Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : CONSCIOUS (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Entité participante : University of Sussex — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2388443.0 €

How do conscious experiences depend on the brain? The CONSCIOUS project aims to make new progress on this oldest of questions by progressing from establishing correlations between patterns of brain activity and aspects of consciousness, towards developing and testing explanations in terms of neural mechanisms. By following this strategy, I believe the problem of consciousness will be dissolved rather than outright solved – similar to what happened with the study of life, decades ago. One branch of CONSCIOUS will explore what it is like to be conscious ‘at all’. Here, I will make use of the concept of ‘emergence’ – the sense in which a system’s whole can seem to be more than the sum of its parts. I will test the idea that the globally unified character of conscious experiences emerges from neural dynamics, in a similar way to how a flock of birds emerges from the trajectories of the individual birds that make it up. This will involve developing new theoretically principled and practically applicable measures of emergence, and applying them to neurophysiological data reflecting different global states of consciousness. A second branch will explore the nature of specific conscious perceptions, appealing to the influential idea of the brain as a ‘prediction machine’. Here, I will develop novel machine learning models to investigate how particular conscious experiences can be understood as arising from the brain’s ‘best guesses’ of the causes of its sensory inputs. I will use combinations of behavioural experiments and neuroimaging to test the idea that different kinds of neurally-encoded predictions can account for different kinds of perceptual experience. CONSCIOUS is thoroughly multidisciplinary, bridging cognitive neuroscience, philosophy, statistical physics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. It is only through such an approach that it is possible to make substantial progress towards a satisfying scientific account of conscious experience.

Mots-clés : emergence,predictive processing,active inference,machine learning,artificial intelligence,phenomenology
Projet ERC : SurfaceInhibition (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : University of Oslo — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UiO
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1350000.0 €

How do cortical circuits process sensory stimuli that leads to perception? Sensory input is encoded by complex interactions between principal excitatory neurons and a diverse population of inhibitory cells. Distinct inhibitory neurons control different subcellular domains of target principal neurons, suggesting specific roles of different cells during sensory processing. However, the individual contribution of these inhibitory subtypes to sensory processing remains poorly understood. This is mainly due to the technical challenges of recording the activity of identified cell types in-vivo, in response to quantified sensory stimuli. Therefore, I propose a novel approach based on four pillars: 1) An optically accessible circuit in the superficial layers of the cortex, comprised of inhibitory cells expressing the serotonin receptor 5HT3a, and the distal dendrites of pyramidal neurons. 2) A novel combination of electrophysiology and 3D two-photon imaging to simultaneously record the activity of morphologically identified 5HT3a cells and their dendritic targets. 3) A head-fixed perceptual decision task, whereby mice use their whiskers to determine the location of an object, allowing an accurate description of the sensory stimulus. 4) The integration of experimental data and computer models to gain mechanistic insights into circuit functions. The 5HT3a cells and the distal dendrites of pyramidal neurons receive ‘top-down’ contextual information from other cortical areas that is essential for constructing meaningful perceptions of sensory stimuli. Thus I hypothesize that 5HT3a cells influence sensory perceptions by controlling the excitability of the pyramidal cell distal dendrites that integrate top-down and sensory input. Thus, I will not only reveal novel functions of inhibitory neurons, I will also shed light on how top-down and sensory input is integrated, and I will provide novel methods to test the functions of other cell types in normal mice and disease models.

Mots-clés : inhibitory interneurons
Projet ERC : PRESEISMIC (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1458937.5 €

How do earthquakes begin? Answering this question is essential to understand fault mechanics but also to determine our ability to forecast large earthquakes. Although it is well established that some events are preceded by foreshocks, contrasting views have been proposed on the nucleation of earthquakes. Do these foreshocks belong to a cascade of random failures leading to the mainshock? Are they triggered by an aseismic nucleation phase in which the fault slips slowly before accelerating to a dynamic, catastrophic rupture? Will we ever be able to monitor and predict the slow onset of earthquakes or are we doomed to observe random, unpredictable cascades of events? We are currently missing a robust tool for quantitative estimation of the proportion of seismic versus aseismic slip during the rupture initiation, cluttering our attempts at understanding what physical mechanisms control the relationship between foreshocks and the onset of large earthquakes. The current explosion of available near-fault ground-motion observations is an unprecedented opportunity to capture the genesis of earthquakes along active faults. I will develop an entirely new method based a novel data assimilation procedure that will produce probabilistic time-dependent slip models assimilating geodetic, seismic and tsunami datasets. While slow and rapid fault processes are usually studied independently, this unified approach will address the relative contribution of seismic and aseismic deformation. The first step is the development of a novel probabilistic data assimilation method providing reliable uncertainty estimates and combining multiple data types. The second step is a validation of the method and an application to investigate the onset of recent megathrust earthquakes in Chile and Japan. The third step is the extensive, global use of the algorithm to the continuous monitoring of time-dependent slip along active faults providing an automated detector of the nucleation of earthquakes.

