Past winners
ERC Advanced Grant, recent awardees
Up to €2.5M over 5 years. Years since your PhD do not matter, but a 10-year record of major research achievements does.
4571 funded projects indexed from OpenAlex and CORDIS
Awards per year
Top countries
- DE×22
- CH×20
- GB×18
- FR×8
- ES×8
Top institutions
4,571 awards recorded, 2008 to 2027, across 38 countries.
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS×214
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Wissenschaften Ev×141
- The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford×128
- The Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge×115
- Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule Zuerich×96
- Weizmann Institute of Science×75
- Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne×72
- University College London×68
2027
Delineating and eradicating cardiovascular inflammageing
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN · NL · €2,500,000
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease remains a leading global cause of morbidity and mortality, driven by inflammageing: a chronic, age-related inflammatory state accelerating atherosclerosis via epigenetic dysregulation in bone marrow immune cells, particularly hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Despite therapeutic advances, the precise mechanisms linking inflammageing to atherosclerosis remain underexplored, necessitating innovative approaches to address this escalating health
Common ground: Testing a cultural evolutionary theory
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · DE · €2,487,186
Human communication is built around interlocutors’ common ground (CG), or the information they assume to share. Despite having been the focus of intense interdisciplinary research for more than 60 years, we do not yet understand what the cognitive bases of CG are, nor how it works. This ERC project introduces an innovative approach that is essential to understanding CG: I propose to test and develop the first cultural evolutionary theory of CG. I argue that CG is a cognitive technology that emer
Algorithms and Representations for Continual Learning
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE · CH · €3,344,552
Massive data poses a fundamental challenge to machine learning (ML) since algorithm running times scale with data size. As data grows faster than computational power, future problems can take longer to solve without economizing training via continual learning (CL). However, CL can result in performance drops in prior tasks, known as catastrophic forgetting (CF), a persistent issue in ML, including fine-tuning foundation models (FMs), blocking their full potential. Contrary to the dogma that incr
Tracing Scribes and Scrolls: Locating the Production and Writing of the Dead Sea Scrolls Using Analytical Chemistry, Artificial Intelligence, and Palaeography
RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN · NL · €2,492,476
Recent breakthroughs in the digital palaeography of the Dead Sea Scrolls have shed new light on ancient Jewish scribal culture and the making of the Bible by opening the door to writer identification and to the dating of individual manuscripts. However, our understanding of where the manuscripts were written is still rudimentary. This is crucial knowledge to understand the scrolls’ historical and cultural contexts. In this ERC project, I aim to discover where the manuscripts were produced and w
2026
PREVENT AND BYPASS - A VISION TO PROTECT BLOOD CELLS FROM ADVERSE IMMUNE RESPONSES
UNIVERSITATSMEDIZIN GREIFSWALD KORPERSCHAFT DES OFFENTLICHEN RECHTS · DE · €2,500,000
PROTECT: Advancing Blood Cell Protection from Immune Attack This ERC Advanced Grant project, PROTECT, aims to overcome challenges in preventing adverse immune responses against blood cells induced by essential medical interventions: vaccination, transfusion, and thrombosis prophylaxis. Despite their life-saving potential, these therapies can trigger rare but severe complications due to antibody-mediated immune activation. PROTECT addresses this through two interconnected challenges: PREVENT, f
2025
Neuroecological mechanisms linking heat and aggression risk
ZENTRALINSTITUT FUER SEELISCHE GESUNDHEIT · DE · €2,499,261
Increased aggression when temperatures rise has been observed since antiquity and is strongly supported by meta-analyses of murders, wars and suicides. Given the toll of violence on society and a warming climate, understanding the underlying processes is urgent, but extensive work has not produced a theory with consistent support. We propose a way out of this impasse through a paradigm shift towards neuroscience and ecology. Since neural circuits of aggression and temperature regulation are kno
Sense-Capture-Destroy-Regenerate: A multi-stimuli molecular strategy for autonomous removal of emerging micropollutants from wastewater
KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · BE · €2,499,687
Wastewater increasingly carries complex mixtures of persistent micropollutants (PFAS, pharmaceuticals) that defeat passive media, causing incomplete removal. The missing science is not another adsorbent, but modules that actively “decide” when and how to act, based on materials that couple molecular recognition to on-demand activation. I propose that logic-gated, multi-stimuli-responsive polymer-oxide hybrids, embedded in 4D-printed architectures, autonomously sense-capture-destroy-regenerate in
Uncharted Maritime Worlds, c.1550‒c.1800: An Integrated Digital History of Seaborne Trade from European Archives
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON · GB · €2,864,816
Uncharted Maritime Worlds transforms our understanding of early modern seaborne trade (16th–19th centuries) by uncovering the hidden transnational networks that connected Europe and shaped the modern world. It utilises AI to uncover the hidden European trade networks that crossed borders, and defied states. It overturns the old story of early modern seaborne trade (16th–19th centuries), revealing the hidden, transnational webs of exchange that shaped our world. Histories of European and global t
Anticolonialism, Pan-Asianism, and Periodical Culture in Southeast Asia, c. 1850-1920
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN · IE · €2,500,000
Spanning three European empires (French, British, and Dutch) and five interconnected port cities (Singapore, Penang, Rangoon, Batavia, and Saigon), PanAsia is the first systematic analysis of the newspapers, journals, and magazines of nineteenth and early twentieth-century Southeast Asia (c. 1850-1920). Challenging dominant and retrospectively applied nationalist approaches to Southeast Asian decolonisation, the project’s primary objectives are, first, to compare the production of anticolonial p
Looping Enhancers and Promoters give Specificity
EUROPEAN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY LABORATORY · DE · €2,499,626
The next frontier in genomics is to understand and predict how the non-coding genome, including distal regulatory elements (enhancers), regulate precise patterns of gene expression. This is crucial to our understanding of development, evolution and disease, with huge clinical relevance to decode the vast majority of disease associated variants. Although many variants impact enhancers, it remains a major challenge to identify their target gene. This is largely because genes have many enhancers,
An ethnography of the gasoline era in post-colonial landscapes
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · FR · €2,498,771
Feral Engines explores the rapid and weakly regulated spread of fossil-fuel motorization in peripheral, extractive territories of South America. While industrialized countries move toward decarbonization, regions like the Gran Chaco, Bolivian Amazon, and Southern Andes are experiencing a combustion-driven boom. The project focusFeral Engines explores the rapid and weakly regulated spread of fossil-fuel motorization in peripheral, extractive territories of South America. While industrialized coun
Finding New Physics from the Polarized Light of the Cosmic Microwave Background
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · DE · €2,485,905
The most pressing questions in cosmology and fundamental physics today are the physical nature of dark matter, dark energy, and cosmic inflation. In the proposal, we explore an entirely new approach to elucidate their nature: a violation of parity symmetry, the symmetry of a physical system under inversion of spatial coordinates. We will use the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) to probe the parity violation. If the physics behind dark matter and dark energy breaks parity sym
Rhizosphere Rhythms: Unravelling Diurnal Microbiome Dynamics and Their Role in Plant–Soil Interactions
UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK · GB · €2,496,098
The rhizosphere soil zone which surrounds plant roots is a crucial interface which acts as a conduit for biogeochemical cycling between the atmosphere, plant and soil, and hosts a distinct microbiome which has profound impacts on plant health and productivity, particularly by enhancing plant nutrient availability. As a result, management of the rhizosphere is central to the design of future agricultural systems which are both sustainable and resilient to global challenges. I have shown that the
Reprogramming and Function of Lymphatic Endothelium in Inflammation
HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO · FI · €2,499,672
An effective, well-regulated immune response is crucial for defending against infections and disease. Normally, inflammation is transient and resolves as healing occurs; however, failure to resolve leads to chronic inflammation, causing persistent immune activation and disrupted tissue architecture and function. A critical but understudied player in this process is the lymphatic vasculature, which is not only a conduit for immune cells but also a local immune modulator. Lymphatic endothelial cel
