Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : Aftermath (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : Durham University — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 0.0 €

Aftermath seeks to understand the legacy of the East Asian War of 1592-1598. This conflict involved over 500,000 combatants from Japan, China, and Korea; up to 100,000 Korean civilians were abducted to Japan. The war caused momentous demographic upheaval and widespread destruction, but also had long-lasting cultural impact as a result of the removal to Japan of Korean technology and skilled labourers. The conflict and its aftermath bear striking parallels to events in East Asia during World War 2, and memories of the 16th century war remain deeply resonant in the region. However, the war and its immediate aftermath are also significant because they occurred at the juncture of periods often characterized as “medieval” and “early modern” in the East Asian case. What were the implications for the social, economic, and cultural contours of early modern East Asia? What can this conflict tell us about war “aftermath” across historical periods and about such periodization itself? There is little Western scholarship on the war and few studies in any language cross linguistic, disciplinary, and national boundaries to achieve a regional perspective that reflects the interconnected history of East Asia. Aftermath will radically alter our understanding of the region’s history by providing the first analysis of the state of East Asia as a result of the war. The focus will be on the period up to the middle of the 17th century, but not precluding ongoing effects. The team, with expertise covering Japan, Korea, and China, will investigate three themes: the movement of people and demographic change, the impact on the natural environment, and technological diffusion. The project will be the first large scale investigation to use Japanese, Korean, and Chinese sources to understand the war’s aftermath. It will broaden understandings of the early modern world, and push the boundaries of war legacy studies by exploring the meanings of “aftermath” in the early modern East Asian context.

Mots-clés : japan,korea,china,east asian history
Projet ERC : BrainNanoFlow (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : University of St Andrews — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1552948.0 €

Aggregates of proteins such as amyloid-beta and alpha-synuclein circulate the extracellular space of the brain (ECS) and are thought to be key players in the development of neurodegenerative diseases. The clearance of these aggregates (among other toxic metabolites) is a fundamental physiological feature of the brain which is poorly understood due to the lack of techniques to study the nanoscale organisation of the ECS. Exciting advances in this field have recently shown that clearance is enhanced during sleep due to a major volume change in the ECS, facilitating the flow of the interstitial fluid. However, this process has only been characterised at a low spatial resolution while the physiological changes occur at the nanoscale. The recently proposed “glymphatic” pathway still remains controversial, as there are no techniques capable of distinguishing between diffusion and bulk flow in the ECS of living animals. Understanding these processes at a higher spatial resolution requires the development of single-molecule imaging techniques that can study the brain in living animals. Taking advantage of the strategies I have recently developed to target single-molecules in the brain in vivo with nanoparticles, we will do “nanoscopy” in living animals. Our proposal will test the glymphatic pathway at the spatial scale in which events happen, and explore how sleep and wake cycles alter the ECS and the diffusion of receptors in neuronal plasma membrane. Overall, BrainNanoFlow aims to understand how nanoscale changes in the ECS facilitate clearance of protein aggregates. We will also provide new insights to the pathological consequences of impaired clearance, focusing on the interactions between these aggregates and their putative receptors. Being able to perform single-molecule studies in vivo in the brain will be a major breakthrough in neurobiology, making possible the study of physiological and pathological processes that cannot be studied in simpler brain preparations.

Mots-clés : glymphatic pathway,protein aggregates,receptor diffusion
Projet ERC : BEHAVIOME (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Bar-Ilan University — Pays : Israël — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BIU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1996365.0 €

Aggression is one of the most important social behaviors in nature for procreation and survival. However, understanding the underlying pathways and networks leading to aggression remains a major challenge. Although there has been some progress deciphering genetic factors and neural mechanisms influencing aggression, the precise networks and environmental factors controlling aggression remain a mystery. In this proposal, we suggest the novel concept that host aggression may be regulated in part by the microbiota. We and others have recently linked the gut microbiota, the overall constellation of microorganisms residing within our gut, to behaviors such as risk taking, mating and sexual behavior, as well as hormone production, regulation, and secretion. Here, we aim to characterize the effects of antibiotics, germ-free animal models, and specific microbes on aggression in flies and mice. We further hypothesize that these processes are mediated by pheromones, bacterial and host gene products, and host brain hormones, and will therefore test the involvement of these factors. Considering the microbiota as a novel element regulating aggression is an audacious concept. However, we have demonstrated in a preliminary study that elimination of the gut microbiota significantly raises aggression levels in both D. melanogaster and in mice, thereby providing strong initial support for our hypothesis that the microbiota is involved in regulation of aggression. Outcomes of this research will lead to a better understanding of the effects of microbiota on behavior in model systems, and open new horizons in recognition of pathways linking microbiota, hormones and aggression

