Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : SUBNORDICA (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Leibniz-Gemeinschaft — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : WLG
Type d'entité : Autres
Financement ERC de l'entité : 216864.26 €

The landscapes that extended for millions of square kilometres offshore of the world’s coastlines due to low sea-level during the last glaciation and were then drowned by sea-level rise, are known to preserve valuable archives of landscapes, palaeoclimatic change and stratified archaeological remains, with the potential to transform understanding of human history in this period of dramatic change. The absence of archaeological sites across much of this vast area prevents realisation of this potential. In SUBNORDICA we propose a systematic approach to develop new methods for recreating the submerged landscapes and human settlement of NW Europe and assess the impact of postglacial sea-level rise. We will address two questions: (1) What changes to the topography and environment of the submerged landscape were brought about by rising sea level and climate change? (2) How was the distribution of archaeological settlements and other traces of cultural activity impacted by this changing palaeolandscape, and can we recover them in sufficient detail to investigate human impact and human response? Combining information from 4 regions in the southern North Sea and the southern Baltic, we will use artificial intelligence to develop machine-learning routines to (a) integrate existing and newly acquired geophysical and geological data to map key areas of the changing landscape, and (b) combine this information with data from known underwater archaeological sites to identify new targets of archaeological potential for more detailed investigation. Investigating these targets will use high-resolution geophysical methods, sediment coring, archaeological excavation, and geochronological, palaeoenvironmental, sedimentological and biological analyses of recovered deposits. We will reveal a new chapter in human prehistory, provide a world-leading model for the investigation of submerged landscapes, and offer improved policy guidance for underwater cultural heritage management.

Mots-clés : submerged landscape archaeology
Projet ERC : SuperWave (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université technique de Vienne — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU Wien
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1791692.5 €

The past decade has seen remarkable advances in the field of quantum non-linear optics, where individual photons are made to strongly interact which each other. Such strong photon-photon interactions are of both fundamental and technological interest: They are the prerequisite for implementing deterministic quantum logic gate operations for processing optical quantum information. Moreover, photons that strongly interact via a quantum nonlinear medium exhibit complex out-of-equilibrium quantum dynamics that enable one to tailor and control the photon statistics of light. Quantum non-linear effects have been successfully demonstrated with few photons in a number of experimental platforms, which exploit resonant enhancement of emitter-photon coupling via high-finesse optical cavities, collective response of ensembles of strongly interacting Rydberg atoms, so-called superatoms, or efficient coupling of single quantum emitters to guided light in the realm of waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED). However, it remains a formidable challenge to reach the true many-body regime of quantum non-linear optics, where strong interactions and entanglement between many photons and many quantum emitters give rise to exotic quantum phases of light, such as photonic molecules or fermionic subradiant states. The objective of SuperWave is to realize this regime by synergizing superatoms and waveguide QED. By uniting the expertise and experimental methods of three teams that have previously driven these fields independently, we will develop near-ideal fiber-coupled nonlinear quantum devices. Their implementation will mark a major breakthrough in quantum optics and constitute a key resource in quantum sensing, quantum metrology, quantum communication, as well as quantum simulations. We will illustrate this great potential through a number of hallmark experiments such as the coherent fragmentation of a classical light pulse into its highly nonclassical photon number components.

Mots-clés : waveguide quantum electrodynamics,quantum non linear optics,rydberg atoms,dipole blockade,quantum nanophotonics,collective radiative effects
Projet ERC : RevLogRedux (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Södertörn University — Pays : Suède — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : SH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 667510.0 €

