Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : FourSurf (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Mathematics
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1870000.0 €

Enumerative geometry is the field of algebraic geometry dealing with counting geometric objects satisfying constraints. For instance, in Ancient Greece, Apollonius asked how many circles are tangent to three given circles in the plane. It is a very active area due to unexpected connections with other fields of mathematics and physics. So far, modern enumerative geometry is largely about counting curves. Recently I worked on foundations for a theory for counting surfaces in 4-dimensional spaces. This is the starting point of this proposal, which is about discovering new properties of 4-dimensional spaces using surface counting. Project A explores surface counting in Calabi-Yau, hyper-Kähler, and Abelian fourfolds in a series of concrete settings. The impact is this: when the count is non-zero for some (2,2) class γ on X, then it implies the variational Hodge conjecture for (X,γ). The Hodge conjecture is one of the millennium prize problems and the first open case is for (2,2) classes on 4-dimensional spaces. Project B investigates 4-dimensional singularities. It is about discovering a connection between the geometry and algebra hidden in the singularity called "crepant resolution conjecture". The impact is this: for 3-dimensional singularities the crepant resolution conjecture does not work when surfaces get contracted. By embedding 3-dimensional singularities in 4 dimensions, I expect to solve this open case. Project C shifts from counting surfaces in 4-dimensional space to counting representations of 4-dimensional non-commutative rings. The same move for 3-dimensional rings opened up an entire field, and this project will do the same for 4-dimensional rings. Interesting examples include Sklyanin algebras, non-commutative resolutions of 4D Gorenstein singularities, and quantum Fermat sextic fourfolds.  The common denominator of these projects is that they involve 4D phenomena that could previously not be explored and are made accessible by this proposal.

Mots-clés : enumerative geometry,moduli spaces of sheaves,4 folds,variational hodge conjecture,gorenstein singularities,representations of quivers
Projet ERC : ECOART (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Texts and Concepts
Entité participante : Université d'Oslo — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UiO
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1999336.0 €

Works of art are repositories of environmental knowledge. Paintings, sculptures, and artifacts preserve material evidence of the use of natural resources like mineral pigments, plant-based dyes, and precious metals, and contribute to a visual archive of human interaction with nature by providing pictorial records of mining and deforestation. ECOART aims to rewrite art history as a history of ecological interconnections and prove that aesthetic practices were conditioned by environmental circumstances by examining the artistic use and visual representation of geographical, geological, botanical, zoological, and climatic resources across Eurasia, a space dominated by European and Chinese economic spheres of influence, in an era of early modern globalization from 1500 to 1800. The project investigates six key artistic sites with a focus on the Global South, an area still affected by the colonial exploitation of resources – the Indian region of Gujarat and the port cities of Manila in the Philippines, Jakarta in Indonesia, Guangzhou in China, Yangon in Myanmar, and Amsterdam in the Netherlands – with three objectives: 1. to analyze works of art as early modern repositories of environmental knowledge; 2. to reconstruct local ecologies of art and artisanship in the Global South in relation to trade and colonial exploitation; and 3. to make visible transcultural models of sustainability and creative reuse across early modern Eurasia. Digital mapping will demonstrate linkages between sites of artistic activity, resource extraction, and trade via overland and maritime connections. Through a geographic focus on under-researched regions of the Global South, and its transcultural and comparative methodology, ECOART will contribute to the decolonization of art history, provide theoretical insights into circular economies and the ecology of art, and contribute key historical information to an interdisciplinary understanding of natural resource conflicts during the Anthropocene.
Projet ERC : POLYCHROME (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Texts and Concepts
Entité participante : Université d'Oslo — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UiO
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2504702.5 €

POLYCHROME will study the shifting fortunes of richly painted and gilded (polychromed) Christian images that have survived in the Nordic countries since the Reformation. How have wooden sculptures, panel paintings, shrines, and winged altarpieces transformed from potent objects of devotion to cultural heritage? To what extent is this category of cultural heritage at risk? Values attached to Catholic devotional objects have fluctuated dramatically since Gustav I of Sweden and Christian III of Denmark-Norway declared a break with the church in Rome (1527 and 1537, respectively). However, documentary sources shed little light on changes in status, volatility, and repairs. POLYCHROME will take an ambitious leap that scholars concerned with polychromy in Denmark, Norway and Sweden have been reluctant to make: to determine the extent to which losses of noses, eyes and limbs are tied to iconoclastic acts. To date, historians and most conservators have attributed damage to accidents or unspecific vandalism, but not to targeted violence. This is due in part to a lack of archival evidence, but also because secondary paints often mask critical information on surfaces and in internal structures. POLYCHROME will harness technologies from the natural sciences to create, from the ground up, the first analytical overview of c. 150 polychromed objects that are (or potentially were) partially mutilated. The material data will offer essential foundations for determining whether damages and losses can be linked to violence, accidents or inherent weakness. The data will guide the mapping of restorations and repairs, and will establish foundations for multidisciplinary studies and cross-cultural debates about heritage values and the future care of religious heritage in the Nordics. The outcomes will complicate conversations about the preserving effects of Lutheranism on medieval devotional objects, and will influence training priorities for years to come.

