Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Rendering the opaque transparent: Untangling light with bespoke optical transforms to see through scattering environments (PhotUntangle)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Systems and communication engineering
Panel description: Electrical, electronic, communication, optical and systems engineering
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2018-STG, 2018)
Start date: 2018-11-01
End date: 2024-04-30
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1790105.0
EU funding (EUR): 1790105.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

When light propagates through an opaque material, such as living tissue or a multi-mode optical fibre, it fragments and scatters multiple times. The emergent wavefront no longer forms an image because the spatial information it carries has been scrambled. Reversing this scattering offers the prospect of using visible light for high-resolution imaging of structures deep inside the human body in a safe, non-ionising way. It has recently been shown that this light scattering can be characterised and inverted. Yet arbitrary spatial mode inverters that can unscramble hundreds of light modes simultaneously to efficiently reform an image do not currently exist. The aim of this project is to understand how to design and build them. I will pioneer the use of focused lasers to write intricate nano-structures directly into glass. The key advancement will be to overcome extreme fabrication tolerances by employing a fluid design approach, whereby the design will be modified during the fabrication process. In parallel, I will develop dynamic transformers, capable of rapidly reprogrammable optical transformations. Further, I will create new computational techniques to overcome residual levels of crosstalk, and develop new ultra-fast scattering characterisation methods based on compressed sensing. This project will advance our fundamental understanding of how to control optical scattering in complex media. Key aims are to: - Understand how to design a new class of optical elements that can perform efficient spatial mode transforms on demand. - Build both passive spatial mode transformers to manipulate hundreds of modes simultaneously, and active transformers that can perform dynamically reconfigurable transformations at video-rates. - Apply this technology to unscramble light that has propagated through a moving multi-mode optical fibre in real-time, pushing towards ultra-thin micro-endoscopy, and explore an array of applications to next generation imaging systems and beyond.

Keywords: direct laser writing,imaging,microscopy,laser beam shaping,fibre optics,spatial light modulator,interferometer
Global Governance through Goals? Assessing and Explaining the Steering Effects of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (GlobalGoals)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Panel description: Political science, international relations, law
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: ERC Advanced Grant (ERC-2017-ADG, 2017)
Start date: 2018-11-01
End date: 2024-12-31
Duration (months): 74.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2493750.0
EU funding (EUR): 2493750.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Achieving sustainable development worldwide remains probably the biggest political challenge of our time. In 2015, the international community adopted 17 'Sustainable Development Goals' with no less than 169 ‘targets’ as part of a global '2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'. The ambition expressed in these goals is unprecedented. But can such goal-setting, as a new central approach in global governance, help resolve the pressing challenges of economic development, poverty eradication, social justice and global environmental protection? Nobody knows at this stage. While the United Nations and its member states place high hopes on this novel strategy, there is little scientific knowledge on whether such global goals can live up to exceedingly high expectations. Sustainability research has tended to focus on concrete institutions, actors and practices – not on aspirational goals that bring little in terms of normative specificity, stable regime formation or compliance mechanisms. How can ‘global governance through goals’ nonetheless be effective – and under which conditions? GLOBALGOALS will address this puzzle and break new ground in sustainability and global governance theories. It offers the first and most comprehensive data compilation, network mapping and comparative institutional analysis of the evolution, effectiveness and future prospects of 'global governance through goals' as a central novel steering mechanism in world politics. This 5–year study programme deploys a unique set of cutting-edge methodologies, including social network analysis and online surveys, to assess and explain the steering effects of nine Sustainable Development Goals through a detailed investigation of their institutional arrangements and actor networks, at international and national levels. GLOBALGOALS makes a crucial knowledge contribution to both the theory of global sustainability governance and the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Robust Speech Encoding in Impaired Hearing (RobSpear)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Diseases
Panel description: Medical technologies and tools for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases, therapeutic approaches and interventions, pharmacology, preventative medicine, epidemiology and public health, digital medicine
Countries involved: Germany,Belgium
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2015-STG, 2015)
Start date: 2016-10-01
End date: 2022-03-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499780.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499780.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The prevalence of hearing impairment amongst the elderly is a stunning 33%, while the younger generation is sensitive to noise-induced hearing loss through increasingly loud urban life and lifestyle. Yet, hearing impairment is inadequately diagnosed and treated because we fail to understand how the components that constitute a hearing loss impact robust speech encoding. A recent and ground-breaking discovery in animal physiology demonstrated the existence of a noise-induced hearing deficit -cochlear neuropathy- that coexists with the well-studied cochlear gain loss deficit known to degrade the audibility of sound. Cochlear neuropathy is thought to impact robust encoding of the audible portions of speech and occurs before standard hearing screening methods indicate problems, implying that a large group of noise-exposed people with self-reported hearing problems is currently not screened, nor treated. To design effective hearing restoration strategies, it is crucial to understand how cochlear neuropathy interacts with other hearing deficits to affect robust speech encoding in every-day listening conditions. Through an interdisciplinary approach, RobSpear targets hearing deficits along the ascending stages of the auditory pathway to revolutionize how hearing impairment is diagnosed and treated. RobSpear can yield immense reductions of health care costs through effective treatment of currently misdiagnosed patients and studies the impact of noise-induced hearing deficits on our society. To achieve this, RobSpear: (i) Builds a hearing profile that, based on a computational model of the auditory periphery, develops physiological measures that differentially diagnose hearing deficits in listeners with mixtures of deficits. (ii) Designs individually tailored speech enhancement algorithms that work in adverse conditions and target perceptually relevant speech features, using an unprecedented validation approach that combines novel psychoacoustic and physiological metrics.

