Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : PhilAnd (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Cultures and cultural production
Entité participante : University of London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : U. London
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 308522.5 €

The objective of PhilAnd is to conduct a large-scale exploration of how, and under which form, philosophy appeared for the first time in al-Andalus. This issue is pivotal to understanding the history of sciences and ideas, and the role of the Arab-Muslim world in this transfer to Medieval Europe. Its relevance today also lies in the fact that it addresses questions of cultural and religious identities, since the formative stage of philosophy in al-Andalus proved decisive in shaping the intellectual background of many later authors from the Peninsula, whether Muslims, Jews, or Christians. At the crossroads of major lines of enquiries in scholarship and in line with recent discoveries having important chronological implications, PhilAnd focuses on the 10th century, a period usually disregarded by historians on the assumption that philosophy as such was not cultivated in the Iberian Peninsula before the 11th-12th centuries. Its originality is also to put emphasis on ‘ill-defined’ materials and channels of transmission, a field which remains largely unexplored. This project consists of five topics designed for highly-specialised scholars, and of another three transversal types of exploration conducted in the form of conferences convened with leading experts in the world. The final objectives are to test the hypothesis: 1) that the emergence of philosophy in al-Andalus significantly predates the currently accepted time; and 2) that the impact of this formative stage was considerably wider than commonly acknowledged. This project also seeks to provide a better evaluation of the originality of the first Andalusī philosophers with respect to their Oriental forerunners. This cutting-edge investigation is likely to stimulate major changes in our perception of how this primeval stage of philosophy in al-Andalus determined the subsequent developments of rational speculation among the three monotheistic communities of the Peninsula and the intellectual formation of Europe.

Mots-clés : arabic philosophy,islamic science,andalus,knowledge transfer,neoplatonism,ismailism
Projet ERC : VOLATILIS (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, 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 : 1396300.0 €

The objective of project VOLATILIS is to investigate the origin(s) of volatile elements on Earth and other planetary bodies in the inner Solar System. Since primitive and differentiated asteroids, planetary embryos, and the Earth-Moon system represent different stages of planet formation, studies of chondritic meteorites and samples from Vesta, Mars, the Moon, and Earth can provide constraints on the evolution of planetary volatiles from primordial to present-day compositions. However, indigenous volatiles in extraterrestrial samples are often masked by solar and cosmogenic contributions. Only combined analyses of noble gases and other volatiles (N, H) allow the observed volatile signatures to be resolved into constituent components (atmospheric, solar, cosmogenic, indigenous). The Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques (Nancy, France), the PI’s host institute, is the only laboratory that is equipped with static noble gas mass spectrometers for coupled N-noble analyses of small-sized samples, and with two secondary ionization mass spectrometers for non-destructive volatile element measurements. By coupling these high-precision analytical techniques, we will be able to reliably characterize indigenous planetary volatiles, and to assess the importance of volatile storage during primary accretion or late addition via comets and meteorites. Furthermore, we aim to develop the protocols for N isotope analysis by ion microprobe and by static mass spectrometry in multi-collection mode; these methods will allow us to target micron-sized samples (such as melt inclusions) for N analyses and to improve the analytical precision for coupled N-noble gas studies, respectively. The new data obtained here can be integrated as critical parameters into geochemical and astrophysical models of volatile accretion and fluxes in the inner Solar System, and they are expected to be of great interest to the geo-/cosmochemistry, astrophysics, and astrobiology communities.

Mots-clés : origin of volatiles,nitrogen,hydrogen,noble gases,secondary ionization mass spectrometry,static mass spectrometry,planet formation and evolution
Projet ERC : BEACON (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and communication engineering
Entité participante : Imperial College London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1496350.0 €

