Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Magrid: a language-free and scientifically validated program to develop visual-spatial, cognitive, and math abilities in 3-9 year old children, including those with special education needs (Tahereh Pazouki)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: European innovation ecosystems
Theme: Elevating the scalability potential of European business
Destination: Elevating the scalability potential of European business
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Luxembourg
Call: Women TechEU (HORIZON-EIE-2022-SCALEUP-02, 2022)
Start date: 2023-07-01
End date: 2023-12-31
Duration (months): 6.0
Total project cost (EUR): 107142.86
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

I have a Master’s in Computer Science and a PhD in child psychology. I developed Magrid, a language-free & evidence-based pedagogical learning program that develops and significantly improves visual-spatial, cognitive, & math abilities for 3-9-year-old children, including those with special education needs (SEN) by as much as 70%. From my personal experience, I observed my brother who has dyslexia struggle to learn how to read and the impact it had on his non-language studies such as math. Similarly, I observed Luxembourg’s children of immigrant population and children with neurodiversity falling behind in math learning, which has a life-long impact. While at the University of Luxembourg, I was able to use my expertise in technology and psychology to develop Magrid. Magrid is the result of more than 5 years of R&D, bringing together the knowledge of experts with 20 years of experience in early childhood development, psychology, neuroscience, and computer science to create a language-free and scientifically validated pedagogical math program. Magrid is validated in six scientific studies, in over 30 schools in Germany, France, & Luxembourg, with over 1000 children demonstrating significant improvements in math learning and performance for ALL children, including special education needs (SEN). Utilizing state-of-the-art early math development research, over 2500 digital lessons build visual-spatial, cognitive, and math abilities over 2-years. Magrid has now been implemented in all public schools in Luxembourg and is now expanding to schools in Portugal. As a result of our work, we have been fortunate to win the 2022 MIT Solve award, WSA in L&E, the EIB Social Innovation Tournament 2021 Award, and more. Our mission is to create equal learning opportunities for all children through Magrid’s learning solution. We would invest financial support in exploring how AI in Magrid can be used to diagnose specific learning disabilities and intervention needs.

Keywords: maths,special education needs,sen,digitization,un sdg,early childhood education,technology,learning
Advanced Customized Technologies for Intact Vision in Ageing (ACTIVA)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Doctoral Networks
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Physics
Countries involved: Sweden,Ireland,Spain,Germany,Greece
Call: MSCA Doctoral Networks 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-DN-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2751733.03
EU funding (EUR): 2425514.4
Participants: 9
Project status: SIGNED

The proposed DN “Advanced Customized Technologies for Intact Vision in Ageing” (ACTIVA) provides an international, interdisciplinary platform to train young scientists at the interface of physics and medicine to study unresolved questions and develop novel techniques to facilitate intact, or even improved, visual function in the elderly population. Good vision throughout life is a key factor both on a personal level and socioeconomically and has particular pertinence to the ageing population of Europe. ACTIVA is a joint initiative to develop new optical technologies that will facilitate good vision throughout life. Within the project, 9 young researchers will be trained in new optical technologies to diagnose and compensate for different aspects of the normal ageing of the eye as well as the most common age-related ocular conditions. The novel vision enabling techniques, to be developed in this DN, will focus on facilitating the functionality of both near and far vision. Furthermore, early diagnosis of ocular diseases is essential to offer timely treatment and reduce the risk of vision loss. The novel diagnosis technologies, to be developed in this DN, will focus on early detection of pathological changes in visual function. The consortium combines the expertise of three academic partners with excellent research and teaching records and two fully integrated private sector partners. Furthermore, the consortium will be counselled by a scientifically accomplished External Advisory Board. Close collaborations and multi-site training activities will ensure to provide the young researchers with a vast network and interdisciplinary research experience. ACTIVA will be recognized worldwide as a major contribution to the ageing challenge and the social investment of the European Commission in active ageing.

