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Past winners

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship, recent awardees

Monthly stipend of €6,350+ for postdocs (2026-2027 WP): 12-24 months in Europe (European Fellowship) or 24-36 months including a third-country secondment (Global Fellowship).

26094 funded projects indexed from OpenAlex and CORDIS

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Awards per year

Top countries

  • FR×19
  • ES×15
  • UK×15
  • IT×15
  • DE×13

Top institutions

26,094 awards recorded, 1988 to 2027, across 53 countries.

  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS×790
  • The Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge×636
  • Kobenhavns Universitet×614
  • Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford×579
  • Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas×484
  • Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine×428
  • Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Wissenschaften Ev×383
  • University of London×347
→ Full MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship programme guide → All open Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions calls

2027

  • Condition Assessment and Damage Localisation in Fluid-Filled Buried Sandwich (FFBS) Pipe Using Guided Wave and Impedance Fusion Technique (GIFT) Under Various Exposure Conditions

    KAUNO TECHNOLOGIJOS UNIVERSITETAS · LT · €181,136.16

    The safe and reliable transport of clean fuels such as hydrogen and biofuels depends on pipelines that can withstand demanding service conditions. Sandwich-structured pipelines are focused due to their unprecedented lightweight properties and superior mechanical resilience. However, buried sandwich-pressurised pipelines face persistent vulnerabilities, including embrittlement, corrosion, and delamination, that can threaten both environmental safety and energy reliability. To mitigate these risks

  • The COordinated Network Framework for Integrated Distribution of multi-Energy (CONFIDE)

    UNIVERSITA TA MALTA · MT · €205,314.24

    The European Union's energy transition, driven by the Green Deal and REPowerEU, is critically constrained by the challenge of integrating massive volumes of variable renewable energy sources (RES). Progress is impeded by a lack of computational frameworks capable of holistically planning and designing the required multi-energy infrastructure. Existing tools are largely siloed, deterministic, and neglect crucial network physics. The CONFIDE project will address this urgent gap by developing the

  • Paramagnetic Centres in 2D Perovskites through Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy for Optoelectronic and Quantum Applications

    VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETAS · LT · €181,136.16

    This proposal is dedicated to investigate the unexplored realm of paramagnetic centres in two-dimensional (2D) hybrid perovskites using Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Such centres will be introduced by doping transition-metal and rare-earth ions into the perovskite structure, which will enable the exploration of phase transitions, lattice dynamics, and degradation mechanisms in these materials. To complement the EPR investigations, additional techniques, including broadband

  • Museum-Parks as Heritage Laboratories: Transforming Contested Socialist-Era Monuments in Central and Eastern Europe

    VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETAS · LT · €246,220.2

    The HERITAGE-LAB project examines how societies deal with contested monuments in post-socialist Europe, where the collapse of communist regimes left hundreds of ideological symbols without clear meaning in the public space. While debates on these monuments are dominated by a simple binary of destruction versus preservation in situ, four unique museum-parks in Hungary, Bulgaria, Estonia and Lithuania have pioneered an alternative approach: relocating socialist-era monuments into curated environme

  • Perovskite-based solar cell for space application

    UNIVERSITAET POTSDAM · DE · €151,593.84

    Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are promising candidates for space applications; however, the space environment involves harsh conditions such as radiation exposure and temperature cycling. Thermal cycling experiments on PSCs have revealed changes in the phase transitions of the perovskite absorber layer. It is also well established that proton irradiation introduces defects in PSCs, which can either enhance or degrade device performance depending on the material system. To evaluate PSC operation

  • psiloNOVA: the new bridges by psilocybin to treat depression, from gut to brain

    VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETAS · LT · €181,136.16

    The psiloNOVA project aims (i) to investigate the acute and sustained modulatory effects of psilocybin on gut-brain and hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) (HPA-like) axes; (ii) to evaluate the promotion of neuroplasticity, neuroprotection, and immune regulation; and (iii) to identify molecular and cellular markers that define antidepressant responses in a depressive-like state zebrafish model. Using transgenic zebrafish, the project will integrate molecular profiling, along with high-resolu

  • Artificial Intelligence Integrated Scattering Type Near Field Optical Microscopy for Early and Transformative Cancer Detection

    VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETAS · LT · €196,976.16

    AI-SCAN aims to revolutionize the field of cancer diagnostics by merging the analytical power of artificial intelligence (AI) with the ultra-high spatial resolution of scattering-type near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) for cancer detection. Cancer cells undergo biochemical and morphological alterations at the nanoscale, such as changes in DNA, protein content, lipid distribution, refractive index (RI), and membrane architecture. Detecting and interpreting these subtle variations before they ob

  • Financial Technology and Voter Preferences

    VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETAS · LT · €271,234.44

    Financial technologies (FinTech) are transforming how citizens access financial services, yet their impact on democracy remains unexplored. As FinTech reshapes employment and wealth distribution, does it also change political preferences and voting behavior? FINVOTE investigates how FinTech adoption, through usage and employment, affects political attitudes across developed economies, addressing a critical gap in understanding technological disruption's democratic consequences. The project emplo

  • Geometry assisted StAbilization of Floquet Engineered phases

    MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · DE · €202,125.12

    Floquet engineering (FE) has become a cornerstone of quantum technology, enabling precise control over quantum simulations through periodic modulation of system parameters. Its versatility across platforms has driven breakthroughs such as the realization of topological phases and synthetic gauge fields with applications in quantum computing; control of interactions in Fermi-Hubbard models, enabling studies of mechanisms potentially linked to high-temperature superconductivity; and the creation o

  • Dynamic response of buried flexible steel structures to earthquakes

    AKADEMIA GORNICZO-HUTNICZA IM. STANISLAWA STASZICA W KRAKOWIE · PL · €381,752.52

    Buried flexible steel (BFS) structures made of corrugated steel have become recently an attractive alternative to conventional mid-span bridges and shallow cut-and-cover tunnels in North, Central and Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, their construction in seismically active regions of Europe is currently practically absent, with little research conducted and no design guidelines provided. This project aims to provide comprehensive characterisation of the dynamic response of BFS structures to earth

  • Deciphering spatio-temporal functions of FT florigen during flower and inflorescence development

    MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · DE · €202,125.12

    In many temperate plant species, environmental cues such as daylength or photoperiod regulate crucial developmental processes, including the transition to flowering. This flowering response is controlled by a systemic signal generated in leaves and transported to the shoot apex. In Arabidopsis, FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) is a major component of this signal, and its role in promoting flowering seems to be highly conserved across all flowering plants. Recent discoveries reveal FT is also transcribed l

  • Prolactin-guided remodelling of POMC neurons circuitry and function during female reproductive states

    FUNDACIO DE RECERCA CLINIC BARCELONA-INSTITUT D INVESTIGACIONS BIOMEDIQUES AUGUST PI I SUNYER · ES · €194,074.56

    Pregnancy and lactation involve deep hormonal fluctuations that drive maternal behaviours and reshape the neuroplastic female brain. While much is known about classical maternal caregiving circuits, how neural networks beyond these regions are reshaped to support the broader physiological and behavioural demands of motherhood, is poorly understood. The arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (ARC), a key integrator of hormonal and metabolic signals, is ideally positioned to mediate such adaptations.