Mots-clés : medieval,nordic,heritage,material culture,damage,history,polychrome,paint,wood,reformation,lutheran,devotion,violence,mutilation,disempowerment,fragment,loss,overpaint,repair,survival
Projet ERC : ACCESS (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Université d'Oslo — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UiO
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1896821.0 €

A huge challenge for research and policy efforts to accelerate economic development is that firms in poor countries grow surprisingly slowly, making job creation in the “Global South” difficult to achieve. We don’t know why: the existing literature has focused on internal (or “supply-side”) determinants of productivity that firms in poor countries are hypothesized to lack, but these appear to have modest explanatory power. A notable alternative explanation is that many latently productive firms are constrained by forces external to the firm. Recent studies indeed establish that access to input and output markets appear to be important for growth. However, the existing evidence focuses on access constraints arising from poor infrastructure and countries’ trade barriers: firms’ and individuals’ de facto ability to acquire production inputs and sell output is likely influenced by a much broader set of economic, political, and social factors. Similarly, the consequences of market access may extend to “subsequent” economic development outcomes like job creation and changes in inequality.  ACCESS puts the causes and consequences of market access in poor countries at the center of inquiry for the first time. The research program is organized around the various stages of the production process: firms’ access to labor markets; firms’ access to suppliers and buyers in intermediate markets; and firms’ access to final product demand. In its last part, ACCESS returns to the origin of the production process to investigate how barriers to the most fundamental form of market access—individuals’ ability to own and operate firms—affects local economies.  Novel forms of detailed microeconomic data from a wide range of developing countries—especially Colombia, Liberia, the Philippines, and Uganda; new economic theory; and varied empirical methods are used to begin to uncover the many overlooked barriers to and consequences of market access.

Mots-clés : firms in developing countries,workers in developing countries,market access,demand effects,relationships between firms,information frictions,ethnic divisions
Projet ERC : Interfacial Ionics (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2145000.0 €

Ion conduction in solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) is the bedrock of several electrochemical devices like batteries and fuel cells which are vital to our modern society. High conductivity is crucial for such applications, and increasing the intrinsically low conductivity of SSEs has been of enormous technological interest. The discovery that the conductivity of SSEs can increase or decrease by orders of magnitude at their interface with a non-conductor (e.g., oxides) has led to much interest in the use of interface engineering to rationally design SSEs with improved conductivity and overall performance in electrochemical devices. This has so far not been successful because the underlying mechanisms that lead to the profound changes in conductivity at interfaces are not yet well understood due to the complex composition of such interfaces, and the fact that several properties of the two components concomitantly influence this effect. Building on my preliminary results, I aim to unravel the fundamental mechanisms of interface ion conductivity by preparing model nanocomposite SSEs (SSE + oxides) that will allow me to disentangle the different parameters that contribute to this effect. The interface physics/chemistry responsible for interface ion transport will be precisely tuned via surface and compositional modification of the oxides. I will combine advanced surface-sensitive probe techniques, including XPS, X-ray Raman Scattering, HR-TEM/EDX, and NMR to study the interface compositions. This will enable me to establish for the first time how the properties of SSE-oxide mixtures influence their interface reactions, conductivity, and performance in applications. Such fundamental insights will enable the design of novel SSEs with tailor-made properties for a variety of electrochemical applications. My extensive expertise and track record in nanocomposite materials, SSEs, and advanced materials characterization, place me in the perfect position to lead this project.

