Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Quantum reservoir computing for efficient signal processing (QRC-4-ESP)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EIC Pathfinder
Destination: Open to supporting projects in all areas of science, technology,...
Action type: EIC actions
Countries involved: Sweden,France,Germany,Luxembourg,Finland,Hungary,United Kingdom
Call: EIC Pathfinder Open (HORIZON-EIC-2023-PATHFINDEROPEN-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2026-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2522411.25
EU funding (EUR): 2522411.25
Participants: 9
Project status: SIGNED

The long-term vision of the QRC-4-ESP project is to produce the World’s first quantum reservoir computing (QRC) systems based on superconducting qubits and silicon carbide (SiC) defect qubits. This new disruptive technology will create drastic improvements in speed and reduction in power consumption – two or more orders of magnitude (>100X) - compared to classical machine learning systems. Ultimately, the technology will enable ground-breaking microwave range, open air, quantum communication and new optical range, fibre network, quantum sensors. Due to their structure, superconducting qubits naturally operate in the microwave range (hundreds of MHz to tens of GHz), which means they are well-matched to the required frequency range for satellite communications, because signals in this frequency band are minimally disturbed by fog and clouds. Currently, operating open-air quantum communications in this range is difficult due to strong background thermal noise. However, the development of superconducting quantum sensors and their integration with superconducting QRC could resolve this issue by enabling the routine use of well-developed quantum key distribution protocols. Thereby, quantum satellite communication could be successfully deployed - once and for all - without the risk of interception and decryption. Defect-based qubits in SiC can operate in several frequency bands, including the optical band. Here we are especially interested in their operation in the near-infrared, which would make them a natural match for fibre-optical networks. Long-range open-air quantum communication in the optical range is impractical due to atmospheric interference. However, the inclusion of prospective QRC devices - with quantum inputs and outputs - as quantum repeaters could significantly increase performance and reduce costs. Another application would be to integrate an optical-range quantum sensor with an image-processing QRC, which would be very useful for medical diagnostics.

Keywords: quantum reservoir computing,qrc,reservoir computing,qr,qubits,superconducting qubits,defect based qubits,silicon carbide,sic
How does human agency shape machine learning understanding? (HAMLU)

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: Germany
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2025-01-01
End date: 2026-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 173847.36
EU funding (EUR): 173847.36
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Human agency over machine learning (ML) models refers to individuals' ability to monitor and act on the behavior of a trained ML model. In practice, ML experts have strong agency on ML systems, from choosing training data to monitoring performance metrics. Beyond them, few other stakeholders are granted the capacity to act on the system. HAMLU investigates how human agency over ML systems shapes our understanding of ML models. Do users better understand an ML model when they can actively explore the model's predictions and shape training data rather than passively review data or explanations? Addressing this challenge is crucial, as overlooking faulty behaviors from deployed ML models can harm European citizens in decision-making processes (e.g., recruitment, justice) and high-stake applications (e.g., self-driving vehicles, anomaly detection). At the intersection of cognitive psychology, HCI, and ML, I will conduct behavioral experiments engaging human participants interacting with ML systems through varying levels of agency on the model and underlying training data. The experiments will systematically measure participants' understanding of the model under consideration. I will critically scrutinize factors likely mediating the agency-understanding relationship, namely users' prior ML knowledge, task complexity, and data modality. In addition, I will explore how user agency and understanding translate into a sense of responsibility regarding model deployment, a pivotal stance in the AI ethics discourse. With two years' training at the Cognition Value Behavior (CVBE) lab at Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) of Munich under Prof. Deroy's supervision, who possesses extensive and complementary experience, I will be able to consider crucial cognitive processes and test fine-grained hypotheses in cognitive psychology, boosting my prospects of becoming a human-computer interaction (HCI) research group leader in Europe.
The Culture of Algorithmic Models: Advancing the Historical Epistemology of Artificial Intelligence (AIMODELS)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Texts and Concepts
Panel description: Literary studies , literature,  philosophy
Countries involved: Italy
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2022-COG, 2022)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2028-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1927573.0
EU funding (EUR): 1927573.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The project proposes an alternative epistemology of artificial intelligence (AI). It argues that what is at stake in AI is not its similarity to human rationality (anthropomorphism), but its epistemic difference. Rather than speculating in the abstract on whether a machine can “think”, the project addresses a historical question: What is the logical and technical form of the current paradigm of AI, machine learning, and what is its origin? The project traces the origins of machine learning back to the invention of algorithmic modelling (more precisely, algorithmic statistical modelling) that took shape in the artificial neural networks research of the mid 1950s, and records that a coherent history and epistemology of this groundbreaking artefact is still missing. The project pursues three objectives to turn its findings into a constructive paradigm: 1) a new history of AI that stresses the key role of algorithmic models in the evolution of statistics, computer science, artificial neural networks, and machine learning; 2) a new epistemology of AI that engages with the psychology of learning and the historical epistemology of science and technology; 3) a study of the impact of the large multi-purpose models (e.g. Bert, GPT-3, Codex and other recent foundation models) on work automation, data governance, and digital culture. Through consolidating a model theory of AI, the research will benefit the reception of AI in general and fields such as digital humanities, scientific computing, robotics, and AI ethics, among others. Ultimately, it will help situate AI in the global horizon of the current technosphere and in the long history of knowledge systems.
Developing a framework/model to environmentally sustainable and climate neutral health and care systems using the Kidney care pathway (KitNewCare)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Health
Theme: Health
Destination: Ensuring access to innovative, sustainable and high-quality health-care
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Ireland,Germany,Austria,Belgium,Sweden,Switzerland,United States,United Kingdom,Netherlands,Italy,Poland,Spain,Denmark
Call: Environmentally sustainable and climate neutral health and care systems (HORIZON-HLTH-2023-CARE-04, 2023)
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 4703738.75
EU funding (EUR): 4703738.75
Participants: 21
Project status: SIGNED

