Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : SpectralRecycling (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Soci al World and Its Interactions
Entité participante : Institute of Slavic Studies — Pays : Pologne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ISS PAS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499465.0 €

Ghosts are often presented as the spirits of the dead haunting the living. But what if we understood them as material remains, bringing to light overlooked past and enabling us to grasp the experience of the otherness? I propose such an approach in research on displacement, on territories previously inhabited by one culture but after a forced migration resettled by another one. The displacement comprises expulsion and resettlement. While the former is well-researched, much of the latter remains understudied: especially the settlers experiences with things previous inhabitants had left behind. Things act as ghosts of previous culture and force settlers to interact with the spectral presence of the expellees. Hence, I will operationalize the category of post-displacement as a form of afterlife, based on archival records and fieldwork, in 3 regions in Slavic Central Europe where the traces of previous German cultures remained visible, regardless of the efforts to remove them. With hauntology as the proposed research framework and introduction of the category of recycling, I will establish a novel approach in research on the post-displacement regions. Hauntology, a spectral theory of being, shows how the present is pervaded by the past and enables us to engage with unresolved questions, becoming a tool to investigate unexplained phenomena. Recycling is a mechanism of reintroducing the things that were left by expellees into the life of the settlers. My approach will bring fresh insights into everyday life in the post-displacement regions by providing a more nuanced and coherent understanding of forced migration processes and their continuous reinterpretations in different political and ideological regimes. In understanding what post-displacement things are and the attitude of people towards them, the project presents a showcase study of what we can learn about the emergence of new cultures from the experiences of Central Europe.

Mots-clés : forced migration displacement social life of things spectrality slavic central europe
Projet ERC : SleepingAwake (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Entité participante : Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Inserm
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1333620.0 €

What happens in our brains when we get tired? Mental fatigue can occur for diverse reasons, through extended periods of wakefulness or following intense cognitive efforts. In other words, fatigue can be both time and use-dependent. My core hypothesis is that both processes are underpinned by local intrusions of sleep in the awake brain. Sleep and wakefulness are not mutually exclusive states. When animals are sleep deprived, high-amplitude slow waves (SWs), a hallmark of sleep, can be locally observed in awake individuals. These wake SWs have been linked to impaired cognitive performance. I have further shown that these wake SWs can be observed without sleep deprivation when participants perform demanding tasks. These wake SWs predict objective (errors) and subjective (e.g., mind wandering) markers of attentional lapses. However, the underlying mechanisms driving SWs remain unclear; why do they occur? How well do they predict the cognitive consequences associated with fatigue? And can they be externally modulated?  To answer these questions, I will first describe the physiological signatures of wake SWs, from single-neuron to whole-brain activity. Second, I will seek to explain the occurrence of wake SWs by testing their association with the metabolic changes within the brain. Third, whereas wake SWs have been so far associated with adverse behaviors (lapses of attention), I will examine whether wake SWs could also predict positive outcomes, such as creative insights. Finally, I will investigate the possibility of modulating wake SWs and improving cognitive performance.  Through this project, I will build a novel neurophysiological account of fatigue from the ground up by describing what local sleep is, explaining why it occurs, predicting its adaptative purposes, and modulating how frequently it occurs. This ambitious research program will generate critical novel insights into the neural mechanisms underlying the everyday phenomenon of fatigue.

Mots-clés : sleep wakefulness attention mental fatigue mind wandering behavior cognition consciousness neurophysiology metabolism human intracranial recordings electroencephalography magnetic resonance imaging
Projet ERC : ONCO-COMP (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Institut de recherche en biomédecine — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : IRB
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1112856.9 €