TP53 Variant Complexity in Context: Multidimensional Functional Profiling for Precision Oncology
PHILIPPS UNIVERSITAET MARBURG · DE · €2,498,711
The genomic landscape of cancer reveals profound complexity, with tumor cells typically accumulating thousands of mutations. While next-generation sequencing maps these alterations across malignancies, translating mutation catalogs into functional and clinically actionable knowledge remains a critical bottleneck in precision oncology. This challenge is exemplified by TP53, a master regulator of cellular stress responses and the most frequently mutated gene in human cancer. Despite its clinical p
Schur multipliers and rigidity phenomena
AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · ES · €1,818,658
The classification of group von Neumann algebras associated with higher rank lattices —considered in Connes' rigidity conjecture— remains one of the most important problems in operator algebras, functional analysis and geometric group theory. Lafforgue, de Laat and de la Salle's rigidity theorem sparked a powerful revival of Cowling/Haagerup's approximation methods. Their analysis of Lp-approximations and the key use of Schur multipliers opens a door to new harmonic analysis techniques that comp
Stocking the Past: Isotopic and Genomic Approaches to Pastoralism in Prehistory
THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · GB · €2,499,825
The Neolithic Revolution marks a major turning point in human history, with the adoption of agriculture decisively changing the way people lived and their relationship with the natural environment. Archaeology has been fundamental in documenting and understanding this process. Much of the focus, however, has been on farming’s initial stages: the transition from hunting and gathering to farming and herding. Far less attention has been paid to the subsequent trajectory of farming societies. This q
Translational Control Decoded: Predictive, Interpretable and Generative Models of mRNA Regulation
MAX DELBRUECK CENTRUM FUER MOLEKULARE MEDIZIN IN DER HELMHOLTZ-GEMEINSCHAFT (MDC) · DE · €2,487,317
Current models present an increasingly complex picture of mRNA translation, in which several pathways work together to define protein output in a context-dependent way. Disruptions can lead to disease, yet we are only beginning to crack the combinatorial code that links mRNA features to correct translation levels. Yet, translation is characterized by a confined and modular cis-regulatory space, making it ideal for dissecting function with cutting edge genomics and machine learning (ML).TRANS-DEC
A bioengiNeered platform to address the DRivers of micrO/nanoplastic accuMulation in hEalthy and DiseAsed brains
POLITECNICO DI MILANO · IT · €2,500,000
Brain exposure to micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) has become a great concern: MNPs have been found in the human brain, with an exponential increase of their median concentration in the last eight years and higher values found in diseased brains. MNPs accumulation impairs brain functionality, affecting the permeability of the blood-brain barrier, which protects our functional brain tissue, namely the brain parenchyma, from harmful molecules penetration. The biochemical mechanisms involved are stil
From atoms to small exoplanets, and back
COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES · FR · €2,493,416
Nature is prolific at creating Earth- to Neptune-sized planets, a discovery that stands as one of the most fundamental in planetary science as such objects do not exist in the Solar System. Despite the many resources devoted to unveiling the nature of these intriguing small exoplanets, including a wealth of observations from cutting-edge telescopes, little is known about them. Advancing that knowledge is at the frontier of today’s exoplanet research and marks a timely step towards comprehending
Structure and Operator Preserving High Order Schemes for Thermodynamically Compatible Hyperbolic PDE Systems
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TRENTO · IT · €1,944,067
In SOPHOS we develop new numerical schemes with mathematically provable properties for some of the most challenging hyperbolic PDE systems in continuum physics, namely geometric formulations of continuum mechanics, compressible turbulence and the Einstein-Euler equations of general relativity. The overarching framework are overdetermined, hyperbolic and thermodynamically compatible (HTC) systems. Our new schemes will mimic their elegant mathematical structure for the first time entirely also on
Building Scalable and Sustainable Neuromorphic Architectures with Bio-Solid-State Nanopores
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE · CH · €2,497,105
In the framework of the NEON project, we will pioneer sustainable neuromorphic architectures by integrating biological and solid-state nanopores into scalable ion-based computing platforms. By uniting molecular sensing with in materia computation, NEON will dissolve the traditional divide between data acquisition and processing. We will leverage the atomic precision and adaptability of biological pores alongside the robustness, addressability, and wafer-scale manufacturability of solid-state dev
Fully Scalable Network Optimization
SOFIA UNIVERSITY ST KLIMENT OHRIDSKI · BG · €2,500,000
Networks are ubiquitous and integral throughout society, sciences, and everyday life. Examples include utility, transportation, and communication networks as well as abstract networks used across all sciences and engineering to model a wide variety of relations, dependencies, and dynamics. Scalable parallel network optimization algorithms are crucial for optimizing, understanding, operating, and analyzing these networks efficiently. The exploding scale and exponential growth of modern networks a
The Evolution of Function in Synthetic Microbial Communities
UNIVERSITE DE LAUSANNE · CH · €2,425,836
For millennia, microbial communities have supported essential human activities - preserving food, treating waste, and fertilizing soil. Yet, given their vast metabolic versatility, we have only begun to tap into their full potential. To advance microbial biotechnology, we must design synthetic communities (SynComs) composed of a few well-selected microbial species that together perform desired functions. Ensuring that these community functions remain stable despite ecological and evolutionary dy
The Fundamental Physics of Earthquake Cycles and Faulting
THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL · GB · €3,497,846
Earthquakes occur at an enormous human and economic cost. While a framework exists for understanding the physics of earthquakes, a lack of physical understanding of key stages in the earthquake cycle hinder our progress towards developing deterministic models of the earthquake process. PhysiQuake aims to build a fundamental understanding of the physics and chemistry of processes that occur during all stages of an earthquake. It will overcome key fundamental knowledge gaps across the earthquake c
From Verifiable Success to Epistemic Abdication: How General-Purpose AI Transforms Belief Formation and Collective Intelligence
UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA · ES · €2,500,000
General-purpose AI (GPAI) assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude—accessed through a single interface—help users debug code, draft press releases, obtain political news, summarize parliamentary debates, and seek educational advice. Unlike specialized tools that signal domain boundaries, this uniform design obscures cues about where competence ends, forcing users to judge trustworthiness across domains where performance varies widely. ABDICATE asks whether interface unity fosters epistemic abd
Precision tests of the Standard Model at colliders: Quantum Field Theory at work
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO · IT · €1,955,678
Elementary particles experiments can help us to answer several open questions about the structure of our Universe, like the presence of dark matter and dark energy, or the strong asymmetry between the observed amount of matter and antimatter. The upcoming generation of particle colliders will deliver an unprecedented level of experimental precision, with uncertainties reduced by up to two orders of magnitude in key measurements. These results open extraordinary opportunities to probe fundamental
Uncovering Genetic Rescue and Functional Rebalancing in Telomeropathies Through Genome Editing and High-Resolution Screening
GENOME RESEARCH LIMITED LBG · GB · €2,496,154
Telomere dysfunction can result in cells being eliminated by apoptosis, entering senescence, or undergoing malignant transformation. Symptoms associated with telomeropathies include bone marrow failure, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, liver disease, and defects of the immune system, skin, eyes, and skeleton. Patients with telomeropathies are typically managed based on their clinical presentation. Treatment options for various manifestations may include growth factor support, bone marrow transplan
Bioengineering gene-silencing-based plant defense for broad-spectrum crop disease resistance
THE SAINSBURY LABORATORY · GB · €2,489,980
sRNA-Defense is an ambitious research project that will exploit the natural capacity of plants to produce antimicrobial small RNAs (natural host-induced gene silencing or nHIGS) to generate a completely new form of crop disease resistance.Plant small RNAs (sRNAs) silence pathogen genes. Current approaches using transgene-derived artificial sRNAs have had mixed successes in disease control. The recent discovery of nHIGS as a natural plant immunity offers a transformative path toward robust sRNA-b
Mixing Equations for Transcendence and Independence, and PD-Structures
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · FR · €2,497,950
