Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : MICROSURF (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth System Science
Entité participante : Université de Stuttgart — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499375.0 €

Glyphosate is the most widely applied herbicide on Earth, exhibits potential toxicity, and persists in the environment, although microbial glyphosate degradation exists. Glyphosate is not used as single compound but as mixture, a formulation, consisting of surfactants as the second most abundant ingredient. These surfactants are considered inert and a critical knowledge gap exists regarding their impacts on microorganisms in the environment. In my seminal postdoctoral studies, we showed that surfactants can inhibit microbial activities and induce a shift in microbial communities and functions in marine settings. I hypothesize that similar effects occur in terrestrial and freshwater environments in response to surfactant-glyphosate application. In particular, I.) glyphosate-degrading microorganisms might be severely affected, probably contributing to glyphosate’s persistence in nature and II.) microbial key players that drive biogeochemical cycles might be impacted, and, thus, surfactant-glyphosate application might influence greenhouse gas formation and contribute to climate change. To systematically study the effects of surfactants and surfactant-glyphosate mixtures in light of these novel aspects, an innovative multiscale and interdisciplinary frontier research effort is required: starting with pure isolate and enrichment culture studies, followed by microcosm experiments, and advancing to field experiments, in the presence and absence of surfactants respectively, we will identify microbial key players and functions, quantify microbial activities related to glyphosate degradation as well as to biogeochemical cycles and greenhouse gas formation, and, furthermore, reveal common principles of surfactant effects. This pioneering research will holistically unravel the impacts of surfactants on microorganisms in the environment and has the potential to influence politics, society, technology, and science (microbial ecology, biogeochemistry, and Earth sciences).

Mots-clés : surfactants,glyphosate,omics,metagenomics,metatranscriptomics,nanosims,cryo fib sem,cultivation,microcosms,field study,greenhouse gases,n cycle,c cycle
Projet ERC : TectoVision (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth System Science
Entité participante : Université de la Ruhr à Bochum — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1361093.75 €

Tectonic ground observations from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) increasingly show that plate motions are non-steady. In some instances, these non-steady motions have been suspected as precursory motions to large earthquakes. However, the full spectral behaviour of transient plate motions, across minutes to decades, and kilometres to continental distances, is not well understood. Here, I propose a multi-pronged approach to study how faults and plates worldwide are moving in response to the geodynamical (interior) and geophysical fluid loading/tidal (exterior) boundary conditions. The major questions to address are: How transient is tectonic deformation over the minutes to decades timescale? What are the physical processes controlling the transient plate motions? To what extent are transient plate motions indicative of earthquake imminence? We will reveal the extent of non-linear tectonic motions by developing GNSS processing algorithms and applying these to data from the thousands of tectonic GNSS stations worldwide. With machine learning, numerical modelling, and laboratory experimentation, we will determine to what extent faults are modulated by variable regional tectonics and loading. We will develop kinematic and laboratory modelling strategies to better understand transient tectonic boundary conditions such as transient slab-pull at subduction zones. While analysis will span continental and global scales, we will also investigate the kinematics of faults and fault networks with dense GNSS observations at a higher resolution, using GNSS and seismic data from north-central Chile as well as from laboratory-scale analog modelling to track fault failure in unprecedented detail. In Greece, a world-class example of a seismically hazardous zone of fault-network complexity, we will set up a world’s first low-cost tectonic GNSS network to understand how microplate motions interact with the larger wavelength tectonic boundary conditions of the region.

Mots-clés : tectonic transients,gnss transients,plate boundary processes
Projet ERC : SMARTFLUIDS (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and Processes Engineering
Entité participante : Université de Stavanger — Pays : Norvège — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499159.0 €

Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) is a ubiquitous phenomenon in industry such as ocean engineering, biomedicine, aerospace and a driven idea for hydrokinetic energy conversion. Strong nonlinear interactions between flow and structures, as well as turbulent flow bring a huge challenge for understanding and dynamics prediction of the FSI systems. Facing with this challenge and the rising motivation of harnessing clean energy from natural fluids, SMARTFLUIDS aims to build a framework of developing Reduced Order Models (ROMs) with low complexity but retaining dominant physics for FSI, which will bring a deep understanding and efficient prediction of FSI. A low-dimensional subspace of the FSI will be extracted using modal analysis through Variational Autoencoders (VAE) based on deep learning (DL) of FSI data. The FSI data will be obtained by performing high-fidelity computational fluids dynamics (CFD) simulations of classic FSI problems. The ROMs are developed by both physics-informed mapping of governing equations onto the low-dimensional subspace and data-driven techniques to deal with nonlinear and unresolved parts of the FSI. Physical constrains are incorporated and sparse measurements of the FSI will be used in building the ROMs. Dynamics and future states of the FSI, hydro- or aerodynamic loads on the structures and structural responses can be predicted based on the ROMs. SMARTFLUIDS will provide an innovative and systematic view of FSI by focusing on a few dominant features and enrich the knowledge of FSI physics by adopting latest DL techniques. The project will bring a novel solution to reduce time and cost of CFD and experiments in predicting FSI dynamics and structural responses for engineering design of pipelines, cables, wind turbines blades, airplane wings and promote the renewable energy development.

Mots-clés : reduced order modeling fluid structure interaction numerical analysis
Projet ERC : Deep-CSF-inPsych (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Entité participante : Capital Region of Denmark — Pays : Danemark — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RH
Type d'entité : Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche)
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499070.0 €

Psychiatry is lacking truly objective markers and the limited molecular understanding of disease mechanism underlying mental disorders inhibits us to design new therapies, for which identification of novel treatment targets are urgently needed. No study has yet conducted deep phenotyping of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which is the biological material closest to the brain that is assessable for direct investigations in intra vitam, and no large longitudinal CSF studies on mental disorders currently exists.  I aim at a paradigm change by advancing the current state-of-the-art through novel deep CSF phenotyping on unique CSF samples from individuals with first episode psychotic disorders, depression and healthy controls, to be followed-up longitudinally clinically, and in nationwide registers. Pushing the frontiers of knowledge within psychiatry, I will use novel technologies and for the first-time for these disorders use cutting edge single cell sequencing of cell compartments in the CSF potentially involved in or affected by disease, with a particular focus on T cell alterations. For the first time, longitudinal omics analyses will be conducted with targeted and untargeted metabolomics and proteomics to identify disease relevant metabolites and proteins in the CSF, increasing the understanding of molecular mechanisms of psychiatric symptoms and diagnosis. Systems biology and deep learning approaches will provide crucial insights into biological pathways and the interplay between brain pathophysiological mechanisms in a cross-diagnostic manner, potentially identifying biologically distinct clusters, disentangling the involved molecular mechanisms.  This approach is unprecedented. Identification of novel therapeutic targets, increasing the understanding of mental disorders and insights to molecular mechanisms through deep CSF phenotyping has a ground-breaking potential for psychiatry and neuroscience - paving the way for more effective and mechanism-based treatment.

Mots-clés : mental disorders,psychotic disorders,schizophrenia,depression,mood disorders,neuroimmunology,single cell sequencing,metabolomics,proteomics,machine learning,deep learning,systems biology,public health,health care research
Projet ERC : TerSor (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Entité participante : Université de Wurtzbourg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1496660.0 €

The inherent stresses arising from oncogenic transcription can be counteracted by premature termination which removes RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) from DNA and enables the degradation of aberrant nascent RNA by the nuclear exosome. When overexpressed, the MYCN oncoprotein fuels the growth of aggressive tumors by globally binding active promoters and invariably enhancing RNAPII transcription. However, I have made two key discoveries showing that the function of MYCN is not restricted to gene activation: Firstly, MYCN interacts with the exosome and prevents conflicts of RNAPII with replication forks to avert lethal DNA damage. Secondly, MYCN globally leaves promoters and directly binds nascent RNAs which are then steered to the exosome for decay. RNA bound MYCN also forms large protein complexes comprising the ARS2 transcript sorting protein, RNAPII and termination factors. These findings fundamentally expand MYCN function as they reveal that the oncoprotein exists in competing DNA- and RNA-bound states with the latter fulfilling a heretofore unknown RNA degrading role. In TerSor, we will investigate whether RNA-bound MYCN controls termination and RNA sorting processes to counteract aberrant transcription and thereby suppress DNA damage and immune recognition in neuroblastoma cells. Firstly, we will map MYCN RNA-binding domains and test the effects of RNA-binding loss in cells and neuroblastoma mouse models. Secondly, we will explore MYCN-driven regulation of termination and RNA sorting machineries. Thirdly, we will investigate how the exosome and MYCN mitigate DNA damage and the accumulation of immunogenic transcripts. Finally, we will study the structure of MYCN’s interface with exosome targeting complexes. Collectively, we will use cutting-edge approaches to profoundly further our understanding of MYCN oncogenic function by studying how the oncoprotein’s newly discovered ability to bind RNA maintains the genomic integrity and immune evasion of aggressive tumors.

