Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Probing nanoscale and femtosecond fluctuations in high temperature superconductors (SeeSuper)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Condensed matter physics
Panel description: Structure, electronic properties, fluids, nanosciences, biological physics
Countries involved: Spain,Denmark
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2017-STG, 2017)
Start date: 2017-11-01
End date: 2023-04-30
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1789165.0
EU funding (EUR): 1089820.95
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

One of the major outstanding challenges in condensed matter physics is the origin of high temperature superconductivity. Low temperature BCS superconductivity is mediated by the electron-phonon interaction, but this interaction is believed to be too weak to explain high temperature superconductivity. Instead electron interactions are considered responsible, but experimental proof has been difficult to obtain. Despite over thirty years of research, the mechanism responsible for generating the superconducting state still remains unknown. SeeSuper aims to break this deadlock by applying new experimental techniques to study the superconducting state. Our strategy is to probe high temperature superconductors through their nanoscale and femtosecond fluctuations. We will focus on three key parameters in superconductors: phonons, spins and nanoscale phase separation, with the aim of revealing the coupling mechanism. Our approach combines transient optical spectroscopy and time-resolved diffuse X-ray scattering to measure the lattice response to large amplitude coherent vibrations, time-resolved non-linear optical spectroscopy to directly probe spin dynamics, and resonant soft X-ray holography to image dynamics on the nanoscale. We will use these cutting edge techniques to prove our hypothesis, that lattice anharmonicity is the key missing ingredient to explain the origins of high temperature superconductivity. If demonstrated, the impact of such a result will lead to a step-change in our understanding of how superconductivity at high temperature occurs, help guide the search for materials with higher transition temperatures, and influence how we view and understand a much broader class of materials. Furthermore, the experimental techniques that we will develop can be applied to understand a range of materials and will, therefore, have an impact also on the broader field of condensed matter physics.

Keywords: superconductivity,anharmonicity,coherent phonons,x ray holography,optical spectroscopy,phase separation,spin dynamics
Social Networking and Raw Material Selectivity in Early Prehistoric Mediterranean Seascapes (PRENET)

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: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Cyprus
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-09-01
End date: 2017-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 151648.8
EU funding (EUR): 151648.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The “PRENET” proposal aims at investigating the geographical extent, directionality and intensity of social communication in the early prehistory of the Eastern Mediterranean seascape and the cognitive/behavioural factors behind the observed patterns. The specific scientific objectives of the proposal are: 1) the investigation of social interactions in Eastern Mediterranean through the examination of raw material movement in early prehistoric Cyprus, and 2) the determination of cognitive/behavioural elements behind our ancestors’ choices of specific raw materials, through the study of raw material selectivity. Misconceptions abound with regard to the eastern part of the Mediterranean and especially the island of Cyprus with current notions seeing the sea as a barrier to early human presence. However, given its geographical location and its complex ecology and habitats this lack of human presence in Cyprus seems to be research–related rather than factual. The “PRENET” project aims at firmly putting such theories to rest by establishing the scales of raw material movement and communication networks in the Eastern Mediterranean. Drawing from her previous work, where the Experienced Researcher developed a social network model for the investigation of the scale of past social life, she will address this phenomenon by looking at lithic raw material movement in early Cypriot archaeological sites. The Fellowship will be an excellent opportunity for her career diversification by training-through research and her further development towards professional maturity.

