Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : MMMonsters (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe Sciences
Entité participante : Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas — Pays : Grèce — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : FORTH
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1711750.0 €

Supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) are a natural outcome of galaxy mergers. They can be identified as quasars with periodic variability in time-domain surveys, or from strong gravitational waves (GWs) by Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs), making them exceptional multi-messenger sources. Despite their expected ubiquity, they have remained undetected, but upcoming data of unprecedented quantity and quality from the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) and increasingly more sensitive PTAs will bring these multi-messenger monsters (MMMonsters) within reach.  MMMonsters at the intersection of astronomy and data science is an ambitious program to deliver the first multi-messenger detection of a SMBHB. Leveraging existing time-domain data, we will improve SMBHB searches advancing our understanding of binary signals and quasar noise. For the first time, we will search for more complex and likely more common non-sinusoidal periodicity. Using the LSST Data Previews, I will develop novel machine learning tools to capitalize on the LSST dataset. With advance preparation, MMMonsters will be poised to reliably detect binaries in the first few LSST data releases, making the project extremely timely and impactful.  On the GW side, I will pave the way for the first PTA detection of an individually resolvable binary. I will build novel PTA detection pipelines that directly incorporate EM data, from a catalog of 20 million galaxies (which we will compile) including all the potential binary hosts. My approach will accelerate the first detection of a SMBHB and allow the subsequent identification of the binary host galaxy. I will forge the ultimate boost in binary detectability through the joint analysis of time- domain and PTA data in a multi-messenger data stream.  MMMonsters will establish strong EU leadership in time-domain astronomy and GW physics through groundbreaking results and by training early career scientists in the emerging field of multi-messenger astrophysics.

Mots-clés : supermassive black hole binaries,multi messenger,pulsar timing arrays,time domain astronomy,lsst
Projet ERC : STASH (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas — Pays : Grèce — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : FORTH
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1490250.0 €

STASH deals with the history of maritime smuggling between port cities of the Russian and Ottoman Empires during the transformative period 1853 to 1914, focusing on three maritime regions – the Black Sea, the Azov Sea, and the Southeastern Mediterranean. The two empires, at the core of the Eastern Question, occupied a central position in European economic, social, and political upheavals. Within the context of the ongoing shifts between two empires and the development of legal trade relations in an era marked by intensified globalization and the transition from sail to steam, this project aims to shed light on aspects of illegal trade relations, an underexplored area of study. Specifically, we will comprehensively analyse various facets of the smuggling of both goods and people within the established trade routes and networks. The study will examine the macrostructure of the smuggling linkages, focusing on the hinterland of production/origin of clandestine trade and the foreland, the destination of material and human cargoes. It aims to identify the main nodes of export and import and the means of transportation. The research team comprises a PI, three senior researchers, six post-doctoral researchers, and two PhD candidates from Ukraine, Turkey, Romania, Italy, and Greece. They will utilize unpublished archival sources to produce two collective volumes, numerous articles, two PhD dissertations, organize four workshops, and an international conference, create an archival and bibliographical corpus, and produce a documentary film. The project aims to advance our knowledge of inter-imperial relations beyond conventional geopolitical approaches. Understanding how these two neighbouring powers navigated their shadow relations adds depth to our comprehension of the broader Eastern European economic, social, and political relations and introduces new layers to our appreciation of the region’s modern history.

Mots-clés : smuggling maritime history russian empire ottoman empire port cities black sea azov sea southeastern mediterranean globalization trade steamship companies merchant communities
Projet ERC : MEMRINESS (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : Université de Groningue — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RUG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1096313.74 €

