Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Experimental vaccinology, revealing unnatural signatures of protection by repeat controlled human schistosome infection. (ReCHISVac)

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: Netherlands
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-06-01
End date: 2024-11-30
Duration (months): 30.0
Total project cost (EUR): 234530.4
EU funding (EUR): 234530.4
Participants: 3
Project status: CLOSED

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease afflicting over 200 million people and causing 300,000 deaths in Africa alone. Whilst infections can be cleared with schistosomocidal drugs, individuals will become rapidly re-infected upon exposure to contaminated water. Partial immunity only develops naturally only after decades of constant infection, and there is no vaccine. Previous schistosome vaccine studies have been flawed, due to a lack of understanding of what constitutes a protective immune response, focus on single antigen targets, and a lack of pharmaceutical industry support or expertise for development. Here, I propose to use unique samples from repeat Schistosoma mansoni controlled human infection (Sm-CHI) models to reveal novel antigens and corresponding cellular and cytokine responses that are protective against schistosomiasis. To evaluate how well this protective signature will translate to endemic countries, matched analyses will be performed in samples from naturally schistosome infected Ugandan individuals. Antigen-specific antibody and cellular immunology data will be combined utilising bioinformatic tools to reveal a signature of multiple antigens and immune responses associated with protection from schistosomiasis. Next, in a non-academic placement at Batavia Biosciences, I will develop a pre-clinical development plan to translate the identified protective immune signature into an effective vaccine against human schistosomiasis. This fellowship will form the basis of my future career development, to become an independent researcher in the field of schistosome vaccinology.

Keywords: schistosomiasis,controlled human infection,antigen discovery
Cap analogs with a photo-cleavable group as a general reagent to produce light-activatable mRNAs as tool for fundamental and medical research (FlashCaps)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Proof of concept grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS1 (ERC-2022-POC1, 2022)
Start date: 2022-05-01
End date: 2023-10-31
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Messenger RNAs (mRNAs) have recently entered the stage as therapeutic modality. Examples are the mRNA-based vaccines against infection by SARS-Cov2. Hundreds of research groups in academia and industry aim to better understand the multiplicity of the mRNA technology and its possible applications. However, at present researchers are unable to control when and where the mRNA is translated into proteins – which then have a pharmacological effect. This is a bottleneck that severely limits the research needed to further develop mRNA as a therapeutic modality. We present FlashCaps, the first applicable solution that allows mRNA studies to be driven by light without altering the structure or sequence of the natural mRNA. Light is an excellent external control element that can be applied with high precision in space and time and without interfering with cellular processes. FlashCaps prevent the translation of the mRNA until activated by light. FlashCaps are compatible with all standard mRNA production and application procedures and thus of interest to all research groups and companies working on mRNA to date. In this proof of concept, we will determine the innovation potential of FlashCaps with a team of highly qualified scientists and innovation managers. Technological research to ensure reproducibility, stability, scalability, and quality of FlashCaps will be performed. User-friendly applicability of FlashCaps is achieved through the involvement of beta-testers. Innovation management research, including market analyses, data analytics and consumer interviews, is conducted to define the potential customers and their needs, to analyse the market potential and to investigate our competitors. Based on the research results and the agile exchange between the technological and innovation management research, we will decide on the best way of knowledge transfer to make FlashCaps available to the growing number of mRNA researchers.
new Solutions for Hydropower plants to Enhance operational Range, Performance and improve environmental impAct (SHERPA)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Climate, Energy and Mobility
Theme: Energy
Destination: Sustainable, secure and competitive energy supply
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Spain,Germany,Ireland,Belgium
Call: Development of hydropower equipment for improving techno-economic efficiency and equipment resilience in refurbishment situations (HORIZON-CL5-2024-D3-01, 2024)
Start date: 2024-09-01
End date: 2028-02-29
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3861651.25
EU funding (EUR): 3861651.25
Participants: 8
Project status: SIGNED

