Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Late First-Row Transition Metal-Oxo Complexes for C–H Bond Activation (HurdlingOxoWall)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Synthetic Chemistry and Materials
Panel description: New materials and new synthetic approaches, structure-properties relations, solid state chemistry, molecular architecture, organic chemistry
Countries involved: Ireland
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2015-STG, 2015)
Start date: 2016-03-01
End date: 2022-02-28
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499865.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499865.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The chemical, pharmaceutical, and materials industries rely heavily upon chemicals from oil and natural gas feed-stocks (saturated hydrocarbons) that require considerable functionalisation prior to use. Catalytic oxidative functionalisation (e.g. CH4 + [O] + cat. → CH3OH), using first row transition metal catalysts, is potentially a sustainable, cheap, and green route to these high-commodity chemicals. However, catalytic oxidation remains a great modern challenge because such hydrocarbons contain remarkably strong inert C–H bonds that can only be activated with potent catalysts. We will take a Nature-inspired approach to designing and preparing powerful oxidation catalysts: we will interrogate the active oxidant, a metal-oxo (M=O) species, to guide our catalyst design. Specifically, we will prepare unprecedented Late first-row transition Metal-Oxo complexes (LM=O’s, LM = Co, Ni, Cu) that will activate the strongest of C–H bonds (e.g. CH4). This will be accomplished using a family of novel low coordinate ligands that will support LM=O’s. Due to their expected potent reactivity we will prepare LM=O’s under unique oxidatively robust, low-temperature conditions to ensure their stabilisation. The poorly understood factors (thermodynamics, metal, d-electron count) that control the reactivity of M=O’s will be thoroughly investigated. Based on these investigations LM=O reactivity will be manipulated and optimised. We expect LM=O’s will be significantly more reactive than any early transition metal-oxo’s (EM=O’s), because they will display a greater thermodynamic driving force for C–H activation. It is thus expected that LM=O’s will be capable of the activation of the strongest of C–H bonds (i.e. CH4). Driven by the knowledge acquired from these investigations, we will design and prepare the next generation of molecular oxidation catalysts - a family of late first-row transition metal compounds capable of catalysing hydrocarbon functionalisation under ambient conditions.

Keywords: metal oxo chemistry,c h activation,bioinorganic chemistry,hydrocarbon functionalisation
Acoustic Foraging Network in African Penguins: significance and vulnerability to anthropogenic noise. (AFNAP)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Reintegration panel
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: France
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2021-04-01
End date: 2023-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 196707.84
EU funding (EUR): 191061.68
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project aims at assessing the existence and significance of a foraging network based on acoustic signals in a diving seabird, the African penguin. It is divided into three research aims: 1) Describe the vocal communication used by foraging African penguins: - Analyse their vocalisations at sea from penguin-borne acoustic devices. 2) Quantify the implementation of an acoustic foraging network: - Estimate the theoretical acoustic communication range of at-sea vocalisations (propagation experiments). - Investigate the function of at-sea vocalisations and their use for networking (playback experiments on free-ranging penguins). 3) Evaluate the potential impact of anthropogenic marine noise on foraging African penguins: - Study their behavioural responses to marine noise. - Quantify the potential masking effects of marine noise on their communication. - Characterise the marine noise that they encounter in their foraging range (student project). This project is extremely novel since the biological functions of acoustic signals used by seabirds at sea have never been analysed before. The potential existence of a network among foraging penguins has never been quantified, and the distance at which such acoustic signals may operate has never been measured. This project will also push technical boundaries in the field of acoustic research with the first-ever performance of playback experiments on seabirds at sea. Furthermore, the outcome of this project has substantial potential to actively contribute to the mitigation of the impact of anthropogenic marine noise pollution on endangered seabird populations (in collaboration with experts in conservation and sustainable management). Besides the rise of this threat, a single study so far has addressed the issue in a seabird species. In the context of an expanding Blue Economy, and in order to address the Sustainable Development Goal number 14 of the United Nations, this project could serve as an example worldwide.