Mots-clés : microbiome,behavior,pheromones,aggression
Projet ERC : YOUNGatHEART (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Ministry of Health — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1861910.0 €

Aging poses the largest risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and is orchestrated, to some extent, by epigenetic changes. Despite the significant progress on many fronts in the cardiovascular field, non-inherited epigenetic regulation in cardiac aging and CVD remains unexplored. Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a major contributor to healthcare costs and it is the leading indication for heart transplantation. We have recently discovered that adult cardiac-specific deletion of epigenetic regulator Bmi1 in mice induces DCM and heart failure. These unprecedented data support the idea that inadequate epigenetic regulation in adulthood is critical in CVD. In addition, our studies with parabiotic pairing of healthy and DCM-diagnosed mice show that the circulation of a healthy mouse significantly improve the cardiac performance of mouse with DCM. These ground-breaking discoveries suggest that DCM regression, or cardiac rejuvenation, is feasible in terms of epigenetic states. Therefore, YOUNGatHEART will unveil significant breakthrough on (1) how non-inherited epigenetic deregulation induces DCM and (2) how epigenetic remodeling reversed this process. For that, our challenges are: 1A. To decipher how aged-linked cardiac dysfunction contributes to CVD by identifying the epigenetic landscape regulating cardiac aging among species; 1B. To decode how epigenetic deregulation induces DCM by integrating clinical data and samples from DCM-transplanted patients with imaging, transcriptomic, proteomic, and functional approaches from DCM model; and, 2A. To identified systemic factors with anti-cardiomyopathic effects by systematic proteomic screenings after parabiosis and epigenome of the DCM hearts. In sum, YOUNGatHEART puts forward an ambitious but feasible and pioneering program to tackle the epigenetic hallmark in cardiac aging with the final aim (2B) of setting the molecular basis for future therapeutic interventions in CVD.

Mots-clés : cardiovascular disease,dilated cardiomyopathy,aging,epigenetic regulation,polycomb,bmi1
Projet ERC : AGRIMKT (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
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 : 1499913.0 €

Agriculture employs the majority of the labor force in many developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Increasing efficiency of agricultural production is a crucial step to foster economic development. Limited access to both input and output markets is widely considered a major obstacle to technology adoption and, in turn, to agricultural productivity. In this proposal, I outline a research program that focuses on improving farmers’ market access in East Africa. The research builds on the expertise I have developed on these topics over the last ten years. The research program consists of three related projects. In Project A, we will use a randomized experiment to evaluate the impact of a holistic approach to improve market access: contract farming. The prevalence of contract farming arrangements in the developing world is growing. However, so far, there is no experimental evidence on their impact. We have established a partnership with a large contract farming company in Kenya, which has agreed to randomize the order in which it will expand to new villages. In Project B, we will study how to increase demand for crop insurance among smallholders. Building on previous successful experimental work, we will test i) whether offering pay-at-harvest insurance, as opposed to upfront premium pay, raises take-up, ii) which behavioral mechanisms may drive such response, and iii) whether pay-at-harvest can foster sustained insurance demand over multiple crop seasons. In Project C, we will combine parcel-level proprietary data for three decades that we obtained from a large agribusiness company with land registry data to study the determinants and impact of land market access for smallholders. The research program will generate new insights on how to improve access to key markets for agricultural producers. We expect the findings of the study will generate high interest among academics, development practitioners, and policymakers.