Keywords: physiological optics,presbyopia,cataract,ocular optical aberrations,adaptive optics,psychophysics,visual processing,diagnosis,vision aids and age related changes
Gender Equality Plans for INclusivity: engines of Change (GEPINC)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area
Programme: Reforming and enhancing the European R&I System
Theme: Reforming and enhancing the European R&I System
Destination: Reforming and enhancing the European R&I System
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: France,Portugal,Romania,Spain,Ireland,Greece,Türkiye
Call: Support to the implementation of inclusive gender equality plans (HORIZON-WIDERA-2024-ERA-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 749962.5
EU funding (EUR): 749962.5
Participants: 7
Project status: SIGNED

Gender Equality Plans (GEP) have fostered equality of opportunity for women in European Research and Innovation Organisations (RIO). Nonetheless, most GEP to date bypass people who identify themselves as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Non-Binary, Intersex, and Queer (LGBTIQ); often also failing to address the specificities of people combining several minority-group threads (e.g., foreign women, disabled women, migrant women; a phenomenon defined as “intersectionality” by Crenshaw, 1998). These groups are potentially vulnerable (e.g., disabled women, LGBTIQ). Most RIO do not collect statistics on gender identity of their employees, researchers and students; while intersectional gender groups are still heavily under-represented in RIO. New inclusive GEP tools need to be finely designed to encompass all gender groups. In particular, prevailing stereotypes and cultural norms may stigmatize LGBTIQ people and intersectional gender groups and therefore, new forms of awareness training need to be designed. GEPINC builds on existing GEP tools and draws on partners' earlier experience with Horizon GEP projects and beyond, through the lens of a fully transdisciplinary approach - embracing economics, psychology, anthropology, geography, demography, health, innovation research, law and gender studies. GEPINC activities will be deployed in all branches of knowledge: Social Sciences, Humanities, Law, Business, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. GEPINC proposes to develop and finely tailor new cutting-edge interventions and activities, which are engines of change, aiming at durably promoting gender diversity and inclusion in R & I, increasing RIO attractivity and productivity, and stimulating diverse research. GEPINC more advanced partners will work hand-in-hand with the lesser advanced ones, to ensure the effective implementation of GEPINC tools and activities, and to durably install, monitor and maintain a sustainable framework for gender inclusiveness.

Keywords: gender,diversity,inclusive workplaces,awareness training,transdisciplinarity,lgbtiq,intersectionality
Implacable Archives: Reviving Mário Pinto de Andrade’s Personal Archive (LUARC)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Postdoctoral Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Portugal,United States
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-09-01
End date: 2026-03-31
Duration (months): 43.0
Total project cost (EUR): 302450.76
EU funding (EUR): 302450.76
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

LUARC intends to contribute to the enhancement and revitalization of the personal archive of Angolan intellectual Mário Pinto de Andrade (MPA). In addition to working with unique documents, LUARC develops an interdisciplinary approach to the archive as a site of production of historical knowledge. Widely known for his participation in the Angolan liberation struggle, MPA is a key figure in the cultural history of Angola, and one of the most important contemporary African intellectuals. LUARC focuses on the vast and heterogeneous material that the writer collected between 1940-1990, following the life of MPA and that of Angola through the late colonial period, the anticolonial struggle, and post-independence. LUARC puts together academic institutions and non-academic organizations located in Portugal, Angola, and the US, creating international connections to animate meaningful debates on Angola’s recent past. The project uses methods and techniques of archival science and digital humanities to ensure the proper appreciation of MPA’s personal records. Treating data according to the best ethical practices, LUARC grants broad open access to the digital archive, as well as to other project results and outputs. Strongly rooted in history and postcolonial theory, LUARC situates the archive in the context of Angola’s transition from colony to independent nation, creating a framework in which personal records come to make meaning as parts of a complex collective history. In particular, records are analysed in order to trace the evolution of practices and discourses on culture and nationalism in Angola, bringing to the surface narratives that have often been neglected. At the same time, drawing from literary studies and archival art, LUARC reflects on the practice of producing and keeping records, understanding it as a performative act that intervenes in the creation of the narratives through which we come to make sense of the past.

Keywords: personal archives digital humanities entanglement of personal and collective history african studies angolan history and literature life writings postcolonial studies oral history archival art
Innovative single-cell RNA-seq kit to support large democratization of insgle-cell analysis (DEEP-IN-CELL)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EIC Accelerator
Destination: Open to supporting projects in all areas of science, technology,...
Action type: EIC actions
Countries involved: France
Call: EIC Accelerator Open (HORIZON-EIC-2022-ACCELERATOR-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-01-01
End date: 2025-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3453227.5
EU funding (EUR): 2417259.25
Participants: 1
Project status: TERMINATED

This project will develop and perform the industrial scale-up of a game-changing scRNA-seq tool named DEEP-IN-CELL. This solution, in a kit format plus a cloud software analysis suite, will use the proprietary hydrogel-based RevGel technology of Asteria kit as a basis for a new generation of kit that ambitions to dramatically simplify access to single-cell studies with a shorter time to result, far easier, robust and authentic transcriptome-preserving technology multiplied by reducing cost per sample. This new generation of kit shall bring a similar revolution to the single-cell market as did the Qiagen RNA extraction kit in its time to the genomic market, while providing performances at par with that of the market gold standard and monopolistic costive instrument-based single-cell technology 10xGenomics. This next generation of single-cell RNAseq kit is expected to first launch in late 2024 with first applications to the international single-cell research market and to generate sales exceeding €50M by 2029. It is foreseen to become the quintessencial single-cell RNAseq kit that will open access to single-cell studies to a much broader research community.

