Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Investigating microbial colonization and removal on dynamic patterned surfaces (MOBILE)

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: Italy,France
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-12-01
End date: 2025-11-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 172750.08
EU funding (EUR): 172750.08
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Microbes have remarkable capabilities to attach to surfaces of natural and artificial systems, eventually leading to the formation of biofilms and associated chronic and persistent infections. It is extremely appealing to understand how bacteria interact with three- dimensional surface topographies and how to design smart patterns as a strategy to create antifouling and biocidal materials. Here I propose a dynamic strategy, merging verstile and large-scale surface modification teqhniques based on mechanical wrinkling of soft bilayers, that I developed at Imperial College London, microfluidics and microbiology. The goal of MOBILE is investigating the mechanical confinement exerted by non-planar surface curvatures and spatial heterogeneities induced by fluid shear on bacterial initial attachment and removal, in confined environments. Specifically (Aim 1), I will evaluate the combined action of surface topography and fluid shear over bacterial proliferation, motitly and viability, incorporating nano- to micro-scaled wrinkled geometries in microfluidic channels, mimicking biological tissues surfaces and implantable medical devices, testing a series of different clinically relevant bacterial strains (such as Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae). I will also (Aim 2) develop antifouling and removal strategies by investigating the mechanical response of adhered bacteria, using patterned surfaces as stimuli-responsive probes "actuated" by means of mechanical deformation (i.e., by extension and compression of the wrinkled topographies) to induce detachment and surface cleaning under fluid dynamic conditions. Overall, I aim to elucidate new methodologies for bacterial removal at different stages of biofilm formation paving the way towards the development of new classes of biomedical devices and to contribute to an important step in direction of controlling implant-associated infections.

Keywords: bacterial colonization,biofilm,patterning,wrinkling instabilities,soft matter,microfluidics,controlled flows,mechanosensing,cleaning,implants
Combining Cavitation and Plasma to Tackle Drinking Water Pollution (PureWater)

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: Slovenia
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS (ERC-2025-POC, 2025)
Start date: 2026-01-01
End date: 2027-06-30
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Escalating water pollution is one of the most critical global crises, jeopardizing the global supply of clean water and threatening public health on an unprecedented scale. Contaminated water, together with poor sanitation can be directly linked to transmission of various diseases such as cholera, diarrhea and hepatitis A. Our successfully completed ERC project (CoG CABUM) has shown that cavitation (almost instantaneous growth and collapse of vapor bubbles due to a local pressure drop) destroys microorganisms by mechanical forces (shear and shockwaves) and that these effects can be enhanced by an elegant manipulation of cavitation conditions. CABUM has also revealed, that low-pressure cavitation region can be used to ignite non-thermal plasma, leading to successful disinfection. To further evolve the technology, PureWater will develop a compact, pilot-scale device that innovatively couples cavitation and plasma (CAP) and builds on the established lab-scale prototype. The novel CAP device will have a dual purpose: • a safe and energy efficient alternative to established disinfection technologies in public and industrial facilities that have problems with Legionella pneumophila outbursts; • a royalty free technology for on-site drinking water treatment in most vulnerable regions of the world. Firstly, the small-scale device will be fine-tuned and scaled up and then tested in a relevant setting, where CAP will be optimized for reliable long-term operation and high efficacy. As access to clean water is a basic human right and a critical component of public health, economic development and environmental sustainability, PureWater will pay particular attention to CAP design so that it could be easily replicated in other settings. By tackling the challenge of providing potable water in developing regions, CAP has the potential to make a significant breakthrough in water treatment and make an important contribution to global water security.

Keywords: cavitation,plasma,water treatment
ResilMesh: Situation Aware enabled Cyber Resilience for Dispersed, Heterogenous Cyber Systems (ResilMesh)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Civil Security for Society
Theme: Civil Security for Society
Destination: Increased Cybersecurity
Action type: Innovation actions
Countries involved: Ireland,Spain,Czechia,Austria,Finland,Greece,France,United Kingdom,Italy
Call: Improved monitoring of threats, intrusion detection and response in complex and heterogeneous digital systems and infrastructures (HORIZON-CL3-2022-CS-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-10-01
End date: 2026-09-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 6446125.0
EU funding (EUR): 5704187.5
Participants: 16
Project status: SIGNED