Irrational and transcendental numbers, such as √2 and π, have fascinated mathematicians since ancient Greece. Despite this enduring interest, substantial progress in this field remains rare: classifying numbers according to their arithmetic nature is notoriously challenging, and understanding how some of them combine to produce remarkable identities, such as e^{iπ}-1=0, is even more so.A cornerstone result in the field is the Hermite-Lindemann-Weierstrass theorem (Theorem HLW), which establishes
Dorsal root ganglion macrophages as novel target for the treatment of chronic visceral pain
KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · BE · €2,151,250
Chronic abdominal pain is a major symptom of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a gastrointestinal disorder that, depending on the diagnostic criteria used, affects 4 to 20% of the population, with a female to male ratio of 2. It is characterized by altered bowel habits associated with abdominal pain in the absence of an organic cause. Despite its high prevalence and significant impact on quality of life, insight in its pathophysiology is rather limited. Consequently, treatment is disappointing and
Physics-informed Spatial Artificial Intelligence
UNIVERSIDAD DE ZARAGOZA · ES · €2,487,852
There is a broad consensus among the artificial intelligence (AI) community that, while there has been great progress in the field of verbal intelligence through large language models, if AI cannot understand the physical underpinnings of the world, this progress will stagnate. For an AI to understand the world, we need to develop spatial artificial intelligence. By spatial AI we mean artificial intelligence capable of understanding and interacting with three-dimensional, physical environments.T
Unraveling histone biogenesis networks in cell physiology and cancer
KRAEFTENS BEKAEMPELSE · DK · €2,489,195
Histones are the elemental building blocks of chromatin and must be produced in vast amounts to support chromatin structure and integrity. DNA replication further necessitates a rapid doubling of histone content to enable packaging of nascent DNA. To meet this formidable demand, cells not only encode constitutively expressed histone genes, but also DNA replication-dependent histone genes transcribed within specialized subnuclear histone locus bodies. Expression of these histone genes must be dyn
What determines phage-mediated control of microbial communities?
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER · GB · €2,466,523
Bacteriophage (phage) are ubiquitous viruses of microbes that can both rapidly kill their hosts and transfer genes between them. Phage are believed to play a major role in all ecosystems because of their potential to regulate the structure of microbial communities and drive evolutionary innovations. While phage can have a major impact on their microbial hosts, existing experimental and correlational approaches make it unclear if they generally do. Here, we aim to understand when and why phage ar
Uncovering how environmental cues regulate metabolism via the anti-growth hormone Adenosine
DEUTSCHES KREBSFORSCHUNGSZENTRUM HEIDELBERG · DE · €2,499,587
Animal growth is modulated by environmental cues such as nutrient availability or temperature. Animals integrate these cues through hormonal signals that coordinate growth and metabolism across tissues. One such system is the anabolic IGF/PI3K/mTORC1 pathway, which promotes growth. We discovered in Drosophila that the circulating metabolite adenosine is a potent anti-growth hormone which counter-balances the activity of IGF. Levels of circulating adenosine increase when dietary amino acids are l
Drugging the “undruggable” by sampling a vast chemical space of membrane-permeable cyclic peptides
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE · CH · €2,470,473
Background and problem: Many disease targets, including a wide range of intracellular protein–protein interactions (PPIs), exhibit flat, featureless surfaces. This means that it is very difficult to develop small-molecule ligands against these targets and to modulate them therapeutically. Ultimately, thus, many major diseases for which therapeutic targets are known remain untreated. Small, non-polar cyclic peptides have aroused much excitement as an answer to this problem due to their ability to
Cognitively-Inspired Language Models for Investigating Human Language Acquisition and Processing
UNIVERSITA DI PISA · IT · €2,476,572
The CLIMB project aims to develop Language Models that are more cognitively grounded, with the goal of investigating the mechanisms underlying human language acquisition and processing. Large Language Models demonstrate near “superhuman” performance, but require equally “superhuman” amounts of training data and ignore key aspects of human design, such as spoken and visual input, social interaction, and cognitively grounded inductive biases. This misalignment limits their scientific relevance as
Transitional Justice for Multiple Pasts
UNIVERSITATEA LUCIAN BLAGA DIN SIBIU · RO · €2,480,833.75
Post-dictatorial and post-conflict governments enact transitional justice programs to reckon with the legacy of crimes that occurred in the recent past by punishing perpetrators, offering justice to victims, educating the public, and providing guarantees of non-repetition. What happens when there is not one past in need of redress, but multiple pasts? This was the situation in many post-dictatorial and post-conflict states at the start of their transitions, with abuses committed across distinct
Probing and Controlling Chirality on Electronic Time Scales
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · CH · €3,500,000
Molecular chirality plays a fundamental role in most chemical reactions and biochemical processes underlying life on earth. The underlying quantum processes unfold on electronic time scales, requiring a breakthrough: attosecond chiroptical pump–probe spectroscopy. We will generate the first characterized, isolated, circularly polarized attosecond pulses and apply them in kinematically complete electron–ion coincidence experiments. This will enable direct measurements of electronic wave packets i
Effective non-unitarity in many-body systems
UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI · SI · €2,470,000
In many-body quantum systems, say one-dimensional spin chains, eigenstates are exponentially close in energy and can therefore be resolved only on timescales exponentially large in system size. As such they can not be in general directly probed in experiments. Despite that one typically uses spectral properties, like eigenenergies and eigenstates, historically used in single-particle systems, as quantifiers of quantum chaos even in many-body systems. For that reason such methods can sometimes fa
Graphical models strike back: non-linearity, actions, and calibration
INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE EN INFORMATIQUE ET AUTOMATIQUE · FR · €2,498,920
The recent success of machine learning (ML) has been fueled by black-box supervised learning on massive amounts of data. While this has led to many applications throughout science, engineering, and industry, new areas such as healthcare, transport, or robotics require interactions between predictions and decisions from high-dimensional data, such as in reinforcement learning (RL), and provably well-calibrated uncertainty estimates.This project aims to address these requirements with the same rel
Learning Orbital-Free Density Functional Theory
RUPRECHT-KARLS-UNIVERSITAET HEIDELBERG · DE · €2,498,767
This project is motivated by a doubly frustrating gap. On one side, Hohenberg and Kohn have proven that the electron density is all that is needed to describe the ground state of a molecular system; and yet we recur to the use of orbitals, and hence Kohn-Sham DFT (KS-DFT), because an exact expression (or merely sufficiently accurate approximation) for the kinetic energy of an electron density remains elusive. The cost of KS-DFT remains prohibitive for very large systems, or for very high through
Yeast mating, a model for studying habituation mechanisms and function
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · CH · €2,500,000
Habituation, a simple form of learning, enables organisms to ignore stimuli that prove inconsequential over time, without losing perception. Thereby, it allows focusing on novel or salient inputs. Remarkably, beyond neural organisms, where it is pervasive, habituation is also present in unicellular organisms. Budding yeast cells, for example, habituate to sexual pheromone signals when failing to find an appropriate mating partner. Therefore, habituation is thought to be a basal cognitive process
Neural circuits for Early-Life Social Trajectories
WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE · IL · €2,568,750
Newborn mammals rapidly engage in social interactions that are critical for healthy development, yet the neural mechanisms shaping these early-life behaviors remain poorly understood. The oxytocin (OT) system, long recognized for its role in adult social function, undergoes a dramatic postnatal maturation in both rodents and humans, suggesting a crucial but underexplored role for OT in the infant brain. Recent work from our group revealed that OT neuron activity in mouse pups is dynamically modu
Revealing Hidden Innovations: Gendered Work and Perishable Technologies in Prehistory
AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · ES · €2,495,127
Over 95% of prehistoric perishable material culture (e.g., hide clothing and basketry) remains archaeologically invisible, creating fundamental gaps in our understanding of technological systems and cultural innovation. This missing majority particularly obscures two critical technologies ethnographically linked to women’s labor: hide-working and plant-fibre processing. Their invisibility not only limits our comprehension of technological evolution but also perpetuates androcentric narratives th
Interaction-induced topology in ultracold atoms
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT DORTMUND · DE · €3,496,275