Keywords: auditory modeling,psychoacoustics,hearing impairment,psychological and physiological acoustics,neural responses to speech,otoacoustic emissions,auditory signal processing
From light detection to vision – revealing diversity of function of simple eyes and light-responsive behaviours to enlighten eye evolution (PROTOEYE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Panel description: Ecology, biodiversity, environmental change, evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, microbial ecology, marine biology, ecophysiology, theoretical developments and modelling
Countries involved: Germany,United Kingdom
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANT (ERC-2020-ADG, 2020)
Start date: 2022-01-01
End date: 2026-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3153919.0
EU funding (EUR): 3021059.21
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Complex animal eyes evolved many times independently from simpler forms. As already suggested by Darwin, the path to vision may have led from non-directional to directional light sensing and then to low-resolution spatial vision. Simple eyes in extant animals show a remarkable diversity of form and function and may hold the key to the origin of eyes and vision. We do not know why this diversity evolved when the organisms all respond to the same physical cue. Although we have a detailed molecular-centric view of eye evolution across animals, we lack corresponding knowledge of the physical mechanics and neuronal circuits coordinating the responses. PROTOEYE will study the diversity of simple non-visual and visual eyes and map the phase space of light-guided behaviours across animals. This will inform general principles of sensory system evolution and our understanding of the origin and evolution of eyes and visual circuits. The project will build on our long-term expertise in neural circuits and mechanistic photo-biology. We will study a range of aquatic invertebrates with distinct behavioural strategies, unified by the presence of simple eyes and non-visual photoreceptors. Instead of looking at eyes in isolation, we will investigate light responses from a whole-organism perspective focusing on circuits, behaviour and the biophysics of motion. In order to obtain entire neuronal circuits driving photic behaviours, we will use whole-body serial electron microscopy and connectomics. With laser ablation, we will explore strategies of light-seeking or light-avoidance behaviours. In high-throughput behavioural assays we will test navigation strategies and sensitivities to different wavelengths. With high-speed imaging and flow tracing, we will investigate how animal movement is shaped by light. This comparative and multi-disciplinary project will chart the functional diversity of simple eyes and provide a new framework for understanding the evolution of animal vision.