Mots-clés : solid state electrolytes,ionic conductors,interfaces,nanocomposites,batteries,interface effects
Projet ERC : COALESCE (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer Science and Informatics
Entité participante : Université d'Utrecht — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1877500.0 €

Search tasks are computational tasks with a curious property: while their solutions are easily verifiable when given, finding those solutions from scratch appears much more arduous. A central algorithmic paradigm to solve such tasks is that of search space decomposition. This paradigm solves a search task by breaking it up in subtasks such that a solution to the original problem can be quickly recovered from solutions of the subtasks. Despite its basic nature and its ubiquitous use, it still holds many mysteries.  The mission of COALESCE is to develop a broad theory to design and analyze search space decompositions to solve fundamental search tasks as fast as possible in the standard model of worst-case analysis. Strikingly, such a theory has not been developed yet. Our theory will be a coalescence of two established theories:  - Combinatorial search space decompositions have been studied for graph problems in the area of width parameters, but only focus on decomposing the input and not the search space.  - Algebraic decompositions such as factorizations of matrices and tensors that are of low rank or sparse, have been studied in the area of algebraic complexity, but only for very few problems and not in combination with search space decompositions.  In this proposal, I identify concrete research problems from Parameterized and Fine-Grained Complexity (two prominent subfields of Theoretical Computer Science) that serve as stepping stones towards a model for search space decompositions beyond input decompositions, as well as a theory to analyse their algorithmic power based on combinatorial and algebraic decompositions.   Now is the right moment for this project: the joint power of combinatorial and algebraic decompositions is still barely understood and not yet fully exploited. COALESCE will combine these (and many more) tools in novel ways that transcend existing approaches, and bring a rich theory on the search space decomposition methods entirely within reach.

Mots-clés : complexity theory,parameterized complexity,fine grained complexity,algebraic decompositions
Projet ERC : NanOBatt (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Université d'Ulm — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2000000.0 €

Next-generation energy storage solutions are needed to satisfy the increasing demand for electrically powered devices. Organic electrode materials (OEMs) are promising candidates, constituted of widely available elements, accessible in processes with low CO2 footprint and easily recycled. However, existing OEMs suffer from a lack of porosity, which inhibits counter ion diffusion to the electroactive sites or renders redox processes irreversible, severely limiting their performance.  NanOBatt explores a fundamentally new concept for OEMs in order to significantly improve their intrinsic porosity and provide pathways for efficient counter ion diffusion. In NanOBatt I and my team will investigate redox-active conjugated nanohoops and macrocycles with intrinsic porosity as OEMs in next-generation batteries: Redox-active groups can be installed with the desired properties, their extended conjugation and aromaticity stabilize charges, and their rigid 3D shapes and nanometer-sized cavities lead to nanoporous structures, ideally suited to enable fast counter ion diffusion. In spite of these outstanding properties, conjugated nanohoops have not been explored as OEMs, and even macrocycles have received only little attention as such.  The aims of NanOBatt are to develop synthetic strategies and design guidelines for redox-active conjugated nanohoops and macrocycles as OEMs, elucidate the role of conjugation and porosity on charge stabilization and ion diffusion in their charge/discharge processes and investigate their application as OEMs in alternative battery cell configurations, namely Na, Al, Mg and all-organic batteries. NanOBatt uniquely bridges the gap between fundamental research on organic materials and their application in next-generation charge storage devices. With NanOBatt I will initiate a new research field with ground-breaking impact, both in the scientific community as well as for the future direction of my own research.

Mots-clés : nanohoops,macrocycles,organic batteries,multivalent batteries,organic electrode materials
Projet ERC : Epeius (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and Processes Engineering
Entité participante : Université de Pavie — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1991225.0 €

Forty years ago, the endograft (EG) enabled the endovascular treatment of aortic aneurysm (AoA) and revolutionized vascular surgery. Still, since then, its technological concept has remained substantially unchanged: EG is a passive device aimed at treating the AoA in its late stage, not to cure the disease, even when discovered early. This proposal introduces a bio-engineered process to redesign EGs as 3D bio-printed, bioresorbable devices loaded with active drug components and validated in-vitro to enable the paradigm shift: from end-stage treatment to early personalized healing. To this aim, EPEIUS must tackle three open challenges: 1) available (animal) models often fail to predict human safety and efficacy for candidate therapies; 2) potentially effective drugs are challenging to deliver in therapeutic concentrations at the target; 3) consequently, there is a limited capacity of AoA healing even for compounds that were preclinically promising. We hypothesize that these challenges can be solved simultaneously by designing and fabricating a human in-vitro model of AoA where we can track AoA progression in the presence/absence of bioengineered EG, delivering therapeutic drugs. Grounded on a multi-disciplinary approach, EPEIUS will act as the “trojan horse” to enable the local healing of arterial walls. To verify our hypothesis, we will integrate 3D bioprinting and computational biomechanics to: Aim 1. Create an in-vitro model of AoA recapitulating dysfunction of endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells, degeneration of extra-cellular matrix, overall driven by inflammatory state. Aims 2. Create a customizable EG to carry drug in-situ. Aims 3. Assess in-vitro the regenerative power of the mesenchymal stem cells’ secretome to heal AoA. EPEIUS will directly tackle a prominent medical issue but we are convinced that this innovation in computer-aided engineering, additive manufacturing, and in-vitro pharmacology will create the next generation endovascular device.
Projet ERC : ELOW-DI (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Materials Engineering
Entité participante : Université de Pavie — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1991250.0 €