Currently, hydraulic turbines are employed across a broad spectrum of operational regimes. A particular case is represented by the environmental flow (E-flows), which are essential for the conservation of fluvial ecosystems but often force to operate out of design parameters or rather switch off the plants. On the other hand, the impact of HPPs on water quality and biodiversity up- and downstream is enormous and should also be a target for refurbishing actions. In this context, the SHERPA project will develop and validate innovative technologies for refurbishing current HPPs, namely, 1) AM metallic patches and coatings to minimize damage and enhance resistance to cavitation, 2) new strategies to adapt rotational speed depending on the flow range, 3) advanced air injection systems to improve water quality and efficiency; 4) new runner designs adapted to E-flows increasing performance. Modelling, simulation, and monitoring tools will assess the new solutions of the in terms of energy output, flexible operation, cost-effectiveness, and impact on biodiversity. The goal is to expand and/or adapt the operational range of the HPP to include lower flows, without this harming their lifetime, economic viability, and environmental and social impact. In order to meet this objective, the project proposes a methodology comprising 8 work packages groups in four blocks to be carried out during 42 months. SHERPA has a well-balanced consortium with 7 partners from 4 countries, covering all the competences and know-how in terms of expertise, resources and positioning in the field, which will ensure the achievement of the project objectives and make an impact at European level.

Keywords: hydropower,refurbishment,environmental flow,am,turbine,francis,kaplan,water quality,air injection,modelling,variable rotor speed,remaining useful life,rul extension,monitoring,lcoe,lcc
Forecasting climate surprises on longer timescales (FORCLIMA)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Earth System Science
Panel description: Physical geography, geo logy, geophysics, atmospheric sciences, oceanography, climatology, cryology, ecology, global environmental change, biogeochemical cycles, natural resources management
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2021-COG, 2021)
Start date: 2023-06-01
End date: 2028-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1976300.0
EU funding (EUR): 1976300.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets (GrIS and AIS, respectively) and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) are prominent examples of tipping elements in the Earth system that have the potential to respond nonlinearly to small changes in forcing. Tipping elements can thus give rise to climate surprises, i.e., low-probability, high-impact events that may be triggered earlier than expected. Simulating such climate surprises and their impacts, on the relevant multi-centennial timescales and beyond, is particularly challenging. Today, the right methods are not available, resulting in deep uncertainty in future projections. Here I aim to develop a novel, probabilistic methodology to robustly forecast climate surprises such as ice-sheet and AMOC collapse on long timescales. This requires simultaneous advances beyond the state of the art on two fronts. First, a new generation Fast Earth System Model (FESM) will leverage the latest advances in our understanding of key processes to represent the GrIS, AIS and AMOC realistically, in a coupled framework and on long timescales. Critically, this will be the first comprehensive model fast enough to run the large ensembles of simulations needed to quantify the uncertainty associated with deeply uncertain processes. Second, a highly novel and generalized probabilistic approach will be developed, to constrain the FESM to be consistent with output from the latest generation of Earth System Models. FORCLIMA will generate probabilistic estimates of climate surprises for the medium-term future (centuries to millennia) with much higher confidence than we have today, and inform about interactions between key tipping elements in the climate system. This project will therefore greatly advance the state of the art in coupled climate – ice-sheet modeling, and lead to an unparalleled understanding of the long-term impacts of climate change on the Earth system.

Keywords: tipping elements,ice sheets,ocean,earth system modeling
Reconstructing Roman Road Network for the understanding of Urban development (R3NUrb)

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: Spain
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-10-01
End date: 2025-11-30
Duration (months): 26.0
Total project cost (EUR): 165312.96
EU funding (EUR): 165312.96
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