Current measures in healthcare systems are insufficient to reach the EU Green Deal goals. The social, economic and clinical consequences are significant. Reasons that current initiatives fall short include lack of awareness as to the problem, or potential solutions. There is complexity as to what process to choose, the low cost, the low carbon, the one that provides better care or the one which has the better social impact. The current system has insufficient investment in sustainable education, policy or research. Solutions work well in limited areas but are inefficient as a model for true systemic change. There is no agreed system of environmental foot printing in the health system and few partnerships with industry and patients to develop a truly sustainable system. Kidney care is a suited test case with its large resource footprint and well-defined care pathways. KitNewCare’s consortium will solve the problem with leading experts in kidney care, life cycle assessment methodology, education, dissemination and communication, health economics, and data management. KitNewCare will perform an EU-wide mapping of the sustainability landscape to reveal the hotspots across different clinical centres in each impact area. To locate solutions Quality Improvement Cycles will be utilised to analyse clinical pathways and industry innovations. KitNewCare will co-develop and pilot sustainable tools (such as the purposefully developed actionable dashboard, based on the 4-factor LCA model, which will monitor and benchmark the 4 different outcomes) innovative solutions, training, guidelines and recommendations as a proof of concept which can then be applied to the healthcare system; Our work will be informed by a stakeholder interaction and a Patient and Public Involvement programme to ensure proper design, uptake, dissemination and exploitation. This will enable decision makers and healthcare providers to reduce pollution, carbon emissions, and waste.

Keywords: sustainability,carbon footprint,kidney care,societal impact,lca,health outcome,economic cost,pollution,greendeal
Development of a new therapeutic product targeting neuroimmune circuits to treat asthma (IMMCEPTION 2)