Keywords: raw materials,selectivity,movement,social networks,behaviour,cognition,aesthetics,insular environments,cyprus
Innovative biopesticides production: valorisation of endemic plants and green industrial residues (BLOSTER)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Climate action, environment,  resource efficiency and raw materials
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: Spain
Call: Boosting the potential of small businesses for eco-innovation and a sustainable supply of raw materials (H2020-SMEINST-2-2014, 2014)
Start date: 2015-07-01
End date: 2017-12-31
Duration (months): 30.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1850594.38
EU funding (EUR): 1277915.63
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In recent years, a growing concern has been expressed throughout EU regarding the use of phytosanitary products in agricultural activities and the significant impacts this practice may have on the environment and on users and consumers’ health. Conventional pesticides are synthetic materials that directly kill or inactivate the pest mainly produced from non-renewable resources. There is an increasing demand for residue-free crop protection products, which lesser or none negative impact on environment and better safety features such as biopesticides which are naturally occurring substances that control pests by non-toxic mechanisms, more efficient and formulated to specifically affect a concrete target pest, in contrast to the broad spectrum of conventional pesticides that may affect many other organisms as birds, insects and mammals through the food chain. When used as a component of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Integrated Crop Management (ICM) programs, biopesticides can greatly decrease the use of conventional ones, while not affecting the crop yields. Biopesticides are also suitable for Organic Agriculture. The BLOSTER project aims to produce different kinds of biopesticides, showing clearly economic (competitiveness in price, creation of market opportunities for the proposer company KIMITEC and other European plant growers and green residues’ suppliers, encouragement of farmers’ competitiveness at global level), quality (R&D based solutions tested and validated following a pharmacological approach, controlled high quality raw material), safety (less use of chemical products, benefiting EU consumers and farmers at international level) and environmental (better use of natural resources with regards to the raw material used (W2R), less impact on the biodiversity, soil, water and air, less ecological footprint by avoiding raw material transport from third countries, is it will be produced in EU) advantages against the current conventional pesticides.

Keywords: circular economy,resources efficiency,biofungicides,bioinsecticides,biopesticides,bionematocides,integrated pest management,sustainable agriculture
BIOlogical SignaTures of AnhydrobioSIS via comparative transcriptomics on different evolutionary lineages within tardigrades (BIOSTASIS)

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: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Denmark
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2016, 2016)
Start date: 2018-02-01
End date: 2020-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200194.8
EU funding (EUR): 200194.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The current proposal revolves around the dehydration induced state, anhydrobiosis - a survival strategy found among a range of life-forms in face of severe desiccation. Anhydrobiosis is defined by a reversible shut-down of metabolism (biostasis) and it seems to involve adaptations at all levels of organismic organization. The current proposal uses tardigrades as a model to gain novel insight into molecular signatures underlying this unique biological phenomenon. Several molecules have been implicated in the anhydrobiotic mechanism; however, so far studies have been returning contradictory results with respect to the differential expression of genes in pre- and post-anhydrobiotic phases. Interestingly, our preliminary, unpublished data from Møbjerg lab suggest that there could be lineage specific strategies to anhydrobiosis. Consequently, I will use transcriptome sequencing (RNAseq) and ddPCR to reveal key-player genes and characterize functional pathways involved in i) different stages of anhydrobiosis of single tardigrade species and ii) between different evolutionary lineages within the phylum. The mentioned methods constitute the most important training element of my project. The overall goal of the proposal is to determine potential gene expression signatures for anhydrobiosis establishing a transcription profile that is i) characteristic of a particular physiological state and ii) that could possibly reflect the phylogenetic position of a taxon. My previous extensive experience on phylogenetic and molecular dating methods will, in this respect, be utilized to estimate the chronology of the possible diversification of anhydrobiosis within evolutionary lineages. My research will be conducted at the Møbjerg lab, which represents one of the world’s leading groups in the field of tardigrade biology. The group is situated at the Department of Biology, University Copenhagen, which is a superbly equipped institution with a high international profile.

Keywords: cryptobiosis,tardigrades,desiccation,transcriptome analysis,differential expression analysis
High-speed Deformation and Failure of Materials at the Nanometer Scale (NanoHighSpeed)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Products and processes engineering
Panel description: Product and process design, chemical, civil, environmental, mechanical, vehicle engineering, energy processes and relevant computational methods
Countries involved: Germany,Germany
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2020-STG, 2020)
Start date: 2021-05-01
End date: 2026-04-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1761303.0
EU funding (EUR): 1426370.31
Participants: 2
Project status: SIGNED