The objective of the BEACON project is to (re-)introduce analog communications into the design of modern wireless networks. We argue that the extreme energy and latency constraints imposed by the emerging Internet of Everything (IoE) paradigm can only be met within a hybrid digital-analog communications framework. Current network architectures separate source and channel coding, orthogonalize users, and employ long block-length digital source and channel codes, which are either suboptimal or not applicable under the aforementioned constraints. BEACON questions these well-established design principles, and proposes to replace them with a hybrid digital-analog communications framework, which will meet the required energy and latency constraints while simplifying the encoding and decoding processes. BEACON pushes the performance of the IoE to its theoretical limits by i) exploiting signal correlations that are abundant in IoE applications, given the foreseen density of deployed sensing devices, ii) taking into account the limited and stochastic nature of energy availability due to, for example, energy harvesting capabilities, iii) using feedback resources to improve the end-to-end signal distortion, and iv) deriving novel converse results to identify fundamental performance benchmarks. The results of BEACON will not only shed light on the fundamental limits on the performance any coding scheme can achieve, but will also lead to the development of unconventional codes and communication protocols that can approach these limits, combining digital and analog communication techniques. The ultimate challenge for this project is to exploit the developed hybrid digital-analog networking theory for a complete overhaul of the physical layer design for emerging IoE applications, such as smart grids, tele-robotics and smart homes. For this purpose, a proof-of-concept implementation test-bed will also be built using software defined radios and sensor nodes.

Mots-clés : information theory,joint source and channel coding,estimation theory,energy efficiency,internet of everything
Projet ERC : GGTMI (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : University of London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : U. London
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1957592.0 €

The objective of the proposal is to examine ways to increase European growth through technological and managerial innovation. The technological innovation aspect is focused on examining the lifecycle of innovators and entrepreneurs across several advanced countries. We will examine the impact of financial constraints, tax and schooling policies on stimulating greater innovation. The second theme will examine by how much managerial practices can account for differences in the wealth of nations and how management quality can be improved, focusing on randomized control trials of business support polices. In addition to conducting our own surveys and drawing on administrative data, we will use Big Data techniques to measure management and corporate culture within firms. As a package this will constitute a ground-breaking piece of social science that will change the way we think about what drives prosperity across firms and countries. We are confident that this will lay foundations for better policies in Europe and elsewhere to help improve growth.
Projet ERC : HBPTC (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Entité participante : University of Oxford — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2499070.0 €

The objective of the research described in this proposal is to develop a new mode of activation for catalysis leading to more sustainable catalytic processes using abundant feedstock materials. By merging hydrogen bonding and phase transfer catalysis, we propose that hydrogen bonding of an insoluble unreactive anionic nucleophile with a hydrogen bond donor catalyst will form a soluble and reactive entity now capable of carbon-nucleophile bond formation with concomitant release of the hydrogen bond donor catalyst. This activation mode is applicable to nucleophiles as simple as feedstock inorganic salts enabling challenging asymmetric bond-forming reactions in a general and predictable fashion. Inexpensive lost nucleophiles currently unusable due to poor solubility and reactivity will be reclaimed as effective reagents for asymmetric catalysis. Common inorganic salts such as sodium chloride or potassium fluoride will be transformed into high-value products such as complex pharmaceutical and agrochemical products applying operationally simple and cost effective protocols. Synergistic catalysis whereby hydrogen bonding phase transfer catalysis will work in concert with an additional catalytic cycle will be implemented to introduce new chemical transformations with these feedstock reagents, improve efficiency, and create catalytic enantioselectivity where stereocontrol is absent or challenging. This research will require the development of high performance catalysts and the understanding of catalytic mechanisms applying structural, kinetics, and computational studies. HBPTC is expected to expand the field of catalysis, and rival the efficiency of some of the most active metal, organocatalyst and biocatalyst known to date.

Mots-clés : hydrogen bonding catalysis,phase transfer catalysis,asymmetric catalysis,feedstock reagents
Projet ERC : de-ALARMIN (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Erasmus MC — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The objective of this ERC Proof of Concept is to demonstrate the clinical application and commercial viability of a specific driver of the innate immune system as a novel predictive biomarker and as a novel therapeutic target for the diagnosis and treatment of bone marrow fibrosis related to blood cancer. This proposed project builds upon recent findings of my deFiber ERC Starting Grant (Stg) project, where we identified this danger-associated molecular pattern complex as exactly as such a prognostic and predictive biomarker and importantly showed that targeting with a small molecular, oral, anti-cancer inhibitor reduced fibrosis but also the cancer cell burden, in the sense of a targetable biomarker.