  • Human JAK2 genotypes underlying tuberculosis

    IMAGINE INSTITUT DES MALADIES GENETIQUES NECKER ENFANTS MALADES FONDATION · FR · €242,260.56

    No single infectious agent has killed more humans historically than Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of infectious mortality worldwide. Yet, only 5-10% of infected individuals develop TB. The molecular mechanisms underlying progression to active TB in otherwise healthy individuals remain poorly defined. Emerging evidence suggests that TB is not solely an infectious disease but can also be a true genetic disorder in some patients, with rare and common

  • The Price of Democracy: The 1970s Economic Crisis and its Impact on the Southern European Democratic Transitions (1968-1985)

    FONDATION NATIONALE DES SCIENCES POLITIQUES · FR · €226,420.56

    Globalisation has put democracy to the test. Two decades of stagnation, populism, COVID-19 and economic warfare have revealed deep tensions between open markets and democratic governance—and scholars have responded. Political scientists have linked globalisation to rising inequality in high-income countries. Historians have traced how the 1970s economic crisis drove global economic convergence and laid the foundations for today’s socio-economic order. Surprisingly, Southern Europe is largely ab

  • Global Insights in Speciation: a New Butterfly Model System

    UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW · UK · €353,327.64

    Research in evolutionary biology has historically made use of rapidly evolving, species-rich groups as models to investigate the mechanisms of speciation: evolutionary radiations. However, most model radiations resulted from isolated events, and thus lack comparative power. Here, I propose a novel system in evolution: the Acraeini. This group of butterflies has several qualities that make it an ideal model: 1) it comprises 8 genera, differing in ecology and in geographic distribution; 2) 2 of th

  • From lab to life: measuring and modulating musculoskeletal load in human locomotion

    NORGES IDRETTSHOGSKOLE · NO · €334,273.2

    In an active and ageing society where mobility underpins independence, optimising musculoskeletal loading is increasingly important. Adequate load is essential for bone health, yet current measures often neglect muscle forces that contribute to bone stress. With wearable devices and digital health applications for gait training becoming more widespread, it is urgent to examine how interventions affect bone stress in the lower extremities. MSKLOAD will address this challenge by integrating experi

  • An exploration of the role of design uncertainties in BIM to BEM workflows in the design of energy efficient and low carbon buildings

    LUNDS UNIVERSITET · SE · €295,425

    Buildings consume 40% of Europe's total energy, with 80% used for heating, cooling, and hot water. Reducing building energy use is essential for climate change mitigation, while extreme weather events require buildings to maintain acceptable indoor conditions. Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Building Energy Modelling (BEM) have transformed the collaborative building design processes. However, existing approaches and workflows do not account for design uncertainties, exacerbating existin

  • Legumain-Triggered Biomolecular Condensates for Intracellular Delivery of Peptidomimetics for Anticancer Application

    THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM · UK · €276,187.92

    Intracellular delivery of unmodified therapeutic peptides remains a major challenge in targeted cancer therapy, due to poor cell permeability and rapid degradation. This fellowship addresses that limitation by developing enzyme-triggered biomolecular condensates (BMCs) as a spatiotemporally controlled delivery platform for cancer-relevant protein–protein interaction (PPI) inhibitors. The model target is the TACC-3/Aurora-A mitotic complex, with additional PPIs including TPX-2/Aurora-A and BH3/BC

  • Visual Dialects of Chivalry. Aristocratic Strategies of Cultural Exchange in the Thirteenth-Century Mediterranean

    UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA · IT · €193,643.28

    “Visual Dialects of Chivalry: Aristocratic Strategies of Cultural Exchange in the Thirteenth-Century Mediterranean” (VIDICHI13th) inquires into the mechanisms that lead to the creation of a shared elite identity, centered on martial values, in the Eastern Mediterranean from ca. 1200 to ca. 1300 AD. I intend to assess the impact of chivalry, defined here as a loose set of shared mores and aesthetic preferences connected to the exaltation of mounted warfare as the aristocracy’s defining pursuit, o

  • Predictive Dynamics in Language Comprehension across the Adult Lifespan

    UNIVERSITE DE GENEVE · CH · €292,118.88

    Language is fundamental for maintaining social bonds and well-being in older adulthood. However, over one-third of adults over 60 face increasing difficulties in understanding spoken language, resulting in social isolation and reduced autonomy. Predictive processing is a key neural mechanism supporting fluent language comprehension, yet its neural basis across the lifespan is poorly understood. PREDYNA-AGE aims to elucidate age-related changes in the brain’s predictive processing networks, addre

  • Entanglement flows in open systems and black holes

    SWANSEA UNIVERSITY · UK · €260,347.92

    Black holes are some of the most fascinating astrophysical objects in the universe. Since they bend space and time in extreme ways, they also serve as powerful theoretical laboratories for testing our understanding of theories of quantum gravity such as string theory. As black holes evolve, they emit Hawking radiation into their surroundings, behaving like open quantum systems with non-trivial quantum entanglement between system and environment. By studying the evolution of entanglement measu

  • SYmbiotic Microbiota of honey Bees: Influence On Social communication

    UNIVERSITE DE GENEVE · CH · €307,958.88

    The gut microbiota is a key symbiotic system that profoundly shapes host physiology and behaviour. In humans, it influences the brain and has been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum conditions, where social deficits are a hallmark. Yet little is known about its role in social communication, the cornerstone of cohesion and survival in complex animal societies. In insects, gut bacteria are known to affect chemical communication, but these studies have been restricte

  • The Inhospitable (Mother)land: Sedimented Monsters, Embedded Exposure, and Vernacular Healing in Post-Genocide Bosnia

    FREIE UNIVERSITAET BERLIN · DE · €217,965.12

    IMMERSE investigates how communities in post-war Bosnia live with and respond to landscapes altered by genocide. Soils marked by mass graves, alleged wartime toxins, and ecological degradation remain largely absent from scientific monitoring, yet they persist in community memory, embodied health concerns, and vernacular practices of care. By introducing the concept of embedded exposure, the project traces how war residues are absorbed into soil and water systems, circulate through food and bodie

  • Anthropocentrism and Contemporary Speculative Fiction

    UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA · IT · €396,991.08

    ANTHIFC investigates the tensions between anthropocentrism and its rejection in global speculative fiction (1960s-present). Anthropocentrism is the idea that human beings occupy a central place in existence. This idea can take various connotations, such as ethical or epistemological. ANTHFIC explores how the formal features of literary narrative enable or constrain contemporary fiction’s openness to ecological and nonhuman perspectives. At the same time, it problematizes theoretical frameworks t

  • Mapping antigenic niches of tumor-infiltrating B cells in triple-negative breast cancer

    KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET · SE · €252,180

    Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive breast cancer subtypes, with limited treatment options and poorer survival. The introduction of immunotherapy has improved outcomes, yet only a fraction benefit. Current biomarkers do not reliably predict response, highlighting the urgent need for better tools. Most immunotherapies target T cells. However, tumor-infiltrating B cells and plasma cells (TIL-Bs) have been linked to improved responses to immunotherapy. What these cells recog

  • The mind drifts towards the past: how experience shapes the visual system

    THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM · UK · €260,347.92

    Our future behaviour is strongly shaped by our past experience. This can happen explicitly, like the development of a strategy, but other times it happens implicitly and automatically. For instance, we are strongly biased to repeat actions rather than deviate, even when told repetitions are rare. This bias toward repetition extends beyond motor behaviour to cognitive processes themselves, where it is believed to underlie the remarkable human capacity for automatic pattern learning. This has rec

  • DOCSPACE: Documenting, Observing and Co-producing Spatial Practices and Audiovisual Counter-Imaginaries in Autonomous Urban Spaces

    UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID · ES · €305,271.84

    DOCSPACE investigates how, in contexts of financialisation and media concentration, urban social movements create, use and defend self-managed spaces, turning housing, care and civic practices into common goods. Using Tepito (Mexico City) as a laboratory with implications for Europe, the project operationalises Lefebvre’s theory of space through a new analytical triad: emancipatory practices, contextual narratives, collective dynamics. It addresses the main deficit in the study of autonomous spa

  • Law and border: Legal mobilisation around migration in the borderlands

    ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA · IT · €429,264.96

    LawBord is a study of why pro-migrant grassroots civil society organisations (CSOs) use the law in border areas – the borderlands. It focuses on four distinct EU and US borders, comparing opportunities to use the law as a means of political activism (i.e. legal mobilisation) in different Global North borderlands. The project builds on the idea that the geopolitical (structural, material and relational) characteristics of border areas create unique opportunities and limitations for pro-migrant C

  • Unravelling the Role of Cerebral Amyloid-beta Angiopathy in Epilepsy: Inflammatory Pathways and Interneuron Dysfunction

    LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN · DE · €217,965.12

    Late-onset epilepsy is a growing yet underexplored medical condition/disease in the aging population. Clinical studies increasingly associate cerebral amyloid-β (Aβ) angiopathy (CAA) – the accumulation/aggregation of Aβ in cerebral vessels – with high seizure incidence, especially in the inflammation-driven CAA subtype. However, the mechanisms by which CAA contributes to epileptogenesis remain unclear. I hypothesise that CAA creates an inflammatory microenvironment that selectively impairs corti

  • Z-Rich Cyclic Alkene Polymers by Cyclic Mo/W-Catalyzed REMP

    UNIVERSITE DE STRASBOURG · FR · €242,260.56

    Cyclic polymers possess distinctive physical attributes and have broad utility (e.g., self-assembly, surface functionalization, biomedical materials). Subsequent to the pioneering work by Grubbs and co-workers, who converted cyclooctene (COE) to cyclic poly-alkenes, additional Ru, W, Mo, and V complexes have been used to improve efficiency and polymer molecular weight. Nonetheless, major limitations persist: monomer scope remains; these include the requirement for strained olefins, substrate-dep

  • Post-disaster transformative recovery: mapping the often invisible sociopolitical, cultural, and ecological structures.

    UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE VALENCIA · ES · €242,593.2

    We live in a time of increasingly complex vulnerabilities to urban catastrophes. Cities in Europe (and worldwide) face more recurrent and severe disasters triggered by natural hazards, like the extreme floods (DANA) that devastated Valencia (Spain) in 2024. These events shock communities, damage the environment, and disrupt our economies. It is urgent to think of the recovery process as more than just going back to “normal”, we need a Transformation. In Recover and Transform, I will combine the

  • EVOlutionary and ecosystem consequences of plant-microbial responses to NITrogen

    UNIVERSITE LYON 1 CLAUDE BERNARD · FR · €226,420.56

    Plant-microbe interactions are ubiquitous and key to understanding biodiversity. These interactions can be underpinned by both ecological (e.g. competition for nutrients) and evolutionary processes (e.g. plant evolution). When these processes interact, they can create eco-evolutionary feedbacks, which may drive ecosystem functioning. However, empirical evidence on how eco-evolutionary dynamics scale up to influence ecosystem processes remains scarce. The EvoNit project aims to empirically test i

  • Selling Security: the Market of Security Devices in 20th-Century Europe (c.1900–1939)

    UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA · IT · €317,923.08

    Selling Security: the Market of Security Devices in 20th century Europe (c.1900–1939) (SEC-EUR) will address a striking lacuna in the study of European History. At its heart, the project will collect and analyse evidence on the production, marketing, and use of commercial security technologies – locks, safes, alarms, patrol call boxes – in Italy, France, and the UK between 1900 and 1939, and study them comparatively as a whole. Although such an approach is crucial to understanding how security i

  • A property-owning democracy or an asset-based regime? Competing meanings of property and transformation of the social contract in a post-homeownership property regime

    UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA · ES · €194,074.56

    PropRegime investigates how the crisis of homeownership in Europe is reshaping property regimes and democratic contracts. Advanced democracies long promoted homeownership as a foundation of social cohesion and intergenerational security. After the 2008 financial crisis, this model destabilised: foreclosures dispossessed indebted households, younger cohorts were excluded from homeownership, and private rental markets expanded under corporate landlords. The result is a contradictory social formati

  • TeraHertz Mapping and Optical-Boost of Ion transport in Lithium Solid-state Electrolytes and electrodes

    THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE · UK · €260,347.92

    Lithium-ion batteries will play a central role in societies move towards low-carbon electric transportation. A key step to realising this is the development of safe, high-rate capacity all-solid-state battery technologies, based on solid-state electrolytes (SSEs). While many SSEs have been developed, rationally developing stable, highly ionic conducting SSEs remains challenging due to the sub-picosecond timescales and nanometre length scales associated with the ion dynamics at their core. THz-MO

  • Microbial Interactions and Community Responses to Light

    AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · ES · €209,914.56

    "MICROLIGHT - Microbial Interactions and Community Responses to Light This project aims to explore light-mediated microbial interactions within the phycosphere, the microenvironment surrounding marine phytoplankton. By focusing on the interaction between the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum and the bacteria Silicibacter sp., I will investigate how light influences microbial behavior, communication, and nutrient exchange. The study will use an innovative microfluidic platform, the ""Phycosphere

  • Sexuality in Ancient Greek Lexica

    SORBONNE UNIVERSITE · FR · €242,260.56

    "SAGL aims to produce a complete study of the sexual vocabulary that Greeks of the past included in their own lexica. In a time when gender and sexuality in antiquity get more and more attention, the scientific community needs reliable reference works about ancient sexual vocabulary. While Latinists can count on Adams’ Latin Sexual Vocabulary (Baltimore 1982), Greek scholars always had to consult works based on single genres, such as Jeffrey Henderson’s ""The Maculate Muse. Obscene Language in A

  • Investigating the Role of the FOLD Effector SSPK in Venturia inaequalis Adaptation to Domesticated Apple Trees

    UNIVERSITE D'ANGERS · FR · €242,260.56

    Apple scab, caused by the fungus Venturia inaequalis, is the most damaging disease of apple (Malus domestica), capable of destroying up to 70% of yields in susceptible orchards and driving a heavy fungicide regime. Domestication and the genetic uniformity of modern orchards have originated the development of highly virulent pathogen strains that now threaten not only cultivated apples but also wild relatives such as Malus sieversii, a vital reservoir of genetic diversity. Like many plant pathoge

  • Understanding the Determinants of College and Major Choice: Preferences, Beliefs and Social Interactions

    NORGES HANDELSHOYSKOLE · NO · €267,418.56

    Europe’s capacity to sustain growth and social cohesion rests on how effectively education choices promote upward mobility. COMPASS investigates the sources of disparities in choices of colleges and majors across socio-economic backgrounds to understand the key determinants of intergenerational persistence in life outcomes. Educational choices can be driven by (1) differences beliefs—for instance about socio-economic returns, risks and own ability—or (2) differences in preferences and constraint

  • Discovery and evolution of CRISPR-Associated Transposons (CAST) for functional RNA-guided integration

    KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET · DK · €263,393.28

    CRISPR-Cas nucleases have revolutionized genome editing but remain limited by their reliance on DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), which restricts safe and efficient integration of large DNA cargos, particularly in non-dividing cells. CRISPR-associated transposons (CASTs) offer a promising alternative: they enable RNA-guided integration of large DNA cargos without DSBs. However, most systems remain poorly characterized and show low or unreported activity in mammalian systems. The CRAFT project (CR

  • Understanding Energetic Particle Precipitation EffeCTs from near-Earth space to upper atmosphere

    GFZ HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR GEOFORSCHUNG · DE · €202,125.12

    EPPECT is an interdisciplinary project that investigates how energetic protons lost from Earth’s ring current during geomagnetic storms impact the upper atmosphere and may influence climate relevant processes. The ring current encircles Earth and is populated by energetic electrons and ions trapped by the geomagnetic field. Storm time variations of the ring current can disrupt satellites, long distance communications, and power grids. Energetic proton precipitation is among the most dramatic var

  • Unveiling the Cryosphere's Role in Earth System Resilience

    POTSDAM-INSTITUT FUR KLIMAFOLGENFORSCHUNG EV · DE · €217,965.12

    The cryosphere, the frozen part of the Earth system, critically regulates Earth system dynamics and resilience. Despite accumulating evidence of the cryosphere's multiple roles for regulating climatic, ecological, hydrological, and biogeochemical processes, all these aspects impacting Earth system resilience have generally been investigated separately and in isolation so far. The most well-established framework for assessing Earth resilience risks – the planetary boundaries (PB) framework – hith

  • REclaiming LAnd within Transformative adaptaTION in Small islands

    UNIVERSITA TA MALTA · MT · €189,474.24

    Being extremely vulnerable to sea-level rise, climate change adaptation is a fundamental priority for Small Island States (SIS), which are creating new land from the sea through land reclamation to secure in-place futures. However, due to the predominant pattern of incremental change guiding current reclamation schemes, maladaptive outcomes are widespread while the effective implementation of transformative adaptation policies and actions remains hindered, with too little and vague empirical evi

  • Towards Efficient Colloidal Holonomic Spiking ASIC

    UNIVERSITA TA MALTA · MT · €205,314.24

    Colloid computing has gained attractiveness at recent times, as it started to address major setbacks that solid-state memories struggle to solve. This specific unconventional computing technique is an emerging alternate of full-silicon processors whose shrinking has already reached the bottleneck. The TECHSA (Towards Efficient Colloidal Holonomic Spiking ASIC) project is a multidisciplinary research project that aims to build an efficient spiking custom chip for colloidal computing application.