Childhood cancers are believed to be rooted in aberrant development, a notion supported by their (i) generally low mutational burden, (ii) high prevalence of single (often epigenetic) driver events and (iii) occurrence during confined developmental periods. Yet, the exact origins of developmental tumours remain one of the principal enigmas of pediatric oncology. A prime example are malignant rhabdoid tumours (MRTs): they are astoundingly genomically simple but extremely deadly childhood cancers that arise almost exclusively in the first two years of life, and are driven by biallelic inactivation of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodelling complex subunit SMARCB1 (>95% of cases). We still do not know what determines oncogenic competence upon SMARCB1 loss. In particular we wonder: (1) What are the cell(s)-of-origin of rhabdoid tumours and what is their normal differentiation potential? (2) What is the molecular framework that facilitates oncogenic transformation upon SMARCB1 loss? (3) What is the contribution of the niche (local and systemic) to the acquisition of oncogenic competence? And, considering the epigenetic nature of the oncogenic event, (4) is the oncogenic MRT state reversible, and how?  To answer these questions, we will combine state-of-the-art lineage-barcoded single-cell genomics, spatial transcriptomics, single-cell resolution wholemount imaging, CRISPR/Cas9 and epigenomic approaches, as well as integrative computational analyses, using transgenic mouse, induced pluripotent stem cell and patient-derived xenograft rhabdoid tumour models.  This project will provide fundamental insights into the cell autonomous and non-autonomous determinants of oncogenic competence upon SMARCB1 loss. Based on our findings we hope to unlock targeted treatments for MRT patients. Importantly, the conceptual and experimental framework we establish will open up new investigative opportunities for a multitude of developmental cancers.

Mots-clés : oncogenic competence,epigenomics,rhabdoid tumours,chromatin,lineage tracing,developmental tumours,prime editing,cell of origin,tumour initiation
Projet ERC : MCOPI (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : Université de technologie de Delft — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU Delft
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499211.0 €

The pursuit of scalable quantum computing requires groundbreaking solutions to overcome noise, high error rates, and the limited qubit counts of existing architectures. The 0-π (zero-pi) qubit, with its intrinsic protection against environmental noise, offers a transformative path toward fault-tolerant quantum computing, demonstrating superior coherence times compared to conventional superconducting qubits like the transmon. Despite recent advancements, a fully protected version—the hard 0-π qubit—remains unrealized, and the integration of these qubits into scalable, distributed architectures presents a critical, unresolved challenge. This proposal seeks to experimentally demonstrate the hard 0-π qubit and develop a modular, multi-chip quantum processing unit (QPU) architecture. We will investigate and mitigate the decoherence mechanisms, optimize the qubit’s design for enhanced coherence, and implement a high-fidelity interconnect system to seamlessly link qubits across chips. Utilizing advanced 3D integration and flip-chip technology, our scalable architecture will be engineered to support large quantum systems with unparalleled noise resilience and coherence stability. By combining a novel qubit design with state-of-the-art packaging technology, this project aims to lay the foundation for the first scalable, noise-resilient quantum computing platform powered by 0-π qubits. This breakthrough has the potential to unlock new frontiers in fault-tolerant quantum systems, enabling impactful applications across fields such as quantum chemistry, secure communication, and optimization problems. Ultimately, the project aspires to position Europe at the forefront of global quantum technology development.

Mots-clés : modular quantum architecture,qubit design,quantum chiplet,noise resilience,3d integration technology,hardware scalability
Projet ERC : UTOPIQ (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed Matter Physics
Entité participante : Université de Bordeaux — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : UBx
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 158632.5 €