Mots-clés : blood cancer,biomarker,personalized therapy,targeted therapy,fibrosis,bone marrow,hematopoietic stem cells,inflammation,drug repurposing
Projet ERC : BIOSUSAMIN (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Entité participante : University of Amsterdam — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UvA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1461840.0 €

The objective of this project is to design and develop biocatalytic cascades, using purified enzymes in vitro, as well as biosynthetic pathways in whole cell microbial organisms. These biocatalytic cascades and biosynthetic pathways will be developed for the synthesis of chiral and achiral amines that are of particular interest for the chemical industry. The amine functionality will be introduced using amine dehydrogenases (AmDHs) as biocatalysts in the pivotal core enzymatic step. AmDHs are a new class of enzymes that have recently been obtained by protein engineering of wild-type amino acid dehydrogenases. However, only two AmDHs have been generated so far and, moreover, they show a limited substrate scope. Therefore protein engineering will be undertaken in order to expand the substrate scope of the already existing AmDHs. In addition, novel AmDHs will be generated starting from different wild-type amino acid dehydrogenases as scaffolds, whose amino acid and DNA sequences are available in databases, literature, libraries, etc. In particular, protein engineering will be focused on the specific chemical targets that are the objectives of the designed biocatalytic cascades and in addition, screening for more diverse substrates will also be carried out. Finally, the AmDHs will be used in combination with other enzymes such as alcohol dehydrogenases, oxidases, alkane monooxygenases, etc., to deliver variously functionalised amines and derivatives as final products with elevated yields, perfect chemo- regio- and stereoselectivity, enhanced atom efficiency and minimum environmental impact. Such an approach will be realised through the design of new pathways that will convert inexpensive starting materials from renewable resources, encompassing the internal recycling of redox equivalents, the use of inorganic ammonia as nitrogen source and, if necessary, only molecular oxygen as the innocuous additional oxidant. Water will be the sole by-product.

Mots-clés : 1  biocatalysis and biotransformations  2  enzyme catalysis  3  biocatalytic cascades  4  artificial metabolic pathways
Projet ERC : NNNPDF (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
Entité participante : University of Milan — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNIMI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1602862.0 €

The objective of this project is to revolutionize the way the structure of the proton is accessed, determined, and used in the computation of physical processes at hadron colliders such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of CERN. At a hadron accelerator, predictions require a precise, detailed, and accurate description and understanding of the structure of the colliding protons, as encoded in parton distributions (PDFs) - the distributions of quarks and gluons. At the LHC, PDFs are at present the major source of uncertainty, and in the near future they will be the main hurdle for discovery. The vision of this project is to remove this hurdle by attacking the problem using recent results from artificial intelligence (AI). I will lead a research team of two staff scientists, four postdocs and three PhD students, who will apply to PDF determination the recent methods of deep reinforcement learning and Q-learning, which will be coupled with deep residual networks to achieve a fully parameter- and bias-free understanding of proton structure. I will bring into high-energy physics a methodology so far used for object recognition in self-driving cars and automatic game playing, leading both to new physics, and new computational techniques. The application of these techniques to PDFs will enable me to reach two secondary goals. The first is theoretical: the full use for PDF determination of recent high perturbative order (next-to-next-to leading order or NNLO) computations, which will be integrated by means of a new approximation method which relies on combining known exact results with all-order information in various kinematic limits to extend the scope of the former to a more detailed ("more exclusive") description of the final state.The second is phenomenological: the integration in PDF determination of the Monte-Carlo event generators which are used to turn field theoretical prediction into a realistic description which may be directly compared to experimental data.

Mots-clés : standard model,large hadron collider,quantum chromodynamics,parton distributions,structure functions,artificial intelligence,neural networks,deep learning
Projet ERC : 3D-FABRIC (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and processes engineering
Entité participante : Utrecht University — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1905000.0 €