Topological phases aTopological phases are among the most intriguing topics in solid-state physics, because they fall outside the classification via local order parameters and their topologically protected excitations promise important applications. For a deeper understanding of these phases, quantum simulation with ultracold atoms in optical lattices can make an important contribution, because they allow for a clean and tunable realization of paradigmatic model systems and provide advanced dete
Context-dependent Circadian Clock Synchrony across Cells and Tissues
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE · CH · €2,499,561
Human physiology resonates with daily time through finely regulated 24-hour rhythms of hormone signals and temporally-gated metabolic peaks. These rhythms rely on an intricately organized network of circadian clocks, coordinated by a central pacemaker in the brain, and tuned by feeding, activity, or temperature cues.Modern lifestyles in a 24/7 society disrupt this temporal organization, causing misalignment of body clocks with environmental cycles, increasing risk of cancer, metabolic and cardio
Mechanisms of Epigenetic Ageing and Sizing
THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH · GB · €2,498,247.58
Across human lifespan epigenetic changes accumulate, but their physiological and pathological significance remain to be determined. Growth, a seemingly mechanistically distinct process, occurs at the opposite end of life to old age. Through my study of extreme growth disorders, I have recently discovered a new accelerated ageing syndrome which establishes causal relationships linking changes in methylation with both ageing and size. Here, I propose to use multiscale cross-disciplinary approaches
A process discovery lab for circular carbon chemicals
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · CH · €2,499,446
Faced with climate change and environmental pressures, the fossil-based chemical industry that evolved over the past 100 years must reinvent itself – fast. The industry of tomorrow must be circular, relying on recycling, biomass, and carbon dioxide. Yet, this transition is daunting: today’s chemical industry is built on tightly integrated steps across multiple scales. Decisions at the molecular level, such as the choice of a monomer or solvent, shape not only the process design but also supply c
T cells: Regulation of Original diversity And Diversification after activation (T cell ROAD)
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · CH · €2,500,000
T cell diversification during immune responses to infections or vaccines is key for combating an infection and the concomitant establishment of immune memory. This diversification is established phenotypically, functionally, transcriptionally and epigenetically. The ability of a cell to generate progeny with diverse fates is a general feature of stem cells and, as such, naïve as well as memory T cells have stem cell characteristics. At the core of this proposal is the key question of how - mecha
Grafting-induced RNA mobility and Adaptive Functional Traits: Harnessing epigenetic inheritance for crop resilience to climate stress
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · DE · €2,438,210
Grafting, one of the oldest agricultural practices, can induce heritable epigenetic modifications by transmitting small RNAs (sRNAs) from rootstocks to scions. These mobile signals can reprogram the germline, opening possibilities for targeted epigenome changes by grafting. Harnessing this process could transform crop breeding by generating stable, heritable traits without genetic modification, thus sidestepping GMO restrictions. The project GRAFT will pioneer the systematic exploration of graft
Formal Performance Analysis at Scale
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · DE · €2,493,375
Planetary-scale distributed systems form the backbone of many societal-scale applications. We take for granted the continuous availability of these services; outages in these services cause widespread disruption.Today, developers do not have principled approaches to provision, analyze, or prove performance orresilience properties of such systems. Performance properties relate to long-run average properties of thesystem, such as latency, throughput, and goodput. Resilience properties relate to th
Reimagining the nitrogen economy with lanthanide photocatalysts
UPPSALA UNIVERSITET · SE · €2,496,807
The transition to a sustainable chemical industry necessitates an overhaul of both raw materials and chemical processes. The Haber-Bosch N2 reduction to NH3 requires substantial energy input and is a major carbon dioxide emitter. Nevertheless, for over a hundred years it has been the basis of fertilizer and thus food production, and the step through which the syntheses of most nitrogen-containing chemicals go through. A nitrogen fixation that proceeds under ambient conditions, uses water as the
Sailing Beyond the Crisis. Comparative Perspectives on Social, Economic, and Cultural Changes in the Late Medieval Mediterranean (ca. 1250-1450)
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA · IT · €2,376,400
SABIR redefines socio-economic change in the late medieval Latin Mediterranean by integrating the maritime perspective into a historiography long focused on land-based actors. Centred on the period 1250-1450 – marked by expansion, crisis, depression, and recovery – it examines how seafarers, often overlooked compared to merchants or artisans, navigated structural change. By analysing maritime labour, mobility, and precariousness within the framework of the so-called “nautical revolution,” the pr
Illuminating deep magma transport and storage with process-oriented volcano seismology
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · FR · €2,499,522
Volcano seismology is one of the main methods used to study deep magmatic structure and processes. Despite being developed for decades and applied in many regions in the World, it remains to a great extent empirical and we still do not have reliable methods to quantitatively relate the seismo-volcanic observations to physical parameters controlling the evolution of magmatic systems at depth. Therefore, fundamental questions, such as how much magma and melt are stored beneath volcanoes and how fa
A HISTORY OF COLOR THROUGH ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINES (1890s-1950s)
UNIVERSITEIT GENT · BE · €2,498,125
Notoriously dependent on context and individual perception, color is as messy as it is essential to everyday experience. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, color became a central tool in magazines for channeling attention and molding perception. Despite its centrality to the appearance and functioning of magazines, printed color has been largely overlooked by research. COPRINTS shows how studying color in periodicals can open radically new, hitherto unexplored pathways shedding light on t
Materials Discovery: from Exploration towards Design
THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL · GB · €2,499,511
Crystalline inorganic materials underpin key technologies and their discovery enables new scientific directions across fields. Their stability is determined by their composition and structure, which also dictate properties. New compositions can be designed and made by modifying known materials while retaining their original structures, allowing property tuning.The situation is wholly different if we wish to access a new structure, rather than modify a known one, because we cannot reliably predic
Modeling oncogenesis, phenotypic identity and fate in brain cancer avatars
MAX DELBRUECK CENTRUM FUER MOLEKULARE MEDIZIN IN DER HELMHOLTZ-GEMEINSCHAFT (MDC) · DE · €2,487,500
Despite decades of cancer genomics, recreating human cancers in the lab remains unattainable because we cannot control the normal-to-tumor trajectory.I propose gaining control by functionally tracing developmental trajectories in human brain organoids. Using synthetic genetic tracers of brain tumors, engineered DNA reporters that switch on when a normal organoid cell runs a tumor-like program, we identify “best-in-class surrogate target” (BEST) cells that reproduce specific tumor phenotypes. The
Photosynthesis at the twilight edge of Life in ice-covered oceans
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · FR · €3,500,000
The oceans beneath polar ice are among the darkest ecosystems on Earth, where sunlight can be reduced by more than ten orders of magnitude between summer solstice and polar night. Yet, microalgae not only survive but thrive in these extreme conditions, sustaining life at the base of Arctic and Antarctic food webs. How do photosynthetic organisms function at the very edge of light availability? And how will ongoing climate-driven thinning of ice and snow, which increases under-ice light, reshape
Fitness seascapes and the role of weak selection in adaptive evolution
UNIVERSITAT ZURICH · CH · €2,491,985
A fitness landscape is like a landscape in physical space, but it maps genotypes (locations) to their fitness (elevation). The concept helps to frame Darwinian evolution as a process that drives a population towards peaks of high fitness. However, a rugged, multi-peaked landscape can prevent evolution of high fitness, because natural selection alone does not allow a population to traverse the valleys separating low from high peaks. Multiple recent experiments have revealed our ignorance about a
Global Assessment of Participation in Sustainability Governance
LEUPHANA UNIVERSITAT LUNEBURG · DE · €2,473,247
Public participation (PP) in sustainability governance has spread worldwide: green participatory budgeting counts thousands of cases, citizen assemblies shape national climate policies, and even authoritarian regimes experiment with consultative practices. Yet despite this global expansion, we still lack systematic knowledge of whether, how, and under what conditions PP advances sustainability, strengthens democracy, or delivers justice. Existing research remains fragmented—confined to individua
SilentX: Unraveling the Rise and Fall of Meiotic Sex Chromosome Inactivation in Insects.