  • Locally Inspired Tourism Orientations

    UNIVERSITA TA MALTA · MT · €189,474.24

    LITO: Locally Inspired Tourism Orientations is an interdisciplinary research project that investigates how island communities perceive and experience the impacts of tourism-related transformations, aiming to translate these insights into actionable planning tools. Conducted across three Mediterranean island contexts - Milos Island (Greece), Malta, and Sardinia - the project introduces a participatory and place-based approach to tourism monitoring. At its core, LITO develops the Community Percept

  • Dissipative tides in binary neutron star mergers

    UNIVERSITAET POTSDAM · DE · €202,125.12

    One of the central challenges in fundamental physics is determining the composition and behavior of dense matter inside neutron star cores. The direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs) from the binary neutron star merger GW170817, together with its electromagnetic counterpart, has opened a new era in multi-messenger astrophysics for probing neutron star interiors. The next generation of GW interferometers, such as the Einstein Telescope in Europe, will achieve unprecedented sensitivities, b

  • PREbiotic Chemistry to study the Interstellar Origin and evolUtion of Sugars

    AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · ES · €194,074.56

    Sugars are crucial for the emergence of proteins, DNA, and ultimately living systems. Astronomers believe these molecules were originally produced from complex organic molecules (COMs) in space and later delivered to Earth by comets and asteroids. Yet, we still do not understand how sugars and COMs are formed there. Progress requires accurate chemical models, which can only be built if we know the molecular abundances and if we include all possible formation routes. For the robust determinatio

  • When bacteria meet fats: the physics of bacterial ordering, surface deformation and gene activity

    SORBONNE UNIVERSITE · FR · €226,420.56

    Bacteria constituting the gut microbiome play a crucial role metabolizing dietary fats. How these bacteria physically interact with these fats is unknown. LIPTO will provide direct visual insight into this process and translate them into quantitative, predictive tools. LIPTO hypothesizes that topological defects created by dense bacterial biofilms act as physical and metabolical hotspots. It will pursue three integrated objectives. O1 quantifies how gut-relevant bacteria remodel oil droplets un

  • Destruction of PFAS in synergistic Reductive and Oxidative processes for their complete mineralization in drinking water (DestructPRO)

    UNIVERSITE DE MONTPELLIER · FR · €242,260.56

    DestructPRO is an innovative and ambitious project to completely mineralize per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water sources by developing a synergistic technology of advanced reduction and oxidation processes (ARP and AOP). The European Commission (EC) has put a limit of 0.5 µg/L for sum of all PFAS concentration and 0.1 µg/L for sum of 20 specific PFAS concentration in drinking water (EU DWD 2020/2184). Existing treatments for PFAS remediation employ adsorption or membrane-

  • Antibacterial and pro-Angiogenic electroconductive scaffold for functional woUnd Regen-eration with neurogenic cues

    ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS IN IRELAND · IE · €268,568.64

    Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) causes over 35,000 deaths annually in the EU/EEA and is a major driver of chronic wound complications, where biofilm infections and poor vascularization often lead to delayed healing. Therefore, AURa aims to address two critical challenges in chronic wound healing: 1) persistent bacterial biofilms, resistant to conventional antibiotics, and 2) impaired vascularization, which delays repair and increases the risk of amputation. AURa introduces a first-of-its-kind dua

  • Chain-of-coupled-oscillators approach for modelling and prediction of 3-D stochastic vortex-induced vibrations under turbulent flows

    UNIVERSITE DE LIEGE · BE · €200,400

    Across science and engineering, synchronization emerges when interacting systems in biology, physics, or social dynamics, spontaneously align their dynamics. This project focuses on a critical manifestation of synchronization, vortex-induced vibrations (VIV), occurring when alternating vortices shed from slender structures. In civil engineering it results in continuous and sustained vibrations of bridges, transmission lines, onshore wind turbines supports, tension legs of offshore wind turbines.

  • RNA polymerase In immune Synergy Exploration (RISE): multi-omics dissection of phosphorylation-regulated transcriptional control in plant immunity

    UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN · NL · €217,076.16

    Plants survive pathogen attack by rapidly reprogramming gene expression. Recent discoveries from my host lab revealed that cell-surface and intracellular immune systems act synergistically: intracellular immunity amplifies the strength and duration of cell-surface responses through precise regulation of defence genes. Yet, the molecular mechanism underlying this amplification remains unknown. The RISE project will test the hypothesis that RNA Polymerase II (Pol II), the central enzyme for gene t

  • Linking Climate Extremes to Financial Risk in the Era of Climate Change

    UNIVERSITAT DE VALENCIA · ES · €194,074.56

    Climate extremes are becoming more frequent and severe, creating systemic risks for economic stability and financial markets. Current approaches often examine climate prediction and financial risk separately, leaving a critical gap in understanding how physical hazards translate into market impacts. STOCKCLIM addresses this challenge by developing the first integrated framework to detect, project, and quantify the financial impacts of extreme climate events. The project combines recent advances

  • Laboratory Modelling of Jovian Polar Vortex Clusters

    CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · FR · €242,260.56

    Jupiter’s poles host remarkable clusters of long-lived cyclones, revealed by NASA’s Juno mission. The origin, stability, and dynamics of these clusters remain unresolved questions in planetary science. Current understanding relies mainly on theoretical and numerical approaches, which are constrained by simplifying assumptions and computational cost. This project, LabJPV, will establish a laboratory framework to investigate the formation, stability, and interactions of Jovian polar vortex cluster

  • HDFACT82: Functional characterisation of CCDC82 and its interaction with FACT in Huntington’s disease

    AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · ES · €194,074.56

    Huntington’s disease (HD) is an inherited, fatal brain disorder that causes progressive motor, cognitive, and psychiatric decline, affecting around 45,000 individuals in Europe, with no cure currently available. Although the genetic cause of HD—a CAG expansion in the huntingtin gene—is well established, patients carrying the same mutation often differ widely in age at onset, clinical presentation, and disease progression. Recent large-scale genetic studies have identified modifier genes that inf

  • Targeting EP300/CBP in AML: from mechanistic discovery to therapeutic innovation

    UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PARMA · IT · €193,643.28

    EP300 and CBP are crucial lysine acetyltransferases regulating enhancer-dependent transcription via scaffolding and enzymatic activities. They are appealing targets in cancer due to their role in cell cycle control and their druggability. In particular, small molecules targeting the EP300/CBP bromodomains have shown promising activity in haematological malignancies. CCS1477, the first clinical-grade EP300/CBP bromodomain inhibitor, has demonstrated encouraging preclinical and early-phase clinica

  • Human–robot Adaptive Role MOdulation with Neuro-inspired trajectorY

    SCUOLA UNIVERSITARIA PROFESSIONALE DELLA SVIZZERA ITALIANA · CH · €292,118.88

    AI and robotics can make industrial workplaces more adaptive, but robot acceptance depends on comfort and naturalness of interaction. Traditional kinematic approaches fail to reproduce human-like motor control, which humans associate with trust and comfort. Drawing on the kinematic theory of rapid human movements, I will model motion as sequences of strokes, i.e., unimodal motor primitives arising from neuromuscular dynamics. By treating strokes as the building blocks of action, complex motor be

  • ML-Enhanced CFD Modelling of Carbothermic Reduction of Cathode Material for Optimized and Environmentally Friendly Recycling of Lithium-Ion Batteries

    POLITECNICO DI MILANO · IT · €209,483.28

    The widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and portable electronics has triggered a dramatic rise in lithium-ion battery (LIB) usage and, consequently, in end-of-life battery waste. Pyrometallurgical recycling offers a scalable route to recover critical metals such as lithium and cobalt, but current processes remain energy-intensive and environmentally suboptimal. A key step in this route is the carbothermic reduction (CTR) of lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2). However, its complex gas–solid

  • Unveiling the Role of Mesoscale Structures of CME Magnetic Fields on Space-weather Prediction Accuracy using Radio Remote Sensing

    STICHTING NEDERLANDSE WETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK INSTITUTEN · NL · €217,076.16

    Magnetized plasma eruptions from the Sun, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), can disturb Earth’s magnetic shield, generating space weather (SWx) that impacts satellites, aviation, power grids, and other critical technologies. Reliable forecasts require knowledge of arrival time and mesoscale magnetic fields (B-fields), comparable in scale to Earth’s magnetosphere. Current state-of-the-art methods for SWx forecasting rely mainly on models and remain limited by the absence of direct measurements of CM

  • Genetic and evolutionary mechanisms of endogenous viral elements in kelp

    AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · ES · €242,593.2

    Endogenous viral elements (EVEs) are viral DNA integrated into host genomes and inherited across generations. They include active viruses and a wide range of viral fragments - many lose functionality, but some are co-opted for host functions. Previous studies, including those by the candidate, have revealed a complex landscape of EVEs in brown algal genomes, including both intact and fragmented forms related to giant viruses (Nucleocytoviricota). EVEs could drive rapid evolution in brown algae,

  • Uncovering Educational and Health Inequalities through Socioeconomic–Genotype Interactions (IneqGen)

    THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · UK · €260,347.92

    Children from socioeconomically advantaged families tend to achieve higher levels of education and enjoy better health. Research shows that this phenomenon is at least partially explained by differences in parenting practices shaped by parental resources, for example, in how parents support learning, guide school decisions, or promote healthy behaviours. However, this previous research focuses on observable traits, overlooking that the child’s genotype - an early, often hidden factor - can be am

  • Predicting immunotherapy response in melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer patients using an extracellular vesicle-derived miRNA signature and a non-invasive CRISPR-based detection assay.

