Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : GENIE (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Synergy grants)
Entité participante : Aarhus University — Pays : Danemark — Rôle : CO-PI
Acronyme de l'entité : AU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2904579.0 €

Geoengineering technologies, such as solar radiation management (SRM), and negative emissions technologies, such as greenhouse gas removal (GGR), are emerging options to address climate change. This project will investigate the environmental, technical, social, legal, and policy dimensions of GGR and SRM. We provide an urgently needed interdisciplinary and holistic perspective of these technologies in order to understand conditions under which they might be deployed at scale. Our meta-analytical framework integrates insights from social science, engineering and physical science disciplines to provide a comprehensive view of GGR and SRM in the transition to climate neutrality in Europe and the world. The project will conduct excellent research and generate a robust, scientific assessment for evidence-based policymaking. Our research framework consists of three pillars—techno-economic systems, socio-technical systems, and systems of political action—within which we place six work packages (WPs). These are: (1) Understanding the current state and future potential of GGR and SRM technologies in terms of their technical and economic features; (2) Analysing bottlenecks in transitions to climate neutrality and their implications for deployment; (3) Identifying social acceptance and legitimacy constraints, (4) Learning, diffusion, and adoption; (5) Implications for Sustainable Development Goals of archetypical mitigation pathways; and 6) Policy options and governance. A crosscutting WP7 synthesizes research along three salient, but under-researched themes: A) Socio-technical change; B) Managing transition risks; and C) Political economy and feasibility of deployment. WP8 focuses on stakeholder engagement, entailing scenario co-design, science-policy dialogue formats, and specific outreach formats for target groups.

Mots-clés : negative emissions,geo engineering,solar radiation management,carbon dioxide removal,climate policy,energy policy
Projet ERC : RandomMultiScales (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Mathematics
Entité participante : University of Augsburg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1796926.0 €

Geometrically or statistically heterogeneous microstructures and high physical contrast are the key to astonishing physical phenomena such as invisibility cloaking with metamaterials or the localization of quantum waves in disordered media. Due to the complex experimental observation of such processes, numerical simulation has very high potential for their understanding and control. However, the underlying mathematical models of random partial differential equations are characterized by a complex interplay of effects on many non-separable or even a continuum of characteristic scales. The attempt to resolve them in a direct numerical simulation easily exceeds today's computing resources by multiple orders of magnitude. The simulation of physical phenomena from multiscale models, hence, requires a new generation of computational multiscale methods that accounts for randomness and disorder in a hierarchical and adaptive fashion. This proposal concerns the design and numerical analysis of such methods. The main goals are connected to fundamental mathematical and algorithmic challenges at the intersection of multiscale modeling and simulation, uncertainty quantification and computational physics: (A) Numerical stochastic homogenization beyond stationarity and ergodicity, (B) Uncertainty quantification in truly high-dimensional parameter space, (C) Computational multiscale scattering in random heterogeneous media, (D) Numerical prediction of Anderson localization and quantum phase transitions. These objectives base upon recent breakthroughs of deterministic numerical homogenization beyond periodicity and scale separation and its deep links to seemingly unrelated theories ranging all the way from domain decomposition to information games and their Bayesian interpretation. It is this surprising nexus of classical and probabilistic numerics that clears the way to the envisioned new computational paradigm for multiscale problems at randomness and disorder.

Mots-clés : msc2010  65 xx numerical analysis,65mxx partial differential equations,initial value and time dependent initial boundary value problems,65nxx partial differential equations,boundary value problems,65zxx applications to physics
Projet ERC : HybridSolarFuels (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Entité participante : University of Szeged — Pays : Hongrie — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498750.0 €

