Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : SINGinGR (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Mathematics
Entité participante : Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas — Pays : Grèce — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : FORTH
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1249680.0 €

One of the outstanding open mathematical problems in General Relativity is to understand how singularities form in solutions to the Einstein equations. Singularities are typically found in the interior of black holes or at the Big Bang. The main objective of this proposal is to start a research group at the University of Crete that will develop novel mathematical techniques, combining ingredients from analysis, partial differential equations, and differential geometry, which will enable us to prove the formation of singularities in various new settings and test long-standing conjectures in the field. Dynamics of Big Bang singularities. In vacuum, the generic cosmological singularity is conjecturally spacelike, local, and oscillatory. The only rigorous evidence in favor of the latter scenario is restricted to homogeneous solutions. We intend to construct Big Bang singularities containing spikes or oscillations, without symmetries and analyticity, that test the conjectural picture. Here, previous work of the PI with J. Luk constructing Kasner-like singularities will be useful, since they are the building blocks of more complicated scenarios. We also intend to dynamically study the submanifold of Big Bang singularities having no oscillations, by advancing techniques recently developed in work of the PI and collaborators to prove stable Big Bang formation in the sub-critical regime. The black hole interior problem. The stable phenomenon that has been observed so far in black hole regions is Cauchy horizon formation. Our goal is to show that in certain regimes, a similar situation to that of Big Bangs occurs, where part of the inner black hole boundary is spacelike and singular. We consider the Einstein-massless-scalar field system, as well as the classical Oppenheimer-Snyder dust model of gravitational collapse, for a class of initial data outside of spherical symmetry, where singularity formation has not yet been understood.

Mots-clés : general relativity,einstein s equations,big bang singularities,black hole interior,hyperbolic partial differential equations
Projet ERC : MCH-EsMed (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Studies of Cultures and Arts
Entité participante : Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas — Pays : Grèce — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : FORTH
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499913.0 €

MCH-EsMed critically explores housing as a blind-spot in the post-war history of the Eastern Mediterranean, one of the world’s most volatile regions, marked by war, ethnic tensions, migration flows, and climate change. The research focuses on the vast spread of mid-sized condominium apartment buildings during the second half of the 20th century in four prominent cities: Athens, Ankara, Cairo, and Tel Aviv. Known as ‘polykatoikía’ in Greece, ‘müteahhit yapımı apartman’ in Turkey, ‘al-'Imara’ in Egypt, and ‘bait-Meshutaf’ in Israel, these structures were the prevalent form of middle-class housing during the period under study. The central hypothesis of this project is that comparative architectural and spatial analysis of this built heritage can yield valuable insights into the historical processes shaping the middle income strata, their distinct identity, and more broadly, the mechanisms of post-war modernization beyond the context of Western welfare states. Two cutting-edge topics in recent architectural historiography, namely, the proliferation of middle-class housing and development policies for the Third World, now offer the necessary evidence and conceptual framework for embarking on this research. Moreover, tools for visualizing big data (GIS) and state-of-the-art technology such as remote sensing and machine learning, provide unprecedented opportunities for this research’s ambitious scope to deal with extensive, mostly uncontrolled, private-led house-building and urbanization phenomena. Lastly, the increasing engagement of architectural historians in preserving local knowledge through micro- and oral history methodologies serves as a critical guide to the challenging yet imperative endeavor of documenting the lived experiences of residents, particularly before the first post-war generation diminishes. As crises in the region continue to erupt, MCH-EsMed is expected to provide an unconventional yet nuanced perspective of their ‘pre-history.’

Mots-clés : housing,post war,middle class,apartment buildings,eastern mediterranean,urban heritage
Projet ERC : PATTERNCHEM (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : HITS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1492821.0 €