    CENTRE GEORGES-FRANCOIS LECLERC ASSOCIATION · FR · €242,260.56

    Immunotherapy (IT) has revolutionized the treatment of metastatic lung cancer and melanoma by enhancing the immune system's ability to recognize and attack cancer cells. However, only about 50% of patients respond positively to IT and current methods assessing patient eligibility for IT primarily rely on invasive tumor biopsies and have proven inefficient. With 420,000 new melanoma and lung cancer cases diagnosed annually in the EU, this results in wasted costs, time and resources in healthcare

  • UV Clues for the Cosmos: Positivity Constraints for Lorentz-Violating EFTs

    COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES · FR · €226,420.56

    Cosmic inflation and dark energy represent the leading paradigms for describing the early and late-time acceleration of our Universe. However, the fundamental physics driving these phenomena remains unknown, resulting in a vast landscape of competing theoretical models. A key challenge is to distinguish physically viable theories from those that, despite appearances, are inconsistent with fundamental principles like causality, locality, and unitarity. Powerful consistency checks, known as posi

  • Constructing Imperial Territories in Post-Ottoman South-Eastern and East-Central Europe (1685–1740)

    SVEUCILISTE U ZAGREBU FILOZOFSKI FAKULTET · HR · €171,791.76

    CONSTERRA investigates appropriation, dissonant heritage, and the liminalities of identity by examining the afterlife of Ottoman architecture in former Venetian and Habsburg territories—modern-day Montenegro, Croatia, Hungary, and Serbia—between 1685 and 1740. In these regions, numerous refurbished Ottoman buildings display layered architectural forms and carry seemingly conflicting meanings. These complexities pose significant challenges for art-historical interpretation and heritage conservati

  • Deciphering OPA1 regulation and function in human CD8⁺ T cells across scales

    UNIVERSITAT BASEL · CH · €292,118.88

    CD8⁺ T cells are central to adaptive immunity, eradicating pathogens and tumours while sustaining immune homeostasis. Their fate is shaped not only by transcriptional and signalling programmes but also by organellar organisation, an emerging regulatory layer. The mitochondrial GTPase Optic Atrophy 1 (OPA1) is uniquely positioned within this layer. By controlling inner membrane fusion and the assembly of cristae junctions, it tunes mitochondrial function. OPA1 is regulated through alternative spl

  • Halogen-bonds and Semiconducting Spacers for Bismuth Perovskite X-ray Detectors

    POLITECNICO DI MILANO · IT · €209,483.28

    X-ray detectors are cornerstone of various sectors including health care, manufacturing, security, etc. The detector market has long relied on amorphous selenium (a-Se), cadmium telluride (CdTe), and cadmium zinc telluride (CZT). While effective, they often include inherent compromises in detection sensitivity at lower X-ray doses. At the same time, increasing use of X-ray technologies raises concerns about exposure to hazardous ionizing radiation. Recently, a new class of materials called perov

  • Evolution and Development of Hatching Gland in Teleost Fish

    AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · ES · €209,914.56

    Hatching is a universal milestone in animal development, present in both oviparous and viviparous species. Biochemical hatching has been described for several species and most of the research has been focused on the enzymes secreted by unicellular glands. These hatching gland cells (HGCs) are typically non-migratory, but in teleost fishes, they acquired migratory capacity. This evolutionary novelty has enabled remarkable morphological diversification with ecological and behavioral consequences.

  • The GEOmetry of Power – Ottoman Scientific Supradiscourse through AI-Enhanced Analysis of Mathematical and Astronomical Manuscripts (1450–1600)

    FREIE UNIVERSITAET BERLIN · DE · €202,125.12

    GEOP AI: The Geometry of Power asks how scientific language became a tool of political authority. It focuses on Ottoman texts in mathematics and astronomy from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and traces how technical terms were recast as an imperial language of power. Recent work has shown that early modern states placed science at the heart of governance; however, the Ottoman case is rarely examined linguistically. Most accounts map people and books, while the mechanisms of authority, the

  • Droplet–Aerosol Trends discRepancy to constrain satellite-based Aerosol–Cloud interactions Estimates

    UNIVERSITAET LEIPZIG · DE · €202,125.12

    Anthropogenic aerosols strongly affect Earth’s climate by acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), increasing cloud droplet number concentration (Nd), brightening liquid clouds (Twomey effect), and producing substantial negative radiative forcing (RFaci), thereby suppressing global warming. However, the Twomey effect remains one of the largest sources of uncertainty in climate sensitivity, limiting reliable projections for mitigation and adaptation. Alarmingly, recent satellite records reveal

  • Context-Dependent Retinal Computations During Innate Visual Behavior in Mice

    SORBONNE UNIVERSITE · FR · €226,420.56

    Understanding how perceptual input is transformed by neurons into behavioral responses is a central question in neuroscience. Recent work indicates that, for ethologically relevant stimuli—like prey pursuit and predator avoidance—neural correlates of behavior already emerge within retinal circuits, challenging the view of the retina as a mere low-level feature detector. This project will test the hypothesis that retinal ganglion cells (RGC) contribute to these behaviors depending on the visual c

  • Sustainable Engineering of Earthen StRuctures using Eco-friendly Soil fills with New-generAtion Geosynthetic Reinforcement Systems

    ZAVOD ZA GRADBENISTVO SLOVENIJE · SI · €248,196.9

    Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil (GRS) structures offer rapid construction, adaptability to varying site conditions and enhanced durability compared to conventional methods. Their stability critically depends on the interface strength between soil, geosynthetics and structural components, a requirement that cannot currently be satisfied with non-traditional or recycled backfills due to the absence of performance-based guidelines. Consequently, high-quality quarried aggregates are typically used, inc

  • Discovering the timing and mechanisms of germplasm translation and function.

    FORSCHUNGSINSTITUT FUR MOLEKULARE PATHOLOGIE GESELLSCHAFT MBH · AT · €214,344.72

    The germline is essential for reproduction and species survival, but the specialized molecular mechanisms governing its cellular program remain mysterious due to its small size. In many animals such as fish, frogs, and invertebrates, this program is encoded in the germplasm (GP), a biomolecular condensate containing RNAs and proteins inherited maternally through the egg. This project aims to uncover the mechanisms by which the germline program in zebrafish is decoded from the GP over development

  • Vascularisation and Perfusion of Brain Organoids with a Meningeal Barrier on an Organ-on-Chip Platform

    THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE · UK · €260,347.92

    Brain organoids are lab-grown models of human brain development that have revolutionised neuroscience research. However, their lack of vascularisation causes hypoxia and necrosis at their core, limiting growth and maturation, and preventing the modelling of neurovascular interactions. Previous attempts to vascularise brain organoids often result in structural disruption from uncontrolled angiogenic invasion. While some strategies generate microvessels, they typically lack connection to perfusabl

  • In-SituTribo: Enabling PFAS-Free Tribological Interfaces through In-Situ Raman Spectroscopy and Predictive Modelling

    UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS · UK · €276,187.92

    The Postdoctoral Fellowship offers the applicant the opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research at the University of Leeds, one of Europe’s leading centres for tribology and surface engineering. The fellowship will combine the applicant’s expertise in in-situ tribochemical analysis with the host’s strengths in predictive modelling to create an integrated framework for designing safer, high-performance sliding interfaces. Current reliance on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in tribolo

  • EmPath: Harnessing Empathy as a Pathway to Resilience in Behavioural Responses to Shocks

    UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA · ES · €194,074.56

    EmPath studies how individuals build resilience to major life shocks—economic hardship, environmental disasters, and health crises—by integrating insights from behavioral economics and psychology, in particular theory of mind, and strategic perspective-taking. The project advances a framework that combines the “empathy gap” literature with models of strategic reasoning. The central hypothesis is that resilience can be fostered when individuals recognise the transience of current emotional states

