Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : FENCES (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : University of London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : U. London
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999903.0 €

Solar photovoltaics (PVs) and sustainable fuel production from photocatalysis are key technologies to displacing fossil fuel use. However, in order to drive rapid growth in PVs, and the commercial viability of photocatalytic solar fuel production, innovative technological approaches are needed to increase efficiencies while keeping costs low. FENCES aims to demonstrate a new mechanism for solar energy conversion and use this to drive up the efficiencies of these key technologies. This will draw on a phenomenon found in ferroelectrics, known as the bulk photovoltaic (BPV) effect. While this has demonstrated photovoltages above the theoretical limit for conventional PVs, efficiency has remained low due to poor light absorption and charge transport. FENCES will overcome these limitations by intimately combining ferroelectrics and photoactive materials in nanocomposite thin films. This will couple the high electric field from the ferroelectric to the photoactive material, demonstrating novel behaviour with the potential to exceed the performance of current technologies. In order to achieve this, FENCES will: 1. Design and synthesise optimal ferroelectric nanostructures and gain control over their properties, including the BPV effect, through careful study and tuning of the material properties in both precision model systems and low-cost, solution-based materials; 2. Develop detailed device models to accurately describe and predict the behaviour of these novel devices, incorporating progressive knowledge and understanding throughout the project using both empirical data and computational modelling; 3. Use these models to predict the optimum materials, structures and designs to demonstrate this novel technology and optimise device performance; 4. Fabricate and test proof-of-concept devices based on these optimised designs to validate the models and prove the hypothesis, establishing a new frontier in solar energy generation and wider science.

Mots-clés : ferroelectric,photovoltaic,solution processing,nanocomposite
Projet ERC : FUTURE-NHP (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : University of Parma — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNIPR
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 92500.0 €

Some of the greatest today’s challenges in understanding human brain functions and dysfunctions are being tackled by using Non-Human Primates (NHPs), a unique and still unreplaceable model in neurophysiology because of their remarkable anatomo-functional, cognitive and behavioural similarities to humans. Tethered neural recordings have been, so far, the virtually unique methodology available for these studies. Nonetheless, this approach 1) limits the range of behaviours and functions that can be investigated, 2) reduces the ecological validity of the results and 3) increases the public ethical concerns about the use of NHP, challenging the future of this still fundamental branch of science. This project (FUTURE-NHP) capitalizes on the preliminary findings of the ERCstg grant WIRELESS, in which we are developing a new approach to brain studies in freely-moving NHP with wireless technologies and video behavioural monitoring. The aim of FUTURE-NHP is the fabrication and pre-commercial testing of a new, 3D printed cranial device, allowing to easily and flexibly perform semi-chronic neural recordings from a fully customizable and interchangeable sets of multielectrode probes. With our partner SME we will perform, in parallel, a detailed evaluation of commercial opportunities for the developed device in a global (not just EU) perspective using clear IPR constructions and strategies. Furthermore, we will implement a software platform allowing end- users to design customized layouts of the device for custom-specific applications. The device will be optimized for (but not limited to) wireless recording experiments and will be made compatible with different types of probes and recording systems. By extending the range of affordable neuroscientific questions to unconstrained behaviors, FUTURE-NHP will improve the ecological validity of neurophysiological data and their translational value for humans, and contribute to make more ethically acceptable NHP fundamental research.

Mots-clés : primate neurophysiology,neural recording devices,silicon probes,neuroengineering
Projet ERC : SoundKnowledge (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Cultures and cultural production
Entité participante : University of Göttingen — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : GAU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1964136.0 €