Functional, topologically complex organic molecules are rising stars in modern materials science due to their biocompatibility, structural variability, and wealth of physico-chemical properties. Their practical applications often involve interactions with small molecular targets (e.g., gases, environmental pollutants, and drugs) via relatively weak non-covalent forces. Key to these interactions are the topological features of host materials: arrangement of functional groups, pore size, and cavity volume. Atom types and the forces connecting them in space determine molecular and material structures, defining their fundamental physical and chemical properties. These patterns comprise a universal chemical language. Numerous molecular representations exist, from strings in chemoinformatics to matrices in chemical machine learning. While these big data-oriented fingerprints generally reduce the dimensionality of atomic composition and connectivity, they do not capture the intricacies of shape and topology. In PATTERNCHEM, several families of functional organic materials – graphenes, covalent-organic frameworks, and hyperbranched polymers – will provide a unique foundation for developing application-oriented fingerprints of their topological and non-covalent interaction features. After elucidating diverse structural descriptors of atomistic arrangement, substitution patterns, and two- and three-dimensional shapes of these materials, we will establish a scheme for quantifying the propensity for non-covalent interactions and assessing host-guest complementarity. Using this scheme, chemical and physical performance indicators relevant to targeted applications (e.g., as sensors, filters, and nanocarriers) can be computed. Finally, structure-property relationships between computed performance indicators and developed descriptors will be established and implemented into predictive frameworks for functional organic materials.

Mots-clés : nanomaterials molecular representations chemical descriptors
Projet ERC : ITDA (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Entité participante : Université de Franche-Comté — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UFC
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1290180.0 €

How do we translate information from sensory inputs and memory stores into goal-directed actions? In the last 40 years, the fields of cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience have focused on the decision-making stage, and very few attempts have been made to understand the complete process. The aim of the present scientific proposal is to elaborate an integrated computational theory of deciding and acting in humans, which explains conflicting measurements from these traditionally separate fields of research, and provides joint, precise quantitative predictions about them. The core hypothesis of the theory is that motor execution is determined by the same evidence accumulation variable that drives decision-making. This hypothesis strongly departs from current models of decision-making that represent motor execution as a residual parameter, under the assumption that motor execution captures effects that are not cognitively interesting. The theory will be tested through a series of experiments that combine cognitive modeling, behavioral and electrophysiological measurements (electromyography of response-relevant muscles and electroencephalography). Specifically, the experiments aim at (i) testing and characterizing the hypothetical dependency of motor execution to the evolving decision variable, (ii) generalizing the theory to a wide range of choice laboratory tasks and different response effectors, (iii) identifying potential boundary conditions of application, and (iv) elucidating the relationship between decision-making, motor execution, and confidence judgments. In a final part of the project, the theory will be applied to developmental data, in order to provide new theoretical insight into the development of decision-making and motor execution across the lifespan. If successful, this work should provide new perspectives into a broader range of research problems, from perception-action coupling to movement disorders that appear to have a cognitive basis.

Mots-clés : decision making evidence accumulation models drift diffusion model cognitive modeling motor execution electromyography electroencephalography
Projet ERC : SC-Plasticity (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Prevention,  Diagnosis and T reatment of Human Diseases
Entité participante : Amsterdam University Medical Centers — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1882440.0 €

Novel targeted therapies are increasingly applied against a wide range of cancers. Although such agents can induce cures, most patients suffer from relapsed disease. Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a prime example of a deadly disease, but we have a chance to dramatically improve outcomes if we can better understand resistance mechanisms against targeted agents that are transforming AML treatment, such as the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax. AML is characterised by profound alterations in the epigenome that are correlated with poor survival. I therefore hypothesise that targeted drug pressure induces epigenetic plasticity that allows cancer cells to sample alternate chromatin or transcriptional states, a subset of which confer drug resistance. A major challenge is to define how mutations of epigenetic regulators in AML affect therapy responses due to clonal heterogeneity. To address this challenge, I will use and further develop my recently published single-cell Rapid Capture Hybridization sequencing (scRaCH-seq) method to link the genotype of expressed genes to transcription and methylation profiles of thousands of single cells. In this research proposal, I aim to (1) develop a new method linking epigenetic landscape, genotype and transcriptome at a single-cell level and define the impact of treatment on these interactions. (2) Analyse the genome-wide impact of epigenetic therapies. (3) Define the association between drug sensitivity and epigenetic modifications regulating pro-survival genes. To achieve my goals, I will apply my novel single-cell multiomics to samples from AML patients treated with venetoclax alone or in combination with epigenetic therapies and apply state-of-the-art technologies to established laboratory models. Our new approaches to fully understand the relationship between the genome, epigenome and transcriptome will advance fundamental biology. This has the potential to yield new therapeutic strategies to prevent and overcome resistance.
Projet ERC : MultiBonds (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences
Entité participante : Federal Institute For Materials Research and Testing — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : BAM
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