  • Next-Generation dynamic genome-scale model of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that leverages multi-omics time-series data to optimize Wine fermentation

    UNIVERSIDADE DO MINHO · PT · €207,183.12

    Europe, as the global leader in wine production, faces major challenges: climate change affects grape ripening and wine composition, consumers demand more aromatic, lower-alcohol wines, and wineries need sustainable practices. Addressing these requires innovative, data-driven strategies, particularly in fermentation science, where microbial performance dictates product quality. Genome-scale metabolic models (GSMs) can simulate microbial fermentation but often assume steady-state conditions, use

  • Sacred Sites, Shared Futures: Reclaiming Sacred Forests by Advancing Biocultural Governance in Europe and Globally

    COVENTRY UNIVERSITY · UK · €345,234.9

    This project addresses the urgent need for innovative, participatory approaches to the conservation of Sacred Forests—landscapes with deep spiritual, cultural, and ecological significance. By bridging biocultural governance and spatial planning, the research develops and field-tests an interdisciplinary toolkit that integrates community knowledge, spiritual ecology, and policy co-design in partnership with academic and non-academic organizations across the UK and EU. The objectives are to map an

  • Thalamic Nuclei Connectivity in the Psychosis Continuum: Parsing Clinical Heterogeneity and Individual Trajectories

    UNIVERSITE DE GENEVE · CH · €469,988.88

    Psychotic disorders are among the top causes of global disability due to their early onset and poor clinical outcomes. Forty percent of patients show no improvement within the first year despite access to evidence-based treatments. Yet, clinical trajectories after psychosis onset remain highly heterogeneous and poorly understood. Structural and functional thalamocortical dysconnectivity is consistently observed in early-stage psychosis (EP), contributing to persistent symptoms and impaired funct

  • Symmetry-driven Writing with Intrinsic Torques for Computing beyond Hardware limits

    JOHANNES GUTENBERG-UNIVERSITAT MAINZ · DE · €202,125.12

    "The explosive growth of artificial intelligence has exposed a fundamental flaw in conventional computing: the von Neumann architecture is inefficient for data-intensive brain-like tasks. A solution lies in unconventional computing architectures that integrate memory directly with processing. The key enabling component is a new class of ultra-fast, high-density, non-volatile memory. While magnetic random-access memory is a leading candidate, its progress has slowed. The incumbent switching techn

  • Making the good matter: An ethnography of decency in power for inclusive governance in Central and Eastern Europe

    ETNOLOGICKY USTAV AKADEMIE VED CESKE REPUBLIKY VVI - INSTITUTE OF ETHNOLOGY OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES · CZ · €259,697.7

    MAGMA takes up a simple, urgent and understudied question: how can powerful people defend democracy? Institutional design alone does not suffice; implementing democratic values is always at risk, from bureaucratic drift (the ‘banality of evil’) and from anti-democratic currents. Today, the latter, colloquially MxGA (‘Make-X-Great-Again’), is coupling with new mass-communication technologies to erode safeguards, prompting EU-level responses. As its acronym signals, MAGMA searches for hidden resou

  • Advanced Modelling of Firebrand Behaviour to Improve the Fire Safety of Timber Buildings

    IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE · UK · €276,187.92

    Firebrand-driven ignition is a major pathway for the escalation of wildfires and urban fires. Firebrands can travel long distances and ignite multiple sites, allowing fires to breach control lines and grow from local incidents to city-scale conflagrations. As European cities expand the use of mass timber to meet climate goals, the behaviour of timber firebrands becomes a critical safety issue, yet it remains poorly characterised compared with embers from vegetation. FORT adopts an interdisciplin

  • GUT-commensal Strain for Cancer Assessment and Notification

    VIB VZW · BE · €200,400

    Colorectal cancer is one of the deadliest cancers in the European Union, claiming over 158,956 lives in 2022 alone. Despite its slow progression—typically over 10-15 years—early detection remains a major challenge. Current screening programs primarily rely on Fecal Immunochemical Tests, which detect hidden blood in stool. However, these tests often fail to identify non-bleeding cancers and can yield false positives due to benign lesions like polyps. Here, I hypothesize that engineering a living

  • Linking Brassinosteroid Signaling to Stem Cell Homeostasis in the Shoot Apical Meristem

    VIB VZW · BE · €216,240

    Brassinosteroids (BRs) are steroidal phytohormones that regulate nearly all aspects of plant growth and development. The shoot and root apical meristems (SAM and RAM, respectively) each contain a small group of pluripotent stem cells that continuously divide to generate aerial and underground tissues. Recent work from the host lab revealed fluctuations in BR activity during the cell cycle in the Arabidopsis RAM, where polarity-driven asymmetric BR signaling and biosynthesis between daughter cell

  • Prokaryotic DNA Methylation under Soil Drought

    ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA · IT · €209,483.28

    "Intensifying droughts, driven by climate change, threaten European soils—critical carbon sinks regulated by microbial communities. The mechanisms governing microbial drought responses remain a major knowledge gap, limiting our ability to predict ecosystem-climate feedbacks. ProMeSD will pioneer environmental meta-epigenomics in soils to test the central hypothesis that past precipitation history creates a ""molecular memory"" via DNA methylation. Specifically, it predicts that microbes in histo

  • Metal Ammonia Solutions, Shape and Interactions Varied through the Electrolyte-to-Metal transition

    USTAV ORGANICKE CHEMIE A BIOCHEMIE, AV CR, V.V.I. · CZ · €191,918.16

    Metals have been a well understood part of our world long before modern chemistry existed and our knowledge of metals has advanced since then. This would suggest that there exists a clear, atomic-level description of metallicity. However, the behavior of alkali metal in ammonia solutions demonstrates that our understanding is incomplete. This system creates solvated electrons, an electron stabilized in a void between molecules. The system exhibits a striking change from a non-metallic blue to a

  • High-Fidelity Fabrication of HAR Microlens Arrays via Adaptive Toolpaths, Intelligent Feedback, and Elliptical Vibration Cutting

    SABANCI UNIVERSITESI · TR · €165,205.2

    High-aspect-ratio microlens arrays (HAR MLAs) are essential for next-generation optical systems, yet their fabrication is limited by surface errors, tool-induced defects, and scalability issues on standard 3-axis ultra-precision machines. This project develops a fully integrated closed-loop framework combining curvature-adaptive volute spiral toolpaths, FEM simulations, physics-informed machine learning (PIML), and elliptical vibration cutting (EVC). Adaptive toolpaths ensure constant cutter eng

  • Coastal Storm Erosion Alert Systems

    UNIVERSITE DE BORDEAUX · FR · €325,542.36

    Coastal storm-induced erosion is a pressing global issue threatening coastal communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems, increasingly exacerbated by climate change and human pressures. Yet, many regions—particularly the Atlantic coast of Europe—still lack operational Early Warning Systems (EWSs) able to predict storm-induced erosion, a key component for storm risk mitigation. The CoStErAS project addresses this gap by developing a predictive framework for storm-driven beach erosion that is both

  • Syriac Education, Abbasid Times: Reclaiming the Place of Syriac Intellectual Training under Muslim Rulers

    UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI CATANIA · IT · €209,483.28

    Syriac Christian intellectuals played a crucial role in translating Greek science and philosophy into Arabic between the 8th and 10th centuries. Syriac groups had been translating the “wisdom of the Greeks” into their Late Aramaic variety, Syriac, since the late 5th century. Therefore, when the Abbasids took control over West Asian regions inhabited by Syriac-speaking Christians, these locals were called to action alongside other minorities living in the Empire, such as Zoroastrian Persians, to

  • A HYbrid COmputational platform for the analysis of DEgradation of materials & structures in harsh SPACE environments

    UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PALERMO · IT · €209,483.28

    Why this project matters. Next generation space missions — from reusable launchers like Falcon 9 to long-duration exploration programs such as Artemis — depend on materials able to withstand extreme conditions: rapid heating and cooling, radiation, and impacts from micro-meteoroids. Today, we cannot stll reliably predict how these materials degrade in orbit. As a consequence, spacecraft are often overdesigned, making them heavier, more expensive, and less sustainable. What is missing today. Exi

  • Role of prophages in the evolution and spread of antiviral resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

    CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · FR · €242,260.56

    Most bacteria carry chromosomally integrated viral mobile genetic elements – prophages. Although parasitic, prophages can benefit their host via genes with systems to defend the host from infection by other phages. How does conflict between these phages shape the evolution and the spread of the defensive genes? I aim to study how prophage-mediated anti-viral defence spreads through populations of the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Preliminary data shows that prophages can provide hosts with di