The objective of this proposal is to determine the unknown criteria for convective cross-flow in bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels (bijels). Based on this, we will answer the question: Can continuously operated interfacial catalysis be realized in bijel cross-flow reactors? Demonstrating this potential will introduce a broadly applicable chemical technology, replacing wasteful chemical processes that require organic solvents. We will achieve our objective in three steps: (a) Control over bijel structure and properties. Bijels will be formed with a selection of functional inorganic colloidal particles. Nanoparticle surface modifications will be developed and extensively characterized. General principles for the parameters determining bijel structures and properties will be established based on confocal and electron microscopy characterization. These principles will enable unprecedented control over bijel formation and will allow for designing desired properties. (b) Convective flow in bijels. The mechanical strength of bijels will be tailored and measured. With mechanically robust bijels, the influence of size and organization of oil/water channels on convective mass transfer in bijels will be investigated. To this end, a bijel mass transfer apparatus fabricated by 3d-printing of bijel fibers and soft photolithography will be introduced. In conjunction with the following objective, the analysis of convective flows in bijels will facilitate a thorough description of their structure/function relationships. (c) Biphasic chemical reactions in STrIPS bijel cross-flow reactors. First, continuous extraction in bijels will be realized. Next, conditions to carry out continuously-operated, phase transfer catalysis of well-known model reactions in bijels will be determined. Both processes will be characterized in-situ and in 3-dimensions by confocal microscopy of fluorescent phase transfer reactions in transparent bijels.

Mots-clés : interfacial science
Projet ERC : PRISTINE (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : Université Paris Cité — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : UP Cité
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 63795.65 €

The objectives of this proposal, PRISTINE (high PRecision ISotopic measurements of heavy elements in extra-Terrestrial materials: origIN and age of the solar system volatile Element depletion), are to develop new cutting edge high precision isotopic measurements to understand the origin of the Earth, Moon and solar system volatile elements and link their relative depletion in the different planets to their formation mechanism. In addition, the understanding of the origin of the volatile elements will have direct consequences for the understanding of the origin of the Earth’s water. To that end, we will approach the problem from two angles: 1) Develop and use novel stable isotope systems for volatile elements (e.g. Zn, Ga, Cu, and Rb) in terrestrial, lunar and meteoritic materials to constrain the origin of solar system’s volatile element depletion 2) Determine the age of the volatile element depletion by using a novel and original approach: calculate the original Rb/Sr ratio of the Solar Nebula by measuring the isotopic composition of the Sun with respect to Sr via the isotopic composition of solar wind implanted in lunar soil grains. The stable isotope composition (goal #1) will give us new constraints on the mechanisms (e.g. evaporation following a giant impact or incomplete condensation) that have shaped the abundances of the volatile elements in terrestrial planets, while the timing (goal #2) will be used to differentiate between nebular events (early) from planetary events (late). These new results will have major implications on our understanding of the origin of the Earth and of the Moon, and they will be used to test the giant impact hypothesis of the Moon and the origin of the Earth’s water.

Mots-clés : cosmochemistry,meteorites,origin of the earth,the moon
Projet ERC : PRISTINE (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 100000.0 €

The objectives of this proposal, PRISTINE (high PRecision ISotopic measurements of heavy elements in extra-Terrestrial materials: origIN and age of the solar system volatile Element depletion), are to develop new cutting edge high precision isotopic measurements to understand the origin of the Earth, Moon and solar system volatile elements and link their relative depletion in the different planets to their formation mechanism. In addition, the understanding of the origin of the volatile elements will have direct consequences for the understanding of the origin of the Earth’s water. To that end, we will approach the problem from two angles: 1) Develop and use novel stable isotope systems for volatile elements (e.g. Zn, Ga, Cu, and Rb) in terrestrial, lunar and meteoritic materials to constrain the origin of solar system’s volatile element depletion 2) Determine the age of the volatile element depletion by using a novel and original approach: calculate the original Rb/Sr ratio of the Solar Nebula by measuring the isotopic composition of the Sun with respect to Sr via the isotopic composition of solar wind implanted in lunar soil grains. The stable isotope composition (goal #1) will give us new constraints on the mechanisms (e.g. evaporation following a giant impact or incomplete condensation) that have shaped the abundances of the volatile elements in terrestrial planets, while the timing (goal #2) will be used to differentiate between nebular events (early) from planetary events (late). These new results will have major implications on our understanding of the origin of the Earth and of the Moon, and they will be used to test the giant impact hypothesis of the Moon and the origin of the Earth’s water.

Mots-clés : cosmochemistry,meteorites,origin of the earth,the moon