In recent years, Artificial Intelligence has shifted towards collaborative learning paradigms, where multiple systems acquire and elaborate data in real-time and share their experience to improve their performance. MEMRINESS will generate new fundamental computing primitives that will overcome the current challenges for the deployment of intelligent systems on the edge. The requirements of a system operating on the edge are very tight: power efficiency, low area occupation, fast response times, and online learning. Brain-inspired architectures such as Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) use artificial neurons and synapses that perform low-latency computation and internal-state storage simultaneously with very low power consumption, but at present they mainly rely on standard technologies, which make SNNs unfit to meet the above-mentioned constraints. Indeed, the dream of compact and efficient neurons and synapses, able to work at different time scales to match real-time constants and to retain memory of their state even in the absence of a power supply, cannot be realised without flanking standard technologies with emerging ones. In this respect, memristive technology has shown promising results, due to its ability to support non-volatile storage of the SNN parameters. Yet so far, research has prioritised the non-volatile properties of the devices rather than focusing additionally on the reproduction of multi-temporal synaptic and neural dynamics. To solve this problem, I will develop neurons and synapses that exploit the intrinsic physical characteristics and dynamics of volatile and non-volatile memristive devices to enable the design of compact, power efficient SNNs with multi timescale dynamics. I will use a holistic approach and co-develop every aspect, from the devices to the circuits, to the learning algorithms. I will use the results to design a SNN and demonstrate its collaborative and online learning capabilities in three scenarios of increasing complexity.

Mots-clés : memristive devices,neuromorphic computing
Projet ERC : ReCNNSTRCT (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Université de Groningue — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RUG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Nitrogen-nitrogen (N-N) bonds have fascinating structural and functional properties, are ubiquitously found in diverse pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals, and represent important key structural motifs in diverse natural products, endowing them with potent biological activities. However, traditional chemical procedures to synthesize N-N bond-containing compounds are often difficult to realize, costly and environmentally unfriendly. In addition, the formation of intermolecular N-N linkages is particularly difficult and remains a mostly unaddressed problem in chemistry. ReCNNSTRCT will address this challenge by decoding novel reaction chemistries from the underexploited family of N-N bond-forming enzymes (NNZYMES), while tackling reactions that are difficult to realize by traditional chemical approaches and currently not feasible by enzyme catalysis. As such, ReCNNSTRCT aims to break new ground in chemical synthesis: it will develop an enzymatic toolbox for versatile N-N bond-forming reaction chemistries by exploring naturally promiscuous and redesigned NNZYMES for diverse intra- and intermolecular, as well as non-natural N-N-bond formations. To achieve this, ReCNNSTRCT will combine methodologies from enzyme catalysis and evolution, genome mining and the latest achievements in bioinformatics. In this way, ReCNNSTRCT will not only establish the chemistry performed by the enzymes, it will also elucidate enzyme structures, catalytic mechanisms, and design biocatalytic cascades to showcase the potential of tailored NNZYMES. ReCNNSTRCT will thus revolutionize our synthetic strategies and aims to substantially contribute to a ‘greener’ chemical industry by creating versatile catalytic platforms for N-N bond formation, leading to streamlined routes to high-value chemicals. Beyond this groundbreaking direct impact in the field of enzyme catalysis, ReCNNSTRCT will boost the clinical and research environment by providing new biocatalysts for future drug discovery efforts

Mots-clés : biocatalysis protein engineering enzymology catalysis enzyme promiscuity nitrogen nitrogen bonds
Projet ERC : DEPOP (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Université de Groningue — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RUG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1496854.0 €

The shrinking population and closure of schools and hospitals are among the main signs of regional depopulation. Although this phenomenon has been widespread in Europe since the 1950s, affecting both rural and urban communities, historical studies of depopulation are still scarce. How communities have responded, and indeed coped, with the decline in population and welfare over the past 70 years is uncharted territory. DEPOP will break new ground by illuminating regional depopulation as a potent example of a slow burn crisis, occurring over extended periods of time. We will: map out demographic trajectories of depopulation and their links to welfare provision; investigate community strategies to cope with depopulation; and develop a new framework to study community welfare in the slow burn crises as depopulation.  Slow burn crises occur over extended periods and may thus be less visible than one-time shocks and disasters. There is currently no approach to examine how communities cope with slow burn crises. DEPOP will develop a novel multi-level approach by drawing on and developing methodologies in compositional demography, which is rooted in the historical concept of communication communities. DEPOP will look at communities in depopulating regions in Finland, the Netherlands, and Ukraine. We will analyse: (macro-level) population trajectories and state welfare provision data, available as reports and regional statistics; (meso-level) collective coping strategies through social organisations, collected through their archives and witness seminars, and (micro-level) individual coping strategies, examined through oral histories.  DEPOP’s historical approach and findings will offer the first-of-its-kind comparative framework to study communities affected by the slow burn crisis of depopulation. This will help us to advance our understanding of why some communities have historically been more resilient than others when faced with slow burn crises.

