Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
GRADUATE EDUCATION ALLIANCE FOR TEACHING THE PHYSICS AND SAFETY OF NUCLEAR REACTORS (GREaT-PIONEeR)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Euratom
Programme: Nuclear fission and radiation protection
Theme: Support the development of nuclear competences at Union level and socio-economic aspects
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Germany,Germany,Spain,Spain,Italy,Switzerland,Hungary,Belgium,Sweden,France
Call: Advancing nuclear education (NFRP-2019-2020, 2019)
Start date: 2020-11-01
End date: 2024-10-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2633000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2319195.0
Participants: 10
Project status: SIGNED

The GRE@T-PIONEeR project aims at developing a specialized education in reactor physics and nuclear reactor safety for PhD and Post-Doc students, for nuclear engineers, and taken as advanced courses for MSc students. The education will encompass both theory and hands-on training exercises, the latter heavily relying on the use of research/training reactors and of computer-based modelling environments. Sets of educational materials capitalizing on each other will be created, taking profit of the complementary expertise of the consortium partners. The covered topics will allow the students to fully comprehend all the methods and corresponding approximations used for modelling the behaviour of nuclear reactor cores, from the generation of nuclear cross-sections to the response of a reactor during a transient. By following the courses and hands-on training sessions, the students will be able to perform nuclear reactor safety simulations understanding all the approximations on which such simulations rely. This knowledge is essential for educating highly skilled nuclear safety analysts. Furthermore, the project will make use of an innovative pedagogical approach allowing (a) to improve student learning, (b) to maximize the time the students interact with the teachers, and (c) to provide education to remote students. For that purpose, a flipped classroom set-up offered in a hybrid environment allowing combining on-site and off-site attendees will be used. The flipped classroom format, by utilizing pre-recorded lectures and electronic teaching resources available 24/7, will allow the students to learn at their own pace prior to dedicated sessions during which they will interact with the teachers, either on-site or remotely for the off-site attendees. The synchronous sessions will heavily rely on active learning elements promoting high order thinking skills and will thus greatly improve the learning experience and outcomes for both the on-site an off-site audiences.

Keywords: reactor physics,thermal hydraulics,fuel performance,nuclear power safety,research and training,reactors,modelling,nuclear engineering education,flipped classroom,virtual learning environments
Evolution and mechanisms of thermal performance – answers through artificial selection in zebrafish (CLIMEVOLVE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Panel description: Ecology, biodiversity, environmental change, evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, microbial ecology, marine biology, ecophysiology, theoretical developments and modelling
Countries involved: Norway
Call: ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS (ERC-2020-COG, 2020)
Start date: 2021-09-01
End date: 2026-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1999087.0
EU funding (EUR): 1999087.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Abstract Climate change is warming waters globally. Ectothermic animals, such as fish, have the same body temperature as the surrounding water and are therefore thought to be particularly sensitive to warming. To predict climate change impacts on fish populations, we must first know how fish are affected and how rapidly evolution may help mitigate some of those impacts. Some of the most central questions regarding thermal acclimation and adaptation of ectothermic animals remain unresolved: 1. Which mechanisms limit upper thermal tolerance? 2. How rapid is evolution of thermal performance? 3. Which physiological mechanisms limit thermal performance? 4. Which genetic changes are most important for climate change adaptation? 5. Do laboratory experiments predict thermal adaptation in the wild? By addressing these important questions, this project will substantially move the field of thermal biology forward. We will gain knowledge needed to understand and predict climate change impacts, insights that may help focusing conservation efforts. The proposed project will address these great challenges by using two artificial selection experiments on wild zebrafish (Danio rerio). The first selection experiment on upper acute thermal tolerance has recently been completed, and the adapted zebrafish lines will be used in the current proposal for physiological and genetic analyses. The second and larger selection experiment on thermal performance will be conducted during the first three years of the proposed project, and those adapted zebrafish lines will be used to identify the physiological and genetic changes that adaptation required. Additionally, unique natural warm-adapted stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) populations from geothermally heated lakes on Iceland will be used to validate the project’s findings on zebrafish.