Mots-clés : agricultural markets in africa,contract farming,agricultural insurance
Projet ERC : SeedsValues (Horizon 2020, appel 2020, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Social World and Its Diversity
Entité participante : Université Libre de Bruxelles — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ULB
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1447462.0 €

AgricultureAgriculture condenses the most pressing challenges we are facing today: ecological degradation, financial deregulation and demographic explosion. Value discrepancies are key obstacles toward integrated agriculture which are not rewarding in the capitalist economy overwhelmed by a profit-driven agroindustry. However, we still lack fundamental knowledge to identify the manifold values of agricultural assets. While the value of crop varieties is usually assessed in economic terms, we need to also consider the ethical values that incentivies farmers to perpetuate biodiverse agriculture. Beside empirical timeliness, this study contributes to the elaboration of a general anthropology of value still lacking to date. The SeedsValues contends that agriculture offers a unique object to overcome the current split between the economic and the ethical studies on value. This will be achieved by producing interspecies ethnographies into seed-human relatedness - both affective and instrumental - in three agrobiodiversity hotspots: potato cultivation in Peru, maize in Mexico and rice in Laos. Prominent on global markets, also distinguished by international institutions as highly promising to reach global food security, these crops bear outstanding value to the Indigenous people who cultivate and eat them daily. Sometimes, they are treated as organisms imbued with a subjectivity, challenging Western dichotomies between object and subject, nature and culture. In this light, this project aims at unravelling (a) the ethics of seed growing, (b) the appreciation of seeds in exchange and consumption, and (c) the entanglements between growers' and seeds’ qualities. Beside addressing critical ecological questions regarding the sustainable feeding of an increasing human population, this research at the interface of anthropology and biology promises significant theoretical advances in the anthropology of value by investigating a vital object: the cultivation of flourishing seeds.

Mots-clés : interspecies relations,environmental care,commodification
Projet ERC : O2RIGIN (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : University of Tübingen — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498353.0 €

Aim of this project is to understand the connection between endogenic and exogenic processes of our planet that led to the redox contrast between Earth’s surface and interior. For this purpose the time constraints on atmospheric oxygenation can be refined and for the first time linked with a new approach to Earth’s endogenic processes like plate tectonics, mantle melting, volcanism, continent formation and subduction-related sediment- and crust recycling. These objectives will be achieved by using the unique geochemical capabilities of the selenium (Se) isotope system to unlock the geological record of changing oxygen fugacities in the mantle-crust-atmosphere reservoirs. The power of the Se isotope system lies in its redox sensitivity and in the volatile and highly siderophile/chalcophile character of elemental Se. This links Se to the evolution of other volatiles during key geological processes from Earth formation ca. 4.5 Ga ago until today. The occurrence and behavior of Se is fully controlled by accessory micrometric sulfide minerals in the silicate Earth, which may conserve their original Se isotopic signatures over large geological timescales and can be dated via the 187Re-187Os geochronometer. This offers high resolutions in time and space that are groundbreaking for research on Earth System Oxygenation. Covering Earth geologic history, new high-precision Se isotope data of the sedimentary and representative mantle-derived magmatic rock record from all major plate tectonic settings will be combined with the mineral-scale record of robust and global “time capsules” such as diamond inclusions. Once the evolution into todays dynamic Earth’s Redox System is understood, the investigation will be pushed back in time to Earth’s formation. This involves a reconciliation of the meteoritic and Archean rock and mineral-scale Se isotope record to constrain the origin of volatiles essential for the oceans, generation of an atmosphere and development of life on our planet.

Mots-clés : volatiles,mantle evolution,earth system oxygenation
Projet ERC : DYNANSE (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Social World and Its Diversity
Entité participante : Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : VU
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1996377.0 €

Aim: To break new ground in the field of Non-Standard Employment (NSE), I develop a novel method for the study of employment trajectories and with this an integral life course framework that explains why and when NSE leads to positive or negative career outcomes. Background: NSE has become a common feature of modern labour markets. Research provides contradictory results on whether NSE leads to prosperous or precarious careers. This research suffers by three shortcomings: 1) the description of how NSE affects the career is only based on single events, 2) the explanation of why NSE leads to positive or negative career outcomes is based only on static factors, 3) the positive outcomes of NSE are overestimated, as information on NSE is contaminated by measurement error. Innovation:I present the Life Course Dynamics Approach for Non-Standard Employment (DYNANSE) that assesses how micro (individual career-choices), meso (organisational dynamics) and macro (institutional change) dynamic factors determine why NSE leads to prosperous or precarious careers. This is done with an innovative method that corrects for measurement error and treats trajectories as the unit of analysis instead of studying single events. Methodology:This project consists of four interconnected subprojects: 1) first we develop the method. Then, we use this method to study how micro and meso dynamic factors determine the career outcomes of NSE for 2) young workers and 3) older workers, and 4) how institutional change shapes the role of NSE using data from the Netherlands, Norway and Italy. Impact: Results will lead to a long-sought understanding of the dynamic factors determining whether NSE leads to positive or negative career outcomes. In this way, we will resolve a theoretical debate on whether NSE is a factor of dynamism or a source of increasing inequality in the labour market. The novel method that is used in this project will also become a useful tool for the analysis of other social phenomena.