UNIVERSITE DE LAUSANNE · CH · €2,499,940
Sex chromosomes evolve from ordinary autosomes, often degenerating in the absence of recombination. This degeneration triggers the evolution of regulatory mechanisms such as dosage compensation in somatic cells and meiotic sex chromosome inactivation (MSCI) in germ cells. While dosage compensation has been extensively studied, MSCI, an epigenetic silencing of sex chromosomes during meiosis, remains poorly understood, despite its likely major role in sex chromosome evolution. MSCI has evolved mul
Understanding immune signaling in bacteria and beyond
WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE · IL · €2,500,000
In recent years, systematic genome mining of bacterial “defense islands” revealed hundreds of defense systems that protect bacteria from phages, revolutionizing our view of microbial immunity. Our lab has played a central role in this revolution: we discovered numerous new defense systems and showed that human immune pathways such as cGAS–STING and pyroptosis evolved from bacterial defenses. These insights established microbes as model organisms for uncovering new immune pathways.The focus of th
Regulatory Mechanisms of the Mitochondrial Control Region
GOETEBORGS UNIVERSITET · SE · €2,499,862
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) encodes 13 essential subunits of the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) system, the machinery that generates most of the cell’s ATP. The remaining ~1200 proteins required for mitochondrial function are encoded in the nucleus. Proper expression and maintenance of mtDNA are therefore indispensable: defects compromise OXPHOS and cause a wide spectrum of human disease, ranging from inherited mitochondrial disorders to age-related pathologies. Over the past two decades, my l
JWST as the New Voyager: A Chemical Inventory of the Giant Planets
UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER · GB · €2,489,975
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has become a cornerstone in the current phase of planetary exploration. We will use JWST as a “New Voyager,” leveraging its exceptional spectral coverage and sensitivity to construct a comprehensive chemical inventory of the giant planets. JWSTVoyager will build on our early leadership with this world-class facility, alongside Jupiter exploration by NASA’s Juno spacecraft and ESA’s JUICE mission (2031). Our inventory, developed across three interconnected themes
Van der Waals Nanomachines
THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER · GB · €3,497,976
This proposal will develop a new platform for atomic-scale manipulation by tapping into the unique electronic and mechanical properties that can be engineered in van der Waals heterostructures. This opportunity is only now achievable due to my recent pioneering technological achievements with heterostructure construction, including precise control of twist angles between neighbouring layers and unique ultra-high vacuum fabrication instrumentation.We will develop a novel family of self-propelled,
Bridging Electronics, Photonics, Plasmonics and Algorithms for Terahertz Communication
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · CH · €2,934,100
BEACON aims to develop a pioneering THz chip platform enabling high-speed communications across the “THz gap” over distances of up to 10 km, with potential for direct satellite-to-earth links. THz communications remains a long-standing unresolved challenge. It holds promise to offer way higher capacity and tighter directivity than traditional RF frequencies. The high directivity increases resistivity against interception. The short wavelengths enable a compact footprint. In contrast to optical f
Reservoir computing in living and synthetic enzymatic reaction networks
STICHTING RADBOUD UNIVERSITEIT · NL · €2,500,000
Living systems are evidently able to process complex information in their environment. There has been tremendous interest in constructing synthetic molecular systems that imitate the computational capabilities of living systems. Significant process has been made in the bottom-up construction of small network motifs that can act as logic gates or Boolean circuits, perform analog computation, or show behaviour such as adaptation, motion, or homeostasis. However, significant breakthroughs are requi
Structure, mechanism, and small-molecule inhibition of human and parasite oligosaccharyltransferases
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · CH · €2,499,966
The evolution of multicellular eukaryotic organisms correlates with an enormous increase of N- glycosites and N-glycoproteins, which have essential roles in cell-cell communication, organ development, the immune system, and other key functions in ontogenesis. At the core of this process stands oligosaccharyltransferase (OST), the central enzyme in protein N-glycosylation. OST glycosylates proteins that contain short recognition sequons (N-X-S/T) by transferring a well-defined glycan from a glyco
Evolutionary Responses of Coexisting Early Humans in Africa
AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · ES · €3,487,232
Once seen as a unilinear progression, human evolution is now considered to have been a branching process, with growing evidence demonstrating that separate early hominin taxa overlapped temporally and geographically. ERCEHA will compare the palaeobiology, technological behaviour and subsistence strategies of human species inhabiting Africa between 1.8 and 0.5 million years ago, in order to disentangle taxonomic diversity and related behavioural differences during the Early Stone Age.Based on gro
Exegetical Manuscripts and the Greek New Testament
THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM · GB · €2,499,450
Ancient writings are transmitted in two ways: the direct evidence of surviving manuscripts of the work itself, and indirect evidence from quotations and translations. Although indirect evidence is normally accessed through scholarly editions, manuscript digitisation now makes possible the extensive examination of these sources’ own direct tradition, opening up questions of how this relates to the other evidence for the transmission and reception of a canonical text.The Greek New Testament offers
Supernova environments and implications for cosmology
UNIVERSITY OF LANCASTER · GB · €2,527,881
When stars die as supernovae (SNe), the ejected material enables the next generation of stars, planets and perhaps even life to be formed. At the same time, SNe regulate further star formation in their host galaxies. This fascinating interplay between SNe and their surroundings affects our understanding of the evolution of the universe itself, as it impacts the ‘standard candle’ nature of Type Ia SNe used in cosmology. The Sparkles project aims to spearhead improvements in cosmological measureme
Deep super-resolved vibrational imaging via tomography-informed scattering compensation
MEDIZINISCHE UNIVERSITAT INNSBRUCK · AT · €2,362,947
Optical microscopy has transformed biology, yet imaging intact 3D tissues remains challenging: Light scattering limits imaging beyond superficial layers, and fluorescent dyes – central to many techniques – are often incompatible with live samples.We propose to develop DeepVibes: a super-resolving, deep-tissue microscope based on Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS). Label-free and chemically specific, it will be capable of imaging millimetres deep into strongly scattering samples, such as histopath
The Hippocampus as Arbiter of Memory and Action
AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · ES · €2,449,022
Understanding how memory shapes behaviour is a central goal in neuroscience. When we face ambiguous or conflicting cues, should we rely on what is familiar, or explore what is new? In such moments, memory is not simply recalled but used strategically. Rather than functioning as a passive archive, episodic memory operates as a dynamic internal model. Yet despite advances in uncovering mechanisms of encoding and retrieval, we still lack an explanation for how the brain decides which memory to use
Circuit mechanisms underlying the discrimination and recall of memories along the hippocampal CA3 axis in behaving mice.