Bad arguments have never been in short supply. The same holds for the scholarly interest they have elicited both in their own right and as a cautionary tale about everything that can go amiss when we argue. This is hardly surprising. Asking what is wrong with flawed arguments is tantamount to investigating the very rules and principles of argumentation – only in reverse. Fallacy Studies have flourished in recent years (especially under the label of «critical thinking»). Without notable exception, the ever-growing literature on argumentative failures suffers from a conspicuous lack of interest in medieval fallacy theory – arguably one of the most creative stages in the whole history of argumentation theories. The standard story is that after Aristotle got off to a tentative start, the study of fallacies lay dormant until people at Port Royal and John Locke revived it. RevLog Redux will show that this narrative is misleading and will replace it with a new account which will bring to bear the full resources of medieval treatments of illegitimate argumentative moves within and across the Latin West and the Greek East, as well as in the Arabic and the Hebrew traditions. In an unprecedented attempt to explore how medieval authors discussed fallacies, RevLog Redux will lay the groundwork for more conscious and historically sound ways to describe, classify and theoretically assess the laws and flaws of argumentation. To that end, RevLog Redux will develop an integrated computational infrastructure to manage the wealth and complexity of data, information and knowledge the project is expected to produce: namely, AskSten (as in «Ask Sten Ebbesen»), a multi-layered virtual research environment whose digital archive, knowledge base, Semantic Web architecture and on-line deployment will dramatically enhance the formal expressivness and coherence of the project’s findings. AskSten will also include a curated open access Encyclopaedia of Illegitimate Argumentative Moves.

Mots-clés : medieval philosophy,history and analysis of logic and argumentation,cross cultural medieval intellectual history
Projet ERC : mw-atlas (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université technique de Rhénanie-Westphalie à Aix-la-Chapelle — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2885875.0 €

The Milky Way is the cosmic environment in which the solar system, the Earth, and life as we know it came into being. It is also the veil through which we peer into the extra-galactic universe. Its dust obscures our view of the formation of the cosmos. Its magnetic fields distort the observations of nature's most powerful particle accelerators. Its structure and metabolism determine the great diversity of observed star and planetary systems, including our own. Due to a lack of distance information, currently most information about the structure of the Milky Way is two-dimensional, while three-dimensional information is needed. For a breakthrough in Galactic cartography and the science it enables, we will create the first comprehensive three-dimensional atlas of all the physical components of the Milky Way. Our atlas will be self-consistent between component maps, quantify their remaining uncertainties, and be the most detailed to date. Thanks to the dramatic progress in observations at all wavelengths and in algorithmic methods based on information field theory in recent years, now is the right time to do this. Our team's combined expertise in galactic astrophysics, algorithms, observations, Milky Way surveys, and information field theory with its application to galactic tomography puts us in a unique position to generate the first comprehensive Milky Way Atlas. We will apply this atlas to a number of pressing questions in cosmology, cosmic ray, and interstellar medium research and transfer the used tomography technologies into other areas, like medical imaging, Earth monitoring, and industrial data analysis.

Mots-clés : cosmic cartography,tomography,inter disciplinary science,medical imaging,earth monitoring,information theory,information field theory,machine learning
Projet ERC : CASTLE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : National Interuniversity Consortium of Materials Science and Technology — Pays : Italie — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : INSTM
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 375000.0 €

Chirality is a key property of molecules important in many chemical and nearly all biological processes. Recent observations have shown that electron transport through chiral molecules attached to solid electrodes can induce high spin polarization even at room temperature. Electrons with their spin aligned parallel or antiparallel to the electron transfer displacement vector are preferentially transmitted depending on the chirality of the molecular system resulting in Chirality-Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS). The long-term vision of the CASTLE project is to transform the CISS effect into an enabling technology for quantum applications. This will be accomplished by achieving four key objectives. 1) The occurrence of CISS will be studied at the intramolecular level by photo-inducing rapid electron transfer within covalent donor-chiral spacer-acceptor molecules to generate long-lived radical pairs (RPs). 2) Direct detection of RP spin polarization will be performed using time-resolved and pulsed electron and nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. In addition, polarization transfer from one of the radicals comprising the spin-polarized RP to a stable molecular spin (Q) will be used to initialize the quantum state of Q, making it a good qubit for quantum applications, particularly sensing. 3) Quantum mechanical studies of the CISS effect will provide predictive models for molecular qubit design. 4) The CISS effect will be used to control, readout, and transfer information in prototypical devices embedding hybrid interfaces based on semiconducting or conducting substrates, thus dramatically advancing the use of molecular spins in quantum information technologies targeting high-temperature operation. These devices will be used also to prove molecule-based Quantum Error Correction. The knowledge acquired with CASTLE will impact a wide range of fields, including magnetless spintronics, dynamic nuclear polarization for NMR signal enhancement, catalysis, and light harvesting.