The Roman conquest, occupation and dominion over a large part of current Europe and beyond marked a strong change in social, cultural and economic patterns in the area. Two of the most important and lasting changes were the establishment of a new transport network and the large-scale development of cities. Connectivity continues to be seen as an essential factor in the analysis of the spread of urbanisation, migration, the ancient economy, and the transmission of ideas. In Antiquity connectivity could only be achieved via movement by land, river and sea, and had to rely on the available transport network. However, to date, no analysis of communication, trade, distribution of people and resources, or the economy in general, exists that actively considers the transport network, the single element that made connectivity possible, on an Empire-wide scale and therefore no attempts have been made to understand its influence on urbanism or its long-term influence. This is largely due to the lack of complete reconstructions of Roman route systems. Although much is known about the roads and other elements of the Roman transport network, this knowledge is partial and lacks integration. The road transport network is full of empty spaces and broken links that prevent the development of an integrated system fit for large-scale analyses and the use of quantitative and computational approaches. R3NUrb will address these problems by reconstructing the whole Roman transport network and using it to analyse the influence of connectivity on the process of urbanisation, urban distribution and the long term success of urban centres. For this R3NUrb will employ an innovative combination of computational approaches, remote sensing, network science, and geostatistics. This approach will provide unique insights into mobility, transport and urbanisation at a pan-Roman scale and, therefore, open up new horizons in the study of connectivity and urbanism in the past.

Keywords: roman,transport,network analysis,computational archaeology,route modelling
Quantum Jumps for Time Crystals (QuJuTC)

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: Physics
Countries involved: Germany
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-04-01
End date: 2025-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 173847.36
EU funding (EUR): 173847.36
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Discrete time crystals (DTC) in many-body systems are a prominent example of a many-body non-equilibrium state of matter. There have been many theoretical proposals on how to achieve a many-body DTC and they were realised in several experiments. An underlying framework for all different types of DTC models is lacking. My first main goal is to study the DTC phase in many-body systems with a novel framework, namely through their quantum jump behaviour induced by an environment. My second main goal is to go beyond the Lindblad description required for the first goal and consider also the case where Lindblad rates can go negative. Usual jump methods do not work in this case and I will rely on a novel jump method that I co-developed specifically for this situation. To deploy its full power, the method requires further development which will be the first objective of the project. I will study three systems with a DTC phase. The first is a toy model, a driven anharmonic oscillator, a good test case for the method which will provide new insight in the dynamical phase. Next, I study two true many-body systems. The first is a collection of spins where the DTC phase relies on many-body localisation (MBL), inspired on experimentally implemented protocols. My aim here is to distinguish the DTC phase from the ordinary MBL and ergodic phase by the jump statistics. Beyond this, I will explore how many sites must be monitored to detect and distinguish different phases. Finally, I will study a large ensemble of spins that can show the DTC phase, like the experiment in Nitrogen-Vacancy centres, which does not rely on MBL realise the DTC phase. It would be extremely elucidating to compare the nature of the phase to the one that does rely on MBL. I will compare the results from both cases in hopes unifying both realisations or finding clear distinctions.

Keywords: time crystals,condensed matter,open quantum systems,non markovianity,quantum jumps,nitrogen vacancy centres
Bioinspired bimetallic catalysts for CO2 reduction beyond C1 products (BICATC2)

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: Chemistry
Countries involved: France
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-05-02
End date: 2026-05-01
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 195914.88
EU funding (EUR): 195914.88
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The utilisation of CO2 as a chemical feedstock is a promising strategy for breaking the dependence of the chemical industry on oil and gas. To do this, it is necessary to go beyond the reduction of CO2 to one-carbon products such as carbon monoxide, and advance to multi-carbon ‘C2+ products’ including ethylene, ethanol and oxalate. These higher value chemicals are essential in materials manufacturing and fine chemical synthesis but are challenging to form, due to a difficult C–C coupling step which is not well understood in the state-of-the-art catalysts currently available. Inspired by the binuclear enzyme active sites found in nature, this project’s novel approach is to harness the cooperative reactivity of two metal sites, using molecular bimetallic electrocatalysts to promote C2+ product formation. Through a combination of electrochemistry, theory and complementary spectroscopic techniques, the poorly understood mechanisms of C–C bond formation will be elucidated at well defined molecular metal centres. The outcome of this project will be greater understanding of the pathways to C2+ products at two sites. This will lead to the future development of efficient catalysts for the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to valuable chemical feedstocks. The applicant brings a background in the synthetic inorganic chemistry of bimetallic complexes, and will receive world-class training from the hosts, who are experts in molecular electrochemistry and spectroscopy.

