Project acronym 3D2DPrint
Project 3D Printing of Novel 2D Nanomaterials: Adding Advanced 2D Functionalities to Revolutionary Tailored 3D Manufacturing
Researcher (PI) Valeria Nicolosi
Host Institution (HI) THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary My vision is to establish, within the framework of an ERC CoG, a multidisciplinary group which will work in concert towards pioneering the integration of novel 2-Dimensional nanomaterials with novel additive fabrication techniques to develop a unique class of energy storage devices.
Batteries and supercapacitors are two very complementary types of energy storage devices. Batteries store much higher energy densities; supercapacitors, on the other hand, hold one tenth of the electricity per unit of volume or weight as compared to batteries but can achieve much higher power densities. Technology is currently striving to improve the power density of batteries and the energy density of supercapacitors. To do so it is imperative to develop new materials, chemistries and manufacturing strategies.
3D2DPrint aims to develop micro-energy devices (both supercapacitors and batteries), technologies particularly relevant in the context of the emergent industry of micro-electro-mechanical systems and constantly downsized electronics. We plan to use novel two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials obtained by liquid-phase exfoliation. This method offers a new, economic and easy way to prepare ink of a variety of 2D systems, allowing to produce wide device performance window through elegant and simple constituent control at the point of fabrication. 3D2DPrint will use our expertise and know-how to allow development of advanced AM methods to integrate dissimilar nanomaterial blends and/or “hybrids” into fully embedded 3D printed energy storage devices, with the ultimate objective to realise a range of products that contain the above described nanomaterials subcomponent devices, electrical connections and traditional micro-fabricated subcomponents (if needed) ideally using a single tool.
Summary
My vision is to establish, within the framework of an ERC CoG, a multidisciplinary group which will work in concert towards pioneering the integration of novel 2-Dimensional nanomaterials with novel additive fabrication techniques to develop a unique class of energy storage devices.
Batteries and supercapacitors are two very complementary types of energy storage devices. Batteries store much higher energy densities; supercapacitors, on the other hand, hold one tenth of the electricity per unit of volume or weight as compared to batteries but can achieve much higher power densities. Technology is currently striving to improve the power density of batteries and the energy density of supercapacitors. To do so it is imperative to develop new materials, chemistries and manufacturing strategies.
3D2DPrint aims to develop micro-energy devices (both supercapacitors and batteries), technologies particularly relevant in the context of the emergent industry of micro-electro-mechanical systems and constantly downsized electronics. We plan to use novel two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials obtained by liquid-phase exfoliation. This method offers a new, economic and easy way to prepare ink of a variety of 2D systems, allowing to produce wide device performance window through elegant and simple constituent control at the point of fabrication. 3D2DPrint will use our expertise and know-how to allow development of advanced AM methods to integrate dissimilar nanomaterial blends and/or “hybrids” into fully embedded 3D printed energy storage devices, with the ultimate objective to realise a range of products that contain the above described nanomaterials subcomponent devices, electrical connections and traditional micro-fabricated subcomponents (if needed) ideally using a single tool.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 942 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-10-01, End date: 2021-09-30
Project acronym ACHIEVE
Project Advanced Cellular Hierarchical Tissue-Imitations based on Excluded Volume Effect
Researcher (PI) Dimitrios ZEVGOLIS
Host Institution (HI) NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2019-COG
Summary ACHIEVE focuses on the application of Excluded Volume Effect in cell culture systems in order to enhance Extracellular Matrix (ECM) deposition. It represents a new horizon in in vitro cell culture which will address major challenges in medical advancement and food security. ACHIEVE will elucidate extracellular processes which occur during tissue generation, identifying favourable conditions for optimum tissue cultivation in vitro. These results will be applied in the diverse fields of regenerative medicine, drug discovery and cellular agriculture which all require advancements in in vitro tissue engineering to overcome current bottlenecks. Effective in vitro tissue culture is currently limited by lengthy culture periods. An inability to maintain physiologic (in vivo) conditions during this lengthy in vitro culture leads to cellular phenotype drift, ultimately resulting in generation of an undesired tissue. Enhanced tissue generation in vitro will greatly reduce culture times and costs, effecting improved in vitro tissue substitutes which remain true to their original phenotype. The research will be addressed under four work-packages. WP1 will investigate biochemical, biophysical and biological responses to varying culture conditions; WP 2, 3 and 4 will apply results in the fields of Tissue Engineering, Drug Discovery and Cellular Agriculture respectively. Research will involve extensive characterisation of derived- and stem-cell cultures in varying conditions of expansion and relevant health and safety and preclinical testing. The five year programme will be undertaken at the National University of Ireland, Galway, a centre of excellence in tissue engineering research, at a cost of € 2,439,270.
