Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Seismic Risk Reduction and Adaptation for Complex Time-Dependent Industrial Systems (REACTIS)

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: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Italy,Switzerland
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2025-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 297164.16
EU funding (EUR): 297164.16
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Adapting to the increasing threat of natural hazards is one of the most pressing current societal issues. Specifically, seismic risk reduction and adaptation of complex intertwined industrial facilities are keys for an effective EU green transition. Nevertheless, the most common policies still rely only on static risk analyses, neglecting temporal and spatial interactions. In fact, no one has yet tackled the critical aspect of industrial system adaptation, accounting for the dynamics of the hazard, of the system itself and its recovery processes. This comes with no surprises, as system adaptation is a highly complex stochastic process, deeply rooted into the future, where uncertainties at all levels play a crucial role. This critical research gap is filled with the “Seismic Risk Reduction and Adaptation for Complex Time-dependent Industrial Systems” (REACTIS) project, which is the first integrated uncertainty quantification (UQ)-based methodology that aims to solve these open questions. The project will examine the stochastic dynamics of the performance of industrial facilities subjected to time-variant seismic hazards. In particular, the recovery processes of the systems will be deepened and treated from a UQ and stochastic dynamics perspective. Building upon preliminary collaboration, the project will focus on the stochastic dynamics and recovery of a single 1-node system. Then, a real-world complex industrial case study will be deployed. Leveraging concepts from spatial statistics and graph theory, the intertwined network topology of the industrial system will be mapped. Specifically, the evolution of the dynamics of the system will be extended to a m-nodes, initially deterministic, then random, network configuration. Finally, our research will encompass an in-depth analysis of seismic risk and adaptation strategies formulation. This effort aims to identify the criticalities and vulnerabilities within the industrial system networks.

Keywords: complex network systems uncertainty quantification industrial facilities stochastic dynamics seismic risk adaptation strategies disaster risk reduction seismic hazard and vulnerabilities
Nanostructure-Based Design of Visual Perception using High-Index Disordered Metasurface Physics (UNSEEN)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced 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: France
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2022-ADG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-09-01
End date: 2028-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2108656.0
EU funding (EUR): 2108656.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The optics of disordered media with subwavelength high-contrast resonant inhomogeneities is a fascinating research topic emerging at the interface between the physics of waves in complex media and nanophotonics. UNSEEN explores and exploits unconventional wave-interference phenomena in disordered metasurfaces towards a new application: the creation of brand-new visual appearance. Our perception of objects is completely determined by how they scatter light. Color is crucial, but other attributes, such as texture, gloss for reflective surfaces, clarity for transmissive ones, illumination directivity also largely influence appearance. Although this perception plays a key role in virtually all fine and applied arts, appearance engineering has been so far applied only to materials structured at length scales significantly larger than the wavelength; this is because the link between nanostructure morphologies and appearance is very complicated for subwavelength scale resonant inhomogeneities. UNSEEN bridges, for the first time, the fertile environments of optical metasurfaces and visual appearance in an original and cross-disciplinary way. At the forefront of optical modelling and characterization, we will develop new tools in nanophotonics, which will merge nanoscale electromagnetism, mesoscale multiple scattering, and macroscale ray-tracing rendering. The tools will allow us to understand the complicated relation between morphology and appearance, to harness the manifold degrees of freedom offered by disordered metasurfaces and to discover clues to design novel appearance. We will then use available state-of-the-art nanofabrication and develop new characterization setups to produce and observe metasurfaces with novel appearances, and further study their most promising applications: luxury goods, document security, and head-up display.

