Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Investigating the Molecular identity of PAcemaker neurons in CorTical development (IMPACT)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Panel description: Nervous system development, homeostasis and ageing , nervous system  function and dysfunction , systems neuroscience  and modelling , biological basis of cognitive processes and of behaviour, neurological and mental disorders – In humans and all other organisms
Countries involved: Italy
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2021-STG, 2021)
Start date: 2022-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1490000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1490000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Spontaneous activity is a prominent feature of the immature brain. Even before birth and in absence of stimuli, neurons organize in networks and spontaneously generate correlated activity. While spontaneous dynamics in the cerebral cortex have long been overlooked and considered just as epiphenomena, recent clinical data on preterm infants and preclinical studies have spurred a renewed interest for this early electrical activity. However, appreciation of the role of spontaneous activity during the perinatal stages remains elusive. Indeed, it is still unknown how spontaneous patterns arise, and whether, among the large variety of neuronal classes generated in the cerebral cortex, distinct subtypes can act as pacemaker (Pm) neurons, able to trigger some of these events. Defects arising from alterations in the early cortical spontaneous activity have never been thus far systematically addressed, yet they can affect local assembly and physiological behavioural states. The IMPACT project aims to shed light on how cortical neuronal diversity influences early spontaneous activity, and to identify the molecular features and functional role of developing Pm neurons. By integrating innovative molecular strategies with in vivo optical recordings and behavioural assays, I will 1) characterise and spatially resolve the subtype-specific molecular footprints correlated with electrical profiles of neuron subtypes, with a special focus on Pm neurons; 2) assess molecular, cellular and circuit consequences of perturbations in Pm neuron activity; 3) identify novel functional modulators of Pm activity in the surrounding cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) around birth. IMPACT bears the ambition of filling the knowledge gap between the molecular and functional traits of developing cortical neurons, while unveiling the existence and critical role of the Pm neurons. Discovering new molecular players and modulators of early activity will inspire novel intervention strategies for perinatal disorders.

Keywords: cerebral cortex,neuronal diversity,spontaneous activity,circuit assembly,molecular identity
Indigenous women interconnecting knowledge: bodies, territories and technologies for life (INDIWOMINT)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Postdoctoral Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Spain
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-07-01
End date: 2026-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 165312.96
EU funding (EUR): 165312.96
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Indigenous communities are the main ones facing the direct consequences of climate change due to their intricate relationship with the environment, their culture and their resources. In the case of the Amazon, environmental devastation and exploitation threaten the basic human rights of its native peoples, which, added to the impacts of climate change, threatens the survival of its biodiversity. In this plot, indigenous women play a crucial role in the intergenerational transmission of ancestral knowledge about caring for the land. The growing mobilization of indigenous women's organizations in resource preservation is highlighted in decolonial ecofeminist debates. Intertwining the rights of women and those of nature, seeking alternatives for the preservation of life. Within this framework, this project will examine how a new understanding of what constitutes evidence-based knowledge can become crucial for an ontological turn in forms of sustainable knowledge production and transmission, to halt the destruction of Amazonian biodiversity. We refer specifically to the productive practices of indigenous women in their ways of preserving traditional knowledge. We investigate the connection between the organizational forms of women's collectives in the Amazon regions of Brazil-Colombia and their relationship with nature. At another level, we will conceptualize how indigenous and non-indigenous technologies can be intercepted, for the creation of technologies that contribute to expanding the fields of action and sustainable development, in the mitigation of climate change. We will create a knowledge integration platform, useful for indigenous and scientific communities. By creating an open-access data bank, we will invest in legal frameworks that protect the intellectual and cultural property of communities and can enhance and drive future initiatives.