Summary
ACHIEVE focuses on the application of Excluded Volume Effect in cell culture systems in order to enhance Extracellular Matrix (ECM) deposition. It represents a new horizon in in vitro cell culture which will address major challenges in medical advancement and food security. ACHIEVE will elucidate extracellular processes which occur during tissue generation, identifying favourable conditions for optimum tissue cultivation in vitro. These results will be applied in the diverse fields of regenerative medicine, drug discovery and cellular agriculture which all require advancements in in vitro tissue engineering to overcome current bottlenecks. Effective in vitro tissue culture is currently limited by lengthy culture periods. An inability to maintain physiologic (in vivo) conditions during this lengthy in vitro culture leads to cellular phenotype drift, ultimately resulting in generation of an undesired tissue. Enhanced tissue generation in vitro will greatly reduce culture times and costs, effecting improved in vitro tissue substitutes which remain true to their original phenotype. The research will be addressed under four work-packages. WP1 will investigate biochemical, biophysical and biological responses to varying culture conditions; WP 2, 3 and 4 will apply results in the fields of Tissue Engineering, Drug Discovery and Cellular Agriculture respectively. Research will involve extensive characterisation of derived- and stem-cell cultures in varying conditions of expansion and relevant health and safety and preclinical testing. The five year programme will be undertaken at the National University of Ireland, Galway, a centre of excellence in tissue engineering research, at a cost of € 2,439,270.
Max ERC Funding
2 076 770 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-09-01, End date: 2025-08-31
Project acronym Active-DNA
Project Computationally Active DNA Nanostructures
Researcher (PI) Damien WOODS
Host Institution (HI) NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND MAYNOOTH
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE6, ERC-2017-COG
Summary During the 20th century computer technology evolved from bulky, slow, special purpose mechanical engines to the now ubiquitous silicon chips and software that are one of the pinnacles of human ingenuity. The goal of the field of molecular programming is to take the next leap and build a new generation of matter-based computers using DNA, RNA and proteins. This will be accomplished by computer scientists, physicists and chemists designing molecules to execute ``wet'' nanoscale programs in test tubes. The workflow includes proposing theoretical models, mathematically proving their computational properties, physical modelling and implementation in the wet-lab.
The past decade has seen remarkable progress at building static 2D and 3D DNA nanostructures. However, unlike biological macromolecules and complexes that are built via specified self-assembly pathways, that execute robotic-like movements, and that undergo evolution, the activity of human-engineered nanostructures is severely limited. We will need sophisticated algorithmic ideas to build structures that rival active living systems. Active-DNA, aims to address this challenge by achieving a number of objectives on computation, DNA-based self-assembly and molecular robotics. Active-DNA research work will range from defining models and proving theorems that characterise the computational and expressive capabilities of such active programmable materials to experimental work implementing active DNA nanostructures in the wet-lab.
Summary
During the 20th century computer technology evolved from bulky, slow, special purpose mechanical engines to the now ubiquitous silicon chips and software that are one of the pinnacles of human ingenuity. The goal of the field of molecular programming is to take the next leap and build a new generation of matter-based computers using DNA, RNA and proteins. This will be accomplished by computer scientists, physicists and chemists designing molecules to execute ``wet'' nanoscale programs in test tubes. The workflow includes proposing theoretical models, mathematically proving their computational properties, physical modelling and implementation in the wet-lab.
The past decade has seen remarkable progress at building static 2D and 3D DNA nanostructures. However, unlike biological macromolecules and complexes that are built via specified self-assembly pathways, that execute robotic-like movements, and that undergo evolution, the activity of human-engineered nanostructures is severely limited. We will need sophisticated algorithmic ideas to build structures that rival active living systems. Active-DNA, aims to address this challenge by achieving a number of objectives on computation, DNA-based self-assembly and molecular robotics. Active-DNA research work will range from defining models and proving theorems that characterise the computational and expressive capabilities of such active programmable materials to experimental work implementing active DNA nanostructures in the wet-lab.