Keywords: co2 reduction,bimetallic,electrochemistry,bioinspired catalysis
A LONG DURATION AND CUTTING-EDGE THERMOCHEMICAL HEAT STORAGE AND UPGRADING TECHNOLOGY FOR HEAT AND POWER APPLICATIONS (STOREDGE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Climate, Energy and Mobility
Theme: Energy
Destination: Cross-sectoral solutions for the climate transition
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Netherlands,Denmark,Germany,Austria,Greece,Ukraine,Spain,Poland
Call: Emerging energy technologies for a climate neutral Europe (HORIZON-CL5-2024-D2-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-01-01
End date: 2028-06-30
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499996.25
EU funding (EUR): 2499996.25
Participants: 9
Project status: SIGNED

This project aims to develop and validate (to reach TRL 4) a novel thermochemical technology that not only can store mid-temperature heat (250-400 deg C)This project aims to develop and validate (to reach TRL 4) a novel thermochemical technology that not only can store heat at competitive cost and very high efficiency but also may upgrade that to considerably higher temperatures. This way, the technology enables the upgrade of medium-temperature heat to drive high-temperature and more efficient power cycles, e.g. supercritical. The heat is stored in the form of chemical bonds making it suitable for a long-duration and seasonal storage solution for power and heating applications This novel and outstanding heat storage/upgrading concept offers some further important features that make it even more promising. These are its i) competitive cost-effectiveness compared to other technologies due to its expected long lifespan, and design/operation simplicity, ii) compatibility with a variety of heat sources (solar collectors, industrial waste heat, electricity, etc.), and power blocks, upon the right material selection, iii) capability of continuous discharging with periodic charging as a requirement for many power cycles upon proper sizing/design, iv) scalability up to several-hundred MWhs of capacity and storage duration from several days to even seasonal with minimal losses, v) no environmental impacts, toxicity, and human health issues, and vi) many more potential applications upon further and case-specific developments in the future. The consortium consists of 9 partners from all corners of the EU; including 3 universities, 1 research center, 2 SMEs, 2 large enterprises, and 1 NGO, ensuring that all required expertise exists for the successful accomplishment of the project and future exploitation, and also the partners optimally supplement each other. The technology will be demonstrated in different designs and integrations at 5 kW heat capacity at the DLR laboratory.

Keywords: thermochemical,heat storage,reactors
Assessment of the threat of metal exposure to lions (Panthera leo) in East Africa (LEOTHREAT)

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: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: Norway
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-10-01
End date: 2025-12-31
Duration (months): 27.0
Total project cost (EUR): 210911.04
EU funding (EUR): 210911.04
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The lion population of East Africa is declining due to several reasons, and pollution listed as one of the current threats by IUCN. However, no data on exposure routes of pollution from mining on lions in East Africa are available and metal pollution in terrestrial ecosystems in East Africa is understudied. The current proposal aims to fill this gap by looking at both metal exposure in lions and their main prey close to mining areas and in reference areas away from suspected pollution. In addition, non-invasive sampling of fur will be assessed as biomonitoring tool for metal exposure. Finally, we will provide recommendations to local authorities and communicate our findings to local communities. This project will give me the opportunity to apply my previous knowledge on metal pollution in wildlife and to gain new expertise working in African ecosystems and with African communities, as well as gain new practical skills, such as sampling large carnivores. Furthermore, my supervisors at the Norwegian University of Science in Technology (NTNU) provide interdisciplinary expertise within ecotoxicology (Prof. Jaspers) and conservation ecology (Prof. Røskaft). LEOTHREAT’s main research question is: What are the main exposure routes for metals in East African lion populations? I hypothesize that lions inhabiting mining sites may be exposed to metals due to the ingestion of contaminated prey and water. The exposure to toxic metals may cause adverse effects on their health, thus contributing to population declines. Me and local collaborators will study metal exposure by sampling blood and fur from lions inhabiting areas close to mines as well as from lions ranging areas unsuspected to be contaminated.

Keywords: lions,metals,ecotoxicology