Mots-clés : earthquake nucleation,foreshocks,slow slip,seismic waves,insar,tsunami
Projet ERC : EvoCellBio (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Cellular, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
Entité participante : Delft University of Technology — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TU Delft
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

How do organisms evolve? I propose to study how biochemical networks reorganize during evolution without compromising fitness. This is a complex problem: firstly, it is hard to know if a mutation increased fitness because this depends on the environment it arose in, which is typically unknown. Secondly, it is hard to find out how adaptive mutations improve fitness, because in cells, all biochemical networks are connected. I will reduce the complexity by two approaches, focused on symmetry-breaking in budding yeast, a functionally conserved process, which is the first step for polarity establishment and essential for proliferation. First, I will study how adaptive mutations improve fitness in yeast cells, which are evolved after the deletion of an important symmetry-breaking gene. I will use fluorescent live-cell microscopy of polarisation markers to measure fitness, defined as the rate of symmetry breaking. I will combine my data with a kinetic mathematical model to determine how specific network structures facilitate evolutionary network reorganisation. Second, to test predicted network structures, I will build minimal evolvable networks for symmetry breaking in vitro. In my definition of such a network, all of the components are essential for either fitness or evolvability. I will encapsulate the necessary proteins in emulsion droplets to form a functional evolvable network and use fluorescence microscopy to measure its fitness (the rate of a single protein-spot formation on a droplet membrane) and evolvability (the number of accessible neutral or adaptive mutations in the one-step mutational landscape of the network). Next, I will study how increasing the number of components affects the network’s evolvability and fitness. This research will explain how proteins essential in one species have been lost in closely related species. My expertise with in vitro systems, modelling, biophysics and evolution makes me uniquely qualified for this ambitious project.
Projet ERC : FlyContext (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : Technical University of Munich — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : TUM
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1115199.9 €

How do we decide what to choose? While certain cues are preferred, others are avoided. But even innate preferences and aversions must be evaluated in a context-dependent manner. These contexts are environmental cues, but also internal state. In this proposal, I will address how the nervous system integrates chemosensory information with internal state to produce appropriate behaviors. I will present a research program relying on fly genetics, behavior analysis, and in vivo physiology to characterize the neural circuits and mechanisms involved in context-dependent processing of sensory cues. Specifically, I will address how three different internal states (hunger, mating state, sickness) change the perception and processing of odors and tastes. Together with my lab, I have previously demonstrated that the innately aversive odor CO2 is processed in a metabolic state-dependent manner in the fly brain. Exclusively in the context of hunger, CO2 aversion depends on a pathway that involves the mushroom body, a higher brain structure required for learning and memory in the fly. In objective 1, based on two prior behavioral screens, we will analyze the role of additional brain centers such as the lateral horn and the superior lateral protocerebrum in hunger-dependent processing of CO2 and the appetitive odor vinegar. In objective 2, we will dissect the neural underpinnings of polyamine perception. These molecules are indicators of protein breakdown that flies use in a mating state-dependent manner as cues for egg laying or foraging. Objective 3 will focus on the largely unexplored question of how infectious disease and subsequent immune reaction alters chemosensory choice behavior. Results of this proposal will establish a causal link between internal state-dependent chemosensory behavior and neural processing. Ultimately, understanding fundamental rules of context-dependent processing in the fly will provide an important framework for understanding human choice behavior.