Max ERC Funding
2 349 603 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-11-01, End date: 2023-10-31
Project acronym ASTROFLOW
Project The influence of stellar outflows on exoplanetary mass loss
Researcher (PI) Aline VIDOTTO
Host Institution (HI) THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE9, ERC-2018-COG
Summary ASTROFLOW aims to make ground-breaking progress in our physical understanding of exoplanetary mass loss, by quantifying the influence of stellar outflows on atmospheric escape of close-in exoplanets. Escape plays a key role in planetary evolution, population, and potential to develop life. Stellar irradiation and outflows affect planetary mass loss: irradiation heats planetary atmospheres, which inflate and more likely escape; outflows cause pressure confinement around otherwise freely escaping atmospheres. This external pressure can increase, reduce or even suppress escape rates; its effects on exoplanetary mass loss remain largely unexplored due to the complexity of such interactions. I will fill this knowledge gap by developing a novel modelling framework of atmospheric escape that will, for the first time, consider the effects of realistic stellar outflows on exoplanetary mass loss. My expertise in stellar wind theory and 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations is crucial for producing the next-generation models of planetary escape. My framework will consist of state-of-the-art, time-dependent, 3D simulations of stellar outflows (Method 1), which will be coupled to novel 3D simulations of atmospheric escape (Method 2). My models will account for the major underlying physical processes of mass loss. With this, I will determine the response of planetary mass loss to realistic stellar particle, magnetic and radiation environments and will characterise the physical conditions of the escaping material. I will compute how its extinction varies during transit and compare synthetic line profiles to atmospheric escape observations from, eg, Hubble and our NASA cubesat CUTE. Strong synergy with upcoming observations (JWST, TESS, SPIRou, CARMENES) also exists. Determining the lifetime of planetary atmospheres is essential to understanding populations of exoplanets. ASTROFLOW’s work will be the foundation for future research of how exoplanets evolve under mass-loss processes.
Summary
ASTROFLOW aims to make ground-breaking progress in our physical understanding of exoplanetary mass loss, by quantifying the influence of stellar outflows on atmospheric escape of close-in exoplanets. Escape plays a key role in planetary evolution, population, and potential to develop life. Stellar irradiation and outflows affect planetary mass loss: irradiation heats planetary atmospheres, which inflate and more likely escape; outflows cause pressure confinement around otherwise freely escaping atmospheres. This external pressure can increase, reduce or even suppress escape rates; its effects on exoplanetary mass loss remain largely unexplored due to the complexity of such interactions. I will fill this knowledge gap by developing a novel modelling framework of atmospheric escape that will, for the first time, consider the effects of realistic stellar outflows on exoplanetary mass loss. My expertise in stellar wind theory and 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations is crucial for producing the next-generation models of planetary escape. My framework will consist of state-of-the-art, time-dependent, 3D simulations of stellar outflows (Method 1), which will be coupled to novel 3D simulations of atmospheric escape (Method 2). My models will account for the major underlying physical processes of mass loss. With this, I will determine the response of planetary mass loss to realistic stellar particle, magnetic and radiation environments and will characterise the physical conditions of the escaping material. I will compute how its extinction varies during transit and compare synthetic line profiles to atmospheric escape observations from, eg, Hubble and our NASA cubesat CUTE. Strong synergy with upcoming observations (JWST, TESS, SPIRou, CARMENES) also exists. Determining the lifetime of planetary atmospheres is essential to understanding populations of exoplanets. ASTROFLOW’s work will be the foundation for future research of how exoplanets evolve under mass-loss processes.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 956 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-09-01, End date: 2024-08-31
Project acronym BeyondOpposition
Project Opposing Sexual and Gender Rights and Equalities: Transforming Everyday Spaces
Researcher (PI) Katherine Browne
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH2, ERC-2018-COG
Summary OPPSEXRIGHTS will be the first large-scale, transnational study to consider the effects of recent Sexual and Gender Rights and Equalities (SGRE) on those who oppose them, by exploring opponents’ experiences of the transformation of everyday spaces. It will work beyond contemporary polarisations, creating new possibilities for social transformation. This cutting-edge research engages with the dramatically altered social and political landscapes in the late 20th and early 21st Century created through the development of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans, and women’s rights. Recent reactionary politics highlight the pressing need to understand the position of those who experience these new social orders as a loss. The backlash to SGRE has coalesced into various resistances that are tangibly different to the classic vilification of homosexuality, or those that are anti-woman. Some who oppose SGRE have found themselves the subject of public critique; in the workplace, their jobs threatened, while at home, engagements with schools can cause family conflicts. This is particularly visible in the case studies of Ireland, UK and Canada because of SGRE. A largescale transnational systematic database will be created using low risk (media and organisational discourses; participant observation at oppositional events) and higher risk (online data collection and interviews) methods. Experimenting with social transformation, OPPSEXRIGHTS will work to build bridges between ‘enemies’, including families and communities, through innovative discussion and arts-based workshops. This ambitious project has the potential to create tangible solutions that tackle contemporary societal issues, which are founded in polarisations that are seemingly insurmountable.