Mots-clés : chirality,electron transfer,molecular magnetism,spin selectivity,spintronics,supramolecular chemistry,coordination chemistry
Projet ERC : OCEAN (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université Paris Dauphine - PSL — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Dauphine-PSL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1729255.0 €

Until recently, most of the major advances in machine learning and decision making have focused on a centralized paradigm in which data are aggregated at a central location to train models and/or decide on actions. This paradigm faces serious flaws in many real-world cases. In particular, centralized learning risks exposing user privacy, makes inefficient use of communication resources, creates data processing bottlenecks, and may lead to concentration of economic and political power. It thus appears most timely to develop the theory and practice of a new form of machine learning that targets heterogeneous, massively decentralized networks, involving self-interested agents who expect to receive value (or rewards, incentive) for their participation in data exchanges.  OCEAN will develop statistical and algorithmic foundations for systems involving multiple incentive-driven learning and decision-making agents, including uncertainty quantification at the agent's level. OCEAN will study the interaction of learning with market constraints (scarcity, fairness), connecting adaptive microeconomics and market-aware machine learning.  OCEAN builds on a decade of joint advances in stochastic optimization, probabilistic machine learning, statistical inference, Bayesian assessment of uncertainty, computation, game theory, and information science, with PIs having complementary and internationally recognized skills in these domains. OCEAN will shed new light on the value and handling of data in a competitive, potentially antagonistic multi-agent environment, and develop new theories and methods to address these pressing challenges. OCEAN requires a fundamental departure from standard approaches and leads to major scientific interdisciplinary endeavors that will transform statistical learning in the long term while opening up exciting and novel areas of research.

Mots-clés : machine learning,federated learning,computational game theory,multi armed bandits,bayesian inference,markov chain monte carlo,multi agent reinforcement learning,online matching markets,data market,incentive
Projet ERC : T-SECTOR (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université Harvard — Pays : Etats-Unis — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 906465.0 €

A central problem of understanding the Earth system is quantifying climate-solid Earth feedback that requires time-series studies. One important time series is the climate (sea level) record that shows transitions between ice ages and warm periods for the last millions of years, involving vast mass transfer between continents (ice load) and oceans. Volcanism is sensitive to such pressure changes, but its response to glacial cycles is largely unknown for the global mid-ocean-ridge (MOR) system, where 80% of Earth’s volcanism occurs. Models of MOR response to sealevel fluctuations predict changes in crustal thickness, chemistry of lavas and hydrothermal activity. Establishing high-resolution time series on MORs, however, has previously not been possible, because the sea floor is rapidly covered by sediment as it moves away from the MOR and thus cannot be directly sampled. Recent studies, however, show MOR eruptions deposit samples of lava as glass on nearby sediments for up to 100 ka. These carbonate-rich sediments can be precisely dated by oxygen isotope stratigraphy and provide an archive of ridge eruptions (glasses) and hydrothermal activity (trace metals) in the sediments that can be sampled by gravity coring. Through closely spaced new cores to be retrieved during multiple research cruises, a high-resolution time series of volcanism and hydrothermal activity can be achieved and directly linked to the climate record, whereas seismic techniques can be used to determine variations in crustal thickness over time. We propose to obtain integrated data sets for all these processes from slow, intermediate and fast spreading ridge segments over the past 1.5 Ma in unprecedented detail. The results of these glass, sediment and crustal thickness time series will allow us to unequivocally test the influence of glacial cycles on MOR processes and will provide the first high-resolution time series of ocean ridge magmatism, opening up a new frontier of scientific exploration.

Mots-clés : paleoceanography,hydrothermalism
Projet ERC : ROTTnROCK (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université d'Uppsala — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2650631.0 €

More than 10% of the world’s population are at risk to the direct impacts of volcanic eruptions. Volcano monitoring aims to detect and correctly interpret volcanic hazards and to provide early and accurate warnings of impending eruptions. Yet, despite technical and scientific advances, volcanoes still produce unexpected explosive eruptions or sudden flank collapses. Each year, such unpredictable events result in volcanic disasters that devastate unprepared communities and destroy unprotected infrastructures. Previous work by the PIs indicates that volcanic hazards are caused by hydrothermal alteration, which progressively and imperceptibly changes the chemical and physical state of rocks inside a volcano, creating a soft and unstable (or “rotten”) interior. However, the link between “soft” volcanoes and unpredictable volcanic events remains enigmatic. The ROTTnROCK project aims to achieve a ground-breaking advance in our understanding of hydrothermal alteration processes that act inside active volcanic systems. Specifically, we will identify where and at which scales alteration occurs (WP1), explore the chemical fingerprint of alteration and effects on rock properties and strength using laboratory methods (WP2), and develop 4D volcano stability simulations and, therefore, an innovative and optimised hazard assessment workflow (WP3). The ROTTnROCK project combines innovative approaches from traditionally distinct geoscience disciplines (remote sensing, mineralogy and chemistry, rock mechanics, and modelling). This project will revolutionise our understanding of hydrothermal alteration and its effects on volcano hazards, and pave the way for strategies to forecast and mitigate unexpected volcanic events caused by hydrothermal alteration and circumvent disasters at volcanoes worldwide.