Keywords: decolonization of knowledge gender equality open science intersectional gender equality
AIrbrush: a transdiciplinary value-sensitive study of biases and stereotypes in AI-generated Global Health images, and their significance for science and society (AIrbrush)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Postdoctoral Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Belgium
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023 (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01, 2023)
Start date: 2024-06-01
End date: 2026-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 191760.0
EU funding (EUR): 191760.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

This project engages with the proliferation of abusive and biased stereotypes from colonial and humanitarian photography through generative AI technology, and investigates their consequences for science and society. This is a pressing issue: AI simultaneously absorbs and learns from real images, which, in the case of global health, have been marked by racism, coloniality and sexism, meaning that given images become a cluster for generative AI to learn from biased depictions and perpetuate negative stereotypes. Such cycles have to be studied and eliminated in order to move toward more equal postcolonial societies and promote a culture of value-sensitive depictions of vulnerable people. The project builds and greatly expands on the emerging methodology of purposeful generation and value-sensitive evaluation of AI-generated Global Health visuals, recently pioneered by Prof. Koen Peeters (the supervisor) and Dr. Alenichev, and encapsulated in a Lancet Global Health Article in August 2023. Offering a first-ever systematic study of AI-generated Global Heath visuals, AIrbrush sets five core objectives and asks: How should the international community account for generative AI as part of the internationally set goal of decolonizing Global Health and its visual culture, and tackle biased depictions of race, class, gender, and other socially enacted markers of similarity and difference? AIrbrush answers this question by analysing the substrate of the real global health images AI learns from, evaluates the learning progress and the reproduction and modification of such tropes by AI, theorizes this relationship and outlines societal outcomes with regard to the future of respectful depictions in the AI era. The findings from this study will be encapsulated as academic articles, a thematic webinar, a collaboration with the WHO AI and Ethics research group, and an art exhibition at ITM (the host) and in other places, among other outputs.

Keywords: decolonisation,stigma,stereotypes,value sensitive evaluation,global health
Electrocatalytic Production of liquid Organic hydrogen carrier and CHemicals from lignin (EPOCH)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Innovative Europe
Programme: The European Innovation Council (EIC)
Theme: EIC Pathfinder
Destination: Challenges
Action type: EIC actions
Countries involved: Sweden,Finland,Italy,Netherlands,Germany
Call: Novel routes to green hydrogen production (HORIZON-EIC-2021-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01, 2021)
Start date: 2022-10-01
End date: 2026-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3502967.49
EU funding (EUR): 3502967.49
Participants: 8
Project status: SIGNED

EPOCH proposes to develop a novel approach in linking green hydrogen production with the direct loading of liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) enabling a transformative logistic of green hydrogen distribution and storage. Lignin derivatives are used to be selectively oxidized. Compared to water electrolysis, EPOCH will advance the field by (1) using the nascent hydrogen at the cathode directly to load LOHCs allowing economic H2 storage and transport, and (2) converting at the anode waste lignin and its derivatives via selective oxidation. EPOCH is beyond the state-of-the-art solutions, as it does not form molecular H2 at the cathode nor generates oxygen at the anode. By modifying both cathodic and anodic reactions, EPOCH reduces the energy intensity. EPOCH will enable better cell performance and enhanced added-value device operations by (i) improving energy efficiency, (ii) allowing cost reductions, and (iii) intensifying the process. The EPOCH device will be designed for flexible integration with biorefineries and pulp & paper industries, to valorize their lignin waste streams, thus, linking these industrial sectors and H2 economy. EPOCH will allow the production of green H2 in areas where renewable energy production (in the energy mix) is higher. Therefore, EPOCH will offer a new path to effectively decrease the carbon footprint of energy-intensive industries. Development of the novel EPOCH electrocatalytic device requires (a) advanced components (electrocatalysts, electrodes, electrolytes and ionic liquid promoters, membranes) and (b) validation of the full module cell operation at laboratory scale. Thus, our project integrates multidisciplinary top-experts in areas such as electrocatalysis, lignin chemistry, and materials synthesis, with a large engineering company and a spin-off company on energy transition and a SME world-leading the LOHC technology development and logistic.