Mots-clés : transcription termination rna binding rna sorting rna polymerase ii mycn nuclear exosome dna damage ars2
Projet ERC : CITIZEN_IMPACT (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : Université de Namur — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499398.0 €

To improve and even to save contemporary democracies under huge pressure and attack, a remedy has been attracting a large amount of attention: the strengthening of ordinary citizens’ opportunities to deliberate on and directly participate in politics. In this regard, many citizens’ assemblies (CAs) have been implemented by public authorities, especially since the 2010s. Convened through random selection, these assemblies are diversified groups of citizens that deliberate on a public problem and make policy recommendations. Existing research provides detailed descriptions of the internal dynamics of CAs and shows that most citizens are able to deliberate on complex issues. Nevertheless, they fail to identify and explain their more external impacts. In the context of the growing appeal for such mechanisms, CITIZEN_IMPACT asks the fundamental question: are CAs mere window dressing or do they lead to transformations in the functioning of the political system? It radically changes the dominant perspective on CAs by taking stock of several decades of research on policy studies, governance and institutional dynamics. It offers a systematic account of whether, how and why CAs matter in contemporary European countries by elaborating a new multidimensional conceptualisation of their impact: direct impact on policies, indirect impact on civil society and discursive impact on the public sphere. To address these three dimensions, the research design combines different methods to compare macro national trends (frame analysis of the media, survey with civil society organisations) and to disentangle complex processes (process tracing, interviews). Hence, CITIZEN_IMPACT provides a new horizon to tackle, both in the scientific community and the broader society, the role and contribution of such participatory and deliberative procedures in contemporary representative democracies.

Mots-clés : participatory democracy deliberative democracy policy making impact public sphere civil society
Projet ERC : POLSTYLE (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Entité participante : Université de Namur — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1496219.0 €

Hardly a week goes by without reports of elected officials – often pictured as ‘populists’ – having used vitriolic language and attacked the personal traits of their opponents. In a context of ‘restyling of politics’, the style of political actors is presented as increasingly emotive, personalised, and confrontational. In the absence of systematic comparative study, such claims remain however trivial intuitions and anecdotes that are as old as politics. This raises critical questions: are modern political styles new trends or old habits? What are the institutional and political factors that constrain or favour the rise of certain styles?  The POLSTYLE project provides a groundbreaking empirical and theoretical contribution by analysing the evolutions of political styles in four European democracies since 1960. It posits that configurational evolutions shape the stability and changes of political styles over time: it depends upon the varying responses of the types of actors, arenas and political systems vis-à-vis abrupt exogenous shocks and endogenous incremental changes.  For these empirical and theoretical goals, the project builds a unique dataset of actors’ political styles performing in various arenas (TV, print press, parliaments, and Twitter). Different indicators will trace evolutions of political styles in terms of contents, nature of interactions and forms of expressions. Finally, the project develops a theory that explains how and why patterns of styles unfold according to configurational evolutions. Overall, the POLSTYLE project decisively contribute to ongoing theoretical debates about the nature of political representation in modern democracies, and how democratic linkages with voters are built on a daily basis. While some scholars and political observers suggest that current political styles entail nothing less than the inexorable decline of democracy; other scholars have praised them as virtues for the functioning of our democracies.

