubling in multi-year droughts around the world. With long-lasting impact on streamflow, groundwater and vegetation, these negatively affect agriculture, drinking water supply, hydropower, shipping and ecosystems as a result. The IPCC states that contrary to “normal” droughts, multi-year droughts cause abrupt changes that take years or decades to be reversed. Due to climate change, multi-year droughts are projected to become more frequent and longer, and potential recovery times between droughts will decrease.  I hypothesise that the rise in multi-year droughts and their impacts is caused by stronger teleconnections between the atmosphere, ocean and land, enhanced by climate change, and that feedbacks between the bio-hydrological cycle exuberate the impacts of multi-year droughts. The MultiDry project will make scientific breakthroughs by tracking the propagation of multi-year droughts from climate forcing, through vegetation and soil moisture to surface water and groundwater impacts, whilst also including the important, intricate affects of human water use. In MultiDry, I will combine observations with a novel modelling framework to unravel the drivers behind multi-year droughts worldwide, and the feedbacks of vegetation and human water use on drought duration, propagation, and recovery. This will yield new process understanding, novel scientific datasets, and a basis for reliable projections of future multi-year drought events.  This project will drastically improve our understanding of the drivers and mechanisms of multi-year droughts that I believe to be fundamentally different from those of “normal” droughts. The MultiDry results will inform policymakers and water managers around the world on future water challenges. MultiDry will also provide the fundamental understanding needed to quantify future drought vulnerability around the world, help to improve drought preparedness and improve global hydrological modelling of drought.

Mots-clés : drought,climate change,hydrology
Projet ERC : POLYPATH (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2308125.0 €

A vast number of pathologies have a genetic origin. Yet, using gene therapy to directly intervene at the genetic root remains a rarity within today’s pharmaceutical arsenal. The main hurdles in promoting gene therapy from the lab to the clinic are the complex delivery pathways and biological instability of the therapeutic nucleic acids. Polyplexes, nanoscale coacervates of nucleic acids and (synthetic) polymers, hold the prospect of being highly tunable, scalable and robust transport vehicles and as such a key enabler for gene therapy.  Despite years of active research, however, polyplexes have yet to fulfil their claimed potential. Our understanding of polyplex formation and the followed assembly pathways are presently insufficient for the rational design of efficient and selective gene delivery vehicles. Prototypical polyplex formation routes are ill-defined, yielding a broad spectrum of unequilibrated structures. The effect of this structural polydispersity on gene delivery and transfection efficiency is unknown, critically hampering the potency of polyplexes.  The aim of POLYPATH is to develop polyplex fabrication routes via controllable and predictable assembly pathways. These routes rely on the in situ growth of the encapsulating polymers in the presence of the nucleic acids and yield temporal, on-demand control of the attractive interactions that drive polyplex formation. With this synthetic control, we will create a systematic, predictable library of structurally well-defined polyplexes. The assembly processes will be elucidated with state-of-the-art time-resolved X-ray scattering and spectrally-resolved NMR relaxometry and diffusometry. To bridge the knowledge gap between polyplex structure and function, we will use fluorescence correlation spectroscopy to directly measure polyplex stability and fate in cellular environments. Ultimately, POLYPATH will provide mechanistic insights that can finally bring functional polyplexes towards the clinic.

Mots-clés : macromolecular complexes including interactions involving nucleic acids
Projet ERC : TrackFLU (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems E ngineering
Entité participante : Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Inrae
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1090000.0 €

Avian influenza viruses (AIV) represent tenacious and major public and animal health problems across the world. Controlling AIV at its poultry source in Asia is essential to decrease the virus load in susceptible avian species and environment, limit the risk of human infection with AIV and minimize the risk for future global AIV pandemics. In TrackFLU, I will improve our capacity to quantify, model and predict the AIV spread in live bird market (LBM) networks in Asia, which are urgently needed if the impact of future epidemics of AIV is to be mitigated and thus, represent key elements for pandemic preparedness. For the first time, extensive field work will be combined with state-of-the-art network analysis, phylodynamic and disease modelling tools with the view to successfully influence policy-making. I will use this unique and innovative analytical pipeline to address the following key objectives: O1) Identify the factors shaping the connectivity of LBM networks, O2) Quantify the transmission dynamics of AIV in LBM networks and O3) Optimize strategies to limit AIV spread in LBM networks. TrackFLU will help us to disentangle the LBM networks’ connectivity and to resolve the AIV transmission dynamics in LBM networks. TrackFLU will result in a cutting-edge predictive model of AIV spread that incorporates, for the first time, most of the biological complexities of AIV spread in LBM networks in Asia. The model and its associated web-application will represent very powerful and innovative tools for the design of novel control strategies tailored to the key features of AIV transmission in LBM networks. TrackFLU will thus contribute to the active research issue of improving capacity to predict AIV transmission in these complex systems in Asia, hence addressing the unmet need of local stakeholders and decision makers for better predictive tools. With TrackFLU, I anticipate very promising results, with huge impacts on animal and public health.