  • Analytic Advances for the Hybrid Bootstrap

    KING'S COLLEGE LONDON · UK · €260,347.92

    "The conformal bootstrap program has been spectacularly successful in producing rigorous numerical bounds on the dynamical data of conformal field theories (CFTs)—systems appearing ubiquitously in many areas of physics and experimental setups. The standard numerical bootstrap uses basic consistency principles to exclude huge regions of parameter space, often leaving small allowed ""islands"" that essentially determine low-lying CFT data, e.g. for the 3d Ising model. Despite its success, the boo

  • Ancient signals, New models: Uncovering the regulation of multicellularity through the Hippo signaling pathway in Choanoflagellate Rosettes

    INSTITUT PASTEUR · FR · €242,260.56

    Choanoflagellates are the closest living relatives of animals, and thus are a key source of information on animal origins. Some species of choanoflagellates, such as S. rosetta, exhibit facultative multicellularity through rosette colony formation. One critical pathway involved in multicellular development, conserved among metazoans, is Hippo signaling. This pathway plays a central role in regulating cell proliferation and organ size by regulating the activity of the key transcription factor Yor

  • PhotoBioLEAP; Biobased photon upconverting living hydrogel platforms for photosynthesis enabled technologies

    THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE · UK · €276,187.92

    Photosynthesis is foundation of our biosphere. Beyond its natural function to convert light energy into chemical energy that fuels most of the life forms and production of oxygen that we breath, humanity is now creatively repurposing photosynthesis to address modern challenges, from developing photosynthetic cell factories for sustainable chemical production to engineering life-support systems for survival in space. Many of these technologies use photosynthetic microorganisms, such as cyanobacte

  • Metal-organic conducting polymers for emerging bioelectronics

    MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · DE · €401,232

    MOCoPoly is at the intersection of synthetic chemistry, materials science, and electronics, aiming to develop a new material class, metal-organic conducting polymers for bioelectronic devices. Bioelectronics is a rapidly developing field aiming to interface soft, polymer-based electronic sensors and electrodes with biological systems. Inspired by the benchmark material PEDOT:PSS but overcoming its limitations in synthetic tunability, difficult post-processing requirements and sustainability, MOC

  • Towards Synthetic Life: Constructing Peptide-based Minimal Catalytic Protocells with Emergent Functionalities

    UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL · UK · €276,187.92

    The CAT-PRO (Catalytic Protocells) project focuses on investigating the emergence of complex functionalities from minimal chemical systems to bridge the gap between prebiotic chemistry and the origin of life. The project aims to construct catalytic protocells that mimic primordial cellular functions, utilizing peptide-based liquid-liquid phase separation as a scaffold for proto-metabolism. By incorporating cofactor molecules, the potential of these protocells to perform diverse catalytic transfo

  • CollEdge: Collective Intelligence Emerges on Edge Learning Systems with Privacy-Preserving Knowledge Sharing and Lifelong Evolution

    ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE · CH · €307,958.88

    The rapid proliferation of edge devices with embedded AI capabilities enables local processing of private data, providing an inherent foundation for privacy protection. However, most current edge learning systems still depend on centralized aggregation, where updated local AI models are periodically transmitted to a server. This approach introduces inefficiencies in training and undermines robustness due to single-point failures. To address these limitations, CollEdge will design and implement a

  • Unravelling Malignant Cholangiocyte Subpopulations that Drive Chemoresistance in Cholangiocarcinoma

    HUMANITAS MIRASOLE SPA · IT · €193,643.28

    Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a highly heterogeneous and aggressive group of malignant tumours arising along the biliary tree. Its incidence (~5:100,000) is rising worldwide, and it already represents the second most common primary liver cancer (10–15%). Alarmingly, CCA-related mortality has increased by 37% in Europe over the past two decades, establishing CCA as a major health, social, and economic burden. The delayed diagnosis of CCA, combined with its pronounced chemoresistance, results in an

  • Ultrafast Spin-Lattice Cooling via Hyperbolic Phonon Polaritons in van der Waals Magnets

    AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS · ES · €209,914.56

    The next-generation spintronic device will be restricted by heat management. In ultrathin 2D van der Waals magnets, ultrafast optical or electrical pulses deposit large amounts of energy, while traditional lattice cooling is much slower. This difference often leads to rapid demagnetization and fluctuating spin order, which in turn limits both device speed and long-term stability. Given the limited practical cooling solutions available, it is difficult to remove the massive heat stored in nanosca

  • Tailored lipid nanoparticles for iontophoretic ocular drug delivery.

    UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PARMA · IT · €193,643.28

    Retinal disorders such as age-related macular edema, diabetic retinopathies, retinitis pigmentosa and glaucoma are among the leading causes of irreversible blindness worldwide. Currently, effective drug therapy is hindered due to anatomical and physiological characteristics of the eye, thus requiring ocular injections to ensure drug concentration to ensure therapeutic effect. These injections are administered monthly and associated with severe side effects, including retinal detachment, infectio

  • Salinity's secret climate impact: Does freshwater salinization enhance N2O greenhouse gas emissions?

    CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · FR · €226,420.56

    The SALTY-N project aims to uncover how rising salinity levels in freshwater ecosystems influence nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, a potent greenhouse gas contributing to global climate change. Freshwater salinization, driven by urbanization, agricultural runoff, and climate change, is expected to disrupt nitrogen cycling processes, specifically nitrification and denitrification, which are key sources of N2O. Current lake models do not adequately account represent N2O production and emissions and

  • Tracing somatic evolution in corals with multi-omics: implications for longevity and adaptation

    ALFRED-WEGENER-INSTITUT HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR POLAR- UND MEERESFORSCHUNG · DE · €252,656.4

    Corals are foundation species that build reef ecosystems, supporting vast marine biodiversity, yet the cellular mechanisms underlying their extreme longevity remain poorly understood. As colonial, modular organisms, corals are capable of indeterminate size and lifespan, raising fundamental questions about how genome integrity is maintained. In unitary animals, somatic mutations drive age-associated decline and malignancy, but in corals, modularity allows deleterious mutations to be compartmental

  • Development of an Integrated Modelling Platform for Predicting the Microstructure, Mechanical, and Durability Properties of Carbon Dioxide-Mineralized Cementitious Materials for Net-Zero Construction

    UNIVERSITY OF NORTHUMBRIA AT NEWCASTLE · UK · €276,187.92

    Reduction of CO2 emissions from the construction sector is critical for achieving net-zero goals and limiting global temperature rise to below 1.5 °C by mid-century. Concrete, one of the world’s most widespread construction materials, relies heavily on Portland cement, which emits approximately 1 ton of CO2 per ton produced. With global cement demand projected to increase from 4.1 Gt in 2020 to 6.0 Gt by 2050, the need for advanced and effective mitigation strategies is becoming increasingly urg

  • SEAMAP: Early Modern Maritime Knowledge and Cartography in the Atlantic World

    UNIVERSIDAD DE SEVILLA · ES · €277,206.72

    SEAMAP explores the history of knowledge of the seas from 1600 to 1800. It focuses on representations of maritime phenomena on maps and charts of four strategic locations, across the five main European-Atlantic empires. By documenting knowledge of maritime natural phenomena, the project challenges the received view that seas were unknown spaces in the early modern period. It puts present-day environmental and social questions, particularly environmental degradation of the seas and the denialism

  • Epigenetic control of the cell cycle in a multicellular model organism

    UNIVERSITAT ZURICH · CH · €307,958.88

    Multicellular organisms rely on a carefully regulated cell cycle to coordinate cell division and DNA replication. Epigenetic mechanisms can influence this process, but during early development it is still unclear how this happens. The flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana is a powerful model to explore this question. In particular, the endosperm, a tissue that nourishes the embryo, shows striking changes as it shifts from rapid cell divisions to a cell cycle arrest, offering a unique opportunity

  • Event-centric Swell Analysis and Modelling

    INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE RECHERCHE POUR L'EXPLOITATION DE LA MER · FR · €226,420.56

    Swells are long-period ocean surface waves generated by intense meteorological events. Despite their prevalence, swells remain inaccurately predicted by state-of-the-art spectral wave models, and high-impact events are poorly characterised. Recent satellite missions such as SWOT and CFOSAT have provided unprecedented observations and revealed key gaps in our understanding. By integrating advanced observational networks with numerical models, there is now a unique opportunity to advance the physi