Keywords: fish physiology,artificial selection,ecophysiology,laboratory evolution,thermal biology,ichthyology,climate change
MULTImodal and MULTIparty Social Interactions MOdelling (MULTISIMO)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Information Science and Engineering
Countries involved: Ireland
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-09-01
End date: 2018-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 175866.0
EU funding (EUR): 175866.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project addresses the modelling of multimodal communicative human behaviour during natural interactions in multiparty settings and specifically the conversational and feedback strategies of the interaction participants in terms of attention, engagement and conflict management. The knowledge base for this modelling problem will be a collection of human-human interaction recordings to be acquired through a concise experimental protocol and state-of-the-art equipment. The communicative behavior will be analysed in multimodal signals, including facial expressions, gaze and prosodic cues that provide information about social interaction management and speakers’ attitudes. This information becomes more complex in group interactions, where a management mechanism will be discovered and modelled. These low-level signals will be examined in relation to their timing and sequence to infer and model high-level signals of attention, engagement and conflict, and subsequently implement modules to feed existing HCI interfaces such as dialogue systems or avatars. The implementation of such novel models will allow for the creation of more sophisticated human-like agent-based interfaces of high quality communication experience, especially in scenarios where social and cognitive skills, in addition to the communicative ones, are crucial for the success of the interaction, i.e. in the education, customer care domains and web applications requiring interfaces triggered by human communication. The project builds on the strengths of the applicant in multimodal communication and language technology, and combines these with new training in intelligent systems and human-computer interaction to support a new research direction and to strengthen cross-European collaboration. The host provides an excellent supportive environment conducive to the interdisciplinary research envisaged in the project and the training objectives of the fellowship in view of the applicant’s career development.

Keywords: multimodal communication,multiparty interaction,human computer interaction,intelligent user interfaces,conversation analysis,attention,engagement,conflict,gender,personality
Safety BY Design Of nanoMaterials - From Lab Manufacture to Governance and Communication: Progressing Up the TRL Ladder (SABYDOMA)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, and Biotechnology
Theme: Advanced materials
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Australia,Austria,Germany,Ukraine,Spain,Hong Kong,Cyprus,Greece,Korea, Republic of,Greece,Norway,Belgium,Bulgaria,Finland,Greece,France,United Kingdom,Portugal,United Kingdom
Call: Safe by design, from science to regulation: metrics and main sectors (RIA) (H2020-NMBP-TO-IND-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2020-04-01
End date: 2023-09-30
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 7105520.0
EU funding (EUR): 5969751.25
Participants: 21
Project status: SIGNED

The SABYDOMA programme addresses developments in the safety by design (SbD) paradigm by examining four industrial case studies in detail where the TRLs will advance from 4 to 6. Each TRL activity will progress from being lab based at TRL4 to being industry based at TRL6. The TRL4 activity will involve only innovation with regular industrial communication whereas the TRL6 activity will involve industrially located activities with innovation communication. One of the novel themes of this study is to use system control and optimisation theory including the Model Predictive Control (MPC) philosophy to bind the whole subject of SbD from laboratory innovation to the industrial production line and from decision making processes to project governance. An equally important innovative step is the building of high throughput online platforms where nanomaterial (NM) is manufactured and screened at the point of production. The screening signal controls the NM redesign and production in a feedback loop. Screens will involve (a) physiochemical sensing elements (b) in-vitro targets of increasing complexity from the 2D biomembrane to cell-line and more complex cell-line elements; and, (c) multiple in-vitro targets with multiple end-points; developed in current H2020 projects. Two of the industrial studies include composite coating manufacture where the coating’s stability and toxicity will be tested using a flow through microfluidic flow cell system coupled to online screens. This is part of the release and ageing investigations on the NM and NM coatings and the results of these will feed back to the production line design. At every step on the TRL ladder the in-silico modelling will be applied to optimise and redefine the relevant activities. By the same token regulatory and governance principles of SbD will be used to refine the technological development. The final deliverable will be four distinct technologies applying SbD to the four industrial processes respectively.

