Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : DYNALANG (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Entité participante : Société Max-Planck pour le développement des sciences — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Société Max Planck
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 2000000.0 €

Language is a vital aspect of human life. Whether it is processed predominantly by its structure (grammar) or statistics (word probabilities) is a contention long debated in Psychology and Linguistics, reignited by the rise of statistics-based models like ChatGPT. Crucially, the brain preserves linguistic structure (speech sounds, grammar, pragmatics) while adapting to the statistics of a changing environment (new words, slang, diverse accents). Unraveling our ability to encode both structure and statistics is key to neurocomputational theories of language. Contemporary neuroscientific models excel at harnessing statistical properties of text, but overlook both linguistic structure and face-to-face language use— the source of the ‘true’ statistics the brain relies on. DYNALANG pioneers a new path for the neuroscience of language by using neural dynamics to integrate structure with ecologically-valid statistics. In contrast to existing approaches, it hypothesizes that structure and statistics support each other. It uses MEG and dual-EEG across four typologically-distinct languages and behaviors(listening, speaking, multimodal conversation) to discern the boundary conditions for integrating structure and statistics, forming the basis of innovative models reflecting the brain's statistical experience. DYNALANG harnesses neural dynamics, the intricate patterns in interconnected neuronal activity, as the brain's intrinsic computational method for information integration. DYNALANG develops manifold language models—latent spaces where neural and behavioral dynamics combine with linguistic annotations, whose dimensions and geometry isolate neural computations. DYNALANG will give unique insight into how speech and gesture form language in the brain, envisioning linguistic representation as dynamic rather than static. This will fundamentally change computational and neurobiological theories of language, impacting future brain-computer interfaces, clinical prostheses, and AI.

Mots-clés : linguistic structure,neural dynamics,computational modelling,naturalistic spoken language comprehension,speech production,multimodal language processing,meg,temporal response function,latent space,manifolds
Projet ERC : CityLife (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Société Max-Planck pour le développement des sciences — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : Société Max Planck
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 37000.0 €

CityLife explores, from a bioarchaeological perspective, how historical populations adapted to an urban environment and developed resilience to the disadvantages of urban life. By exploiting the vast amount of information contained in human skeletal remains, the project will clarify the roles of biological factors in the durability and sustainability of pre-industrial urban societies. Newly developed osteological, chemical isotope, and genomic methods will be used in this project, together with cutting-edge tools for statistical evaluation. CityLife will evaluate the living conditions, economy, population structure, pathogen load, and immune defenses in a sample of more than 4,500 skeletons from a hotspot of European urban culture: Thessaloniki. This city in northern Greece still exists today, and in historic times it formed a bridge between the Roman West and the Byzantine East. Thessaloniki offers the unique constellation to study urban life from 300 BC to AD 1,500 and thus to draw inference about an urban population in a single place continuously over 1,800 years. The main objectives of the project are to a) infer urban living standards by studying secular changes in anthropometric indexes, infant diet, childhood stress, and trauma in a combined manner; b) investigate the resilience and sustainability of urban food systems by reconstructing individual diets and local supply networks; d) investigate social structures, religious cohabitation, and migration by genetically reconstructing the degree of kin and non-kin relationships; and e) explore the effects of pathogen exposure on human evolution and health by studying genes associated with increased immunological response and the oral microbiome. CityLife will examine empirically tangible aspects of biocultural development to answer the simple question of how humans became urban species.

Mots-clés : biological anthropology,urban history,human evolution,paleodiet,paleogenetics,biological standards of living,population genetics,epidemiology
Projet ERC : SOUND-PC (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : Société Max-Planck pour le développement des sciences — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : Société Max Planck
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 341187.5 €