SoundKnowledge aims to rethink, for the first time, music in terms of the procedural knowledge inherent in and specific to music-making by exploring music-making as knowledge practices in Micronesia, Western Pacific Island world. This knowledge, formed in the performance of musical practice, may prove to be key to survival in the complex postcolonial predicament of Micronesia. I will address the issues of climate change, social alienation and postcolonial trauma in specific parts of Micronesia by fleshing out the nature and dynamics of that knowledge both conceptually and ethnographically. The systematic analysis of music as knowledge will allow me to identify strategies to foster resilience in the face of these urgent crises. At the same time, it will offer a first-of-its-kind theorization of the procedural knowledge inherent in and specific to music-making. The knowledge of music is self-referential and forms multilayered connections and ruptures with pasts, presents and futures and surrounding orders of knowledge. SoundKnowledge asks what Western Pacific musical practices know and how do they know it, how music-making makes this knowledge operable and how humans mobilize upon this knowledge in coping with their life-world through music. The project, therefore, explores how music functions as a distinct epistemic form that is often referred to as the proverbial power of music. Music research has the tools to unlock this power, and SoundKnowledge intends to plough a path here. SoundKnowledge provides insights into the specific knowledge of Western Pacific music in its entanglement with pressing cultural and social issues of the early 21st century. In contributing to the theoretical debate on the knowledge of music, the project probes vital questions of knowledge resources and human futures. SoundKnowledge will also instigate change: In collaboration with local institutions, the research results will be used towards the development of community action strategies.

Mots-clés : ethnomusicology,cultural anthropology,post colonial studies,micronesia
Projet ERC : BARRIERS (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Entité participante : University of Sheffield — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1524404.76 €

Speciation is a central process in evolution that involves the origin of barriers to gene flow between populations. Species are typically isolated by several barriers and assembly of multiple barriers separating the same populations seems to be critical to the evolution of strong reproductive isolation. Barriers resulting from direct selection can become coincident through a process of coupling while reinforcement can add barrier traits that are not under direct selection. In the presence of gene flow, these processes are opposed by recombination. While recent research using the latest sequencing technologies has provided much increased knowledge of patterns of differentiation and the genetic basis of local adaptation, it has so far added little to understanding of the coupling and reinforcement processes. In this project, I will focus on the accumulation of barriers to gene exchange and the processes underlying increasing reproductive isolation. I will use the power of natural contact zones, combined with novel manipulative experiments, to separate the processes that underlie patterns of differentiation and introgression. The Littorina saxatilis model system allows me to do this with both local replication and a contrast between distinct spatial contexts on a larger geographic scale. I will use modelling to determine how processes interact and to investigate the conditions most likely to promote coupling and reinforcement. Overall, the project will provide major new insights into the speciation process, particularly revealing the requirements for progress towards complete reproductive isolation.

Mots-clés : speciation,local adaptation
Projet ERC : AuDACE (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
Entité participante : Politecnico di Milano — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : POLIMI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1466250.0 €

Speed and performances of contemporary digital electronics are limited by the available device architectures and heat dissipation. Two-dimensional (2D) materials are emerging as one of the main candidates for designing new structures capable to overcome the current device limitations and foster the establishment of the electronics of the future. Due to the electron confinement in two directions, they are characterised by exotic physical, electronic and chemical properties, which are neither fully investigated nor understood. In particular, the lack of suitable tools hinders the possibility to study the ultrafast processes unfolding during light-matter interaction. Nevertheless, a clear understanding is required in order to leverage the unique properties of 2D materials. AuDACE aims to enter this unexplored region and investigate ultrafast electron, exciton and spin dynamics happening in advanced materials on time scales below few femtoseconds with unprecedented and ground-breaking possible outcome. To reach this ambitious goal AuDACE will go beyond the state of the art and develop an innovative pump-probe beamline for transient absorption and reflectivity measurements based on arbitrarily polarised attosecond pulses in a two-foci geometry. Once the experimental techniques are established, my team and I will concentrate on ultrafast exciton dynamics in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (ML-TMDCs). In the final phase, AuDACE will focus on a new class of materials such as ferromagnetic ML-TMDCs to investigate the elusive physical mechanism responsible for ultrafast spin and magnetic dynamics. For the first time, a comprehensive investigation of these phenomena will become feasible on these little studied time scales. Due to the wide spectrum of relevant applications for 2D materials, I expect the outcome of AuDACE to have a crucial impact on the development of many key technological areas like optoelectronics, spintronics, valleytronics and photovoltaics.