Topological phases of matter emerge from the interplay between broken symmetries and many-body physics and exhibit many fascinating quantum phenomena. Ultrafast switching between different topological phases using light pulses holds the promise for disruptive optoelectronic functionalities, like dissipationless and fault-tolerant logical operations. However, the lack of proper observable being simultaneously sensitive to the local (in momentum-space) topology of the band structure and compatible with time-resolved measurements prevents the real-time monitoring of ultrafast non-equilibrium topological phase transitions. I will address this fundamental challenge by introducing innovative control and measurement methodologies using tailored light pulses in time-, angle- and polarization-resolved extreme ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy. This approach will enable to follow the ultrafast evolution of the electronic band structure’s local topology, in photoexcited quantum materials. This will represent a major advance in photoemission spectroscopy, by moving from band structure mapping to accessing the dynamical evolution of the Bloch wavefunction of solids.  I will use these novel time- and quantum-state-resolved dichroic observables to investigate the rich non-equilibrium physics underlying ultrafast topological phase transitions occurring on various timescales following impulsive optical excitation using shaped pump pulses: i) during the formation of hybrid light-matter (Floquet-Bloch) states, ii) upon the transient modification of electronic correlations, and iii) following the excitation of coherent phonon modes. UTOPIQ will deliver a dramatically improved understanding of the interplay between the non-equilibrium behaviour and non-trivial topology in photoexcited quantum materials, while further representing a decisive step towards the development of the field of ultrafast ‘on demand’ topology.

Mots-clés : ultrafast,photoemission,topology,quantum materials,2d materials,extreme ultraviolet,floquet,phonons,correlations,broken symmetry,topological phase transitions,berry curvature,femtosecond lasers,nonlinear optics
Projet ERC : SMHEART (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Université de Bordeaux — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UBx
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1415375.0 €

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes at least 1.8 million European deaths annually, exceeding fatalities from cancer, chronic respiratory disease, and diabetes. Consequently, the fight against CVD has become the main priority of the World Health Organization.  In the pursuit of understanding and treating CVD, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) has remained the only modality capable of providing a comprehensive assessment of the heart’s function and structure without harmful radiation. Unfortunately, current CMR systems remain too slow, too complex, require highly trained specialists and, as such, have presented a barrier to a wider adoption of CMR.  The aim of my ERC project is to unleash the full potential of CMR to transform patient trajectories by introducing a fast, one-click, fully automated, and comprehensive imaging pipeline applicable to diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy selection in cardiology.  This aim will be achieved by (i) creating a novel imaging technology that collects CMR data in a single continuous free-breathing scan, taking into account post-processing requirements at the very origin of CMR sequence design; (ii) exploiting the unique contrasts generated by this technology to automatically extract quantitative markers on cardiac anatomy, function, and tissue characteristics; and (iii) translating this transformative technology from a pre-clinical to a clinical setting.  This will be the first-ever integrated cardiac imaging pipeline in which CMR images are acquired in a single click, jointly represented in a single volume, and automatically analysed. This will unlock obstacles for broader acceptance of CMR and unleash the full potential of CMR to maximize its impact on patient trajectories. The results of this project will pave the way towards robust image-based strategies for personalized patient care (diagnosis, risk stratification, therapy selection, monitoring, and image-guided interventions).

Mots-clés : cardiology,mri,artificial intelligence,imaging
Projet ERC : OTHERWISE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and Processes Engineering
Entité participante : Université de technologie de Delft — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU Delft
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499958.0 €

We are racing against time to find a clean, yet abundant, energy source able to arrest global warming. Hydrogen has all the characteristics to address this challenge: it can be produced cleanly from water; it is incredibly energetic; and more importantly, it is carbon-free. However, hydrogen’s strong reactivity and diffusivity make the control of its flame in energy-generation devices extremely challenging. Moreover, toxic nitric oxides (NOx), a major concern for air quality, are still abundantly produced in a hydrogen flame. Enabling the use of hydrogen requires thus solutions where the flame is stable and with ultra-low NOx at the same time, and at any power setting.  In this research I will study, for the first time, the combination of intensive strain and water injection in the context of lean premixed combustion. My preliminary research has indicated that intensive strain improves the reactivity of the hydrogen flame and simultaneously pushes the NOx down significantly, a property yet to be understood. Water injection further pushes down the NOx, but it commonly causes flame extinctions and inefficiencies. Its combination with hydrogen and intensive strain, by enhancing the flame, offers a way of surpassing these limitations, and further allows to operate the flame at richer conditions, so preventing common instabilities from occurring in lean premixed combustion.  The objective of this research is to push the hydrogen flame into a high-strain regime characterised by stable flame and ultra-low NOx, and find the extreme limits and physical knowledge allowing full control of the reacting flow in such a regime. The flame dynamics, still unknown in this regime, will be explored for the first time and fully characterised in this research by using high-fidelity simulations, experiments and theoretical analyses. The gathered understanding will allow the control of hydrogen flames at any power setting. This will pave the way for the exploitation of green energy.