Keywords: catalysis,chemical reaction engineering,electrocatalysis,liquid organic hydrogen carrier,lignin utilization,carbon footprint,fossil free fuel,biochemicals
European Parntership Driving Urban Transitions Phase 2 (DUT Phase 2)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Climate, Energy and Mobility
Theme: Energy
Destination: Cross-sectoral solutions for the climate transition
Action type: COFUND actions
Partnership: Driving Urban Transitions (co-funded)
Countries involved: Austria,Belgium,Bulgaria,Portugal,Czechia,Denmark,Estonia,Finland,France,Germany,Italy,Greece,Hungary,Iceland,Latvia,Lithuania,Netherlands,Norway,Poland,Romania,Slovakia,Slovenia,Spain,Sweden,Türkiye,Switzerland,United Kingdom,Cyprus
Call: Driving Urban Transition Co-funded Partnership (HORIZON-CL5-2023-D2-01, 2023)
Duration (months): 84.0
Total project cost (EUR): 129429705.0
EU funding (EUR): 37000000.0
Participants: 67
Project status: SIGNED

The DUT Partnership builds upon and steps up the ambition and efforts of the JPI Urban Europe. With its partners from 28 countries it aims at developing and implementing a transformative research and innovation (R&I) programme to strengthen urban transitions towards climate neutral, inclusive and sustainable urban areas. With national and regional R&I programme owners, funders and urban policy related public authorities, DUT is strongly building upon and aligning with national and regional strategies and policies. In order to support cities along their specific strategies, the Partnership focuses on three critical urban sectors, energy, mobility and circular economy, and their interrelationships. Three Transition Pathways – Positive Energy Districts, the 15-Minute City and Circular Urban Regenerative Economies – will be addressed with a long-term perspective. DUT will not only provide funding for transnational R&I projects in and across these areas through implementing joint calls but establish a comprehensive programme management to support capacity building and enhance the (policy) impact of these projects and their results. In this regard, programme activities will address capacity building and empowerment of all urban stakeholder groups to engage in urban research and innovation and codesign solutions. Urban living labs will be fostered as an important concept to support local experimentation and inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration. New approaches towards dissemination and mainstreaming of research results will be developed with the ambition to bring results into our cities. Strategic synthesis as well as recommendations and references for policy making will be provided with particular focus on contributions to the Urban Agenda for the EU, the European mission for climate-neutral and smart cities and the European Green Deal. Efforts will be taken to position the DUT partnership internationally and mobilise international partners to join forces in DUT.

Keywords: urban transition,transformative randi,energy,urban mobility,circular economy,ped,15 minute city,climateneutral cities,living labs,urban sustainability,urban greening,regenerative urbanism
Electrostatic actuators with multilayered dielectrics for vacuum and space applications (EMVAC)

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: Austria
Call: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024 (HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01, 2024)
Start date: 2025-09-01
End date: 2027-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 230184.72
EU funding (EUR): 230184.72
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

This project focuses on the development of a new type of electrostatic actuators with high potential for the critical European sector of Space Technologies and the field of Smart Materials. Electrostatic actuators, in particular dielectric elastomers, have long been proposed for space applications. However, due to limited materials choice, reliability and intrinsic technological limitations, this method has not yet met expectations. The EMVAC project is proposing a new concept of electrostatic actuation. It exploits electrically induced deformations of multilayered dielectric structures consisting of polymer films separated by vacuum gaps. Such multilayer systems can enable actuation of space mechanisms or operate in vacuum research/industrial applications on Earth. Due to employing high vacuum as a critical dielectric layer, as opposed to bulk insulating materials, this technology can provide unmatched performance in power density, strain and actuation speeds at low materials and manufacturing costs. However, the vacuum-gap introduces complex electrical phenomena within the dielectric structure. This relates to the accumulation of electrical charges at the film interfaces, resulting in an alteration of the force output of the entire system. This work will study the complex charge dynamics that dictates the force response of such systems by integrating experimental investigations and physics-oriented theoretical approaches. A framework for materials selection will be proposed. Various polymer films will be investigated. Different actuators employing the polymer film/vacuum gap topology will be created and demonstrated in a high vacuum environment. The research fellow will deepen his expertise in the fundamentals of dielectric materials and electroactive polymers, while also acquiring critical soft skills in managing a multidisciplinary research project that integrates fundamental and applied methods.