In contemporary times, intricate challenges, whether they pertain to climate dynamics or economic processes, necessitate the handling of big data and sophisticated intelligent systems. At the core of these systems are digital neural networks that can undergo training. Neural networks based on photonic connections can be an adequate alternative, as they come with a broad bandwidth, high processing speed, and integrability with existing electronic chips. However, so far optical neural networks are mostly based on fixed elements whose connections are difficult to reconfigure. In my project SOUND-PC, I aim at creating an alternative architecture to control the photonic siblings of neural networks and will pioneer the approach of using light-sound interactions for the implementation of an optical neural network. The basis for this project lays in nonlinear optics, optoacoustics, stimulated Brillouin scattering, and optical computing.  The main goal of SOUND-PC is to experimentally demonstrate several approaches which use the interaction of traveling acoustic waves with light waves for optical neural networks. This concept has the potential to enable a highly reconfigurable computing architecture in one single optical waveguide that can use inputs in the frequency, spatial or time domain with flexible connection of nodes based on optoacoustic interaction. These approaches can potentially be transferred to the quantum domain and contribute to the new emerging field of quantum neural networks.  To achieve the main goal of SOUND-PC, I will harness nonlinear optical effects and optoacoustic interactions to address the following objectives:  1) Optoacoustic computing in the frequency domain 2) In-network computing realized by a distributed optoacoustic approach 3) Mode-processor in the spatial domain via topological-selective Brillouin scattering 4) Feasibility study of transferring optical computing architectures to the quantum domain.

Mots-clés : nonlinear optics,stimulated brillouin scattering,optoacoustics,optical computing,optical signal processing,optical neural networks,fiber optics,integrated optics
Projet ERC : QCOMPLEXITY (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental Constituents of Matter
Entité participante : Université de Stockholm — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1814566.0 €

Quantum field theories (QFTs) are our best models to describe nature, from new phases of matter to black holes. Still, to simulate them efficiently, we need to know the best ways to create interesting quantum states from the basic building blocks used in computation. This problem necessitates a precise definition of “quantum complexity”, to quantify what is hard and what is easy in QFTs, and its provision is one of the most urgent problems at the interplay between theoretical physics, quantum information and computation. This project aims to develop precise measures of the complexity of states and operators in QFTs and apply them, in the holographic correspondence, as new probes of black hole interiors. Recent attempts to quantify complexity, pioneered by PI and his group, have explored geometric, path integral and Krylov methods, preparing the ground for a universal approach to complexity in quantum systems. Building on this, the project objectives are to: - synthesise and develop complexity measures for QFTs, - formulate them in exact holographic models, - apply them to shed new light on the physics behind black-hole horizons and spacetime singularities. Developing complexity measures in open quantum systems, models with additional symmetries and quantum scars, and quantifying the complexity of modular evolution are among the key milestones to achieve the objectives. Our methods will involve analytical and numerical computations in free and interacting QFTs, including integrability, conformal symmetry, Krylov basis, Arnoldi algorithm, and finally, the AdS/CFT correspondence and quantum gravity. This interdisciplinary and timely project will push the boundaries of our understanding of QFTs and black holes. The new tools that we will develop will allow us to chart the complexity frontier of quantum many-body systems, help to understand thermalisation, and shed light on the behaviour of matter near cosmological singularities relevant to our early universe.

Mots-clés : quantum information in quantum gravity,quantum complexity in quantum field theories and ads cft,holographic duality,conformal field theory
Projet ERC : ADAPT (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Université de Stockholm — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1575812.0 €

Agricultural productivity is strikingly low in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, exposing the large fraction of the population who lives from agriculture to low incomes and periods of hunger. Despite high returns to modern agricultural inputs elsewhere, their adoption in the region has been persistently low over the past decades. In the absence of adaptation, climate change is expected to severely impact the agricultural productivity of Sub-Saharan Africa. I propose three projects which will significantly improve our ability to understand the effect of modern agricultural inputs for agricultural productivity, and encourage their efficient adoption. First, existing methods for measuring the outcome of interest are notoriously imprecise, or costly, which is a fundamental limitation for research on agricultural productivity in developing countries. I will develop and evaluate an approach to substantially improve the precision with which researchers can measure agricultural output, at low costs. Second, existing approaches to encourage the adoption of modern agricultural inputs have had muted success. I will test a potentially highly impactful, novel approach: teaching farmers how to assess the returns to agricultural inputs on their own plots. In light of heterogeneous returns to input adoption across plots, this promises to encourage the right farmers to adopt the right inputs for their plots. And third, existing approaches to assess the degree of misallocation of inputs and associated output losses rely on strong functional form assumptions. I will leverage the plot-level estimates of returns generated in the second project as well as the knowledge embedded in bio-physical models of plant growth to quantify the extent of misallocation of inputs in agriculture. This radically new methodology to quantify misallocation will yield substantially more credible estimates, and has the potential to significantly expand the possibilities to learn about the sources of misallocation.