UNIVERSITAETSKLINIKUM FREIBURG · DE · €2,457,208
The ability to form novel memories without overwriting existing ones (pattern separation) and to retrieve memories from previous experiences (pattern completion) are vital cognitive abilities, largely attributed to neuronal network computations of the hippocampal CA3 area. Despite extensive theoretical work on CA3 circuit functions, little progress has been made in identifying the synaptic, cellular and network mechanisms allowing CA3 to support both apparently opposing mnemonic processes. Curre
Targeting myeloid cell states, actions and interactions in neuroinflammation
LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN · DE · €2,471,050
I believe that if we want to unlock the true potential of the single-cell revolution for patients, we need to find new ways to interrogate cellular states, actions and interactions at scale and in vivo. With TACO, I want to achieve this to enable efficient targeting of myeloid cells, the main effectors of central nervous system (CNS) damage in multiple sclerosis (MS). To prepare for this we have acquired unique, highly-resolved datasets that allow us to capture the signals that myeloid cells rec
Evolutionary plasticity of vertebrate immune systems
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · DE · €2,492,118
In vertebrates, innate and adaptive immunity together protect against infections and ensure tissue homeostasis. However, the impact of the astounding phenotypic diversity of the about 60,000 known vertebrate species on immune system function is largely unknown. To explore the evolutionary plasticity of vertebrate immune systems, we propose to study the unique immune systems of deep-sea anglerfishes (Ceratioidei). They exhibit distinctive reproductive habits, which involve either temporary or per
Secure Wide-Area Positioning
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · CH · €2,427,500
Our world increasingly relies on positioning/navigation systems. So far, work in secure positioning focused on enhancing Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) with physical-layer secret spreading codes and on enhancing GNSS authentication (e.g., Galileo OS-NMA). However, these enhancements fail to scale and/or fully secure GNSS, which, with raising sovereignty concerns motivated calls for new positioning infrastructures. Examples include the European Space Agency’s call for new LEO-based po
Wave Heating in the Solar corona with Kink waves
KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · BE · €2,498,400
The solar corona is significantly hotter than the solar surface — a longstanding and unresolved phenomenon known as the coronal heating problem. One proposed explanation centres on Alfvén wave turbulence models. However, existing models fail to incorporate coronal loops and plumes, thereby overlooking key aspects of wave physics. Moreover, these models rely on additional, artificial heating terms to sustain the high temperatures observed in the solar corona, suggesting that a fundamental physica
Neuroscientific Assessment of the Human Experience of Urban Environments
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT BERLIN · DE · €2,747,500
As cities grow and mental health challenges rise, understanding how urban environments affect the human mind and brain becomes increasingly urgent. URBRAIN pioneers a transformative approach in Environmental Neuroscience by investigating how built environments influence human experience, at the subjective, behavioural, physiological, and neural levels, in real-world settings. Building on the PI’s foundational work in Neuro-Architecture and Mobile Brain/Body Imaging (MoBI), URBRAIN addresses long
Bose-Fermi Mixtures of Excitons and Electrons: a paradigm for unconventional superconductivity
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · CH · €2,500,000
Condensed matter physics primarily focuses on understanding, optimizing and tuning of electronic phases of solids that exhibit functionally relevant properties such as superconductivity or magnetism. A promising platform for this pursuit is offered by two-dimensional materials and their moire structures, which feature strong interactions and flat bands that have already allowed for the observation of several novel electronic phases, including superconductivity and fractional Chern insulators. Ho
Modeling islet inflammation in early-stage type 1 diabetes: T1DstartEd
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM · IL · €2,796,250
Understanding the drivers and pathogenic mechanisms of type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a major challenge of biomedicine. Early stages of the disease are characterized by a type I interferon (IFN-I)-driven innate immune response. In addition, genetic studies have identified risk and protective variants in the double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) sensor IFIH1/MDA5. These observations support viral etiology of T1D, with major implications for prevention and therapy. However, a causal virus has not been identified
Harnessing Ferroelectricity for Agile Control of Twisted Oxide Structures
LUXEMBOURG INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY · LU · €2,493,442
Two-dimensional multilayers – made of van der Waals (vdW) compounds like graphene – are a playground for novel physics due to the interference-like structural patterns (moirés) resulting from interlayer lattice mismatch and twist angle. Yet, the remarkable phenomena they host – from anomalous transport to topological polar states – are typically fixed, lacking a key feature to create next-generation ultralow-power devices: the ability to switch electrically between states, potentially non-volati
Atomically precise materials engineering through deep learning
AALTO KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR · FI · €2,498,394
Modern technology demands ever-increasing precision in materials engineering, especially in the creation of novel advanced materials where atomic structure dictates function. Traditional on-surface chemical synthesis allows the controlled formation of molecular structures, but lacks the precision to build molecules atom-by-atom. Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) has been a game- changer in nanoscale materials engineering by allowing high-resolution imaging and the ability to study and manipulate i
Bounding EFTs with Spontaneous Lorentz Breaking
UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION · FR · €2,052,750
Lorentz-invariant Quantum Field Theories (QFTs) are central in physics. At any energy scale, Effective Field Theories (EFTs) systematically describe the relevant degrees of freedom, merging quantum mechanics with special relativity.Recent advances have shown that not all EFTs admit a healthy UV completion. By combining unitarity and analyticity—rooted in relativistic causality—strong constraints have been derived, successfully carving out the space of consistent Lorentz-invariant EFTs.However, i
Zoonosis Before Bacteriology
THE UNIVERSITY COURT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS · GB · €2,476,822.80
The project will investigate for the first time how zoonosis (the transmission of diseases from animals to humans) emerged as a scientific and governmental problem between 1770 and 1870 at the crossroads of medicine, pathology, physiology, epidemiology, veterinary medicine and public health. Rather than reading this historical process from the teleological lens of the eventual bacteriological illumination of zoonosis, the project will explore how, as a novel question for science, state and empir
CO-OPOLIS: ANOTHER ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN CITY (1890–1990)
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · CH · €2,289,097
Our understanding of how cities in Western and Northern Europe have been planned, designed, and constructed is skewed by the all-too-great emphasis placed on state and market interventions as successive or simultaneous drivers of urban development. The key role that collective actors of the so-called “third sector”—including cooperatives, mutual aid societies, and associations—have played as commissioners, designers, developers or constructors of important buildings and neighbourhoods in the Wes
ER-across the line: the function of the ER in plant intercellular communication
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · FR · €3,405,000
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is central to cellular function, driving protein synthesis, lipid metabolism, and signaling. In most organisms, the ER is confined within individual cells. In plants, however, the ER takes an extraordinary form, defying cell boundaries as it stretches across the cell wall through plasmodesmata (PD) communication bridges. PD are indispensable for plant life. They control molecular flux between cells and are decisive for development, environmental adaptation, and def
Biological regulation by N-terminal acetylation
UNIVERSITETET I BERGEN · NO · €2,500,000
Reversible protein modifications act as key switches regulating numerous cellular processes. In contrast, our most abundant protein modification, N-terminal (Nt) acetylation, has for decades been considered static and irreversible. This project aims to identify regulatory Nt-acetylation events (Nt-switches) and establish their crucial role in human biology.A relevant place to look for Nt-switches is at neo-N-termini. These are generated by proteases, for example the signal peptide cleavage of pr
The Environmental and Economic Consequences of Sustainable Food Policies
TILBURG UNIVERSITY- UNIVERSITEIT VAN TILBURG · NL · €2,469,740