Keywords: electroactive polymers,electrostatic actuators,multilayered dielectrics,space applications,high vacuum,interfacial polarization,zipping actuators,high voltage,force dynamics
Structural Basis for Centromere-Mediated Control of Error-free Chromosome Segregation (CHROMSEG)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Molecules of Life: B iological  Mechanisms , Structures  and Functions
Panel description: For all organisms : Molecular biology , biochemistry, structural biology, molecular biophysics , synthetic and chemical biology, drug design, innovative methods and modelling
Countries involved: United Kingdom,Germany
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANTS (ERC-2021-ADG, 2021)
Start date: 2023-03-01
End date: 2028-02-29
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2209886.0
EU funding (EUR): 2209886.0
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

Accurate chromosome segregation during cell division requires bipolar attachment of sister-chromatids to microtubules emanating from opposite spindle poles and maintenance of sister-chromatid cohesion until all chromosomes achieve bi-orientation. Two chromosomal sites regulate these processes: centromeres, the microtubule attachment sites defined by the enrichment of CENP-A nucleosomes, and the inner centromere, a region between the sister-chromatids that recruits enzymatic activities (kinases, phosphatases and motor proteins). The inner centromere associated enzymes selectively stabilise chromosome-microtubule attachments suitable for chromosome bi-orientation, control sister chromatid cohesion and achieve timely chromosome segregation. Errors in these processes can lead to aneuploidy, a numerical chromosomal aberration implicated in miscarriages, birth defects and cancers. Using an integrative structure-function approach (X-ray crystallography, cryo electron microscopy, Crosslinking/Mass Spectrometry, biochemical/biophysical methods with human cell-line based functional assays), we will obtain detailed mechanistic understanding of: (1) how the inner centromere is assembled, (2) how the inner centromere associated interaction network recruits regulators to achieve chromosome bi-orientation and accurate segregation, and (3) how centromere identity is maintained through multiple generations. This work builds on our recently obtained exciting structural/molecular knowledge that have led to unexpected insights and new questions and will exploit our recently generated battery of molecular reagents. Outcome of our work will provide unprecedented details of centromere-mediated control of chromosome segregation and allow us to build a comprehensive mechanistic model for error-free chromosome segregation, a process that has been fascinating researchers for more than a century.

Keywords: chromosome segregation,cell division,centromere,kinetochore,nucleosomes,cenp a,kinases,phosphatase,histone phosphorylation,cryoem,x ray crystallography,biochemistry,structural biology,epigenetic
Long-run Cultural Change and Economic Development: Evidence from 100 Years of Ethnographic Data in India (LCCED)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Individuals, Markets and Organisations
Panel description: Economics, finance , management
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2024-COG, 2024)
Start date: 2025-04-01
End date: 2030-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1571926.0
EU funding (EUR): 1571926.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Culture—a set of socially transmitted beliefs and values—is increasingly discussed as a major driver of economic development. Cultural factors such as trust of strangers and gender norms shape, and are shaped by, the nature of economic activity. Yet economic research on the relationship between culture and development has been constrained by the lack of long-run data on cultural change. My ERC CoG develops an ambitious research agenda on the two-way relationship between economic development and culture. I will create an unprecedented quantitative panel dataset describing the long-run evolution of cultural norms across India’s 4635 endogamous social groups by digitizing thousands of ethnographic reports produced by the Anthropological Survey of India between 1880 and 1990. I will match them to modern survey data to study the relationship between group-level cultural norms and individual behavior. My research group has already assembled the inputs for this project and proven that large language models like GPT4 can be used to extract standardized data from these ethnographies. This proposal builds on a research agenda and data science toolkit that I have been developing over the past fifteen years. I will generate three major sets of outputs: 1) The world’s first long-run, large-scale panel dataset on cultural change: standardized data on hundreds of norms across 4635 social groups covering 100 years. To grow the community of scholars working on culture and development, I will make the data open source and I will write a paper describing these data and the text-as-data tools I will develop. 2) Evidence on how culture shapes economic opportunity: two papers will focus on the impacts of cultural capital and cultural diversity shape opportunity, cooperation, and segregation. 3) Evidence on how economic change—in the forms of urbanization and climate change—affects long-run cultural evolution, and how cultural context shapes responses to economic challenges.

Keywords: cultural change,cultural capital,urbanization,climate change