Mots-clés : agricultural productivity,technology adoption,climate adaptation,poverty,economic development,misallocation
Projet ERC : HodgeGeoComb (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Mathematics
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 : 1334723.19 €

We propose an approach to the Dodziuk-Singer conjecture, a central conjecture in geometric topology, specifically concerning the great challenge that understanding aspherical manifolds can pose, based on newly developed tools from combinatorial commutative algebra and combinatorial Hodge Theory, and discuss several intermediate problems along the way. The main idea is based on a connection to commutative algebra via the partition complex, an interpretation of local cohomology that allows for a translation between data contained in the L2 cohomology of a manifold and Lefschetz properties of toric varieties associated to them. Additionally, we outline connections to other approaches to the Dodziuk-Singer conjecture as well as special cases, such as the Hopf and Charney-Davis conjectures, and propose ideas to connect the different aspects of the viewpoints into one. Finally, we discuss problems related to the methods proposed, in particular focussing on unrealised and unexploited relations between combinatorics, Hodge theory and geometry. We discuss in particular deformations of polyhedra and metrics, as well as expansion and connectivity.
Projet ERC : LightRNA2Prot (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Cell Biology, Development, Stem Cells and R egeneration
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 : 2000000.0 €

During development, precise control of gene expression allows the reproducible establishment of patterns, leading to the adoption of cellular identities at the right time and place. What are the mechanisms behind such precision? To date, this question has been primarily examined from the focal point of transcription. However, precision in mRNA production is functionally relevant only if it leads to precision in protein expression. While the linear correlation between the levels of a given mRNA and the amount of protein it encodes has been assumed for the last six decades within the central dogma of molecular biology, many examples challenge this view. The control of translation, particularly in distinct subcellular compartments where mRNA are targeted, may lie at the heart of this mRNA to protein disconnect. LightRNA2Prot aims to unravel the mechanisms underlying the lack of correlation between mRNA and proteins levels to elucidate the sources of reproducible cell fate decisions during development. Importantly, it considers both the layers of regulation constituted by transcription and translation respectively, as well as their potential coupling. We will use quantitative imaging methods that simultaneously monitor mRNA, nascent peptides, and protein in Drosophila living embryos, combined with genetic/optogenetic manipulations to dissect the mechanisms at play. LightRNA2Prot focuses on two key questions: 1-How do the translation dynamics of key localized developmental transcripts modulate precise patterning? 2-How are (co)-transcriptional nuclear events coordinated with translational control in space and time? Combined with mathematical modeling and phenotypic characterization, our quantitative approaches will provide a dynamic multiscale view of gene expression control in vivo. The novel integration of translational control has the potential to dramatically change our view of stereotypic pattern formation and reproducible cell fate decisions during development.

Mots-clés : transcription,translation,quantitative imaging,drosophila,mrna regulation
Projet ERC : GAMEINDEX (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Studies of Cultures and Arts
Entité participante : Université Charles de Prague — Pays : Rép. Tchèque — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1792888.0 €

Many contemporary digital games and VR experiences – including the Assassin’s Creed series of historical games – claim to provide realistic representations of places or people. But how is this realism achieved and which places and people get included? To answer this question, GAMEINDEX focuses on indexical representations – traces of real-life objects or people in the simulated worlds of digital games and VR. Such indices include 3D scans of buildings or the likenesses and performances of actors who provide motion capture data. GAMEINDEX will investigate indexical representation in digital games and VR using the following methods: 1) ethnographic on-site research of indexical techniques, such as motion capture and photogrammetry, 2) qualitative analyses of selected games that represent peripheral locations or groups of people, 3) analysis of the public discourse about indexical techniques. In the final step, the project will synthesize empirical findings into a theory that will chart the relationships between production practices, game content, and public discourse, elucidating political and aesthetic dimensions of indexicality. Due to the pressures to succeed on the globalized market, games have underrepresented and misrepresented peripheral locations and underprivileged groups of people. So far, studies of representation in games have focused on tropes and stereotypes within the games’ content. Thanks to its focus on indexicality, GAMEINDEX will provide a breakthrough in the study of media representations by transcending close readings and content analysis and studying how representation arises in the production process. The resulting theory will serve as a tool for critique, helping us understand how real locations and people are being exploited and reconfigured into entertainment products. At the same time, it will provide inspiration for developers to create more diverse and just representations of real-world phenomena.