For a sustainable economy, it is paramount to create robust, durable products. In the case of mobile phone displays, cutting tools and other products subjected to impact loading, this means finding ways to avoid brittle failure at high stain rates. This is currently difficult, since little to no fundamental understanding of the deformation mechanisms at high strain rates exists. This is largely owing to the fact that no methods are available for nanoscale investigations. By developing nanoindentation into a new tool for high strain rate testing, we will achieve a groundbreaking improvement of the spatial resolution of high strain rate mechanical testing by 10^6. This extraordinary improvement will be possible through simultaneous advances in hardware and experimental methods. This new nanoscale approach will enable a breakthrough in the fundamental understanding of the mechanical behavior of materials at high strain rates down to their constituent microstructural elements. We will isolate single grain boundaries and measure their individual contribution to strength and embrittlement as a function of strain rate, crystal structure and grain boundary energy. The local resistance to dislocation transmission, migration and fracture will be correlated to the overall Hall-Petch strengthening behavior of the polycrystal. The payoff will be a better understanding and predictability of embrittlement events at high strain rates. A second breakthrough will be made possible in understanding the interplay between plasticity and brittle fracture at high strain rates in some of the technologically most important hard coatings, including toughened glass used in mobile phone screens and TiAlN based coatings, commonly used in tooling. We will examine the recent hypothesis of a possible regain in ductility and systematically investigate the influence of the microstructure and residual stress. This will open up new paths for optimizing the durability of future coating systems.

Keywords: nanoindentation,high strain rates,deformation mechanisms,coatings
The Enriched Primate (EnPrim)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Career Restart panel
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2021-01-11
End date: 2023-03-13
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 212933.76
EU funding (EUR): 212933.76
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Of 504 primate species currently recognized worldwide, almost half are classified as endangered or critically endangered. Captive breeding is vital for primate conservation, with modern zoos serving a crucial role as ambassadors of endangered species, breeders of populations acting as buffers against extinction, and educators of the general public. However, captive populations may experience welfare issues that also undermine their breeding success. Particularly, zoo management is challenging because of the mismatch between natural and captive environments. The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is the only surviving species of the Daubentoniidae, the oldest family of the living lemurs, one of the 25 most endangered primates in the world, and currently showing a low success rate in captive breeding. This multi-zoo project aims to identify and reproduce the female aye-aye’s fertile chemical signature and then test its effects on the breeding success and welfare of three captive troops. We will meet these goals using methods that integrate cutting-edge semiochemistry with established behavioural observations and faecal endocrinology as well as innovative faecal gut microbiota analysis. This novel project will provide findings which should also entail quantifiable impact, such as best practices adopted by target zoos and extended to other institutions through amendments in management policies released by the Studbook Keeper and the Taxon Advisory Group Coordinator for the study species. The complementary expertise of the Fellow and the supervisory team make this project feasible and highly multidisciplinary. The training provided by the supervisor and the host organisation will contribute significantly to the profile of the Fellow, adding new methodological and scientific competences as well as complementary skills which will be imperative for the Fellow’s future career as an independent researcher.

Keywords: animal welfare,captive management,environmental enrichment,zoo biology,reproductive,biology,chemical ecology,olfaction,faecal hormone analyses,faecal gut microbiota analyses
Supporting Understanding of Boundary Layer Ingesting Model Experiment (SUBLIME)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Smart, green and integrated transport
Theme: Public-private partnerships
Destination: Clean Sky 2
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Partnership: CS2 (Art-187)
Countries involved: Italy,Sweden,United Kingdom,United Kingdom
Call: BLI configurations of classical tube and wing aircraft architecture - Wind tunnel tests insight into propulsor inlet distortion and power saving (H2020-CS2-CFP09-2018-02, 2018)
Start date: 2019-12-01
End date: 2023-03-31
Duration (months): 40.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3612549.5
EU funding (EUR): 3612549.5
Participants: 5
Project status: SIGNED

SUBLIME (Supporting Understanding of Boundary Layer Ingestion Model Experiment) The introduction of engines integrated with the rear fuselage (BLI engines) in large passenger aircrafts poses new challenges regarding accurate experimental assessment of their performance, especially in terms of power savings, over conventional propulsive architectures (e.g. podded engines) as the engine is fed with a distorted flow. The SUBLIME project will address this challenge, resulting in a flexible and robust experimental set-up to establish dependencies among the propulsor shape/position, the fan inlet distortion pattern and the corresponding power savings. A consortium of an R&D institute, an SME, and 2 Universities with complementary skills will produce this result in close coordination with the topic manager in 36 months, asking for a grant of € 3.612.500. Coordinator ARA will provide a number of aircraft configurations equipped with BLI propulsors integrated in the rear fuselage, designed and optimized in cooperation with HIT09 (mainly responsible for CFD studies and fan design), Cranfield University (mainly responsible for theoretical and experimental force bookkeeping) and Chalmers University of Technology (mainly involved in engine cycle studies), to be subsequently manufactured and tested by ARA in their transonic wind tunnel. The project will advance the state of the art in BLI studies by means of wind tunnel activities supported by high-fidelity CFD simulations to consistently predict full-scale behaviour of the aircraft architectures suitable for appropriate propulsor installation which minimizes inlet flow distortions and maximizes power saving. The results of installed wind-tunnel tested aircraft+propulsors will be delivered in full compliance with the call. SUBLIME will provide methodologies, tools and facilities to the European aviation industry, therefore contributing to releasing the full potential of power saving of BLI engines.