Keywords: stage gate,on line production,on line screening,composite coatings,industrial case study,system control optimisation,feedback control
How does the brain code time? (TIMECODE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Panel description: Cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, theoretical philosophy
Countries involved: Israel
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2019-STG, 2019)
Start date: 2020-09-01
End date: 2025-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499875.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499875.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Time underlies each and every activity and perception. And yet our knowledge about time perception remains limited. It is hindered by a division between psychological and behavioral findings on the one hand, and neuroscience findings on the other hand. The former rarely address biological constraints, while the latter rarely informs a unified theory for timing. Theories on time perception have centred on the modular nature of time perception. Is time sensed through the operation of central mechanisms serving all sensory and motor systems? Or is time sensed locally, within different sensory and motor systems? TIMECODE entertains a third possibility for time perception in the brain and overcomes the gap between psychological theories and physiological manifestations of time by assuming a hierarchy of time that entails both a local level of analysis and a domain-general level of analysis. I identify three dimensions that need to be investigated in order to substantiate this possibility. First, local representations of time need to be identified within sensory (and motor) systems. Second, network dynamics that support the propagation of such representations need to be investigated. Brain rhythms play an important role in both local and inter-areal computations. Thus, the role of brain rhythms will be assessed for both levels of analysis. Finally, a brain-wide assessment of selectivity to time needs to be explored. TIMECODE investigates the initial local code for time, global code for time, and the inter-areal dynamics between them by combining human physiology (invasive and non-invasive) with illusions of time perception (in behavior). It investigates brain-wide selectivity to time by applying computational tools to intracranial data from human and non-human primates. Combining behavioral, systems neuroscience, and computational tools is imperative in order to offer a far-reaching theory of timing in the brain and allow a leap forward in understanding cognition.
Overcoming barriers in estimating toxicity of arsenic species in seaweed (SilhouetteOfSeaweed)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Chemistry
Countries involved: Iceland
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-04-01
End date: 2018-03-16
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 191325.6
EU funding (EUR): 191325.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

SilhouetteOfSeaweed will contribute to consumer’s safety by overcoming barriers in estimating toxicity of arsenic species in seaweed. The ocean covers 71% of the planet and for future sustainability the need for looking at using the ocean for food, e.g. seaweed, is increasing. Seaweed contains high amounts of arsenic, including arsenolipids (AsLp). Recently the first data on AsLp toxicity have elucidated that they are as toxic as the most toxic arsenic, the inorganic arsenic (iAs). There is a lack of data on AsLps in seaweed products for human consumption. Safety of seaweed must be addressed and more studies and information on AsLps are urgently needed. Currently, only few research groups worldwide work on AsLps, partly due to difficulties associated with the measurements of these compounds. SilhouetteOfSeaweed will expand this expertise in Europe by establishing necessary facilities at the host Matís to accommodate AsLp measurements. Matís has the capacity to reach this goal together with the experienced researcher and in co-operation with a European partner organisation with expertise in AsLp measurements. SilhouetteOfSeaweed will have two main scientific impacts. Firstly, it will produce AsLp seaweed profiles in 4 different species of brown algae in 3 locations during 3 seasons in Iceland. This information will contribute to the necessary risk assessment needed for algae used for human consumption. Secondly, statistical evaluation and comparison of environmental conditions will make it possible to identify whether the seaweed could be harvested at specific conditions where the amount of toxic arsenic is at its lowest. These data are essential for SMEs entering the European market with their seaweed products. Moreover the project will impact the career development of the experienced researcher who will gain a wide range of scientific and transferable skills that are relevant to establish a long-term independent leading career in the field of science.