Mots-clés : regional depopulation,decline,welfare,social history,comparative history,communities,slow burn crises,lived experiences,oral history,social organisations,state,kin,gender,age,finland,the netherlands,ukraine
Projet ERC : BeyondSDG (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Human Mobility, Environment, and Space
Entité participante : Université de Groningue — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RUG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499997.5 €

Countries are not on track to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that comprises 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to be achieved by 2030. Although SDGs aim to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path, countries are not yet able to make transformative changes for long-term sustainability that requires building social prosperity and foundations within planetary boundaries. Failing to achieve SDGs will negatively affect billions of people and worsen environmental conditions and socio-economic problems. Therefore, BeyondSDG aims to understand the necessary conditions for long-term sustainability, including achieving SDGs, based on the following specific objectives: i) identify critical targets for prioritising SDGs; ii) investigate the effects of (under)achieving SDGs on long-term sustainability beyond 2030; and iii) identify sustainability targets for the post-2030 development agenda. For this, BeyondSDG will apply a threefold scientific approach that combines statistical analysis of empirical and modelled data, qualitative analysis of literature, and knowledge co-creation with stakeholders, including sectoral experts and policymakers, based on systems thinking. This combination of three approaches is complementary and essential to deal with the complex topic of long-term sustainability. Consequently, BeyondSDG will lead to a breakthrough in interdisciplinary research by combining approaches from sustainability science, earth system modelling, and environment and resource management. Mainly, it will bring the following ground-breaking findings: critical targets where adequate actions can lead to progress across most SDGs, negative impacts of underachieving SDGs on people, the planet, and prosperity, required extra efforts for long-term sustainability besides achieving SDGs, and sustainability targets for the post-2030 Agenda based on lessons learned from SDGs, state-of-the-art science, and stakeholder partnerships.

Mots-clés : sustainable development goals,sdg interactions,planetary boundaries,social foundations,social prosperity
Projet ERC : AFREXTRACT (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Université de Groningue — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RUG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498778.0 €

Resource extraction industries have propelled environmental transformation across Africa, most notably between 1950 and 2020. The undeniably dramatic effects of mining and oil drilling on landscapes and lifeworlds have elicited radically divergent cultural and political responses, from apparent acquiescence to violent protest and accusations of ecocide. Yet the nature of the relationship between environmental change and human response in African localities remains extremely poorly conceptualised. AFREXTRACT addresses this gap by analysing how various actors in three emblematic sites - the Witwatersrand, the Copperbelt and the Niger Delta - have experienced and responded to environmental change. The first study to investigate this comprehensively and comparatively, AFREXTRACT demonstrates that insights from environmental history, political ecology and environmental humanities are crucial to topical debates about coloniality/decoloniality and the Anthropocene. Our main objectives are: 1) to identify the causal factors informing human response to environmental transformation through three in-depth case studies (gold mining in South Africa; copper mining in Zambia; oil drilling in Nigeria); 2) to analyse how cultural expression (specifically literature and music) has made sense of environmental change; 3) to conceptualise varieties of environmentalism beyond a binary of resistance and resignation. AFREXTRACT will combine archival research with oral history, literary analysis and ethnomusicology to document changing values regarding the environment. A new analytical framework will facilitate engagement with global discussions about extractivism, colonialism/postcolonialism, environmental inequality and climate change. As resource extraction and its toxic legacies are set to continue, a historical understanding of these issues is imperative.

Mots-clés : environmental history environmental humanities resource extraction political ecology africa
Projet ERC : GREMLIN (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Immunity, Infection and I mmunotherapy
Entité participante : Université Vie-Santé Saint-Raphaël — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Mucosal immunity is essential to preserve homeostasis and for pathogen control within the gut and the airways. The emerging dogma of immune regionalization has opened to new questions about which elements drive cell adaptation to different niches, and how this can be targeted to cure diseases. The intestine and the airways are functionally diverse along their length, and disorders can differentially impact on different mucosal tissue regions. Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues (MALTs) are located along the intestine and the airways to drain selective tissue segments and support protective immunity. Whether MALTs located in different tissue areas show immune regionalization remains poorly understood. Also, little is known about which molecules control such immune diversity. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are surface proteins important for cell migration and compartmentalization in lymphoid tissues, but their role in immune regionalization is not clear. We propose to apply a combination of imaging, flow cytometry, spatial gene editing and sequencing techniques to study the role of GPCRs in immune regionalization of MALTs, at steady state and in disease. In the intestine, we will phenotypically and functionally profile immune cells and GPCRs expression within Peyer's patches (PPs) from different gut regions, in physiology or in the context of inflammation and obesity. Similarly, we will analyze immune regionalization of bronchus-associated lymphoid tissues and nose-associated lymphoid tissues within the airways, at steady state or upon infections. Finally, we will characterize the role of a candidate GPCR, GPR35, in the induction of intestinal and respiratory immunity. Our preliminary data show that GPR35 shapes cell recruitment to inflamed airways and influences cell positioning within PPs. By applying the above-mentioned approaches and dedicated mouse models, we will study how GPR35 regulates mucosal immunity and if it represents an attractive clinical target.