Keywords: nanophotonics,optical metasurfaces,plasmonics,mie resonance,multiple scattering,wave in random media,colloidal chemistry,rendering
Towards Matching Bounds for Large Deviations (TOMABOLD)

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: Mathematics
Countries involved: Norway
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): 251578.56
EU funding (EUR): 251578.56
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The proposed project considers the problem of finding matching bounds for dynamical large deviations of natural models in statistical physics and fluid mechanics. In a random system with a deterministic limit, dynamical large deviations describe the exponential decay of probability that the system is close to a trajectory different from the deterministic limit; classic works by Kipnis- Olla-Varadhan and Kipnis-Landim study such bounds. However, in many interesting cases, the available upper and lower bounds only agree when restricted to sufficiently regular trajectories. Recent developments give the problem of investigating the matching bounds new momentum. On the positive side, Fehrman-Gess reached an important milestone in matching bounds for hydrodynamic limits by analysis of a PDE, and proved matching bounds for a family of SPDEs related to hydrodynamic limits. On the negative side, my previous work identified a case where the naïve bound is not sharp, related the existence of spurious solutions violating the energy identity. We will capitalise on these recent developments to identify cases where the expected rate function does, and does not, capture all interesting phenomena. The project will be divided into two parts, taking these recent developments as a jumping off point. The first part will concern two examples where we expect to find matching bounds, while the second part investigates (anticipated) deviations from the classical theory. In WP1, we will investigate wide-reaching generalisations of Fehrman-Gess theory, in WP1a to the more challenging case of systems of equations, and in WP1b to rougher scaling regimes via the renormalisation group. In WP2, we will investigate one model which connects the existing counterexample to the derivation of turbulence from molecular dynamics, and another model in which we hypothesise that the violation of a key technical estimate leads to behaviour different from what is predicted in the literature.

Keywords: large deviations,pde with irregular drift,fluid dynamics,hydrodynamic limit
Child-friendly justice for the climate crisis: Post-paternalist judgments, litigation, participation (YOUTHCLIMATEJUSTICE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Institutions, Governance and Legal Systems
Panel description: Political science, international relations, law
Countries involved: Ireland
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2022-COG, 2022)
Start date: 2023-11-01
End date: 2028-10-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1998870.0
EU funding (EUR): 1998870.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

YOUTHCLIMATEJUSTICE is the first large-scale transnational examination of youth justice in the climate crisis. In climate activism/litigation, under-18s are often leading on a political issue on a global scale – this is unprecedented in human rights law. Yet most children’s rights literature examines children as victims in the climate crisis. We know from other areas of law (e.g. family, criminal etc.) that justice processes are ill-suited to children, and have to be tailored to their needs. A body of work on ‘child-friendly justice’ has arisen to deal with this. YOUTHCLIMATEJUSTICE examines how child-friendly justice, and consequently children’s rights scholarship, is transformed by youth climate activism. The project proposes the ‘post-paternalism’ hypothesis – traditionally it is assumed that children are ‘given’ rights by adults such as the right to be heard, but youth climate activists are taking control of their own rights, e.g. in justice systems. YOUTHCLIMATEJUSTICE aims to work beyond contemporary paternalistic approaches to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; examining intergenerational dynamics in this ‘post-paternalist’ climate context. This will be done through three work packages examining youth climate justice in: 1.judgments 2.litigation and 3.participation. This transdisciplinary project will include innovative methodology including IDEAL causal modelling of case law data; surveys; and participatory action research (in Barbados, Canada, Ireland, Nepal, and South Africa) to theorise transformation in children’s rights through youth climate action. It is a groundbreaking democratic endeavour whereby children can shape both academia and human rights for a post-paternalist world. Outputs include a new evidence-informed framework on Child-Friendly Climate Justice [CFCJ]; to facilitate both academic and legal/social transformation in the field, a CFCJ Research Centre, and an experimental initiative to embed CFCJ in a live climate case.