The environmental cost of food production is very large, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, overfertilization, habitat loss, and freshwater depletion. To remain within planetary boundaries, a shift towards more plant-based diets is necessary. However, despite policy efforts, the ecological impact of household food purchases has not decreased in the past decade. Current research lacks a clear understanding why this is the case and how to best encourage more sustainable consumer behavior, c
Artificial Spatial Bandwidth
UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA · ES · €2,215,775
Bandwidth is an indispensable resource for wireless communication, positioning, and sensing, critically determining how fast a signal can vary in time. With congestion in the established radio bands and difficulties to tame new spectrum, space has gradually become the complementary realm on which to seek “bandwidth”. That space-domain counterpart to the bandwidth is the spatial bandwidth, which dictates how fast a signal can vary over space. And, just like the reciprocal of the bandwidth specifi
Scalable CPS Analysis of Robustness to Failures
UNIVERSITAT DES SAARLANDES · DE · €2,497,672
Cyber-physical systems underpin critical infrastructures such as transport, energy, aerospace, and healthcare. They increasingly operate with high autonomy, a necessity given the dynamic environments they face and the constantly evolving requirements imposed on them. Yet, they are inherently vulnerable to chronomalies, timing disruptions that may arise unexpectedly and were not foreseen at design time. The Mars helicopter Ingenuity, which suffered dangerous oscillations due to timestamp misalign
A new research methodology for complex ethical-technical security and privacy dilemmas
RHEINISCHE FRIEDRICH-WILHELMS-UNIVERSITAT BONN · DE · €2,499,381
In this project, I propose Adversarial Participatory Research (APR), a ground-breaking research methodology that addresses complex ethical-technical dilemmas in the field of Security and Privacy (S&P). The S&P field is rife with such dilemmas, exemplified by the ongoing Crypto Wars debate surrounding surveillance and privacy. In the EU, privacy is a human right, but governments can override it for reasons like national security or public safety. Balancing these competing rights has been an unres
UNlocking the strong Interactions with COllideR Neutrinos
STICHTING VU · NL · €2,500,000
Proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) produce an intense flux of forward-directed neutrinos with the highest energies ever achieved in a laboratory. For 15 years, these neutrinos went undetected due to the lack of dedicated instrumentation. Their breakthrough observation in 2023 by the FASER and SND@LHC experiments marks the beginning of a new “collider neutrino” era, opening pioneering scientific opportunities. The study of these collider neutrinos addresses foundational question
Concurring Scripts. Allography in Italy (1000-1800)
UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA · IT · €2,250,703
In Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ethnic and religious minorities regularly resorted to their own scripts to write local vernaculars, leading to the establishment of non-Latin writing traditions for many European languages. This phenomenon is known as “allography”. Despite its high frequency and cultural relevance, a comprehensive study for its understanding is still lacking. Research so far has been compartmentalized into different disciplines, according to the scripts of the texts, and char
EXpected secondary Aerosol ContenT - Molecular Level Secondary Aerosol Formation
HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO · FI · €3,488,743
Secondary aerosols (SecA) are crucial components of the Earth-Atmosphere system. They dominate the submicron airborneparticulate matter distribution, are crucial components of air pollution and the main origin of clouds, and thus, climate. SecA forms bygas-to-particle conversion and condensation of very low volatile compounds sourced by oxidation of gas-phase constituents.Recently we showed in a paradigm shift observation how direct aerosol sources form extremely rapidly after only a single reac
Converging Cancer Neuroscience and Immuno-Oncology for a novel gene therapy against brain tumors
UNIVERSITETET I BERGEN · NO · €2,500,000
The treatment of malignant brain tumors has seen little improvement in patient outcomes over the past twenty years due to the disease's highly treatment-resistant and heterogeneous nature. Based on an innovative concept, NEURO-GENE aims to develop a novel gene therapy for malignant brain tumors. The project proposes the groundbreaking hypothesis that a specific phospholipid induces partial cell fusion between tumor and normal brain cells, driving tumor growth, while also promoting the phagocytos
Spin-based hybrid semiconductor-superconductor devices for entanglement/swapping and quantum simulation
INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AUSTRIA · AT · €2,808,311
Hybrid platforms, composed of diverse physical components, are key for studying new phenomena and devices as they combine complementary functionalities. One notable example is cavity quantum electrodynamics (2012 Physics Nobel Prize), where an atom is coupled to a photon localised in a cavity. In condensed matter physics, semiconductor-superconductor devices represent an intriguing hybrid system. Semiconductors form the backbone of modern technology, while superconductors serve as a natural sour
Dying Occupations and Political Change
GOETEBORGS UNIVERSITET · SE · €2,419,096
This project investigates how the decline and disappearance of occupations shape political behavior in democracies. Occupations are not only bundles of tasks; they are also associated with specific titles and social identities. Their death therefore threatens people’s self-worth as well as their economic security. Yet the political consequences of dying occupations remain poorly understood.The project develops new concepts and tools to explain how dying occupations influence political participat
Self-Optimizing Path-aware High-performance Intelligent Architecture
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · CH · €2,818,115
Over the past decade, the SCION next-generation Internet has seen a continuous increase in deployment and use -- with over 20 ISPs offering SCION connectivity today. SCION is providing the communication backbone for multiple critical infrastructures in Switzerland (finance, healthcare, utilities, point-of-sale terminals), and is on the verge to be used for critical infrastructures across Europe and beyond.Besides strong security guarantees against diverse network-based attacks, SCION provides mu
Intersectionality-Informed MHPSS for Equitable Disaster Mitigation (INCLUDE-MHPSS)
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO · IT · €1,946,516
How does Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) address the intersecting vulnerabilities of high-risk populations in disaster settings and contribute to equitable, resilience-oriented recovery? Research confirms that disasters disproportionately affect those already exposed to structural vulnerabilities. Guided by international standards (e.g., WHO; IASC), MHPSS is now central to disaster risk reduction frameworks, promoting a multi-tiered approach tailored to diverse needs. Yet disaggre
How senescence and the environment shape fitness in the wild
THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH · GB · €2,496,928
Senescence, the age-related deterioration in physiological function during adulthood, is a major cause of late-life disease and mortality in human and wild animal populations. Recent laboratory studies have identified key molecular pathways underpinning senescence, but we lack understanding of how environmental and genetic variation interact to shape these pathways and their evolution. Long-term studies of wild animals offer powerful systems to address this knowledge gap. Currently, this potenti
Synthesis, Supramolecular Chemistry and Physics of Molecular Quantum Rings
THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · GB · €2,498,646
This project will investigate the chemistry and physics of molecular quantum rings with radii of 1–10 nm. A quantum ring is a nanostructure that confines electrons to a circular path resulting in unique quantum mechanical behavior. Quantum rings made from metals and semiconductors with radii of 10–500 nm are widely studied. Small aromatic molecules, with radii less than 1 nm, also behave like quantum rings. We will study coherently delocalized rings of intermediate size, that bridge the gap betw
What makes trees woody
HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO · FI · €2,499,815
All vascular plants contain the woody tissue type, xylem, but some are woodier than others. The vascular cambium produces xylem inwards and phloem outwards. In small plants, xylem and phloem are formed in an equal ratio, but excessive wood is produced in trees, and this is essential for trees to grow tall. However, the underlying mechanism is unknown. My group’s unpublished studies on hybrid aspen revealed that, unlike in herbaceous Arabidopsis, xylem precursors in aspen act as transit amplifyin
Causal Inference for Exploration and Learning
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE · CH · €2,499,355
Inspired by the fact that incorporation of causality in learning is what predominantly sets human judgment apart from machines, this proposal advocates the integration of causal reasoning into sequential decision-making frameworks, such as bandits and reinforcement learning. Historically, the two fields of machine learning (and its subfield of sequential decision-making) and causality have developed separately. In addition to historical reasons, most machine learning algorithms are causally agno