Given that CO2 is a greenhouse gas, using the energy of sunlight to convert CO2 to transportation fuels (such as methanol) represents a value-added approach to the simultaneous generation of alternative fuels and environmental remediation of carbon emissions. Photoelectrochemistry has been proven to be a useful avenue for solar water splitting. CO2 reduction, however, is multi-electron in nature (e.g., 6 e- to methanol) with considerable kinetic barriers to electron transfer. It therefore requires the use of carefully designed electrode surfaces to accelerate e- transfer rates to levels that make practical sense. In addition, novel flow-cell configurations have to be designed to overcome mass transport limitations of this reaction. We are going to design and assemble nanostructured hybrid materials to be simultaneously applied as both adsorber and cathode-material to photoelectrochemically convert CO2 to valuable liquid fuels. The three main goals of this project are to (i) gain fundamental understanding of morphological-, size-, and surface functional group effects on the photoelectrochemical (PEC) behavior at the nanoscale (ii) design and synthesize new functional hybrid materials for PEC CO2 reduction, (iii) develop flow-reactors for PEC CO2 reduction. Rationally designed hybrid nanostructures of large surface area p-type semiconductors (e.g., SiC, CuMO2, or CuPbI3) and N-containing conducting polymers (e.g., polyaniline-based custom designed polymers) will be responsible for: (i) higher photocurrents due to facile charge transfer and better light absorption (ii) higher selectivity towards the formation of liquid fuels due to the adsorption of CO2 on the photocathode (iii) better stability of the photocathode. The challenges are great, but the possible rewards are enormous: performing CO2 adsorption and reduction on the same system may lead to PEC cells which can be deployed directly at the source point of CO2, which would go well beyond the state-of-the-art.

Mots-clés : photoelectrochemistry,co2 utilization,renewable energy,nanoscience
Projet ERC : EUGenDem (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : University of Helsinki — Pays : Finlande — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UH
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 397100.75 €

Given the crucial importance of European Parliament’s party groups to democratic representation in the European Union, it is surprising that there is limited empirical and theoretical understanding that relates to how they conceive of gender, gender hierarchies and gendered relations, or how they seek to address gender inequalities. Nor do we know what the conditions are for increasing a gender equal democracy in the EU in the face of the current political context shaped by political crises. This project aims to provide a systematic analysis of the gendered policies and practices of European party politics. The research comprises a comparative study of the eight European Parliament (EP) party groups and generates empirical findings about the significance of gender in the current party political transformations in Europe. Further potential lies in the key methodological innovation whereby the proposed project links informal institutions and discourses to affects and emotions, generating research designs with which the persistence of gender inequalities can be analysed more thoroughly than current gender and politics research allows. More nuanced conceptualizations, and theories about inclusive representation, gender justice and democracy at the transnational level, are a likely consequence of adopting an innovative methodological approach where empirical findings inform the theoretical level. Therefore, the project may have a high societal impact as it speaks directly to the current political crises in Europe, and provides an understanding of their gendered underpinnings. Thus, the key ambition of this research project is: based on a thorough empirical understanding of gender and party politics at the European Parliament to build novel methodologies, concepts and theories about inclusive representation, gender justice and democracy.

Mots-clés : gender,european parliament,political parties
Projet ERC : BIOGEOS (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ETH Zurich
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2497115.0 €

Given the increasing scarcity of suitable land for development, soil strengthening technologies have emerged in the past decade and go hand-in-hand with the implementation of the majority of foundation solutions. The goal is to alter the soil structure and its mechanical properties for ultimately securing the integrity of structures. The BIOGEOS project puts the focus on bio-mediated soil improvement, which falls within the broader framework of multi-physical processes in geo-mechanics. The goal of the project is to engineer a novel, natural material under controlled processes, for ultimately providing solutions to real problems in the geo-engineering and geo-energy fields by advancing knowledge around complex multi-physical phenomena in porous media. The bio-cemented geo-material, which is produced by carefully integrating the metabolic activity of native soil bacteria, is produced through the bio-mineralization of calcite bonds, which act as natural cementation for endowing the subsurface with real cohesion and increased resistance. A principal characteristic of the project is its multi-scale approach through advanced experimentation to identify the main physical mechanisms involved in the formation of the bio-mineralized bonds and their behaviour under mechanical loading. The development of such a bio-mediated technology will lead to innovative applications in a series of engineering problems such as the restoration of weak foundations, seismic retrofitting, erosion protection, and the enhancement of heat transfer in thermo-active geo-structures. The project foresees to adopt multiple loading conditions for its laboratory characterization and ultimately pass to the large experimental scale. BIOGEOS further aims to provide new knowledge around the way we perceive materials in relation with their micro-structure by implementing state-of-the-art inspection of the material’s structure in 3D space and subsequent prediction of their behaviour through numerical tools.