Keywords: children s rights human rights law child friendly justice climate crisis litigation
Smart Mechatronic Ankle-Foot Orthosis Platform for Gait Assistance and Augmentation (SmartANKLE)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Doctoral Networks
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Ireland,Finland,Germany,Belgium,Serbia,United States,Italy
Call: MSCA Doctoral Networks 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-DN-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-10-01
End date: 2027-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1898458.29
EU funding (EUR): 1565275.2
Participants: 8
Project status: SIGNED

Mechatronic ankle foot orthoses have recently attracted significant attention as a means for assisting or augmenting gait functions of impaired and healthy individuals. However, this technology has seldom translated into products that are available to clinicians and the general public. To solve this issue, we aim at training six high-skilled professionals who can design and develop solutions that satisfy the needs of all stakeholders and can translate into products. SmartANKLE will establish a comprehensive training program that will provide the six Doctoral Candidates (DCs) with all the skills required to bring the mechatronic ankle foot orthosis concept into the market. The SmartANKLE group brings together four internationally recognized universities, one hospital and three companies. The SmartANKLE DCs will be trained in all the aspects of the development of a radically new Smart Mechatronic Ankle Foot Orthoses (SMAFO) platform. The components of this platform will be used to assemble different SMAFO configurations able to provide positive torque during gait and that can be utilized in different applications, spanning from gait assistance of stroke survivor, training of sport practitioners and human augmentation. The training will cover all phases of product development: from conceptualization, to design, to translation and testing. The DCs will learn to identify the needs of the different users and to investigate the requirements of all stakeholders. The DCs will formulate a tailored career development plan which includes the acquisition of engineering, research, and management skills, in a training that will foster teamwork, open science practices and gender aspects. The DCs will undergo outreach activities aiming at disseminating SmartAnkle’s impact to a wide array of audiences. SmartANKLE will greatly enhance the career perspectives of the DCs in academia and industry and will set an example for a novel research-intensive industrial doctoral network.

Keywords: ankle foot orthosis mechatronics human augmentation
Enhancing Bioavailability of Beneficial Polyphenolic Compounds in Food via Advanced Materials Engineering (BIOCOMAT)

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: Spain
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-10-01
End date: 2026-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 181152.96
EU funding (EUR): 181152.96
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

A diet rich in plant-based foods, abundant in beneficial polyphenolic compounds (PCs), is pivotal in preventing civilization-related diseases. PCs are valued for their robust antioxidant properties and prebiotic potential. However, their inherent instability and sensitivity to environmental factors and processing methods pose challenges. Rapid oxidation and limited bioavailability in the human body underscore the need for effective stability enhancers and delivery systems. In principle, the encapsulation technique provides prolonged and controlled release of food ingredients and increases the stability and bioavailability of bioactive compounds. The complexity of the capsule design, however, has consumed considerable resources in the food science field but has yet to result in satisfactory results in terms of PCs delivery. This project offers a fresh perspective by treating capsule design as a materials engineering task. We aim to leverage cutting-edge material design, preparation, and characterization techniques to enhance the bioavailability of encapsulated PCs. Our approach will involve layer-by-layer methods to create model systems with precise control over the morphology of polysaccharide and protein encapsulation layers. Co-focal microscopy, SEM imaging, and nanomechanics will provide insights into structure, stability, and PC release in vitro. To optimize layer composition efficiently, we will integrate robot-aided experimentation and machine learning. These efforts will culminate in developing a Material Acceleration Platform, a versatile methodology for designing polyphenolic compound delivery systems for food applications. To achieve these objectives, the Researcher will be provided training-through-research in a broad spectrum of preparation and characterization techniques aimed at layer-by-layer systems and data-driven experimentation approaches such as the Design of Experiments and Bayesian optimization.

Keywords: polyphenolic compounds,encapsulation,structure engineering,materials acceleration platform,machine learning
Low-loss fiber coupler (LEO)

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: Belgium
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS (ERC-2024-POC, 2024)
Start date: 2025-05-01
End date: 2026-10-31
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

This ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) project aims to demonstrate a low-loss fibre-to-chip coupler, a critical component for the PI’s ERC project QAMP (101042414). While QAMP focuses on achieving unity electro-optical transduction to convert superconducting qubits to optical qubits, the realized product requires an efficient fibre-to-chip coupler to extract the optical qubits. Our patented innovation introduces a fibre-to-chip coupler with unprecedented low losses of 0.015 dB (0.35%), which is an order-of-magnitude lower than current state-of-the-art solutions. Achieving such low-loss coupling is vital for five out of the six major quantum computer contenders (superconducting, optical, neutral atom, ionic and colour centre qubits). This development is particularly crucial for the field of optical quantum computing, valued at over a billion dollars, which depends on efficient fibre-to-chip couplers to realize their basic computational functionality. The successful implementation of this technology would enable the other qubit contenders to entangle and connect individual quantum processing units via a fibre network, thus addressing the current bottleneck in quantum information processing that requires millions of qubits working in unison.
Actomyosin driven force-generation at the egg surface during fertilization (Egg-Cortex)

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: Spain
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021 (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, 2021)
Start date: 2023-02-01
End date: 2025-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 165312.96
EU funding (EUR): 165312.96
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The fusion of two specialized gametes represents the starting point of life in sexually reproductive organisms. Despite this fundamental role in the creation of life, the molecular and biophysical mechanisms underlying this process remain largely elusive. It is evident that the dynamic modulation of the egg actomyosin cortex plays a central role during different steps of fertilization including cortical granule exocytosis, Ca2+ signaling and sperm uptake. How this high plasticity of the actin cortex is regulated during fertilization has not been studied in detail. In the past, research of this dynamic process has been limited by live-cell microscopy techniques lacking the needed spatiotemporal resolution. Gamete interaction is not only a very fast process; in mammals, it also occurs synchronously with gamete activation. To overcome these limitations, we propose utilizing eggs isolated from zebrafish that can be activated independently of interaction with sperm. Specifically, we will comparatively characterize the dynamic egg actomyosin cortex properties during fertilization using advanced single-molecule imaging techniques and biophysical tools like optical tweezers. We will specifically address whether the egg actin cortex has mechanosensitive properties that might facilitate gamete fusion, as has been shown for other cell-cell fusion events. It is our goal to identify the basic molecular and biophysical mechanisms underlying fertilization, and the comprehensive quantitative study of actin structures within the egg cortex will establish an essential step in addressing this question.

Keywords: fertilization,zebrafish,mechanotransduction,actomyosin cortex,exocytosis,calcium signaling
Innovative cryopreservation methods for chicken germplasm (CRYOCHICK)

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,Hungary,United Kingdom
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01, 2022)
Start date: 2023-04-10
End date: 2025-04-09
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 203464.32
EU funding (EUR): 203464.32
Participants: 3
Project status: CLOSED

Poultry products are the most consumed source of animal protein globally. To enable current and future poultry genetic improvement towards climate adaptation and sustainable farming practices to meet future nutritional demands, it is essential to maintain and make available the existing genetic diversity within and between the breeds. Gene banks can assist in conserving genetic diversity and reintroduction and implementation of important traits or genetic variants into poultry lines. The main goal of CRYOCHICK is to develop effective cryopreservation methods for ex-situ conservation of male and female chicken germplasm. Existing strategies and methods for gene banking of chicken reproductive material are not adequate for several reasons such as poor fertility rate of cryopreserved semen, the contraceptive effect in hen of glycerol (the most effective sperm cryoprotectant), the current impossible cryopreservation of chicken oocytes due to its telolecithal structure, while semen alone does not capture genes of mitochondria and the W sex-chromosome. Therefore, new effective cryopreservation methods for both male and female chicken germplasms, as well as new strategies for maintaining and using the stored cryopreserved materials for cost-effective gene banking are required. The methods and strategies developed will likely also benefit other poultry species and conservation of wild relatives. CRYOCHICK comprises a high level training program for Dr. Bernal and different coordinated actions performed by prestigious institutes from different countries and research fields promoting international collaboration, interdisciplinarity and transfer of top knowledge to the private sector. The European competitiveness will be reinforced by addressing, with the highest level of knowledge, important global scientific and societal concerns such as maintenance of biodiversity and food security, both serious threatened by climate change.

Keywords: cryopreservation,chicken,supercooling,antifreeze proteins,nucleating proteins,sperm,fertility,artificial insemination,pgcs,gonadal germ cells,embryos,vitrification