Mots-clés : hydrothermal alteration,rock weakening,risk awareness
Projet ERC : ALCEMIST (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université du Luxembourg — Pays : Luxembourg — Rôle : CO-PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 3357839.0 €

ALCEMIST challenges the conventional engineering mindset where passive static components (beams, wires, joints) are driven by active dynamic ones (motors, dampers, sensors); our innovative materials enable the combined functionality in a single component. This bold ambition is feasible because our research will unlock the full potential of liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), unique responsive materials that reversibly change shape, colour, adhesive or damping properties, triggered by stimuli like heat, light, humidity or strain. We propose a radically new sustainable materials platform based on polysaccharides, functionalising precursors such that anyone-using click chemistry-can make LCEs that are powerful yet biocompatible and biodegradable, at one tenth of the cost of state-of-the-art LCEs. Further, using bond-exchange chemistry, ALCEMIST LCEs will be re-processable and re-usable. We also present a ground-breaking processing approach based on flow patterning to make large-scale LCEs of complex shapes and actuation modes. The synergy of three perfectly complementary and highly productive scientists, each a recognised leader in their field, enables this transformative approach to making atypical LCEs. As all our methods are ideal for industrial upscaling, we will also demonstrate the yet untapped potential of LCEs when they are applied in atypical contexts, totally different from the current mainstream academic focus. These range from adhesives that can be reversibly debonded on demand or sun-powered adaptive building elements which save energy and improve indoor atmosphere, to microhearts and peristaltic vasculature that can remove the growth limits of lab-grown organs, or smart threads that give doctors critical feedback on suture tension when conducting robotic surgery. By overthrowing multiple conventions in the ways LCEs are synthesised, studied and engineered, ALCEMIST will enable and stimulate new lines of research, basic and applied, across large communities.

Mots-clés : liquid crystals,liquid crystal elastomers,cellulose chemistry and physics
Projet ERC : MIDRASH (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Université Bar-Ilan — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BIU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2449998.75 €

MIDRASH aims to construct a groundbreaking interdisciplinary methodology for a global approach to the study of the treasure trove of medieval literary manuscripts in Hebrew script. Jews produced and consumed a prodigious cornucopia of texts in Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic and other vernacular languages, intertextually closely related like a mille feuille. The manuscripts constitute the unique remains of medieval Jewish literary culture, having survived - and witnessing to - centuries of migrations, persecutions and censorship. With the recent digitization of the extant manuscripts and with contemporary advances in computer vision, natural language processing and machine learning, the time is ripe for broad new studies into this manuscript culture. We can now study questions regarding their materiality, textuality, transmission and historical contexts on an unprecedented scale or heretofore beyond reach.  MIDRASH proposes a pioneering study of the extensive corpora of: (1) biblical manuscripts; (2) Midrash (late antique exegetical and homiletical commentary on the Bible); (3) medieval commentaries of the Bible and Mishnah; and (4) liturgical manuscripts. Only a small fraction have been transcribed, let alone studied. State-of-the-art and bespoke algorithms will be applied to resolve issues of reading order, code switching, and transcription errors. Once mechanically transcribed, known and unknown works will be identified and reconstructed and multilingual intertextualities discerned. The latest fine-grained paleographical techniques and trained neural networks will be brought to bear on questions of provenance and transmission. Philological methods and computational linguistics will be applied to questions of textual fluidity and evolution to further our knowledge of the production and transmission of Hebrew manuscripts and texts, their authors, scribes and readers, and enhance their role as the pivotal aspect of European and Mediterranean intellectual history.

Mots-clés : hebrew manuscripts,document analysis,nlp,computer vision,midrash