Keywords: eye evolution,neural circuits,marine larvae,light regulated behaviour,photoreceptors,microswimmers,biophysics,ciliated larvae,connectomics
Practical Quantum Technology Education for Industry (PQTEI)

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: Denmark
Call: ERC Proof of Concept Grant (ERC-2019-PoC, 2019)
Start date: 2020-05-01
End date: 2022-10-31
Duration (months): 30.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The onset of the “second quantum revolution” has catapulted quantum technologies from basement laboratories into the commercial sector. This has led to a growing need for an associated quantum-savvy workforce. Not all of these workers need to have formal post-secondary education in physics, as this revolution needs, for example, mechanical engineers and business managers as much as it needs quantum physicists. However, some quantum competence is immeasurably helpful when working within the field of quantum technologies. Therefore, in order to train this population of educated non-quantum-experts, we propose to develop a series of modules tailored to industry needs. These modules will be cost-effective means of rapidly bringing employees up to speed in the relevant aspects of quantum mechanics without the burden of advanced mathematics and time-commitment of traditional schooling. For the purposes of this project, we will deploy an already developed introductory quantum module online for use in both secondary and tertiary education, free of charge. In parallel with this, we will work closely with our partners in industry to develop a more advanced and focused prototype of a custom module that will then be tested and refined in the corporate setting to meet the particular needs of our partner companies. The results from this project will be used to develop a roadmap for future commercialization that will maximize both the economic benefit (via collaboration with industry partners) and societal benefit (via collaboration with educational institutions) of our unique product.

Keywords: quantum technology education
The trade-off between longevity and reproduction: optimal control of aging (OPTiAGE)

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: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2016, 2016)
Start date: 2018-09-01
End date: 2020-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 187419.6
EU funding (EUR): 187419.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The lifespan of genetically identical organisms varies depending on the environment they are exposed to. A well-known example is the extension of lifespan by nutrient restriction, as observed in animals as diverse as nematodes and rhesus monkeys. Why does the lifespan of animals change with environmental conditions? Is there an advantage to living longer when food is poor, and to living shorter when food is plentiful? Evolutionary theory, known as the disposable soma theory (DST), proposes that organisms age due to the accumulation of damage. According to theory, aging can be delayed by continuous damage repair, but such repair requires resources which are then unavailable for other tasks, such as reproduction. The DST therefore postulates a trade-off between longevity and reproduction dictated by the limitation of available resources. The optimal allocation of resources to self-maintenance depends on the environment. In particular, increased allocation to self-maintenance is predicted to maximize fitness when nutrients are scarce. Combining theory and experiment, I will investigate how the optimal allocation of resources to self-maintenance depends on nutrient availability using the nematode C. elegans as a model system. I will quantify the partitioning of resources between self-maintenance and reproduction using isotope labelling and kinetic modelling, and modulate resource allocation using available genetic alleles and directed mutation. Employing a competitive growth assay, I will test if fitness depends on resource allocation by an inverse U-shaped function, as predicted by theory and examine how the optimal resource allocation depends on nutrient availability. I will thereby assess if worms adapt their rate of aging to maximize their fitness in different environments. Ultimately, the proposed combination of mathematical modelling and developmental genetics will pave the way for a new line of research using optimality principles to study organismal development.