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: France
Call: ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS (ERC-2024-POC, 2024)
Start date: 2024-09-01
End date: 2026-02-28
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150000.0
EU funding (EUR): 150000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Asthma affects approximately 3% of the population and results in 1,000 daily deaths. It is characterized by chronic lung inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness. First lines of treatment have not evolved in the last decades and actual developments are essentially focusing on severe asthma management (7% of patients) via the targeting of inflammatory mediators. Unfortunately, 60% of asthmatics still suffer from uncontrolled symptoms. The lungs are innervated by peripheral neurons expressing specific sets of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) that contribute to bronchoconstriction and regulate allergic immune response. Among the broad family of GPCRs, the GPCRX has never been studied in a pathological context, albeit human and murine orthologs share a remarkable sequence identity. We have created a new transgenic mouse, GPCRXMut, allowing both to track the receptor expression and to interrogate its function in vivo. The GPCRXMut mouse exhibits normal immune and sensory systems at steady state. Our data demonstrate that a) GPCRX is expressed by both peripheral neurons and certain lung-resident immune cells; b) the selective invalidation of GPCRX completely protects against the development of asthma in various models; and c) lung biopsies from asthmatic patients show high expression of GPCRX in neurons and immune cells. The ERC proof of concept project IMMCEPTION 2 aims to develop a selective antagonist for GPCRX to treat asthmatic patients. We will 1) miniaturize our established screening system for antagonists; 2) identify leads capable of specifically blocking GPCRX; and 3) develop a new mouse model humanized for the GPCRX to further validate identified leads in vivo. The research program has been carefully designed to leverage our expertise in neurobiology, immunology, asthma, and clinical allergy and has the potential to lead to the development of a new oral molecule with a dual mode of action to silence lung neuroimmune circuits.
Support stakeholders on Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage of ETIP ZEP and IWG9 (SSZEPIWG9)

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: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Norway,Belgium
Call: Support to the activities of the ETIPs and technology areas of the SET Plan (HORIZON-CL5-2021-D3-02, 2021)
Start date: 2022-07-01
End date: 2025-06-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1039649.25
EU funding (EUR): 989649.0
Participants: 4
Project status: SIGNED

Support Stakeholders on Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage of ETIP ZEP and IWG9 The overarching goal of this proposal is to bring together and further develop a strong inclusive network of CCUS stakeholders – effectively interconnecting and coordinating the activities of CCUS European Technology Innovation Platforms (ETIP ZEP) and the CCUS SET Plan Implementation Plan Working Group (IWG9) – to support the development and implementation of the SET Plan. Supporting the alignment and efficient coordination of stakeholders – including industry, researchers, public authorities, civil society – in order to accelerate the delivery of the CCUS research and innovation (R&I) activities and to progress the emerging policy priorities at EU and national level for the implementation of CCUS, will be crucial over the coming years for Europe to reach the ambitious climate targets for 2030 and 2050. This will be achieved by efficiently aligning and coordinating the activities of ETIP ZEP and the IWG9 in a joint work programme; establishing networks and other fora to enable the stakeholders to collaborate and coordinate effectively, pooling expertise, experience and resources to address common challenges; engaging also with other programmes and external stakeholders; facilitating engagement and creating greater interaction and cohesion between the different CCUS activities; supporting the CCUS community to develop clear strategies and recommendations; accompanied by a strong continuous programme for outreach, dissemination and communication.
Photoelectrochemical CO2 Reduction with Surface Immobilized Mn-NHC Complexes (PROMINENCE)

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: 2025-07-01
End date: 2027-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 181152.96
EU funding (EUR): 181152.96
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The finite nature of fossil-fuel assets and the drive to dwindle the global carbon footprints are escalating research into alternative fuel and chemical production technologies. One of the most studied approaches is transforming CO2 into a value-added product, which in turn lessens its abundance in the atmosphere. Among all the existing CO2 reduction (CO2R) methods, the photoelectrochemical (PEC) is the most promising, as it uses abundant solar energy to convert CO2 into high-value chemicals, combining both the benefits of photocatalysis and electrocatalysis. Nevertheless, there are only a few reports on the PEC-CO2R by molecular catalyst (majorly using noble metals Ru and Re) to produce CO, a crucial primary building block for chemicals with high technological and economic feasibility. In this context, an electron-rich NHC-Mn(I)-carbonyl catalyst has been proposed for CO2R to produce CO with high selectivity at low overpotential and provide a potential platform to elucidate in-depth mechanistic studies, which are rare in this area. The sought mechanistic understanding can lead to the design of improved catalysts under optimal operating conditions. The project will be implemented by a multifaceted approach involving synthesis, characterisation, catalysis, and computations and further enriched by the immobilisation of the catalyst on the semiconducting metal oxide surface to produce a suitable photocathode for PEC reduction of CO2. We anticipate that this approach will deliver catalysts with a lower overpotential while maintaining the exceptional activity of the catalysts (TON, TOF, FE, QY). The earth-abundant Mn-catalyst anchored on a heterogeneous surface can be integrated into devices for artificial photosynthesis by combining it with a suitable photoanode. The project is also expected to lead to high-impact fundamental knowledge, and the results will be widely disseminated through publications in leading journals, symposia, conferences, and workshops.