Mots-clés : avian influenza viruses,modelling,phylodynamics,public and animal health,disease control
Projet ERC : PLANETSTEWARDS (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Human Mobility, Environment, and Space
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499625.0 €

Space-based satellite infrastructures have become indispensable for daily activities on Earth. These opportunities are shaped by an increasing number and variety of actors: from hegemonic rivalry among leading nation states to competition between billionaire companies to build satellite constellations. The rapid expansion of Space activities has led to growing Space debris that challenges the long-term sustainability of the Earth’s orbit. These developments are furthermore causing global injustice in particular in terms of uneven development as countries grow increasingly reliant on Space infrastructures. Addressing the interrelations of Earth- and Space sustainability is therefore an imminent global challenge.  I argue that understanding these rapid developments in Space should be informed by the concept of planetary stewardship, i.e. the ambitions construed by actors to control large-scale system development on Earth and in Space. Spelling out the conditions and mechanisms of sustainable planetary stewardship will enable the formulation of new governance approaches for Earth-Space sustainability.  PLANETSTEWARDS will break new ground by theorizing planetary stewardship at the interface of sustainability transitions, economic development, and global governance literatures. I will investigate four main stewardship approaches: state-centric, market-centric, global community-centric, and technocratic approaches. I will i) identify actors’ value orientations and strategies; ii) analyze processes and mechanisms of stewardship within and across manifold socio-technical systems; and iii) determine possible outcomes of stewardship across different contexts. Based on a comparative, embedded case study design, and combining text-based data from multiple document stocks and interviews, I will conduct in-depth process tracing using discourse-based network analysis. PLANETSTEWARDS will derive principles-based stewardship frameworks for future Earth-Space sustainability.

Mots-clés : sustainability transition socio technical system innovation deep transition earth system governance
Projet ERC : RESPIRE (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Studies of Cultures and Arts
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2440313.0 €

We live in a time of multispecies suffocation. This is not a metaphor but a material process of contemporary multispecies living and dying on this planet. RESPIRE will address the fact that we do not know what this planetary multispecies suffocation consists of and will investigate how we can comprehend and transform it. It will do so through extensive fieldwork that includes collaboration with natural scientists, organisations, artists, and stakeholders. This approach is needed because the natural sciences study environmental problems but address them separately from social issues and do not offer an overall understanding of multispecies suffocation. The humanities offer important analyses of the effects of environmental and social degradation but no perspective for analysing planetary multispecies suffocation.  RESPIRE’s hypothesis is that to describe and understand multispecies suffocation, we need approaches that address social and environmental issues as interrelated, and need to strengthen the scientific role of the humanities and arts, which specialise in challenging established norms and beliefs. We will analyse multispecies suffocation through the ‘planetary lungs’ and their related problems: forests (deforestation), ocean (dead-zones – low oxygen areas), and soil (peatlands). Our inductive inquiry from humanities and art-based research perspectives will deliver fundamental research that will contribute to future research on social and climate change-related issues by producing a socio-environmental interdisciplinary approach and revealing the respiratory and multispecies dimensions of current challenges. RESPIRE will also develop new respiration-focused methodologies, concepts, and innovative pathways for a more breathable future. The project will further develop the emerging field of Critical Respiratory Studies, in which the PI is one of the leading scholars, and bring a humanities and arts perspective to the natural sciences.