ResilMesh will develop a cyber situational awareness based Security Orchestration and Analytics Platform Architecture (SOAPA) toolset to improve digital infrastructure resilience through fulfilling these objectives: 1: Improving end-to-end data aggregation and security control interoperability in dispersed digital infrastructures 2: Giving CSIRTs better awareness of the service and asset dependencies of their network 3: Helping CSIRTs to build cyber resilience capacity 4:Developing AI based algorithms and tools for early and ongoing attack detection and prediction 5:Developing a situation assessment system to view and forecast network level risk These objectives are achieved through a 10 work package project plan. ResilMesh will build a SOAPA platform by combining existing security controls and other tools from consortium participant with readily available open source elements. It will develop algorithms and software tools in the project and will integrate these with the platform to form a complete SOAPA system. It will validate the operation of the ResilMesh system through use cases in three different infrastructure categories (i.e. renewable energy SCADA; smart manufacturing robotics and regional civil infrastructure) and five open call use cases. These 8 pilots will ensure that the platform is evaluated across a wide range of critical infrastructures. ReilMesh develops AI based algorithms to improve attack detection and prediction for endpoint and network traffic; it help CSIRTs deal digital infrastructure complexity and heterogeneity by providing tools to give them better awareness of environment dependencies, threats and risk while preserving privacy. It increases the reliability and granularity of shared threat intelligence to improve context for threat hunting and cyber forensics incident response leading to more robust decision making. Finally it provides a suite of best practices to build cyber capacity to improve resilience preparation.

Keywords: anomaly detection situational awareness alert correlation enhanced cti dfir
SinGular Monge-Ampère equations (SiGMA)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Mathematics
Panel description: All areas of mathematics, pure and applied, plus mathematical foundations of computer science, mathematical physics and statistics
Countries involved: France,Italy
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2023-COG, 2023)
Start date: 2025-01-01
End date: 2029-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1236738.0
EU funding (EUR): 1236738.0
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

This project is driven by M-theory, String theory in theoretical physics and the Minimal Model Problem in algebraic geometry. We study singular Kähler spaces with a focus on their special structures (of a differential geometry nature) and their interaction with various areas of analysis. To be more specific, we search for special (singular) Kähler metrics with nice curvature properties, such as Kähler-Einstein (KE) or constant scalar curvature (cscK) metrics. The problem of the existence of these metrics can be reformulated in terms of a Monge-Ampère equation, which is a non-linear partial differential equation (PDE). The KE case has been settled by Aubin, Yau (solving the Calabi conjecture), and Chen-Donaldson-Sun (solving the Yau-Tian-Donaldson conjecture); the cscK case has been very recently worked out by Chen-Cheng (solving a conjecture due to Tian). However, these results only hold on smooth Kähler manifolds, and one still needs to deal with singular varieties. This is where Pluripotential Theory comes into the play. Boucksom-Eyssidieux-Guedj-Zeriahi and the author, along with Darvas and Lu, have demonstrated that pluripotential methods are very flexible and can be adapted to work with (singular) Monge-Ampère equations. Finding a solution to this type of equations that is smooth outside of the singular locus is equivalent to the existence of singular KE or cscK metrics. At this point a crucial ingredient is missing: the regularity of these (weak) solutions. The main goal of SiGMA is to address this challenge by using new techniques and ideas, which might also aid in tackling problems in complex analysis and algebraic geometry. The PI will establish a research group at her host institution focused on regularity problems of non-linear PDE’s and geometric problems in singular contexts. The goal is to create a center of research excellence in this topic.

Keywords: k hler manifolds,monge amp re equations,pluripotential theory,envelopes
STAT-TMDs: A statistical approach to TMD studies (STAT-TMDs)