A major challenge for the green transition is our inability to rationally design inorganic materials with tailor-made properties. This project will tackle this inability by transforming our understanding of chemical bonding in inorganic materials. Understandable rules based on chemical bonds have greatly advanced chemistry but are missing for most material properties, severely limiting the rational design of materials. Until recently, quantum chemical bonding analysis of inorganic materials has only been carried out on a small scale, making it impossible to derive such rules using machine learning. In addition, quantum chemical bonding analysis primarily focuses on two-center bonds. However, multicenter bonds play a critical role in material properties: For example, multicenter bonds have been held responsible for the superhardness of boron-containing compounds and the unusual properties of phase-change materials. By significantly going beyond my recent results on two-center bonds predicting materials properties with simple machine-learning models, I propose to overcome these challenges. The overarching objective of MultiBonds is to derive understandable and universal rules based on chemical bonds for inorganic materials properties through large-scale quantum-chemical bonding analysis considering multicenter bonds. We will 1) develop and apply innovative automated quantum-chemical methods to compute, for the first time, multicenter bonding indicators on a large scale. The generated database will then be used for 2) developing novel predictive deep-learning models and 3) intuitive human-understandable rules for materials properties. As initial applications, we will focus on phase-change materials with low thermal conductivities, magnetic and hard materials, since their properties are known to be governed by multicenter bonds, and they have critical applications (e.g., as thermoelectrics and in the green transition of vehicles).

Mots-clés : chemical bonds,quantum chemistry,materials chemistry,heuristics,chemical rules,machine learning,thermal conductivity,magnetism,hardness,density functional theory,automation,workflows
Projet ERC : CYTOMAC (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Immunity, Infection and I mmunotherapy
Entité participante : Amsterdam University Medical Centers — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Dysregulated macrophage function underlies many inflammatory diseases. Cytokines, small secreted signaling molecules with immune-modulatory functions, shape the macrophage’s phenotype, thereby affecting disease states. Puzzlingly, many cytokines with opposing functions, utilize highly similar JAK-STAT signaling cascades, leaving it unclear how cytokine-specific responses can occur.  In my previous work, I studied enhancer activation in mouse macrophages from genetically different strains. By studying genetic variation, I found that transcription factor (TF) motifs crucial for enhancer activation can be identified. I further developed the bio-informatic tool MAGGIE to study TF motif mutations in different strains of mice, which subsequently enabled me to discover a novel TF important for enhancer activation by the cytokine interleukin-4. Based on my findings, I hypothesize that cytokines require specific, yet unidentified TFs that cooperate with JAK-STAT signaling to mount cytokine-specific effects. CYTOMAC aims to identify these cytokine-specific TFs downstream of JAK-STAT that direct appropriate cell responses. I will exploit the genetic variation across mouse strains and study enhancer activation in macrophages from these strains in response to different disease-related cytokines. Specifically, I will: (1) use genetic diversity between mouse strains to identify specific TFs regulating cytokine-specific responses; to then target these novel TFs in (2) mouse and (3) human macrophages and (4) translate my findings to human disease and inflammatory disease models.  Inhibitors targeting JAK-STAT show high potential in clinically treating inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis. However, as they affect generic pathways of many cytokines they come with considerable side-effects, limiting applicability. CYTOMAC will reveal novel, cytokine-specific TFs, which will aid in developing better tailored intervention strategies.

Mots-clés : macrophages,enhancers,cytokines,genetic variation,transcription factors
Projet ERC : SPACETIME (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Entité participante : Université Toulouse Capitole — Pays : France — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : UT1
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 312500.0 €

Policies often target one market: road taxes target commuting, agricultural subsidies target farming, and car taxes target the automobile market. Economists developed a rich toolbox to evaluate the effects of policy in the targeted market in a partial equilibrium analysis. However, policies are often long-lasting and massive in scale, affecting where economic activity occurs. The spatial distribution of activity matters in agriculture and transport because of the environmental externalities of land use, congestion, and pollution.  This proposal presents an econometric methodology to study the interaction between policy and the spatial distribution of economic activity. The proposal presents a collection of large-scale spatial data that combine individual choices with aggregate outcomes and proposes a methodology that connects partial equilibrium evaluation of policy with spatial general equilibrium models. The first project illustrates how we can use a combination of data on individual travel choices and aggregate outcomes on traffic equilibria to estimate a structural econometric bottleneck model of congestion. The second project presents a methodology to investigate how the Common Agricultural Policy and Natura 2000 affect land use in the European Union. The Common Agricultural Policy has provided income support to almost 10 million European farmers since 1962. Natura 2000 protects 17% of Europe's terrestrial landmass. Subsidies in one region affect farmers in another through the open EU agricultural market. The third project evaluates policy that affects transport mode costs, such as company car taxation. Company cars receive an implicit subsidy of 50% and represent half of the new vehicle sales in several EU countries. Such subsidy to commuting by private vehicles impacts the spatial distribution of workers and firms. The location choices and resulting commuting patterns drive the policy's carbon, congestion, and pollution externality effects.