Mots-clés : planetary,multispecies,breathing,suffocation,sustainability,theory,interdisciplinary
Projet ERC : RETIREWEL (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Human Mobility, Environment, and Space
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

In a rapidly ageing world, today’s retirees are moving across borders at unprecedented rates. Existing studies have analysed this group through single-focused approaches to welfare, family care networks, or the retirement industry at one point in time. RETIREWEL will be the first study to take an integrated approach to individual experiences of spending and planning for their retirement in more than one country and their complex relationships with the welfare state, family care networks, and the retirement industry.  RETIREWEL asks: (1) What patterns of transnational retirement are observable and what new trends are emerging? (2) How do older adults experience spending and planning for retirement in more than one country in relation to the nation-based welfare state, family care networks, and retirement industry? (3) How do public and private stakeholders deal with individuals who spend or plan to spend their retirement transnationally? (4) How do places shape and are shaped by transnational retirement?  This multi-sited, multi-method study focuses on three migration corridors that link European and non-European contexts (Portugal-Brazil; Netherlands-Turkey; UK-India) that exhibit these intricate relationships between the welfare state, family care networks, and retirement industry. It will focus on two groups—retirees and soon-to-be retirees—providing novel insight into how retirement is spent and planned transnationally. RETIREWEL breaks new ground on two counts: first, by approaching retirement and retirement planning through a multi-directional transnational lens and, second, by theoretically and empirically integrating welfare (state), family care networks, and retirement industry (market) in a comparative study. It develops a novel theoretical framework to understand how public and private stakeholders interlock in new and uneven ways across borders and provides new insights into what retirement futures are in the making.

Mots-clés : retirement transnationalism migration ageing care
Projet ERC : SAESDGs-EU (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Soci al World and Its Interactions
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499841.0 €

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly highlights the need to disaggregate Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators by different socio-economic characteristics e.g., income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, and small geographic location, or other relevant characteristics (General Assembly resolution 68/261). However, large scale national sample surveys, i.e., the EU Statistics on Income and Leaving Conditions (EUSILC), which collect variables that are needed to produce such indicators, are not designed to be reliable at those disaggregation levels. Small area estimation (SAE) methods are thus needed to produce accurate and precise estimates at a subnational level. SAE methods combine different auxiliary data sources (e.g., the Census with survey data), thus ‘borrowing strength’ from related areas to make a better-quality small area estimates. The focus of SAESDGs-EU is on economic well-being, which is closely related to the SDGs, as improving quality of life is a core objective of sustainable development. Many of the 17 SDGs explicitly target well-being by addressing economic, social, and environmental factors. Economic well-being is multidimensional, hence a variety of indicators should be considered when measuring it. In this project, we will develop a single-step method to produce small area composite indicators of economic well-being based on the EUSILC. This is a ground-breaking innovation, since currently first composite indicators are produced and then SAE methods are applied (or vice-versa), in a two-step approach. The literature has highlighted problems with this approach which impact the data quality of the final estimates. Given that SAE requires auxiliary information, we will also explore pitfalls and potentials of using non-traditional data sources as auxiliary information (e.g., web-data, satellite data). These are well known data sources that provide granular spatial information.

Mots-clés : survey methodology,survey statistics,small area estimation,well being,composite indicators
Projet ERC : SHADOW (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Soci al World and Its Interactions
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499436.0 €

SHADOW develops a new sociological theoretical framework, studying how social networks impact migrants’ economic vulnerability by creating social welfare deficits. In sociology, social networks have been assumed to improve migrants’ economic position by providing financial, informational, and instrumental support. Yet, evidence from other disciplines shows that they can also be harmful by serving as gatekeepers to labour markets or by providing misinformation. SHADOW addresses this gap in sociological understanding.  SHADOW integrates theories from sociology, social psychology, and political science, introducing a novel multi-level, multi-group theory about why and how social networks can increase migrants’ economic vulnerability. First, it will use administrative data to identify and map the networks linked to migrants’ economic vulnerability. Second, it will examine how social networks increase vulnerability, testing a new theory of social welfare deficits - liabilities and constraints imposed by social networks- like pressure, misinformation, or stigma. Third, it will study migrants’ reactions to these social welfare deficits, such as distancing from harmful networks. Last, it will look at how welfare states impact these deficits and migrants’ economic vulnerability. SHADOW will compare four migrant groups residing in Europe with vastly different migration backgrounds and network structures.  SHADOW will use a mixed-method approach, including administrative, survey, qualitative, and experimental data. It will advance the field of migration studies and generate a breakthrough in the sociological approach to social capital by including its negative impacts. SHADOW will also help policy-makers and stakeholders to design better policy interventions targeted at improving migrants’ economic position in Europe.

Mots-clés : social networks,migrants,economic vulnerability,welfare state