Mots-clés : digital games,virtual reality,indexicality,game production studies
Projet ERC : Boundary (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed Matter Physics
Entité participante : Université de Ljubljana — Pays : Slovénie — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 340542.5 €

Physical systems are both universal and special, depending on the physical property under consideration and the corresponding scale, such as the energy, time, or length scale. From the perspective of quantum dynamics, it has been recently established that the ability of isolated quantum systems to thermalize after being driven away from equilibrium is related to the emergence of universal properties that comply with random matrix theory. Specific indicators for the onset of ergodicity and quantum chaos are related to the statistical properties of energy spectrum, Hamiltonian eigenfunction properties, and the expectation values of observables in these states. At the same time, however, these indicators also carry fingerprints of nonuniversal properties of a given system. Remarkable examples of the latter include, e.g., information on the nature of energy and charge transport, and the scaling of characteristic relaxation times. One of the main conjectures of this ERC project is that these indicators, despite complying with the universal predictions of the random matrix theory, also carry information about proximity of phase transitions. Here we focus on ergodicity breaking phase transitions, which represent a novel type of phase transitions at the boundaries of quantum chaos. We then extend the scope of the project to the critical properties at the ergodicity breaking transitions. We conjecture that they also exhibit certain universal properties, yet likely different from those described by the conventional random matrix theory. The outcome of the project is to establish a phenomenological theory of ergodicity breaking transitions that applies to a broad class of quantum systems, and to clarify the impact of dimensionality, symmetries, the nature of interactions, and other mechanisms on universal properties of ergodicity breaking transitions.

Mots-clés : eigenstate thermalization hypothesis
Projet ERC : AviArch (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Study of the Human Past
Entité participante : Université de Pise — Pays : Italie — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 142031.25 €

We love birds but probably do not worry enough about our relationship to them. Across the world, we are threatening their critical ecosystem functions, including birds’ positive impact on our wellbeing, and poultry has become our favourite meat, yet industrial-scale breeding has consequences for human and bird health. Arguably, this lack of concern is due to our ignorance of the deep historical roots of these relationships. Our interaction with birds, for their plumage, eggs, meat, song, or spirit, extends back to prehistory. At the same time, avifauna responded to climate shifts, and to our modifications of the landscape. This has created a tangled archaeological record, which makes understanding bird-human relationships all but impossible. Building upon and moving beyond my expertise in biomolecular archaeology, AviArch will explore, from a bird’s eye view, the transition to agriculture in Epipalaeolithic/Neolithic southwest Asia and the emergence of urban life and trade routes in Bronze Age Crete. AviArch will reveal the variety of birds in past human systems by using new techniques for the identification of avifauna, integrating zooarchaeology, palaeoproteomics and AI. My sites have been carefully chosen to target biodiversity hotspots with a rich archaeological record intersecting socio-ecological changes of human-bird relationships. We will combine ecological, morphological, and behavioural traits for each bird, to produce the most refined exploration of human-avian relationships yet attempted in archaeology. Using network analysis and underpinned by multispecies theory, AviArch’s archaeoecological models will discover how environmental shifts affected people, and anthropogenic- and climate-driven changes affected birds.  By transforming the ways in which past bird-human interactions are studied, AviArch promises to improve human adaptivity, avian conservation strategies, and make us worry and marvel about these beautiful creatures a little more.

Mots-clés : zooarchaeology avifauna archaeological methods human environment interactions palaeoproteomics artificial intelligence networks