Mapping Magnetic Fields in the Solar Interior
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · DE · €2,499,036
In the last century, the discovery of the Sun’s five-minute acoustic oscillations revolutionized our understanding of the solar interior. These oscillations revealed the location of the base of the convection zone and uncovered the Sun’s differential rotation, overturning long-held theories of the solar dynamo. Yet the fundamental question remains: what does the magnetic field look like inside the Sun?The Sun’s magnetic field, shaped by the interaction of convection and rotation, drives solar ac
Discovery of druggable antiviral targets across viral families through chemical probing
KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · BE · €3,302,402
Antiviral drugs are used to successfully treat infections such as with HIV and HCV. Yet, for most (life)-threatening and neglected infections, there are no such drugs. This leaves also critical gaps in epi- and pandemic preparedness. Antiviral drug discovery efforts typically focus on a few known targets (e.g., proteases/polymerases) or on “tip-of-the-iceberg-molecules” from phenotypic screens. Yet, the biology of viral replication consisting of complex processes (e.g., entry, uncoating, genome
Controlling State Selection in Multistable Turbulent Convection
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · DE · €2,500,000
Turbulent convection in engineered, geophysical, and astrophysical systems can self-organise into multiple large-scale stable states that coexist under identical control parameters, yet transport heat and momentum very differently. The range of admissible states, the geometry of their basins of attraction, and the mechanisms of transition between them remain poorly understood, and no general framework exists to predict or control which state is realised. This unpredictability limits performance
Antarctica Reframed: Material Histories and Genealogies of Human Presence
AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · ES · €2,497,843
Why is Antarctica still imagined as a pristine, timeless, and uninhabited continent—despite over two centuries of human presence? This question is rarely posed. The enduring imaginary of Antarctica as an untouched wilderness has silenced even the possibility of asking what humanity has done there. Yet this silence matters urgently today. In the context of the global climate crisis, Antarctica is invoked as a model of sustainability, a unique experiment in international governance, and even a pro
Evolution of Heteroresistance
UPPSALA UNIVERSITET · SE · €2,499,805
Antibiotic resistance is a major threat to global health, associated with ≈ 5 million deaths annually. While the field has largely focused on the emergence of stable resistance through mutation or horizontal gene transfer, a critical evolutionary unstable intermediate remains underexplored: heteroresistance (HR). In HR, a rare subpopulation within a main susceptible bacterial population exhibits transient high-level resistance — a phenotype that enables survival and growth under antibiotic press
Efficient Algorithms for Generative Learning
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET GRAZ · AT · €2,471,462
Scientific progress in the field of computer vision has traditionally developed along two largely separate paths. One focuses on image analysis tasks such as classification and reconstruction, the other on image synthesis tasks such as inpainting and generation. This separation reveals a fundamental challenge in this field, which we refer to as the analysis–synthesis gap. A major reason for this artificial separation is the strong focus of the scientific community on achieving state-of-the-art,
Mechanisms of fungal clearance
THE FRANCIS CRICK INSTITUTE LIMITED · GB · €2,499,997
Mucosal barriers are constantly exposed to fungi that must be killed and cleared to prevent severe infection and chronic illness. Pathogenic fungi germinate into large filamentous hyphae that induce the deployment of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), leaving behind a substantial debris of dead hyphae and cytotoxic NETs. These components are highly proinflammatory and must be cleared to resolve inflammation. The mechanisms that digest dead hyphae and their contribution to disease are unknown
Precision 3D Modeling of Type Ia Supernovae for Observational Confrontation
WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE · IL · €1,310,793
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are critical to both astrophysics and cosmology: they are key contributors to galactic chemical enrichment and serve as standardizable candles for measuring cosmic expansion. Despite their importance, the physical nature of these explosions—their progenitor systems and ignition mechanisms—remains unresolved after decades of study. This challenge persists because current models cannot robustly reproduce key observational signatures and are limited by simplifying assump
Magnetopyroelectric Biomedical Microrobots
EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH · CH · €2,490,691.75
Electrotherapies hold promise for diverse biomedical applications, including wound healing, pain relief, tissue regeneration, tumor ablation, inflammation reduction, and cell differentiation. However, current methods to deliver electric fields in the body often suffer from invasiveness, imprecise targeting and unintended side effects. To overcome these limitations, we propose PYROBOTS, a wireless microrobotic platform that leverages the magnetopyroelectric (MPE) effect to enable localized electr
ENGINEERING NANOPARTICLE-WATER COUPLING; ionic, hypoxic, logic and molecular contrast switches
THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · GB · €2,113,066
The fundamental objective of the research described in this proposal is to establish foundations for controlling the interactions between magnetically-active inorganic centres and the molecular water around them. Magnetic centres, paramagnetic complexes or ferromagnetic cores, are capable of generating high-levels of MRI contrast in a manner highly reflective of these interactions. The shrouding of these in functional organic dielectrics/biologically-mimicking membranes enables a “gating” of wa
A New Model of Earth’s Nutation through and for Core Dynamics, Geophysics, and Astronomy
UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN · BE · €2,500,000
GEOSPIN aims to improve the modelling of Earth’s orientation in space through the development of a new, physically consistent model that meets the stringent precision requirements of modern geoscience and space-based applications. Accurate knowledge of Earth’s orientation is essential for positioning, satellite navigation, space missions, and Earth observation. However, the current international standard, IAU2000A, no longer provides the millimetre-level accuracy required by geodesy, geophysics,
The Mechanobiology of Klebsiella pneumoniae infections
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE · CH · €2,495,818
Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp) is an opportunistic pathogen and one of the leading antibiotic-resistant threats globally, yet many aspects of its pathogenicity remain poorly understood. Unlike classical pathogens, Kp does not rely on potent cytotoxins but instead exploits physical traits such its capsule to colonize host tissues and evade immune clearance. Kp infections often manifest through striking mechanical behaviors, yet its physiology has been almost exclusively studied from a biochemical per
Short on Strength: The Military Recruitment Crisis in Europe
SCUOLA IMT (ISTITUZIONI, MERCATI, TECNOLOGIE) ALTI STUDI DI LUCCA · IT · €1,936,963
Short on Strength (SOS) examines the growing recruitment crisis facing European militaries. Despite rising security threats and higher defense budgets, many countries struggle to attract new personnel and retain those already serving. This dual challenge poses a pressing policy problem but also offers a unique opportunity to explore deeper political and social questions. Military service has long been central to the formation of modern states and the meaning of citizenship. Understanding why few
Impact of Phase Change during Liquid-Solid Impact
UNIVERSITEIT TWENTE · NL · €2,500,000
Over the past two decades, research into liquid-solid impact has revealed the crucial and often beneficial, load-reducing role of the intermediate gas phase. Experiments, numerics, and theory to date almost exclusively focus on non-condensable gases like air. Replacing the latter by the vapor phase of the impacting liquid itself completely reverses this mitigating action: Recent experiments show that the pressure on the solid structure may increase by as much as one to two orders of magnitude. T
Quantum Torsional Resonators
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT · NL · €2,749,627
While quantum theory has been successful in describing particles, electromagnetic fields, and weak and strong nuclear interactions, the force of gravity has yet to be reconciled with quantum mechanics, leading some to raise the question: Is gravity quantum? If that were not the case, massive superpositions would need to collapse. Experimentally testing this regime, however, remains an elusive and daunting challenge. In this proposal, I introduce a new idea for coupling a superconducting qubit to
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