Keywords: optimal control,quantitative biology,fitness
Full recyclable food package with enhanced gas barrier properties and new functionalities by the use of high performance coatings (REFUCOAT)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy
Theme: Public-private partnerships
Destination: Bio-based Industries
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Partnership: BBI (Art-187)
Countries involved: Spain,Spain,Ireland,Germany,Germany,Spain,Poland,Belgium,Croatia
Call: Advanced biomaterials for smart food packaging (H2020-BBI-JTI-2016, 2016)
Start date: 2017-06-01
End date: 2020-09-30
Duration (months): 40.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3234338.5
EU funding (EUR): 2300735.3
Participants: 13
Project status: CLOSED

RefuCoat project aims to develop hybrid bio-based high oxygen/water barrier and active coatings to be used in a monolayer bio-based food packages (films and trays) as alternative to current metallised and modified atmosphere (MAP) packages to avoid the use of non-renewable materials in multilayer structures that currently lead to complex and expensive recycling steps. Hybrid coating formulations will combine cost-efficiently produced polyglycolic acid (PGA) and modified silica oxide. Fully biodegradable packages for fresh food products will be obtained with middle chain modified PHAs. PGA and PHA based hybrid coatings with high gas barrier properties will be further improved with active substances for improved shelf-life. Furthermore, new packages based on bio-PET and bio-PE combined with hybrid and active coatings will be developed. The generated products will be validated and compared to current metallised, non bio-based alternatives in industrial products, in performance, shelf-life and biodegradability. Safety and regulatory compliance, environmental and economic sustainability will be specifically addressed. RefuCoat consortium is formed by 12 synergistic partners, 7 of them BIC members, reunites all actors in the value chain, SME partners (MIPLAST and IRIS), industrial partners (UNILEVER, MANOR, DACSA and BIOPOLIS), and RTO Partners (THUNEN, CIB, AIMPLAS, EUFIC, Fraunhofer and AINIA). The project maximizes exploitation within the Consortium, promoting a circular economy concept, but also considers dissemination and communication in order to maximize the value of the project outcomes. maximizesexploitation within the consortium, promoting a circular economy concept, but also considers dissemination andcommunication in order to maximize the value of the project outcomes. Refucoat main impacts are expected in the improved performance of food packages, reduction of landfilling waste, cost-and environmental effectiveness in processing by Life Cycle and Techno-Economic Assessment, improved preservation of food products, new markets and contribution to KPI of BBI-JI. RefuCoat aims at a significant contribution in more than 880 jobs.

Keywords: bio based,food packaging,hybrid,barrier and active coatings,mcl polyhydroxyalkanoates,polyglycolic acid
AFEL - Analytics For Everyday Learning (AFEL)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Information and Communication Technologies
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Germany,Germany,Spain,Austria,Ireland,United Kingdom
Call: Technologies for better human learning and teaching (H2020-ICT-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2015-12-01
End date: 2018-11-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2581940.0
EU funding (EUR): 2581940.0
Participants: 6
Project status: CLOSED

The goal of AFEL (Analytics for Everyday Learning) is to develop, pilot and evaluate methods and applications, which advance informal/collective learning as it surfaces implicitly in online social environments. The project is following a multi-disciplinary, industry-driven approach to the analysis and understanding of learner data in order to personalize, accelerate and improve informal learning processes. Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining traditionally relate to the analysis and exploration of data coming from learning environments, especially to understand learners' behaviours. However, studies have for a long time demonstrated that learning activities happen outside of formal educational platforms, also. This includes informal and collective learning usually associated, as a side effect, with other (social) environments and activities. Relying on real data from a commercially available platform, the aim of AFEL is to provide and validate the technological grounding and tools for exploiting learning analytics on such learning activities. This will be achieve in relation to cognitive models of learning and collaboration, which are necessary to the understanding of loosely defined learning processes in online social environments. Applying the skills available in the consortium to a concrete set of live, industrial online social environments, AFEL will tackle the main challenges of informal learning analytics through 1) developing the tools and techniques necessary to capture information about learning activities from (not necessarily educational) online social environments; 2) creating methods for the analysis of such informal learning data, based on combining visual analytics with cognitive models of learning and collaboration; and 3) demonstrating the potential of the approach in improving the understanding of informal learning, and the way it is better supported; 4) evaluate all the former items in real world large scale applications and platforms.

Keywords: learning analytics,informal learning,incidental learning,online social systems,collaborative models of learning,visual analytics