Mots-clés : elites,party politics,comparative politics,political communication,content analysis,historical analysis
Projet ERC : MANAGING PEOPLE (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Université de Cologne — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1445535.0 €

Many management practices incur important consequences for the distribution of resources as well as for workers' monetary and non-monetary benefits. It is therefore likely that employees' social preferences - like reciprocity, fairness concerns - matter for the effectiveness of management practices and play a major role in the productivity of firms. I analyze the causal effects of management practices and study to what extent employees' social preferences shape the returns of the considered management practices. In RCTs, I randomize management practices within firms to identify their effects on multiple outcomes, e.g. sales and turnover. I then collect survey data on employees' social preferences and managers' beliefs to study how social preferences shape the returns of the management practices. PROJECT A: In a bakery chain with a control-oriented culture, I reduce for a randomly selected half of the 150 stores documentation duties that workers perceive as a sign of distrust. I examine the causal impact of employee control on performance and study whether the effects interact with workers' reciprocity. PROJECT B: In a random sample of 234 grocery stores, bonuses are allocated equally among workers. In the remaining stores, managers have full discretion regarding the bonus allocation. I study whether managers' discretion causally affects performance and examine to what extent the effect is associated with employees' fairness perceptions and managers' beliefs about workers' distributional preferences. PROJECT C: In a kitchen manufacturer, 301 workers employed in various units whose task it is to identify kitchen planning errors do not interact and share knowledge. I introduce a new component into the organizational structure: regular meetings in which randomly selected workers from different units discuss planning errors. I study the causal impact of the meetings on performance and trust between workers, and examine whether the effects depend on workers' reciprocity.

Mots-clés : organizational economics,management practices,social preferences
Projet ERC : DECOMPOSE (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Entité participante : Université de Padoue — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UniPd
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1497500.0 €

Severe mental disorders, like psychotic or borderline personality are associated with higher mortality, both all-cause and by suicide. Psychological interventions, usually combined with other treatments, are effective options, though less so than for common mental disorders. However, mechanisms and predictors of treatment response, key for improving effectiveness and for precision medicine, are mostly unknown. The greatest barrier is our approach to psychological interventions as “brands” or categories, without knowledge of active ingredients, and particularly of which ingredients are effective. The proposal will bridge this gap by dismantling psychological interventions into components, integrating these into a taxonomy, and radically reevaluating treatment efficacy and personalization from a novel perspective: components instead of brands and categories. We will use recent network meta-analyses to assemble a large collection of psychological interventions for severe mental disorders (psychotic, bipolar, substance use, eating and borderline personality). We will retrieve intervention protocols and extract components iteratively, via multiple rounds of independent coding. We will integrate components in a cross-disorder, comprehensive taxonomy, validated in Delphi surveys and a consensus meeting. We will reevaluate psychological interventions for severe disorders through component network meta-analysis, to identify the most beneficial ingredients and combinations, for symptoms, functioning and attrition outcomes. We will reassess treatment personalization through a component-based lens using individual patient data for psychosis. Finally, we will develop an open clinical decision support system, where users can “assemble” and “dismantle” interventions, visualizing efficacy gain or loss. The proposal is a systematic and reproducible approach to advance a perspective shift from treatment “brands” to active ingredients, potentially upending psychotherapy research.

Mots-clés : mental disorders psychological treatment network meta analysis active ingredients
Projet ERC : Relative Health (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Human Mobility, Environment, and Space
Entité participante : Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 235155.0 €

Worldwide life expectancy has increased strongly over the past decades, but social inequalities in health and mortality are large and increasing. In contrast to trends in socioeconomic inequality and social mobility, long-term developments in inequality in health and mortality have been poorly documented. “Relative Health” aims to quantify the level of inequality in health and mortality from a family perspective 1800-today. Characteristics that affect health and mortality accumulate in families, and thus the level of inequality in health and mortality can be quantified by addressing similarities within families in health and mortality (same-generation relatives) and intergenerational persistence of health and survival (ancestors and descendants). The project has four main objectives: 1. Develop new ways to measure inequality in health and mortality using a revolutionary new perspective, inequality between families and intergenerational persistence; 2. Using these, describe for the first time long-term trends in health and mortality inequality; 3. Identify mechanisms that shape these inequalities between families and across generations; 4. Identify the role of contextual characteristics in shaping inequalities between families, including the level of social mobility and social inequality. State-of-the-art population reconstructions cover up to 9 generations of relatives (grandparents, parents, children) in Sweden, Netherlands, and US 1800-today and contain lifespan and health information. The project lays the groundwork to generalize these estimates of family health inequality to many contexts with less abundant data sources, using survey data. These contain indicators of health and mortality for focal individuals, their siblings and children for a range of low- and middle-income countries covering 4 decades (DHS, 1984-2018). Overall, the project seeks to transform our understanding of social inequality in health and mortality across time and space.

Mots-clés : demography,historical demography