Keywords: vocal communication,group foraging,seabirds
Unravelling mammalian mechanosensor diversity by functional genomics (MECHANOGENOMICS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Panel description: Nervous system development, homeostasis and ageing, nervous system function and dysfunction, systems neuroscience and modelling, biological basis of cognitive processes and of behaviour, neurological and mental disorders
Countries involved: France,France
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2015-STG, 2015)
Start date: 2016-09-01
End date: 2022-02-28
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1491708.0
EU funding (EUR): 1491708.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Mechanotransduction is the signaling by which external mechanical stimuli are converted into biological signals within the cell. It helps to probe and map the rigidity and texture of external world and appeared with the first life forms some 3.8 billion years ago. In mammals, many fundamental physiological functions are regulated by mechanotransduction. The somatosensory system is involved in the perception of touch, pain and proprioception. Molecular mechanosensors of this sensory system are mechanically-activated ion channels. These channels are expressed at the nerve endings of sensory neurons that project long axons to the skin and to deeper body structures. The identification of these channels constitutes one of the most important challenges in the field of sensory transduction. So far only one gene family has been unambiguously associated with mammalian mechanosensory function and is specifically involved in light-touch sensation. Therefore, the identity of mechanotransduction channels involved in the detection of other mechanosensory modalities including proprioception and mechanical pain remain to be determined. We will combine patch-clamp methodology and single-cell transcriptome sequencing to generate the specific expression profile of distinct populations of mouse mechanosensitive neurons. Combination of bioinformatics, expression analysis and electrophysiological approaches will be used to identify molecular components of mechanotransduction channels. We will explore the role of identified genes in somatosensory functions. The long-term objective is to provide a compelling view of mechanosensitive process diversity in mammalian somatosensation through molecular identification of mechanotransduction channels and characterization of their physiological functions in touch, pain and proprioception. This proposal will also provide novel channel candidates that may be involved other mechanosensory functions such as embryogenesis, bone development and hearing.

Keywords: mechanotransduction,ion channel,somatosensation
NEtwork-aware Optimization for Query Executions in Large Systems (NEO-QE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Ireland
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2018-07-01
End date: 2020-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 187866.0
EU funding (EUR): 187866.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In data-intensive environments such as data warehouses, efficient execution of query operations is crucial for the overall performance of a system. One of the main performance challenges in such scenarios is the network communications. Significant performance improvements have been achieved by using state-of-the-art methods, designed in the data management and data communication domain. However, the proposed techniques in both fields just view each other as a black box, and the additional gains in performance from a co-optimization perspective have not yet been explored. In this project, I will focus on the design and development of a novel query execution system that can bridge the gap of co-optimization between high-level query executions and low-level data communications. Such a system will be highly efficient and robust in the presence of different workloads and network configurations in large systems, and consequently deliver significant performance improvements to the large scale data-analytics community. In the meantime, the success of the project will also aid my career development through an increased research profile and collaboration with industry, and enhance the knowledge and networks of UCD.

Keywords: query executions,large data systems,big data processing,coflow scheduling,data communication,energy consumption
Broadband Room-temperature Inexpensive & IndistinGuishable pHoTons (BRiiGHT)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Fundamental constituents of matter
Panel description: Particle, nuclear, plasma, atomic, molecular, gas, and optical physics
Countries involved: United Kingdom,United Kingdom
Call: ERC Proof of Concept Grant (ERC-2018-PoC, 2018)
Start date: 2018-12-01
End date: 2020-05-31
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 149945.0
EU funding (EUR): 11397.5
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The primary objective of this proposal is to build the first cheap and technically simple source of bright single photon states that have the characteristics (including state purity, repetition rate) to power photonic quantum technologies. Photonic quantum simulators have not been able to break into the regime where they outperform classical simulators because of the intrinsically probabilistic character of the photon sources, which means that in most runs of the simulator, there is no output. By means of a new type of room-temperature quantum memory and state-of-the-art heralded parametric down-conversion photon sources, we will change this: we shall make near-deterministic single photon sources. Briefly, a quantum memory is a device that is capable of capturing and then releasing quantum states, and are a key technology for photonic quantum technologies as they enable scalability. However, quantum memories had proved difficult to build with sufficiently low added noise, which prohibited them from operating at the quantum level. Very recently we invented and demonstrated the world’s first fast, noise-free and room-temperature quantum memory, Off-Resonant-Cascaded Absorption (ORCA). ORCA is the first full quantum memory that has the bandwidth to operate with nonlinear optical quantum light sources. Armed with our new quantum memory technology we will interface it with pure and identical photons produced via parametric down-conversion to produce BRiiGHT: Broadband Room-temperature Inexpensive & IndistinGuishable pHoTons. Our BRiiGHT module will be a rack-mounted, room-temperature, robust and inexpensive source of pure and indistinguishable photons. The outcome of the program will be the development of a technological platform that can be easily scaled up to provide the multi-photon resource states required for quantum simulation, quantum communication and elementary quantum computing tasks.