Mots-clés : chemosensory processing,drosophila,neural circuits,neuromodulation,innate behavior,internal state,context dependent behavior
Projet ERC : FlyContext (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : Max Planck Society — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : MPG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 382400.1 €

How do we decide what to choose? While certain cues are preferred, others are avoided. But even innate preferences and aversions must be evaluated in a context-dependent manner. These contexts are environmental cues, but also internal state. In this proposal, I will address how the nervous system integrates chemosensory information with internal state to produce appropriate behaviors. I will present a research program relying on fly genetics, behavior analysis, and in vivo physiology to characterize the neural circuits and mechanisms involved in context-dependent processing of sensory cues. Specifically, I will address how three different internal states (hunger, mating state, sickness) change the perception and processing of odors and tastes. Together with my lab, I have previously demonstrated that the innately aversive odor CO2 is processed in a metabolic state-dependent manner in the fly brain. Exclusively in the context of hunger, CO2 aversion depends on a pathway that involves the mushroom body, a higher brain structure required for learning and memory in the fly. In objective 1, based on two prior behavioral screens, we will analyze the role of additional brain centers such as the lateral horn and the superior lateral protocerebrum in hunger-dependent processing of CO2 and the appetitive odor vinegar. In objective 2, we will dissect the neural underpinnings of polyamine perception. These molecules are indicators of protein breakdown that flies use in a mating state-dependent manner as cues for egg laying or foraging. Objective 3 will focus on the largely unexplored question of how infectious disease and subsequent immune reaction alters chemosensory choice behavior. Results of this proposal will establish a causal link between internal state-dependent chemosensory behavior and neural processing. Ultimately, understanding fundamental rules of context-dependent processing in the fly will provide an important framework for understanding human choice behavior.

Mots-clés : chemosensory processing,drosophila,neural circuits,neuromodulation,innate behavior,internal state,context dependent behavior
Projet ERC : SexYeast (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Cellular, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
Entité participante : University of Geneva — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNIGE
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1962105.0 €

How does a cell orient in response to a chemical cue? This basic problem is at the core of how cells interact with their environment. Indeed, the ability to move towards the source of a chemical gradient underlies behaviours as diverse as feeding, identifying a foreign invader or building interconnected cellular networks. Furthermore, chemo-orientation forms the basis of gamete recognition, and is thus critical for genome diversification through sexual reproduction. This proposal makes use of one of the simplest eukaryotic models, the fission yeast S. pombe, to systematically dissect the mechanisms of gradient detection. Gradient sensing occurs during sexual reproduction in a speed-dating process for mate pairing, where dynamic cortical polarity patches secrete pheromones and become stabilized in response to those produced by the other mating type. Chemo-detection depends on a minimal kit of conserved eukaryotic proteins, suggesting that a complete understanding of gradient decoding is possible. We will work towards this goal through four specific aims: 1. to establish the rules of gradient decoding, using unbiased image analysis and caged pheromones; 2. to define the architecture of the communication site, by super-resolution and correlative light-electron microscopy; 3. to probe the molecular regulation of cellular speed-dating, which we hypothesize consists of a spatial decoder and dynamic oscillator; 4. to reveal natural modifiers of speed-dating for mate selection, by exploiting the diversity of wild strain isolates. By combining advanced live and correlative imaging with optogenetic, genetic, biochemical and genomic methods, this project will bring a conceptual and molecular understanding to the problem of gradient decoding. Due to the ancient and fundamental nature of gradient orientation, our discoveries will have impact on several fields of research, including those of immunity, wound healing, development, sexual reproduction and evolution.

Mots-clés : chemotropism,pheromone signalling,gpcr signalling,cdc42 gtpase,cell polarisation,fission yeast schizosaccharomyces pombe,fungi,sexual reproduction,mating,natural variation
Projet ERC : PRODIGI (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : University of Zurich — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UZH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2483765.0 €