Mots-clés : gpcrs cell migration myeloid cell intestinal immunity airways infections
Projet ERC : TRANS-PSYCH (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : University Medical Center Groningen — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UMCG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499999.0 €

Schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BP), and Major Depressive Disorder (MD) are three major psychiatric disorders that affect mood, thinking, and behavior. These disorders are strongly genetically intercorrelated, and exhibit pronounced clinical overlap, suggesting that they are different manifestations of a shared underlying neurobiology, along a spectrum. However, the neurobiological mechanisms and pathophysiology of these disorders are still poorly understood, limiting effective drug discovery. There is an urgent need for new models for drug testing, as animal models have major limitations, and current psychiatric organoids systems are dependent on patient derived stem cells, in which technical, genetic and biological diversity confound the interpretation, and obscure the underlying neuropathology. The major challenge of this ERC proposal is to develop organoid models for psychiatric disorders by targeting upstream transcription factors. Transcription factors are key molecules that drive cell type differentiation including neuronal network formation. Hence, the central hypothesis of this ERC proposal is that neuronal subtype associated transcription factors can function as targets to model these disorders using brain organoids. However, the neuronal transcriptional regulators that mediate these disorders are currently unknown, and difficult to identify. Novel genomics technologies allow for an unbiased characterization of the brain in order to detect cell types and genes that are dysregulated in disease, and can be used to identify putative upstream transcription factors. Here, I propose a selection of multi-omics profiling - strategies to a unique collection of high quality psychiatric human brain tissue aimed at reliably identifying key upstream transcription factors. We will subsequently target those transcription factors in brain organoid systems to establish neurobiological models of these disorders.
Projet ERC : BORNANO (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials Engineering
Entité participante : Université de Groningue — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RUG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1874571.0 €

Nanometer-sized solids such as nanocrystals (NCs) or layers that are one or few atomic layers thick offer advantages in fields from catalysis to optoelectronics. However, they are mostly incompatible with ‘extreme’ conditions, e.g. high levels of radiation, harsh chemicals, or extreme temperatures as found in aerospace or deep-sea infrastructures. To introduce nanomaterials to these conditions, I propose to combine innovative chemical design and surface engineering to create thin films composed of colloidal metal boride NCs. Based on the boron chemistry, these NCs promise unparalleled levels of hardness and wear resistance when processed in thin films, paving the way for the development of solution-processable coatings with many functionalities and resistance to extreme conditions. I will develop novel metal boride colloidal NCs, study their growth mechanisms and structure-property relationships, use solution processing to create thin films, and determine their mechanical and physical properties as functional materials in extreme conditions. Main innovations are:(1) as traditional methods have been found wanting in terms of purity, yield, and morphology control, I will introduce innovative high-throughput solid-state synthesis techniques, setting the stage for scalable and reliable production; (2) I will explore the atomic-level surface dynamics and develop suitable ligands to achieve stable suspensions through surface engineering; (3) I will test and validate methodologies to turn individual NCs into solid thin films with similar robustness and stability as bulk materials. BORNANO aims to introduce a new class of hard coatings and implement innovative processing methods for thin-film fabrication from colloidal suspensions. In parallel, it targets the fundamental understanding of the chemistry of metal boride colloidal NCs and their surface chemistry. These materials have potential applications in extreme condition technologies,from aerospace coatings to sensors.

Mots-clés : nanocrystals,colloidal chemistry,surface chemistry,metal borides,thin films,inks,solution processable,hard coatings