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: Italy
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2025-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 188590.08
EU funding (EUR): 188590.08
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The description of the proton properties and its internal structure is still a challenging issue within Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of strong interaction. The standard one-dimensional picture, encoded in collinear parton distribution functions (PDFs), is not able to explain the proton spin budget in terms of quark and gluon spin. A new class of parton distributions, including intrinsic transverse momentum effects, has then been introduced: the Transverse Momentum Dependent PDFs (TMDs). By encoding the correlation between the proton/parton spin and the parton intrinsic transverse momentum, they can provide a much richer and detailed picture: a 3D image of the proton. TMDs are now of great interest in hadron and spin physics, being able to describe several experimental observables at moderate and high energy. At the same time, they represent a perfect ground for testing fundamental properties of QCD, such as universality and factorisation. STAT-TMDs aims at building an improved statistical framework for studies of TMDs, applying for the first time modern statistical techniques to TMD analyses. Through a bottom-up approach, I will provide new and more robust phenomenological extractions of (un)polarised quark and gluon TMDs, carefully assessing the uncertainties in the data and extrapolation regions. This will eventually allow, thanks to global Bayesian reweighting techniques, for a quantitative estimate of factorisation breaking effects in inclusive polarised hadronic reactions. The project represents a timely effort, as it has the ambition to determine a new standard for the hadron physics community, and to set the ground for the future precision era of TMD studies, when data from the future US Electron-Ion Collider and fixed-target programs at the LHC will come.

Keywords: hadron structure tmds qcd pdfs
Novel steps in assessing the impact of EU Framework Programmes on European scientific networks (FPrevision4cohesion)

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: Economic Sciences
Countries involved: Hungary,Belgium
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2026-09-01
End date: 2028-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 182743.92
EU funding (EUR): 182743.92
Participants: 3
Project status: SIGNED

In an effort to boost industrial competitiveness and address societal challenges through excellence research, the European Framework Programmes (FPs) have been concentrating resources in a core of top-performing research institutions. But pursuing excellence at the expense of cohesion is a risky endeavour, as it can exacerbate inter-regional economic disparities. FPrevision4cohesion aims to unravel the impact of competitive FP research funding and different policy designs on the structural and spatial dynamics of the European scientific network. Developing a comprehensive picture of FPs’ influence on knowledge distribution and inequality is critically needed if we are to avoid deepening existing innovation divides and guide cohesion efforts in a targeted way. If convergence is understood not as mere redistribution of funds from core to peripheral regions, but as sustained support for the periphery's research and innovation capacity, we need deeper insights into the FPs' role in consolidating or fragmenting collaborative core-periphery ties. The project will adopt a novel counterfactual analysis, comparing for the first time the impact of funded to non-funded FP projects using network science techniques. This approach offers significant advancements over existing studies which rely almost exclusively on funded FP collaborations and are therefore limited in their capacity to isolate causal effects. The analysis is meant to not merely quantify impact, but also highlight how the structural links between core and peripheral organisations could be strengthened, and how different policy instruments with a top-down vs bottom-up intervention logic influence the process. FPrevision4cohesion aspires to guide both research and policy in balancing competitive programmes with convergence efforts, and directly responds to recent calls for more research on synergies.

Keywords: fp excellence,research and innovation policy,scientific networks,regional disparities,cohesion,network analysis
Control over interfaces in metal oxide optical coatings: the missing piece of the puzzle (COINED)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Materials Engineering
Panel description: Advanced materials development: performance enhancement, modelling, large -scale preparation, modification, tailoring, optimisation, novel  and combined use of materials, etc.
Countries involved: Czechia
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2024-COG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-07-01
End date: 2030-06-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1957125.0
EU funding (EUR): 1957125.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Multilayer thin-film coatings grant optical elements their specific functionality by forming a high-reflective mirror or a dichroic filter. At the same time, the coatings are the first instance to be damaged by intense laser light, corrosion, or mechanical stress. Limited coating durability is heavily influenced by interfaces: the coating – substrate interface and interfaces between layers. Despite a thorough understanding of the properties of the layers’ bulk, control over interfaces is still highly limited. The lack of convenient methods for their characterization makes facilities rely on empirical tricks, thus compromising interface quality and posing severe limitations on the cutting-edge applications of optics. The COINED project aims to break this barrier by introducing an optical interface characterization with nanometer longitudinal resolution. Such resolution will be enabled by using a structured laser pulse as a source of complex acoustic waves in the coating. The same structured pulse will be used to induce second-harmonic generation (SHG) locally enhanced by the acoustic wave. By using a large set of complex pulses, we will be able to decipher the nonlinear response and the related interface morphology in individual interfaces of multilayer coatings. With this unprecedented control over interfaces, the project will disclose the role of deposition processes, coating post-treatment, and aging in the formation of unintended interlayers, defects, or coating restructuring. Moreover, the ability to continuously monitor and map interfaces throughout coating tests will be the game-changing factor elucidating the processes behind interface deficiencies. Interface optimization will open new horizons in the development of space-grade optics, increasing feasible laser power, or extending the lifetime of UV optics. The project will redefine the entire process of thin-film interface optimization with impact covering optics, photovoltaics, or nanotechnology.