Keywords: photoelectrochemical,co2 reduction,nhc,manganese complex,surface immobilised
METAL ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS FOR HYDROGEN PRODUCTION BY PHOTOCATALYTIC OVERALL WATER SPLITTING-HOP-ON (MOF2H2-HOP-ON)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area
Programme: Widening participation and spreading excellence
Theme: Improved access to Excellence
Destination: Improved access to Excellence
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: France,Greece
Call: Hop on Facility (HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-ACCESS-06, 2023)
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 239945.0
EU funding (EUR): 239945.0
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

The decarbonation of several sectors (energy, transport, carbon intensive industries) is depending on the availability of low carbon hydrogen, which current production processes are mostly carbonated, or suffer from several disadvantages (high costs, issues for coupling with intermittent electricity, etc.). The core of the ongoing MOF2H2 project is to develop a sustainable hydrogen production process through photocatalytic overall water splitting (OWS) using non-noble materials. MOF2H2-HOP-ON aims at enriching the current research with new promising advanced nanocarbon-based materials. To this end, the current MOF2H2 consortium will benefit from the participation of the new partner NHRF for an 18-month-duration. NHRF main expertise is to design, synthesize, characterize, and evaluate a series of modified nanocarbons. The primary objective of MOF2H2-HOP-ON is the development of cutting-edge hybrid heterometallic photoactive metal organic framework (MOF) materials at a laboratory scale, leveraging the strategic combination and interface of advanced nanocarbons with heterometallic known MOFs, towards enhanced hydrogen production by photocatalytic overall water splitting. In line with WP1 guidelines provided in the ongoing MOF2H2 project, the MOF2H2-HOP-ON contribution will consist in implementing the nanocarbons at several stages of existing work packages: first, the synthetization and optimisation of hybrid MOFs in WP2, with modelling and advanced characterisation from WP3. NHRF major contribution will then consist in hybrid MOF production, as well as the synthesis, characterization and preparation of post-modified MOFs in WP4. The hybrid MOF lab scale reliability will be assessed in WP5 followed by a complete sustainability and an economical assessment in WP6. This will be supported by the communication and dissemination actions in WP7 and will contribute to an extended industrial and academic impact of the project.

Keywords: energy,fuels and petroleum engineering
Using morphological information to accurately date phylogenies and understand past diversification dynamics (MORPHOFBD)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Environmental B iology, Ecology  and E volution
Panel description: For all organisms : Ecology, biodiversity, environmental change , evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, microbial ecology , marine biology, ecophysiology, theoretical developments and mod elling
Countries involved: France
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2025-STG, 2025)
Start date: 2026-02-01
End date: 2031-01-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1491461.0
EU funding (EUR): 1491461.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The fossil record provides crucial evidence to inform our study of evolution and past diversification processes. Recent methodological developments have allowed to integrate fossil species directly into the reconstruction of phylogenetic trees, providing more accurate estimates of the age of evolutionary events as well as speciation and extinction through time. However, the current methods fail to account for many of the specific characteristics of fossil samples compared to extant species. Genetic sequences are usually unavailable for fossils, so phylogenetic inferences including fossils rely on morphological characters. This morphological information interacts with other components of the analysis, such as the genetic sequence alignment, or the sorting of fossil samples into a taxonomy itself informed by morphological traits. These interactions are not accounted for by current models and could lead to strong biases in the estimates of the phylogeny, its ages and its underlying diversification process. To address these issues, the proposed project will build a new methodological framework for integrating the complex interplay between morphological evolution, diversification, and fossil sampling. We will develop new models adapted to fossil data, which will be carefully validated using realistic simulations, and then applied to several empirical datasets. Some of these datasets will serve as a comparison of our new approach to existing methods. Other datasets have never been studied under a combined phylogenetic framework with fossil evidence before, so our analyses will form a new understanding of their diversification, and build a high-quality phylogeny for future work on these groups. In conclusion, this project will pave the way for efficiently combining information on past and present species into a highly accurate and nuanced representation of the evolution of biodiversity through time.