How does an issue become a political problem? No issue inherently requires political responses. Instead, political actors construct arguments regarding the nature of a given problem and connect them to particular policy actions. For example, and to preview PRODIGI's substantive focus, some see digital technology as a threat to democracy and advocate for stricter regulation, while others emphasize its potential to improve participation and argue that tighter rules stifle innovation. This phenomenon, known as "problem definition," has long been recognized as a fundamental aspect of any policymaking process. Theoretically, PRODIGI argues that the notion of problem definition needs to integrate the dynamics induced by digital technology, such as new forms of political communication that bypass traditional gatekeepers. The state of the art does not adequately describe these new dynamics. On the one hand, the literature on digital technology and politics has not explicitly recognized problem definition as a a key aspect. On the other hand, the agenda setting and problem definition literatures have not integrated the role of digital technology in their arguments. Specifically, PRODIGI pursues four objectives: 1) develop a theory of problem definition that accounts for the role of digital technology; 2) develop new methods to measure problem definition based on computational social science; 3) analyze problem definition in the case of policy responses to digital technology's implications for democracy; and 4) analyze the effects of problem definition on opinions using survey experiments. PRODIGI breaks new ground in two ways. First, it puts forward original theory and methods to study a longstanding question that has acquired new relevance in digital environments. Second, it applies the new theory and methods to an important societal challenge, namely, how politics responds to digital technology's impact on democracy.

Mots-clés : public policy,computational social science,digital technology and politics
Projet ERC : DomEQUAL (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : Ca' Foscari University of Venice — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1199976.0 €

How does globalisation impact the construction of social inequality? DomEQUAL tackles this question through a study on paid domestic work (PDW). Of the 52.6 million PDWs in the world today, 43 million are women and 7 million are children. The multidimensional transformations brought about by globalisation with the intensification of international migration, the urbanisation of rural and indigenous populations, and changes in household organisation and welfare regimes have a massive impact on PDWs at the global level. New research possibilities are open since PDW has become an object of global governance. The ILO Convention 189 is the most evident sign of this. For researchers, this has the important effect of making new data and tools for analysis available. DomEQUAL profits from this opportunity to provide a global comparison of PDWs’ social positions, especially in the socio-economic and legal fields. It also provides the opportunity to experiment an ‘intersectionality’ approach to PDW on a large scale. Finally, it analyses which type of global/local actor is more effective in improving the legal framework for PDWs. In so doing, it aims at a theoretical and methodological contribution that goes beyond PDW and addresses the construction of social inequalities within globalisation more generally. This is done through a diachronic comparison (1950s-now) of the changing situation of PDWs in the following countries: Spain, Italy and Germany in Europe; Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil in South America; and India, the Philippines and Taiwan in Asia. These nine countries are interesting cases for comparison because of their different positions within the process of globalisation, the specificities of their socio-cultural contexts, and also because they have all experienced mobilisations for PDWs’ rights. The project will be carried out by the PI and two senior post-doc researchers based in Italy, with the support of nine experts in the selected countries.

Mots-clés : domestic work,intersectionality,gender studies
Projet ERC : TWICEASGOOD (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Social World and Its Diversity
Entité participante : University of Wolverhampton — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 66344.04 €

How does sexism affect women’s pathway to political office? Scholars have claimed that voter sexism is over because women candidates win elections at the same rate as men. However, the emergence of a gender equality backlash, misogynistic social media campaigns and the continued under-representation of women in political office globally, indicate a need to re-examine whether sexism acts as a barrier to women’s representation. To better understand political representation, therefore, it is important to understand how and under which conditions sexism by voters, media and political parties, actual and anticipated, can lead women candidates to alter campaign behavior and strategies. For the proposed programme of research in TWICEASGOOD, we reconceptualize the “gender penalty” faced by women candidates to take into account the sexism, threats of violence that they face online, through social media, in the traditional media and in face-to-face encounters. We aim to understand the extent of these types of sexism as well as the ways in which women candidates anticipate and counter them, by being “twice as good”, in order to achieve electoral success. To better understand how encounters of “everyday sexism” on the campaign trail, both online and offline and in the media, shape women’s campaign efforts and chances at electoral success, we propose an ambitious five-year programme of research that captures candidate experiences of sexism and assesses their impact on electoral outcomes. To capture how sexism is experienced “everyday” on the campaign trail, we used a mixed-methods approach, bringing together participant-observation of candidates on the campaign trail in four countries with quantitative media analysis, candidate surveys and a battery of items administered in Round 11 of the European Social Survey to create a cross-national sexism index. This rich data will generate new insights about the causes of women’s continued under-representation in politics.

Mots-clés : women,elections,campaigns,sexism,violence against women in politics,representation,social,media,news media,communication,attitudes