Mots-clés : attosecond science,attosecond spectroscopy,time resolved spectroscopy,ultrafast laser physics
Projet ERC : ARTSILK (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Entité participante : Karolinska Institutet — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : KI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2000000.0 €

Spider silk is Nature’s high performance material that has the potential to revolutionize the materials industry. However, production and spinning of artificial spider silk fibers are challenging, and current methods to produce silk fibers include denaturing conditions which prevent the silk proteins from assembling into fibers in the same complex way as native silk proteins do. In order to fulfill the potential of spider silk we need to increase our understanding of the silk formation process and decipher how protein folding and interactions relate to mechanical properties of the resulting silk fiber. Recent insights into the physiology and molecular mechanisms of the spinning process has made it possible to develop a biomimetic artificial spider silk spinning device (see our publications Andersson et al. Nat Chem Biol. 2017; Otikovs et al. Angew Chemie Int Engl Ed. 2017). We are, for the first time, able to spin artificial silk fibers in which the proteins adopt correct secondary, tertiary and quaternary structures. The overall objective of ARTSILK is to build on these recent technical leaps and use state-of-the-art technologies to generate artificial silk fibers that are equal or superior to native spider silk in terms of toughness and tensile strength. To reach the overall objective we will use the recently mapped spider genome, protein engineering and single cell RNA (ScRNA) sequencing to design novel silk proteins for fiber production. We will also study the relationship between protein secondary structure formation and fiber mechanical properties in order to decipher the ques that determine mechanical properties of the fiber. This knowledge will be important also for the basic understanding of how soluble proteins covert into b-sheet rich fibrils in, e.g., Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, we will use microfluidic chips to engineer the next generation spinning device and 3D-printing techniques to make reproducible three-dimensional structures of spider silk.

Mots-clés : biomaterial,protein engineering,biomimetics,protein structure function,fiber
Projet ERC : MAGICAL (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CEA
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2323586.25 €

Spin Transfer Torque Magnetic memories (STT-MRAM) are receiving a growing R&D effort within the microelectronic industry aiming at the replacement of DRAM or SRAM at sub-20nm nodes. MAGICAL seeks to significantly innovate through groundbreaking advances in ultra-low power multifunctional systems based on hybrid CMOS/magnetic technology. With the development of portable electronics and of the Internet of Things (IOT), more and more functions must be embedded on chips: logic/memory, sensing, communication, etc. The current hurdles with today's technology are power consumption, communication bandwidth, processing/ packaging costs. MAGICAL will demonstrate that these limitations can be largely overcome through hybrid CMOS/magnetic technology. The project will follow three main goals: - Firstly, we will strengthen the STT-MRAM technology by investigating two novel ideas aiming at solving two remaining difficulties in sub-20nm STT-MRAM development: the nanostructuration of magnetic tunnel junctions and the long-term data retention. This will open the path to high density (>Gbit) STT-MRAM. -Secondly, we will demonstrate that Digital, analog (3D magnetic field sensing for orientation sensor), RF communication functions can be realized with the same baseline technology as the one developed for STT-MRAM. As a result, these three types of functions can be homogeneously integrated in a single chip, a major improvement compared to conventional heterogeneous integration. The prime benefits expected from MAGICAL are: ultralow power thanks to MRAM non volatility and on-chip computation capability, greatly improved communication functionalities (cloud as well as intrachip communication), reduced process/packaging costs. -Thirdly, through various actions, MAGICAL will aim at narrowing the cultural gap that still exists between magnetism and microelectronics communities. The project could definitely help the European microelectronic systems industry improve its leadership position.

Mots-clés : internet of things,digital,analog,communication multifunctionality,homogeneous integration,cmos,magnetic hybrid technology,stt mram,ultralow power electronics
Projet ERC : MAGICAL (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 176413.75 €

Spin Transfer Torque Magnetic memories (STT-MRAM) are receiving a growing R&D effort within the microelectronic industry aiming at the replacement of DRAM or SRAM at sub-20nm nodes. MAGICAL seeks to significantly innovate through groundbreaking advances in ultra-low power multifunctional systems based on hybrid CMOS/magnetic technology. With the development of portable electronics and of the Internet of Things (IOT), more and more functions must be embedded on chips: logic/memory, sensing, communication, etc. The current hurdles with today's technology are power consumption, communication bandwidth, processing/ packaging costs. MAGICAL will demonstrate that these limitations can be largely overcome through hybrid CMOS/magnetic technology. The project will follow three main goals: - Firstly, we will strengthen the STT-MRAM technology by investigating two novel ideas aiming at solving two remaining difficulties in sub-20nm STT-MRAM development: the nanostructuration of magnetic tunnel junctions and the long-term data retention. This will open the path to high density (>Gbit) STT-MRAM. -Secondly, we will demonstrate that Digital, analog (3D magnetic field sensing for orientation sensor), RF communication functions can be realized with the same baseline technology as the one developed for STT-MRAM. As a result, these three types of functions can be homogeneously integrated in a single chip, a major improvement compared to conventional heterogeneous integration. The prime benefits expected from MAGICAL are: ultralow power thanks to MRAM non volatility and on-chip computation capability, greatly improved communication functionalities (cloud as well as intrachip communication), reduced process/packaging costs. -Thirdly, through various actions, MAGICAL will aim at narrowing the cultural gap that still exists between magnetism and microelectronics communities. The project could definitely help the European microelectronic systems industry improve its leadership position.