  • Recombination in haploid-diploid organisms

    CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · FR · €226,420.56

    The RHO project represents a pivotal step in Dr. Cécile Molinier’s career, providing the essential training and interdisciplinary expertise needed to establish herself as an independent researcher in evolutionary genomics. Meiotic recombination is a key process shaping genome evolution, yet our current understanding is heavily biased toward diploid model species, leaving a critical gap regarding how life cycle architecture, particularly the alternation between multicellular haploid and diploid p

  • AI-driven Early Warnings System for Compound Environmental Health Risks in Europe

    FUNDACION PRIVADA INSTITUTO DE SALUD GLOBAL BARCELONA · ES · €194,074.56

    In recent years, rapid advances in artificial intelligence have revolutionised atmospheric forecasting, giving rise to AI-based weather prediction models (AIWPs) that collapse forecast runtimes from hours on supercomputers to minutes on a single GPU, while rivalling the skill of state-of-the-art numerical weather prediction models (NWPs). Yet this disruptive capacity remains largely untapped in public health, even as Europe faces escalating extremes of heat and air pollution. Crucially, hazards

  • GENomic Signatures Associated with Vertebrate Extinction Risk

    UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA · ES · €209,914.56

    Biodiversity faces unprecedented threats, yet current extinction risk assessments remain limited by insufficient integration of genomic, ecological, and historical data. This project will bridge this gap by revealing how genomic diversity and demographic histories shape extinction vulnerability across vertebrates, using advances in genomics and computational modelling. Focusing on ~200 species spanning mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, the project will: - Quantify variation in de

  • Co-creating literacies at the ocean-climate-people nexus to advance transformative governance in marine conservation through arts-based approaches.

    CENTRO EM REDE DE INVESTIGACAO EM ANTROPOLOGIA · PT · €207,183.12

    Advancing more effective governance in marine conservation is pivotal to addressing the pressures of climate and global change. Such governance requires approaches that recognise diverse knowledge systems, engage lived experiences fostering emotional connections with the ocean, and critically address power relations. This needs greater inclusion in decision-making and stronger integration of the human dimensions in conservation, with understanding the relational and evolving interactions between

  • Astrophysical Frontiers in Feebly Interacting Particle Searches: Multi-Wavelength Analyses and Predictive Strategies for Next-Generation Observations

    CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · FR · €226,420.56

    The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, despite its remarkable successes, cannot explain several key phenomena, including for instance neutrino masses and dark matter. A compelling class of extensions of the SM (BSM) involves Feebly Interacting Particles (FIPs) - such as axions, axion-like particles, dark photons, and sterile neutrinos - whose extremely weak couplings evade laboratory detection but may leave imprints in astrophysical environments. Ordinary stars, supernovae, and galaxies ac

  • The Maternal Turn: Images of the Reproductive Body in Latin American Contemporary Art

    UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA · IT · €184,586.4

    This project investigates how the maternal body became a contested and politicised subject in Latin American art between the late 1970s and the 1990s. During this period, authoritarian regimes, reproductive policies, and growing feminist movements turned maternity into a terrain of both state control and cultural resistance. Through case studies from Mexico, Argentina, Peru, and beyond, the project analyses how artists challenged idealised notions of motherhood by deploying dystopian, abject, an

  • Multimodal AI-based Clinical prOgnostic Models for PArkinson's Symptoms progression and Subtyping

    STICHTING AMSTERDAM UMC · NL · €435,842.04

    Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is the fastest-growing neurological condition with global cases estimated to double to 20M by 2050. The spectrum, onset and progression of PD symptoms are highly heterogeneous between individuals, hampering treatment personalization through early prediction of disease course. I aim to develop mAIcompass; a multimodal AI-based clinical application, that leverages longitudinal clinical and imaging data, acquired during follow-up examinations, to facilitate real-time progno

  • The Digital Markets Act at the nexus of innovation-based competition and State Platform Capitalism

    UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA · IT · €396,991.08

    The platformisation of capitalism has concentrated vast economic power in the hands of a few dominant digital platforms, known as gatekeepers. These actors often exploit their position at the expense of businesses and end-users, undermining contestability, fairness, and innovation. To counter these risks, the EU adopted the Digital Markets Act (DMA). While the DMA has attracted wide scholarly attention, two major gaps remain: the lack of a dynamic analysis of its impact on innovation-based compe

  • Resilient net-zero decarbonisation in Europe through near-optimal transition pathways of the energy system

    DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET · DK · €247,553.28

    Europe is decarbonising in turbulent times, a complex endeavour requiring decades of prudent policymaking. The implementation needs to be sustainable, resilient to shocks, and to be truly successful, socially acceptable. Long-term planning of the energy transition is often modelled mathematically by optimising energy system costs. Decision making in the real world is more complex and needs to consider other aspects including modelling that explores cost-near-optimal solutions and other desirable

  • Nanopore based evaluation of genomic, epigenetic and transcriptomic impact of gene editing

    KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET · DK · €247,553.28

    Genome editing technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 have transformed biomedical research and hold great therapeutic promise. Current safety evaluation strategies focus primarily on genomic alterations—off-target mutations, large deletions, and chromosomal rearrangements while largely overlooking transcriptomic and epigenomic consequences. Moreover, safety profiling is fragmented across multiple platforms, limiting accessibility and routine implementation. This project, nanoGET, will establish a

  • Generation and control of hydrodynamic electron flow in advanced 2D graphene devices

    CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE · IT · €309,153.72

    In recent years, the study of the hydrodynamic regime in electronic devices has gained significant interest. Notably, charge carriers can mimic viscous fluids through a high degree of correlation between electrons, giving rise to various effects, such as superballistic conduction, where electrical resistance decreases below the ballistic limit. In a world where energy consumption due to IT is continuously increasing, controlling these effects could have a decisive impact on energy savings. In c

  • VITAL-Rim: Vision-Tactile-Language Integration for Robotic Interactive Manipulation

    THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL · UK · €276,187.92

    The VITAL-Rim project, short for VIsion-TActile-Language integration for Robotic interactive manipulation, aims to enhance household robots' ability to assist with daily chores by endowing three key capabilities: scene perception through vision, semantic understanding via language, and real-time force control through touch. Currently, the development of household robots lags behind that of industrial robots, primarily due to two VITAL RIMs in homes: the barrier between humans and robots, and the

  • Warfare and Agricultural Resilience Nexus in the Ancient Mediterranean (6th. BC - 4th c. AD)

    UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN · IE · €252,728.64

    In the Ancient World, as throughout much of human history, the destinies of empires and cities often hinged on their efficiency in warfare and agricultural robustness. The Warfare & Agricultural Regimes Nexus project (WARNex) delves into the intricate relationship between these two pillars of preindustrial societies, exploring how warfare shaped agricultural practices and, conversely, how agriculture influenced military dynamics. Moving beyond traditional studies that focus primarily on the deva

  • Soil and Human Archives of early food Resilience and Environmental modification

    AARHUS UNIVERSITET · DK · €263,393.28

    The proposal addresses the critical need to understand past food systems in the face of climate change-driven food insecurity by exploring the transition from foraging to farming in Southern Scandinavia. Challenging the 'Neolithic Revolution' paradigm as a sudden shift to a farming diet occurring in the Neolithic, the project investigates whether Mesolithic Ertebølle societies (7,400–5,900 BP) intentionally managed pit deposits as anthropogenic soils for plant-use and landscape management before

  • Smart Hydrogel Microneedle Patches for mRNA Nanoparticle Vaccination

    KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET · SE · €236,340

    The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the transformative potential of mRNA vaccines, yet their delivery remains confined to intramuscular injections, which cause discomfort, reduce compliance, and rely on cold-chain logistics. Microneedle patches offer a minimally invasive alternative, but current systems mainly provide single-burst, fixed-dose release, limiting safety and efficacy. This project, SHINE-Vax, develops a temperature-responsive hydrogel microneedle system for controlled mRNA vaccine del

Past winners of other programmes

MSCA Doctoral NetworksERC Synergy GrantNWO ViciNWO XSWellcome Discovery AwardDFG Heisenberg ProgrammeEMBO Postdoctoral FellowshipLeverhulme Early Career FellowshipERC Starting GrantERC Consolidator GrantNWO VeniNWO VidiKWF Young Investigator GrantDFG Emmy Noether ProgrammeERC Advanced Grant

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