Keywords: sequencing data analysis,clinical diagnostics,cellular rare events,single cell analysis,precision medicine,genomics,epigenetics,proteomics,transcriptomics,single cell barcoding,scrna seq,cell clustering,hydrogel technology
Generalisation into sentence and predicate positions (GENERALISE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: The Human Mind and Its Compl exity
Panel description: Cognitive science, psychology, linguistics
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2022-STG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2028-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1493715.0
EU funding (EUR): 1493715.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Generalisations are fundamental to every scientific discipline: ‘Every cell has a plasma membrane’, ‘Every electron has a negative charge’, ‘Every natural number has a unique successor’. By means of generalisation we turn a statement about a particular individual into a statement about a class of entities. Generalisations are essential to valid deductive reasoning. They are the building blocks of virtually every scientific theory, and therefore essential to understanding, explaining, and making predictions. The most basic and best understood form of generalisation is generalisation over objects (e.g. cells, electrons, numbers). In formal logic, this form of generalisation is achieved via first-order quantifiers, i.e. operators that bind variables in argument position. But many theoretical contexts require generalisation into sentence and predicate positions, a high-level form of generalisation where we make a general statement about a class of statements (e.g. mathematical induction, laws of logic). There are two competing methods for achieving this form of generality (i.e. higher-order logic and self-applicable theories of truth, properties, and sets respectively). As both methods come with their own ideological and ontological commitments, it makes a substantial difference which one is chosen as the framework for formulating our mathematical, scientific, and philosophical theories. Some research has been done in this direction but it is still very much in its early stages. This research project will significantly advance this foundational project. It will provide the first sustained systematic investigation of the two methods from a unified perspective, and develop novel formal tools to articulate deductively strong theories. Due to its foundational character, it will have an impact on many disciplines, especially the foundations of mathematics, logic, formal semantics, metaphysics, philosophy of language, and theoretical computer science.

Keywords: philosophical logic,semantic and logical paradoxes,axiomatic theories of truth,formal theories of properties,set theory,higher order logic,type free theories,self reference
Centre of Excellence in Maritime Robotics and Technologies for Sustainable Blue Economy (MARBLE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area
Programme: Widening participation and spreading excellence
Theme: Improved access to Excellence
Destination: Improved access to Excellence
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Panel: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Croatia,Norway,Italy
Call: Teaming for Excellence (HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-ACCESS-01, 2023)
Start date: 2025-01-01
End date: 2030-12-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 14999495.0
EU funding (EUR): 14999495.0
Participants: 8
Project status: SIGNED

The main goal of the project MARBLE is to create a new “Centre of Excellence in Maritime Robotics and Technologies for Sustainable Blue Economy” (CoE MARBLE) that will engage Croatia in a path of sustainable growth in blue economy in strategic partnership with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the National Research Council (CNR, Italy). MARBLE will enhance Croatian R&I excellence in four key research areas: (i) Maritime robotics and autonomous systems, (ii) Maritime green endurance, (iii) Maritime Internet-of-Things, and (iv) Maritime digital twins applied to four blue economy sectors aligned with the Croatian Smart Specialization Strategy: a) Maritime security and protection, b) Aquaculture and fisheries, c) Coastal tourism and smart marinas, and d) Maritime transportation. CoE MARBLE will support deep industrial transformation of Croatian regional economies and reduce regional developmental disproportion between the City of Zagreb, and the Adriatic part of Croatia by engaging relevant quadruple helix actors of the Croatian blue economy ecosystem from both regions: UNIZG-FER (the coordinator); RBI, a representative of science end-users; MARINN, a cluster of maritime industry stakeholders; AFC, a hub of aquaculture stakeholders and end-users; and the MZOM, a representative of policy makers. Sustainability of CoE MARBLE is ensured through a set of strategic measures related to knowledge transfer, providing added value to the blue economy industry, ensuring access to competitive funding and successful positioning of research results in the market. CoE MARBLE has already received strong support through commitment for complementary funding (15 MEUR for research infrastructure, 500 kEUR per year and building for office and lab space) and through 104 international letters of support from governmental organisations, industry (clusters, SMEs and large companies) and research organisations who have expressed their willingness to collaborate.