Mots-clés : internet of things,digital,analog,communication multifunctionality,homogeneous integration,cmos,magnetic hybrid technology,stt mram,ultralow power electronics
Projet ERC : INSPIRAL (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : University of Zurich — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UZH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499925.0 €

Spin-delocalization in molecules containing unpaired electrons gives rise to an unusual intermolecular interaction, named as pancake bond. This bonding interaction couples unpaired electrons between multiple pairs of atoms from each face-to-face oriented spin units, such as phenalenyl radical, and abets formation of assemblies that display large antiferromagnetic interaction in the solid state. This phenomenon governs the potential use of such spin systems as molecular conductors, magneto-optical bistable materials, or molecular spin batteries. Formation of such assemblies during crystallization is spontaneous. It is therefore difficult to control and tune the antiferromagnetic interaction, which dictates the electronic properties of the solid material. Inspired by this challenge, the goal of this project is to develop systems, where the spin-interaction can be tuned within a single molecule to understand principles that govern an intermolecular assembly in the solid state and the bulk properties. To achieve this goal, I propose to synthesize and study chiral open-shell helices, in which the intramolecular spin-interaction can be tuned by varying (1) the coupling mode, ferromagnetic versus antiferromagnetic, and (2) its strength. The helical character of these systems enables tuning of the coupling strength by control of the degree of overlap and distance between the spin units, which is difficult to achieve by a spontaneous assembly. Additionally, it provides access to both racemic and enantiopure solid-state architectures that can further impact the properties. Two model systems will be investigated: one in which spins communicate simultaneously through backbone and space, and one where spins communicate only through space. Understanding the principles of spin-interactions in these helical systems is of fundamental interest for designing molecules with tailor-made properties, as well as features that arise unexpectedly from the interplay of the spins in a spiral.
Projet ERC : EXMAG (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : Czech Academy of Sciences — Pays : Rép. Tchèque — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : AVČR;CAS
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 177750.0 €

Spontaneous symmetry breaking leading to states of matter with long-range order is one of the central topics in condensed matter physics. Common types of order, such as ferro- and anti-ferromagnetic, are characterized by spin or charge densities modulated on inter-atomic scale, therefore well studied thanks to various scattering experiments. Order parameters that are not of this type are much more difficult to detect, giving rise to names such as hidden order or electronic nematicity. Their impact on transport or thermodynamic properties may, nevertheless, be substantial. In the EXMAG project we will investigate excitonic condensation in systems with strongly correlated electrons as a new mechanism leading to unconventional ordered states. The objective of the project is to characterize the physical properties of various excitonic phases and to find their realization in real materials. We will focus on intermediate coupling strength and doped systems where the interaction between the excitonic order and the charge carriers is expected to lead to new physics. In particular, we want to explore the potential of the excitonic order to induce instabilities, e.g. magnetic or superconducting, that are not present in the normal phase. We will also address the possibility of topologically non-trivial quasi-particle band-structures in the excitonic phase. Our main tool will be numerical simulations based on the dynamical mean-field theory and ab initio band-structure methods. We will pursue two main lines of research: investigation of simple models allowing access to many physical observables and studies of real materials capturing the chemical complexities at the cost of more severe approximations. Ultimately, we want to understand in detail the properties of the excitonic magnets and their potential functionalities,and to identify the main control parameters and promising materials.

Mots-clés : excitonic condensation,spin density wave,nematicity,dynamical mean field theory