Summary
OPPSEXRIGHTS will be the first large-scale, transnational study to consider the effects of recent Sexual and Gender Rights and Equalities (SGRE) on those who oppose them, by exploring opponents’ experiences of the transformation of everyday spaces. It will work beyond contemporary polarisations, creating new possibilities for social transformation. This cutting-edge research engages with the dramatically altered social and political landscapes in the late 20th and early 21st Century created through the development of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans, and women’s rights. Recent reactionary politics highlight the pressing need to understand the position of those who experience these new social orders as a loss. The backlash to SGRE has coalesced into various resistances that are tangibly different to the classic vilification of homosexuality, or those that are anti-woman. Some who oppose SGRE have found themselves the subject of public critique; in the workplace, their jobs threatened, while at home, engagements with schools can cause family conflicts. This is particularly visible in the case studies of Ireland, UK and Canada because of SGRE. A largescale transnational systematic database will be created using low risk (media and organisational discourses; participant observation at oppositional events) and higher risk (online data collection and interviews) methods. Experimenting with social transformation, OPPSEXRIGHTS will work to build bridges between ‘enemies’, including families and communities, through innovative discussion and arts-based workshops. This ambitious project has the potential to create tangible solutions that tackle contemporary societal issues, which are founded in polarisations that are seemingly insurmountable.
Max ERC Funding
1 988 652 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-10-01, End date: 2024-09-30
Project acronym CIPHER
Project CIPHER: Hip Hop Interpellation (Le Conseil International pour Hip Hop et Recherche / The International Council for Hip Hop Studies)
Researcher (PI) J. Griffith ROLLEFSON
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK - NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, CORK
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH5, ERC-2018-COG
Summary CIPHER will launch the global research initiative, Hip Hop Interpellation, pilot a new semantic digital/ethnographic web methodology, and codify the emergent discipline of global hip hop studies. It addresses the central question: why has this highly localized and authenticizing African American music translated so easily to far-flung communities and contexts around the globe? Through this specific question the project attempts to understand the foundational and broadly transferable question: how are globalization and localization related? To answer these questions CIPHER posits the Hip Hop Interpellation thesis, that hip hop spreads not as a copy of an African American original, but, through its performance of knowledge, emerges as an always already constituent part of local knowledge and practice. The theorization thus moves beyond the “hailing practices” described by Althusser’s theory of interpellation—the discursive webs that coerce ideological incorporation—to describing an interpolation that locates other histories within and through hip hop’s performed knowledges.
CIPHER’s semantic web methodology tests this thesis, tracking how hip hop memes—slogans, anthems, and icons—are simultaneously produced by people and produce people. This research clears the conceptual impasse of structural “cultural imperialism” vs. agentic “cultural appropriation” debates and instrumentalizes the methodological distance between ethnographic specificity and big data generality. It does so by creating a feedback loop between digital humanities methods (crowd sourcing, semantic tagging, computational stylometry) and ethnographic fieldwork techniques (interviews, musical analysis, participant observation). The result will be an iterative map of Hip Hop Interpellation/Interpolation created by stakeholders that is transformational of our understanding of culture and/as cultural production and transferable to pressing questions about globalization and l’exception culturelle.
Summary
CIPHER will launch the global research initiative, Hip Hop Interpellation, pilot a new semantic digital/ethnographic web methodology, and codify the emergent discipline of global hip hop studies. It addresses the central question: why has this highly localized and authenticizing African American music translated so easily to far-flung communities and contexts around the globe? Through this specific question the project attempts to understand the foundational and broadly transferable question: how are globalization and localization related? To answer these questions CIPHER posits the Hip Hop Interpellation thesis, that hip hop spreads not as a copy of an African American original, but, through its performance of knowledge, emerges as an always already constituent part of local knowledge and practice. The theorization thus moves beyond the “hailing practices” described by Althusser’s theory of interpellation—the discursive webs that coerce ideological incorporation—to describing an interpolation that locates other histories within and through hip hop’s performed knowledges.