Keywords: quantum memory,single photon source,quantum networks,ambient conditions,quantum technologies
Single Exciton Transistor based on van der Waals Heterostructures (SingExTr)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Physics
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2021-03-01
End date: 2023-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 212933.76
EU funding (EUR): 212933.76
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The spin degree of freedom of an electron captures the essence of quantum mechanics. Via a phenomenon called Coulomb blockade, electrons can be loaded one-by-one into a microscopic device, and their spin can be probed by electrical or optical readouts, satisfying some criteria to construct a quantum processor. Unfortunately, electrons interact indirectly with light (photons), essential for ultra-fast coherent control and to communicate the quantum information over long distances. Conversely, an exciton – a quasiparticle consisting of a strongly bound electron-hole pair in a semiconductor – interacts with light very strongly. With the emergence of atomically thin semiconductors which have exciton binding energies and Coulomb interactions ~ 100x larger than traditional semiconductors such as GaAs, it is possible to engineer a single exciton transistor. In this fellowship, I propose to pursue excitonic transport and controlled electrostatic trapping of single excitons. To realize such devices, I will stack atom-thick flakes together to form 2D heterostructures which allow separation of the electron and hole into different layers, creating an interlayer exciton which has a long lifetime, a large permanent dipole, and convenient energy scales. The interlayer excitons can strongly interact with each other, providing the repulsion energy to realize excitonic Coulomb blockade. Success in this endeavor opens a path to realizing novel sources of single photons, entangled photons, and efficient spin-photon interfaces. This Fellowship will offer me the opportunity to acquire new skills regarding magneto-optical spectroscopy, quantum optics, transport device design and fabrication. It builds on my PhD project, where I focused on intralayer excitons in 2D materials and heterostructure fabrication. This project exploits my strong background in material/device preparation and marries it with quantum optics, which is the expertise of host group.

Keywords: interlayer exciton,dipolar exciton physics,single exciton trapping,biexciton,single and entangled photons,van der waals heterostructures
The Impact of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in formal, non-formal and informal education and its contribution to the Key Competences for Lifelong Learning in the EU Reference Framework (ICH-Bildung)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Career Restart panel
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-05-01
End date: 2017-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 195454.8
EU funding (EUR): 195454.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Europe’s Intangible Cultural Heritage – the skills, music, dance, drama, gastronomy, festivals, crafts, etc which have been passed from one generation to the next – is a hugely important economic and social resource. Yet this aspect of cultural heritage is poorly researched. ‘ICH-Bildung’ proposes to redress that balance and study the Impact of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in formal, non-formal and informal education and its contribution to the Key Competences for Lifelong Learning in the European Reference Framework. The project will consider the wider European policy debates on Cultural Education how they can be oriented to ICH education; explore social and economic indicators to measure the impact of ICH education of both individuals and communities; and explore methods for measuring the contribution of ICH experiences to education, covering quantitative and qualitative methods, across social and economic areas. A prestigious multi-disciplinary, international consortium has been gathered to support ICH-Bildung including: UNESCO (France) which has an ICH department; the French Centre for ICH at the World Cultures Institute (CFPCI); the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany (FAU) which holds the UNESCO chair in arts and culture in education; the Tartu Environmental Education Centre, Estonia (TEEC) and the Cultural Informatics Research Group – University of Brighton (UoB) which provides considerable experience in the area of modelling the impact of cultural heritage. Each partner belongs to a different educational setting – formal, informal and non-formal. Modelling the impact of ICH will raise awareness about the potential value of ICH to European society and allow organisations working with ICH to gain greater clarity regarding the contribution of ICH to education and society.