Mots-clés : policy evaluation,structural econometric methods,spatial general equilibrium,congestion,agriculture,transport,automobiles,empirical industrial organization,environmental economics
Projet ERC : GeoNuFE (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Human Mobility, Environment, and Space
Entité participante : Université de Haute-Alsace — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UHA
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1346830.0 €

How do countries build their nuclear fuels supply policies? The ongoing political renaissance of nuclear power through the world raises concerns about European Union states’ ability to fill their needs. Despite efforts to build a common strategy, EU members follow diverging paths to secure their supplies. However, energy security studies are so far unable to explain this heterogeneity, creating miscomprehensions between countries and ill-informing energy policies. First, we lack any empirically informed works on the geopolitics of nuclear power. Second, all theoretical frameworks studying supply security were built over hydrocarbons. But if we want to decarbonize our societies, we will first have to decolonize these tools from the grip of fossil fuels. Third, while critical security studies have called for more space-sensitive approaches, engagement with political geography theories remains limited. GeoNuFE aims at filling these gaps by questioning the variables behind the spatial heterogeneity of nuclear fuel supply strategies. To do so, I develop an innovative analytical framework bridging “critical security studies” and “critical geopolitics” through their ongoing turn to new materialist approach and assemblage. GeoNuFE will compare four countries: France, Finland, the UK, and Hungary, following three steps. [1] I’ll confront the current fossil-fuel informed theories to actors of the nuclear sector to build the first ever analytical framework of “objective supply security” adapted to it, and apply it to the four countries. [2] I’ll identify the influence of EU membership by digging into how the Euratom Supply Agency, who is responsible for allowing supply contracts to member states, produces and performs “security”. [3] I will trace and compare the geopolitical assemblage which explains the supply strategies in each country. Expected results will provide essential knowledge of the geopolitical dimensions of energy transitions to better inform EU energy policies.

Mots-clés : geopolitics nuclear energy
Projet ERC : FACERE (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : Texts and Concepts
Entité participante : Université de Groningue — Pays : Pays-Bas — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : RUG
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499999.0 €

How did the ancient Romans respond to the material world around them? This project, FACERE, proposes a new way of approaching this question. It studies ‘making’ – the processes by which the objects and buildings which surrounded Romans in their daily lives were produced. How things were made in ancient Rome is usually studied as a practical or technical process. However, making also has a wide range of culturally specific aesthetic and moral implications. FACERE breaks new ground by asking not how making was done, but what making meant to the inhabitants of the Roman empire. To answer this question, we analyse the Roman discourse of making: literary texts – poetry and prose in Greek and Latin – and visual art works, such as paintings, reliefs, and mosaics, which represent processes of making and can tell us how Romans thought, felt, and spoke about them. FACERE aims to achieve two key objectives. First, we will write a new cultural history of ‘Roman making’, adding to our understanding of the technological, logistic, and economic dimensions the crucial new dimension of the cultural values involved in making, in particular its aesthetic and moral complexities. How did making relate to Roman notions about the environment? How did Roman writers and artists depict the ability and agency of different kinds of makers, and how does this relate to their gender, ethnicity, and social status? Were certain ways of making considered superior to others, and why? Second, FACERE proposes a new way of investigating the impact of material culture on Roman viewers. How things were made, and how their stories of making were presented or imagined, was deeply relevant to what they meant to their ancient viewers, owners, and users. FACERE introduces the innovative analytical concept of ‘madeness’, which allows us to bring ‘making’ and ‘meaning’ together.

Mots-clés : making,discourse,representation,text,roman literature,roman art,material culture,ecocriticism,intermediality,cultural history