Keywords: maritime robotics maritime technologies blue economy sustainable economy blue growth
Study of membrane lipid composition and alpha-synuclein spreading (LipiSyn)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Postdoctoral Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: France
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2025-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 195914.88
EU funding (EUR): 195914.88
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Neurodegenerative pathologies (NDs), including Parkinson’s disease, represent a huge burden worldwide from a health, economical and societal point of view. However, the physiopathology of these diseases is not well understood, making the discovery of a cure extremely hard. A common feature of NDs is the accumulation of misfolded proteins such as alpha-synuclein (asyn) in different types of proteinaceous aggregates, the formation of which follows a prion-like spreading mechanism. In this context, the host lab has extensively studied the capability of neuronal and non-neuronal cells to transfer asyn through Tunneling Nano Tubes (TNTs). However, the causes and mechanisms of a asyn misfolding and accumulation are still poorly understood. Asyn is a lipid-binding protein, that associates with the head of phospholipids, and it is involved in the regulation of vesicles trafficking. Given the ability of asyn to directly bind membranes, studying the lipid composition of asyn-interacting membranes appears to be pivotal to understand its function and the consequences of its misfolding on the cell homeostasis and metabolism. In this regard, a peculiar class of glycerophospholipids, called N-acylethanolamines (NAPEs), which are enriched in the neuronal membranes after injurious stimuli, have been shown to regulate the binding and stabilization of proteins that interact with the inner leaflet. The present proposal aims to investigate the role of NAPEs in asyn anchorage to membrane, and how the perturbation of membrane lipid composition is affecting asyn spreading in vitro and in vivo. The combination of pharmacological, biochemical and molecular biology techniques applied in various neurodegenerative models and my strong knowledge in NAPE biology and metabolism, together with the expertise of the host lab in cutting-edge imaging techniques applied to membrane trafficking and asyn spreading are crucial and will assure the successful development of this project.

Keywords: lipids,cell membranes,membrane trafficking,alpha synuclein,parkinson s disease,neurodegeneration,n acylphosphatidylethanolamines
Unraveling the Functional Complexity of Cancer Genomes through Chromosome Engineering (MACHETE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
Panel description: Organ and tissue physiology, comparative physiology, physiology  of ageing , pathophysiology, inter - organ and tissue communication, endocrinology, nutrition,  metabolism, interaction with the microbiome, non -communicable diseases including cancer (and except disorders of the nervous system  and immunity -related diseases)
Countries involved: Spain
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2021-STG, 2021)
Start date: 2023-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1604375.0
EU funding (EUR): 1604375.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Cancers arise through genetic and epigenetic alterations that drive the transformation of single cells into malignant tumors. Among genetic changes, copy number alterations (CNAs) are recurrent chromosomal events that increase or decrease the dosage of specific regions of DNA, can affect up to 30% of a cancer cell genome, and are associated with poor clinical outcomes. Despite their pervasiveness, the functional effects of specific CNAs on cancer phenotypes remain largely unknown, as current approaches cannot faithfully recapitulate the unique properties of these chromosomal alterations. Indeed, CNAs can uniquely affect the expression of hundreds of linked genes and change DNA topology, which in turn can promote intra-tumor heterogeneity as illustrated by random segregation of oncogenes in extra chromosomal DNA (ecDNA). In order to study the functional role of CNAs in cancer, this proposal employs MACHETE, a novel genome engineering toolkit that enables the generation of megabase-sized deletions, gains, and oncogene amplification in ecDNA. Using pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) as a disease model, we will engineer the major CNAs in this lethal tumor to dissect their role in immune evasion, metastasis, and response to therapy. Additionally, through sequential engineering we will study whether the order of CNA acquisition leads to divergent or convergent phenotypes, a highly relevant yet unexplored aspect of cancer biology. Overall, by combining the MACHETE genome engineering platform with in vivo cancer models and molecular approaches, this proposal will begin to systematically dissect the function of recurrent CNAs in PDAC, with direct implications for therapy. Importantly, the methods and conceptual framework of this proposal are broadly applicable to other cancers and diseases characterized by similar chromosomal alterations, where understanding their underlying biology may lead to a new class of CNA-based clinical targets.

Keywords: cancer genetics copy number alterations genomic deletions genomic gains extra chromosomal dna cancer genome evolution