Keywords: optical coating buried interface optimization second harmonic generation ultrafast acoustics
Towards constraining the pillars of our cosmological model using combined probes (PiCo)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Universe Sciences
Panel description: Astro -physics/ -chemistry/ -biology; solar system; planetary systems; stellar, galactic and extragalactic astronomy; cosmology; space sciences; astronomical instrumentation and data
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2024-STG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-01-01
End date: 2029-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1634640.0
EU funding (EUR): 1634640.0
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Despite the observational successes of the Lambda Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model, a number of its key ingredients remain unknown. Imminent surveys promise to yield unprecedented constraints on these components, thus making precision tests of ΛCDM a first-time reality. In PiCo, my team and I will focus on two fundamental questions in modern physics that can only be answered through cosmological observations: What mechanism gave rise to the primordial fluctuations seeding all the structures seen in the Universe today? What is the cause for the Universe’s late-time accelerated expansion? We will address these by developing novel analysis techniques built on the complementarity of cosmological probes and advanced statistical methods. These are designed to harness the rich information contained in non-Gaussian, small-scale features of cosmic fields, while enabling precise constraints on ΛCDM, robust to systematic uncertainties dominating high-precision data. Focusing on two of the most powerful probes of the next decade, galaxy clustering and galaxy clusters, we will constrain the mechanisms driving the accelerated expansion through the first joint simulation-based inference analysis of galaxy clusters selected through the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and weak lensing. In addition, we will derive constraints on primordial fluctuations in a combined analysis of galaxy clustering and CMB lensing angular two- and three-point statistics. Capitalizing on my past work, we will develop these methods using simulations and current data, before applying them to galaxy data from the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time and CMB data from the Simons Observatory, two upcoming high-precision experiments I am deeply involved in. PiCo will deliver tight constraints on the key ingredients of ΛCDM and will thus contribute to understanding if this model provides a complete description of our Universe, or if it is time for a paradigm shift in cosmology.

Keywords: weak lensing,galaxy clusters,galaxy clustering,forward modeling,simulation based inference
The Chromite Record of Mafic Crustal Growth (ChroMCrust)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting 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: Denmark
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2023-STG, 2023)
Start date: 2023-10-01
End date: 2028-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499536.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499536.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Understanding Earth's crustal growth is crucial to understanding the evolution of its tectonics, the birth of the first continents, and the fundamental changes that transformed Earth into a habitable planet. However, much of our understanding of Earth's crustal growth is predicated on a single mineral - zircon - that is strongly biased towards detecting felsic crustal growth. This is particularly problematic for the early Earth, where average crustal compositions were far more mafic than today, and the very first protocrust may be entirely undetectable using conventional methods. I propose to access the mafic to ultramafic crustal growth record using detrital chromite preserved in sedimentary rocks from Archaean Cratons. Like zircon, chromite chemical compositions reflect the magmas that they crystallised from, and can be used to identify the provenance of the mafic portions of a sedimentary rock. Furthermore, they can be dated using Re-Os isotopes, to identify the age of eroded mafic terranes. This project has three main objectives: 1. Develop techniques to identify the age and composition of chromite sources in ancient sedimentary rocks. 2. Use a range of detrital chromite samples from sedimentary sequences in the Superior Craton, to reconstruct a mafic-ultramafic crustal growth curve for the craton. 3. Search for evidence of Earth's mafic protocrust in some of the oldest known chromite-bearing sedimentary rocks. These achievements will open a new avenue for studying sedimentary provenance, unlock the archive of mafic crustal growth throughout Earth history, and provide insights on the nature and survival of Earth's earliest crust. The techniques developed will be broadly applicable, paving the way for a better understanding of Earth's crustal evolution.

Keywords: chromite crustal growth mafic protocrust mafic and ultramafic magmatism re os isotopes platinum group elements