Keywords: optimisation,transonic,wind tunnel test,turbofan
Portable ANalyser for Detection of metal micropollutants in water (PANDa)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Innovation in SMEs
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: France
Call: SME instrument (H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1, 2019)
Start date: 2019-08-01
End date: 2020-01-31
Duration (months): 6.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Water is an invaluable resource for humans and agricultural and industrial activities. Preventing this natural resource from pollutants to guarantee good chemical status for its multiple uses is a global challenge. Pollutants such as chemicals, in particular heavy metals, can cause serious health hazards and have long-lasting effects in humans and the human food chain. Current legislation such as the 2013/39/EU directive states that heavy metals must be monitored regularly and stablishes maximum thresholds of heavy metals concentration e.g. 0.1-0.5 μg/l. Water treatment plants require efficient and effective methods of inspecting, sampling and reporting on the quality of water. However, high costs associated with water analysis combined with the complex and lengthy processes involved, pose a challenge for those responsible for ensuring a safe supply of water for all. In response to those challenges Klearia has developed PANDa, a Portable ANalyser for the Detection of metal micropollutants in water, based on the patented lab-on-a-chip (LOC) technology, made of glass. PANDa can easily and accurately detect heavy metals by electrochemical methods. The benefits for users are three-fold: a) improvement in tracing pollutants in low concentration levels, b) costs-savings associated to equipment, staff and maintenance, c) quick and accurate monitoring and reporting of results, leading to overall improvement of processes and business practices. PANDa is presently at TRL6, so the aim of this project is to conduct a feasibility study to assess the technical, commercial and financial aspects needed to commercialise the product.

Keywords: microfluidics,lab on a chip,monitoring water,treatment process optimization,metal pollutants,arsenic,lead,cadmium,copper,iron
Advanced control platform for next generation Free Piston Engines (FPEs) for clean and efficient power generation (IntelliGen)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Industrial Leadership
Programme: Innovation in SMEs
Action type: SME instrument
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: SME instrument (H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1, 2018)
Start date: 2019-02-01
End date: 2019-05-31
Duration (months): 4.0
Total project cost (EUR): 71429.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Clean and efficient Free Piston Engines (FPEs) offer numerous advantages over traditional ICE architectures. Despite some high-profile attempts (Volvo, General Motors, Toyota), FPEs have not yet realised large scale commercial applications as it is very challenging to control the motion of the piston sufficiently. This is a substantial engineering challenge requiring multiple control operations to be performed repeatedly in a millisecond timescale to combat piston drift. There is a need for a flexible platform technology that enables FPEs to address the large range of potential use-cases, and contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. IntelliGen is a ground-breaking platform technology for precise control of Free Piston Engines (FPEs), an emerging class of ICEs, which enables higher fuel efficiency, ultra-low emissions, and reduction in the operating cost of power. Furthermore, FPEs are compatible with low carbon and renewable fuels. Due to inherent problems with controlling the variable motion of the piston, commercial FPE development programmes had stalled, until now. IntelliGen enables precise control of piston motion and allows FPE architectures to be designed and scaled to suit any application including automotive and mobile power generation. The revolutionary platform unlocks the vast potential residing in FPEs, paving the way for the next 4 billion engines and a cleaner, more sustainable future. During the phase 1 feasibility study, Libertine will establish a sound go-to-market strategy and supply chain, and will outline further development plans. In the second phase of the innovation project, Libertine will optimise the platform, test and deploy a miniaturised FPE for automotive application, demonstrate medium volume production and obtain certification.

Keywords: free piston engines,power generation,low carbon,fuel efficiency,piston motion control