Mots-clés : non standard employment,flexible employment,labour market flexibility,life course dynamics,hidden markov models,latent class models,measurement error
Projet ERC : AIR-NB (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Parc de Salut — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 205214.5 €

Air pollution is the main urban-related environmental hazard. It appears to affect brain development, although current evidence is inadequate given the lack of studies during the most vulnerable stages of brain development and the lack of brain anatomical structure and regional connectivity data underlying these effects. Of particular interest is the prenatal period, when brain structures are forming and growing, and when the effect of in utero exposure to environmental factors may cause permanent brain injury. I and others have conducted studies focused on effects during school age which could be less profound. I postulate that: pre-natal exposure to urban air pollution during pregnancy impairs foetal and postnatal brain development, mainly by affecting myelination; these effects are at least partially mediated by translocation of airborne particulate matter to the placenta and by placental dysfunction; and prenatal exposure to air pollution impairs post-natal brain development independently of urban context and post-natal exposure to air pollution. I aim to evaluate the effect of pre-natal exposure to urban air pollution on pre- and post-natal brain structure and function by following 900 pregnant women and their neonates with contrasting levels of pre-natal exposure to air pollutants by: i) establishing a new pregnancy cohort and evaluating brain imaging (pre-natal and neo-natal brain structure, connectivity and function), and post-natal motor and cognitive development; ii) measuring total personal exposure and inhaled dose of air pollutants during specific time-windows of gestation, noise, paternal stress and other stressors, using personal samplers and sensors; iii) detecting nanoparticles in placenta and its vascular function; iv) modelling mathematical causality and mediation, including a replication study in an external cohort. The expected results will create an impulse to implement policy interventions that genuinely protect the health of urban citizens.

Mots-clés : air pollution,brain,connectome,cognition,fetal neurosonography,infancy,neonatal mri,noise,motor,particles,placenta,pregnancy
Projet ERC : NEW_DEMOCRACY (Horizon 2020, appel 2017, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : KU Leuven — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : KUL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1497210.0 €

All across Europe democratic political systems are confronted with a citizenry that questions the democratic legitimacy of their political system. Widespread distrust in political actors and institutions, declining electoral turnout and the popularity of populist and anti-establishment candidates and parties are just a few indications of this societal challenge. Interestingly, this discontent is by no means paralleled by eroding support for democratic principles as this support is stronger than ever before. Therefore, several scholars interpreted this discontent as a demand for democratic innovation and pointed to citizen involvement in the political decision-making process as a potential solution to address this democratic legitimacy deficit. The key objective of my project is to study in depth whether, and if so how, citizen involvement in the political decision-making process affects democratic legitimacy. In a first step, citizens’ expectations for participatory and deliberative procedures are studied. Obtaining reliable knowledge on whether citizens want these procedures, and if so, what is driving this demand is crucial. It allows to assess whether democratic innovations have the potential to alleviate the democratic legitimacy deficit, and how these should be designed. To this end, large-scale cross-national surveys in over 20 European countries will be triangulated with qualitative interviews and experiments in high, medium and low trust societies. In a second step, the effect of these participatory and deliberative procedures on democratic legitimacy is studied. The focus is on democratic legitimacy as it is perceived by citizens (e.g. citizens’ political trust, losers’ consent). To address the question of effects, observational data will be gathered using panel surveys and experiments will be used. As a result, this project will generate fundamental knowledge on whether and how democratic innovations can strengthen democratic legitimacy.

Mots-clés : satisfaction with democracy,political trust,democratic innovations,political participation,political behavior,citizen engagement,political engagement,civic engagement,process preferences