Engineering new solutions for powering smart portable devices is key to sustain billion-scale connected objects and to provide a greener alternative to batteries. Indoor Photovoltaics (PVs) - with a projected market of $850 million by 2023 - relying on conversion of visible indoor light- can sustain this challenge, capitalizing on the development of flexible, semi-transparent, colored and easily integrated energy generation devices. Despite the urgency and the large market potential, current PV technologies mostly fail, leveraging on rigid and bulky systems fabricated by energy-intensive processes (i.e. Silicon PVs) or on carbon-based technologies not yet in the market for their insufficient durability. Hybrid perovskites with wide band gap (2eV), with their easy tunability, structural flexibility, and lightweight, hold the potential for a transformative solution in visible PVs. However, lower efficiency compared to low-band gap ones, reliance on toxic elements and insufficient stability hamper their scaling up. ELOW-DI faces this challenge by engineering the perovskite dimensionality as the key variable to unlock device instability while allowing for efficient visible light conversion. This will be obtained i) by developing intrinsically stable low-dimensional perovskites (LDPs) – leveraging on non-toxic elements and stable hydrophobic units and 2) by controlling material nucleation and consequent thin film morphology to obtain vertically oriented crystalline nanopillars, essential to ensure efficient charge extraction in the device while reducing unwanted recombination. Upon the demonstration of the proof of concept on lab-scale, research will be moved to a completely new direction by engineering large area devices while ensuring the scalability of the nanoscale material properties. ELOW-DI is timely, and it will generate the new multidisciplinary knowledge – from material to device engineering- which is now needed for the next-gen of indoor PV solutions.

Mots-clés : material engineering solar cell engineering device scaling up hybrid perovskites
Projet ERC : TDP-Assembly (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Molecules of Life: B iological  Mechanisms , Structures  and Functions
Entité participante : Institute of Molecular Biology — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : IMB
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 80000.0 €

Neurodegenerative disorders are an enormous societal burden and we lack therapies that target these diseases at their origins. To develop therapies, we need to understand what goes wrong at the molecular level. I uncovered key mechanisms that cause RNA-binding proteins, such as TDP-43, to dysfunction and drive neurodegenerative processes. I discovered that RNA-binding proteins self-assemble into ribonucleoprotein granules that are the likely origins of RNA-binding protein aggregates. More recently, my group and I revealed aberrant phase transitions of condensed RNA-binding proteins occurring in disease and identified fundamental mechanisms by which such phase transitions are regulated in cells. In TDP-Assembly, I now want to find out why these proteins exhibit a self-assembly behavior that apparently risks pathological aggregation. My hypothesis is that self-assembly is essential for their many functions in gene regulation, and that different types of self-assemblies, e.g., small clusters or fluid or solid condensates, mediate different functions in cells. Using TDP-43 as a paradigm, I will test this hypothesis to ultimately understand the molecular basis of RNA-binding protein dysfunction in neurodegeneration. To achieve this goal, I will use synthetic biology approaches to rationally tune self-assembly of TDP-43 in cells. I will study how altered TDP-43 self-assembly affects its known molecular functions, i.e., regulation of transcription, alternative splicing, and translation. Transcriptome and proteome analyses will draw a systems biology map of altered TDP-43 self-assembly and might lead us to novel functions of TDP-43 self-assembly. Ultimately, I will address how TDP-43's self-assembly, and thus its functions, are altered by disease-linked mutations in neuronal cells. TDP-Assembly will forge a new understanding of the functional and pathological relevance of RNA-binding protein self-assembly and might inspire new therapies that target self-assembly processes.

Mots-clés : rna binding proteins,intrinsically disordered proteins,phase separation,neurodegeneration,tdp 43