Mots-clés : turbulent reacting flows hydrogen energy lean premixed flames strained flames water injection computational fluid dynamics
Projet ERC : MesoClou (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth System Science
Entité participante : Université de technologie de Delft — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU Delft
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499070.0 €

Climate projections are essential for guiding society’s response to climate change but feature significant uncertainty. According to the latest assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), clouds remain the largest source of this uncertainty. The main culprit are mesoscale cloud fields, which organize into striking patterns, and cover hundreds of kilometers over the subtropical and tropical oceans. While conspicuous in satellite imagery, we lack the concepts and tools to adequately model their evolution. To overcome this mesoscale cloud-climate uncertainty, the project will develop a framework to conceptually understand and quantitatively predict mesoscale cloudiness from time series of satellite imagery. This requires a fundamental change of perspective: Instead of investigating cloud processes from the bottom up, the new approach will directly focus on the emergent behavior at the mesoscale. The new framework will capture mesoscale cloudiness as a data-driven complex system. This characterization will enable an assessment of the role of clouds in climate projections that is novel in two aspects: First, it will include observational information that has not been used before to reduce cloud-climate uncertainty. Second, the reliability of state-of-the-art lines of evidence will be objectively judged based on how well they capture different scales of cloud processes. The new methodology will be equipped to tap into the next generation of data and unlock additional lines of evidence. As a comprehensive tool for mastering mesoscale cloudiness, the new framework will have broad and lasting impact: It will steer future cloud research, it will notably reduce uncertainty in the next IPCC assessment, and it will be an essential guide for the upcoming data-driven revolution of atmospheric and climate modeling.

Mots-clés : cloud climate interactions,aerosol cloud interactions,aerosol forcing,cloud feedback,stratocumulus,shallow cumulus,trade cumulus,shallow clouds,deep convection,emergent constraint,complex systems,dynamical systems
Projet ERC : FunCalc4Stats (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Mathematics
Entité participante : Université de technologie de Delft — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU Delft
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1497370.0 €

Computations with spatial or spatiotemporal data occur in various areas such as the social and environmental sciences. The technological progress in data collection and storage capacities in recent years has caused a tremendous growth in data, and thereby exposed the limitations of state-of-the-art computational methods for statistical inference and predictions. Achieving computational feasibility severely limits the dependency structures of underlying random processes in currently deployed models. Above all, there is a strong need for methodologies that capture intricate spatial or spatiotemporal dependencies. This project seeks to characterize flexible dependency structures by means of functional calculus and to exploit this characterization for efficient computations with Gaussian processes. My overall aim consists of a systematic construction and approximation of covariance operators, corresponding to sophisticated nonlocal dependencies, via the action of functions on local linear differential operators. To establish numerical methods for operator functions, I will consider contour integral representations. Expedient transformations of the contours will facilitate operator-valued quadratures based on sinc approximations, which I will combine with uniformly stable discretizations for variational formulations of partial differential equations (PDEs) such as elliptic diffusion, parabolic and Stokes equations. To derive sharp rates of convergence, I will employ discrete inf-sup theory. Thereby I will address specific classes of functions and of differential operators suitable for inference from data. A particular focus will be on spatiotemporal statistical models based on fractional powers of non-autonomous parabolic operators, for which I will analyse space-time finite element methods. This project will considerably strengthen the interaction between Numerical Analysis and Statistics by enabling PDE-based methodologies for efficient computations with spatial data.

Mots-clés : finite element method,inf sup theory,space time variational formulations,stability and convergence of numerical methods,gaussian measures on hilbert spaces,spatial statistics,kriging