Keywords: analytical chemistry,speciation,analysis of species,trace elements,arsenic,lipids,chromatography,mass spectrometry,method development,seaweed,algae
Coupling ATomistics and mesoscAle Plasticity for toUghness of noveL hybrid maTerial (CATAPULT)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Global Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Physics
Countries involved: France,United States
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-GF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2017-02-01
End date: 2022-07-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 246668.4
EU funding (EUR): 178722.6
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The project is one of an interactive synergism between theoretical modelling at UC Berkeley's MSE department and the CNRS-LEM and multiple length-scale structural/mechanical characterization and innovative processing at UCB. The researcher will lead the project under the supervision of Pr. Asta (UCB) and Dr. Finel (LEM). The work will be done in strong collaboration with Dr. Devincre (LEM) and experimentalist Pr. Ritchie (UCB). As structural materials reach their performance limits, one of the major scientific challenges for the 21st century is the development of new lightweight, high-performance structural materials to support advances in diverse strategic fields from building to transportation or energy. Tomsia and Ritchie have designed a freeze-casting technique to synthesize materials that closely mirror the hierarchical microstructure of nacre, producing the highest toughness ceramics on record. Now, our goal is to improve the material strength as well as toughness. Preliminary results have been recently obtained in the form of Al2O3/Al-Si composites exhibiting high toughness but a strength still 30% lower than pure metal. Our project aims to identify, characterize and model the material fracture, involving physical processes at many length scales and, finally, to design hybrid material with optimized mechanical properties. Our efforts to define the scientific mechanisms needed to develop such new damage-tolerant materials will follow an innovative multi-scale approach: combination of first-principles modelling of the interfaces and micro-mechanics models of bulk elastic and plastic relaxation, together with experimental data.

Keywords: metal ceramic composite,bio inspired material,mechanical properties,fracture resistance,interface toughness,atomistic modelling,meso plasticity modelling,dislocation dynamics,phase field model
Cochlear Optogenetics for Auditory Research and Prosthetics (OptoHear)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced 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
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC Advanced Grant (ERC-2014-ADG, 2014)
Start date: 2015-12-01
End date: 2022-02-28
Duration (months): 75.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2496405.0
EU funding (EUR): 2496405.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Disabling hearing impairment (HI) affects 360 million people worldwide and prevalence increases with age. So far, no causal treatment is available for its most common form, sensorineural HI. I propose to establish, characterize, and employ optogenetic stimulation of the cochlea, which provides unprecedented opportunities for auditory research and promises a fundamental advance of hearing restoration. Sound is encoded by spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) with high frequency-, intensity-, and time-resolution. Hearing can be enabled via electric stimulation of SGNs, which is employed in current hearing restoration with cochlear implants (CIs) and also used in auditory research. CIs enable speech comprehension in most users, but the quality of ‘electric hearing’ is low, with poor frequency resolution. The goal of OptoHear is to overcome this fundamental limitation by increasing the number of independent coding channels via spatially confined optical stimulation of channelrhodopsin (ChR)-expressing SGNs by tens of light emitters along the cochlear axis (cochlear optogenetics). This promises a dramatic improvement in the frequency resolution of artificial sound coding. As proof of principle, we achieved virus-mediated expression of ChR in SGNs, recorded light-evoked auditory activity and demonstrated improved frequency resolution for optical vs. electric stimulation in rodents. We co-developed and implanted optical multichannel CIs and studied their position in the rodent cochlea using X-ray tomography. We will optimize the expression of best-suited ChRs in SGNs, establish multichannel optical stimulation, characterize neuronal responses to cochlear optogenetics along the auditory pathway by physiological and behavioural approaches, and employ cochlear optogenetics for fundamental auditory research. OptoHear will establish and use cochlear optogenetics as a research tool, validate its potential for research and hearing restoration, and prepare translation into the clinic.

Keywords: optogenetics,neurophysiology,cochlear implants,auditory processing,sensory prosthetics,hearing impairment