Mots-clés : geotechnics,soil improvement,bio inspired materials,microbial induced calcite precipitation,laboratory characterization,large scale experimentation,multiphysical modeling,constitutive modeling
Projet ERC : NovAnI (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : GBF;HZI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499367.0 €

Given the rapid emergence of anti-infective resistance, drugs with a novel mode of action are urgently needed. Because of an exhaustion of existing strategies, a low return on investment and the fact that anti-infectives are difficult to develop (e.g., crossing the peculiar cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis), promising un(der)explored targets and unconventional hit-identification strategies are needed. I have selected three anti-infective targets based on their biochemical context for which few or no small-molecule inhibitors are known: 1) The antimalarial and antituberculotic drug target DXS is part of a unique biosynthetic pathway for pathogens that is absent in humans, thereby circumventing selectivity issues. Both diseases are a serious health threat with around 1.9 million deaths per year. 2) Energy-coupling factor transporters are essential vitamin importers for pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, the causative agent of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. 3) The DNA polymerase sliding clamp DnaN has polymerase and DNA repair activities and is an excellent drug target for the development of antibacterial agents against Gram-negative and –positive bacteria given the low incidence of resistance development. I will address these targets, employing a unique combination of potentially synergistic hit-identification strategies that take into account protein flexibility, provide access to novel scaffolds and give me a cutting edge for the development of novel anti-infectives. This ERC proposal builds on my experience with the first two targets and provides an excellent platform for the new target DnaN. My expertise in synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry and established hit-identification strategies together with my collaborations with protein crystallographers, biochemists and pharmacologists place me in an excellent position for not only achieving the goals of this interdisciplinary proposal but also going beyond it.

Mots-clés : medicinal chemistry,hit identification,anti infectives
Projet ERC : UTOPES (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : Friedrich Schiller University Jena — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : FSU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1965917.0 €

Glasses have traditionally been enabling materials to major societal challenges. Significant breakthroughs on many areas of technological progress have been very closely linked to the exploitation of glassy materials. It is strong consensus that this key role will persist in the emerging solutions to major global challenges in living, energy, health, transport and information processing, provided that the fundamental limitations of the presently available empirical or semi-empirical approaches to glass processing can be overcome. In the coming decade, it is therefore a major task to take the step towards ab initio exploitation of disordered materials through highly-adapted processing strategies. This requires pioneering work and in-depth conceptual developments which combine compositional design, structural evolution and the thermo-kinetics of material deposition into holistic tools. Only those would significantly contribute to solving some of the most urgent materials needs for glass applications in functional devices, be it in the form of thin films, particles or bulk materials. The present project challenges today’s engineering concepts towards the conception of such tools. For that, melt deposition, isothermal deposition from liquid phases, and gas-phase deposition of non-crystalline materials will be treated - within the class of inorganic glasses - in a generalist approach, unified by the understanding that glass formation represents the only strict deviation from self-organization, and that, hence, the evolution of structural complexity in glassy materials can be tailored on any length-scale through adequate processing. Providing a topological scheme for the quantification and chemical tailoring of structural complexity, UTOPES will answer to the challenge of finding order in disorder, and will thus break the grounds for the third generation of glasses with properties beyond what is presently thought as the limits of physical engineering.

Mots-clés : glass,amorphous films,structural topology,structural engineering,optical materials,physical vapor deposition,chemical vapor deposition,mechanical properties,relaxation,thermal processing
Projet ERC : VESSEL CO-COPTION (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Institut Curie — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1105604.25 €

Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the deadliest types of human cancer. Despite a very aggressive treatment regime – including resection of the tumor, radiation and chemotherapy – its estimated recurrence rate is more than 90%. Recurrence is mostly caused by the regrowth of highly invasive cells spreading from the tumor bulk, which are not removed by resection. To develop an effective therapeutic approach, we need to better understand the underlying molecular mechanism of radiation resistance and tumor spreading in GBM. Radioresistance in GBM is attributed to glioma stem cells (GSCs), a fraction of perivascular, self-renewing, multipotent and tumor-initiating cells. Growing evidence highlights the perivascular space as a niche for GSC survival, resistance to therapy, progression and dissemination. The unknown factor is the dynamics of GSCs, how they end up in the vascular niche and how this impacts on radioresistance. My overall hypothesis is that GSCs reach the perivascular niche through vessel co-option - the directional migration of tumor cells towards vessels - and that targeting vessel co-option has the potential to radiosensitize GBM. With this project, we aim to uncover the exact molecular and cellular connections among vessel co-option, GSCs, the vascular niche and radioresistance. Using multiple strategies, such as multiphoton intravital microscopy, orthotopic models of GBM, organotypic cultures, screenings and survival studies, we will investigate and mechanistically change the dynamics of GSC and differentiated GBM cells in order to understand the role of their interaction with brain vessels and whether this confers resistance to radiotherapy. These studies will provide clinically relevant insights into the involvement of GSCs, the vascular niche and vessel co-option in the resistance of GBM to therapy. Since all GBM patients receive radiotherapy, many would benefit from therapeutic strategies aimed at increasing its efficacy.
Projet ERC : RISeR (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : University of Southampton — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 19447.5 €

Global sea-level rise is one of our greatest environmental challenges and is predicted to continue for hundreds of years, even if global greenhouse-gas emissions are stopped immediately. However, the range, rates and responses to sea-level rise beyond 2100 are poorly understood. Current models that project sea-level rise centuries into the future have large uncertainties because the recent observations upon which they are based, encompass too limited a range of climate variability. Therefore, it is crucial to turn to the geological record where there are large-scale changes in climate. Global temperatures during the Last Interglacial were ~1oC warmer than pre-industrial values and 3-5oC warmer at the poles (a pattern similar to that predicted in the coming centuries), and global sea level was 6-9 m higher, far above that experienced in human memory. Through the RISeR project, I will lead a step-change advance in our understanding of the magnitude, rates and drivers of sea-level change during the Last Interglacial, to inform both global and regional sea-level projections beyond 2100. Specifically I will: 1. Develop new palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of Last Interglacial sea-level change from northwest Europe; 2. Provide the first ever chronological constraints on the timing, and therefore rates, of relative sea-level change that occurred in northwest Europe during the Last Interglacial; 3. Use state-of-the-art numerical modelling to distinguish the relative contributions of the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets to global sea-level rise during the Last Interglacial; 4. Provide estimates of the land areas and exposed populations in northwest Europe at risk of inundation by long-term (2100+) sea-level rise, providing high-end scenarios critical for coastal-risk management practice. These ambitious objectives will result in a state-of-the-art integrated study of the most appropriate analogue for a critical global environmental challenge; future sea-level rise.

Mots-clés : sea level change,ice sheets
Projet ERC : ArcheoDyn (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe sciences
Entité participante : University of Vienna — Pays : Autriche — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Univie
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1542820.0 €

Globular clusters (GCs) are enigmatic objects that hide a wealth of information. They are the living fossils of the history of their native galaxies and the record keepers of the violent events that made them change their domicile. This proposal aims to mine GCs as living fossils of galaxy evolution to address fundamental questions in astrophysics: (1) Do satellite galaxies merge as predicted by the hierarchical build-up of galaxies? (2) Which are the seeds of supermassive black holes in the centres of galaxies? (3) How did star formation originate in the earliest phases of galaxy formation? To answer these questions, novel population-dependent dynamical modelling techniques are required, whose development the PI has led over the past years. This uniquely positions him to take full advantage of the emerging wealth of chemical and kinematical data on GCs. Following the tidal disruption of satellite galaxies, their dense GCs, and maybe even their nuclei, are left as the most visible remnants in the main galaxy. The hierarchical build-up of their new host galaxy can thus be unearthed by recovering the GCs’ orbits. However, currently it is unclear which of the GCs are accretion survivors. Actually, the existence of a central intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) or of multiple stellar populations in GCs might tell which ones are accreted. At the same time, detection of IMBHs is important as they are predicted seeds for supermassive black holes in galaxies; while the multiple stellar populations in GCs are vital witnesses to the extreme modes of star formation in the early Universe. However, for every putative dynamical IMBH detection so far there is a corresponding non-detection; also the origin of multiple stellar populations in GCs still lacks any uncontrived explanation. The synergy of novel techniques and exquisite data proposed here promises a breakthrough in this emerging field of dynamical archeology with GCs as living fossils of the past of galaxies.

Mots-clés : dynamics of stellar systems,globular clusters