Keywords: cultural education,intangible cultural heritage safeguarding,key competences for lifelong learning in the eu framework,cultural awareness and expressions in educational settings
Commercialisation of neuronal cell co-cultures (COMMER-CELL)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Future and Emerging Technologies (FET)
Theme: EIC Pathfinder
Destination: Novel ideas for radically new technologies
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: FET Innovation Launchpad (H2020-FETOPEN-2018-2019-2020-03, 2018)
Start date: 2019-06-01
End date: 2020-11-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Development of various human stem cell derived cell types will be carried out to see the completion of the FETOPEN MESO-BRAIN project. Based on immortal pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), FETOPEN MESO-BRAIN will see the development of techniques for growth of a variety of neural cell types. This provides a unique opportunity for the creation of a marketable product stemming from already intended work. Co-cultured in vitro cell models have the capacity to retain neuronal maturity and functionality for long time periods. Such co-cultures, featuring only two or three different cell types have already been demonstrated as effective models for researching the mechanisms of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, indicating consistent and reproducible results. As such, complex and consistently reproducible ready-made co-cultures could be easily directed towards pharmaceutical and biotech companies seeking to use iPSC-derived cells as a basis for building cell-based assays and drug screening based on the validated cells. As the FETOPEN MESO-BRAIN project already intends to grow major neuronal cell types, complex, physiologically relevant 2D and 3D co-cultures featuring cortical neurones, astrocytes, interneurons and microglia can be developed within COMMER-CELL and made available for sale. Creation and mass-availability of a 4-cell-type co-culture in an easy-to-use and premade form could not only allow for improved research into CNS-affecting conditions and drug testing, but also expedite such research by circumventing the need for research institutions and industrial organisation to create their own time-consuming cell models. The proposed COMMER-CELL project harnesses results from MESO-BRAIN to deliver concrete added value by raising the technological maturity of the cells to demonstrator level. The fulfilment of the proposition, based upon anticipated positive feedback from the market, will lead to the commercialisation of an innovation derived from FETOPEN MESO-BRAIN.
Adaptive Automation in Assembly For BLUE collar workers satisfaction in Evolvable context (A4BLUE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, and Biotechnology
Theme: Technologies for Factories of the Future
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Spain,Spain,Italy,Italy,France,United Kingdom
Call: Continuous adaptation of work environments with changing levels of automation in evolving production systems (H2020-FOF-2016, 2016)
Start date: 2016-10-01
End date: 2019-09-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4179062.5
EU funding (EUR): 4179062.5
Participants: 9
Project status: CLOSED

Sectors such as aerospace, automotive, wind power, capital goods are characterised, on the one hand, by complex products and small scale production that require high flexibility and on the other hand by an increasing pressure to raise productivity rates. Furthermore manufacturing systems need to deal with an ever-changing environment due to short term changes caused by human or production related variability or long term changes caused by market`s demands and company’s strategy, technology advancements and demographic trends. In this context assembly systems need to put together humans and automation taking advantage of each other’s strengths. A4BLUE proposes (1) the development and evaluation of a new generation of sustainable, adaptive workplaces dealing with the evolving requirements of manufacturing processes, and (2) the introduction of automation mechanisms that are suitable for flexible and efficient task execution in interaction with human workers by optimising human variability through personalised and context aware assistance capabilities as well as advanced human-machine interfaces. To support this objective the key features to be covered by A4BLUE are: (1) adaptability by providing an open, secure, configurable, scalable and interoperable adaptation management and assistance system (A4BLUE adaptive framework) that allows effortless integration of heterogeneous hardware and software components and is able to adjust the behaviour of workplace parts according to changes; (2) interaction by providing a set of safe, easy to use, intuitive and personalised and context aware multimodal human-automation interaction mechanisms and (3) sustainability by providing methods and tools to determine the optimal degree of automation of the new assembly processes that combine and balance social and economic criteria to maximize long term worker satisfaction and overall performance.

Keywords: adaptability,sustainability,interaction,satisfaction,usability