CIPHER’s semantic web methodology tests this thesis, tracking how hip hop memes—slogans, anthems, and icons—are simultaneously produced by people and produce people. This research clears the conceptual impasse of structural “cultural imperialism” vs. agentic “cultural appropriation” debates and instrumentalizes the methodological distance between ethnographic specificity and big data generality. It does so by creating a feedback loop between digital humanities methods (crowd sourcing, semantic tagging, computational stylometry) and ethnographic fieldwork techniques (interviews, musical analysis, participant observation). The result will be an iterative map of Hip Hop Interpellation/Interpolation created by stakeholders that is transformational of our understanding of culture and/as cultural production and transferable to pressing questions about globalization and l’exception culturelle.
Max ERC Funding
1 990 526 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-08-01, End date: 2024-07-31
Project acronym CutLoops
Project Loop amplitudes in quantum field theory
Researcher (PI) Ruth Britto
Host Institution (HI) THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE2, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary The traditional formulation of relativistic quantum theory is ill-equipped to handle the range of difficult computations needed to describe particle collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) within a suitable time frame. Yet, recent work shows that probability amplitudes in quantum gauge field theories, such as those describing the Standard Model and its extensions, take surprisingly simple forms. The simplicity indicates deep structure in gauge theory that has already led to dramatic computational improvements, but remains to be fully understood. For precision calculations and investigations of the deep structure of gauge theory, a comprehensive method for computing multi-loop amplitudes systematically and efficiently must be found.
The goal of this proposal is to construct a new and complete approach to computing amplitudes from a detailed understanding of their singularities, based on prior successes of so-called on-shell methods combined with the latest developments in the mathematics of Feynman integrals. Scattering processes relevant to the LHC and to formal investigations of quantum field theory will be computed within the new framework.
Summary
The traditional formulation of relativistic quantum theory is ill-equipped to handle the range of difficult computations needed to describe particle collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) within a suitable time frame. Yet, recent work shows that probability amplitudes in quantum gauge field theories, such as those describing the Standard Model and its extensions, take surprisingly simple forms. The simplicity indicates deep structure in gauge theory that has already led to dramatic computational improvements, but remains to be fully understood. For precision calculations and investigations of the deep structure of gauge theory, a comprehensive method for computing multi-loop amplitudes systematically and efficiently must be found.
The goal of this proposal is to construct a new and complete approach to computing amplitudes from a detailed understanding of their singularities, based on prior successes of so-called on-shell methods combined with the latest developments in the mathematics of Feynman integrals. Scattering processes relevant to the LHC and to formal investigations of quantum field theory will be computed within the new framework.
Max ERC Funding
1 954 065 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-10-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym DANCING
Project Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity through European Union Law: Exploring New Paths
Researcher (PI) Delia Ferri
Host Institution (HI) NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND MAYNOOTH
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH2, ERC-2019-COG
Summary The right of people with disabilities to participate in cultural life - which encompasses the rights of access to, and to be involved in cultural activities, as well as the recognition of disability identities, such as Deaf culture – has been for long denied. The cultural exclusion of disabled people has engendered their marginalisation. It has also entailed a loss for society as a whole, because of the lack of cultural diversity resulting from an inaccessible and exclusionary cultural realm. DANCING will investigate the extent to which the protection of the right to take part in culture of people with disabilities and the promotion of cultural diversity intersect and complement each other in the European Union (EU) legal order. It will disrupt the conventional approach adopted by EU law scholarship by using a combination of legal, empirical and arts-based research to pursue three complementary objectives, experiential, normative and theoretical respectively. First, it will identify and categorise barriers and facilitators to cultural participation experienced by disabled people and how they affect the wider cultural domain. Secondly, it will provide a normative exploration of how the EU has used and can use its competence to combat discrimination and its supporting competence on cultural matters, in synergy with its wide internal market powers, to ensure the accessibility of cultural activities, to promote disability identities, while achieving cultural diversity. In doing so, it will bridge, in an unprecedented way, the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Thirdly, it will advance the understanding of the legal concept of cultural diversity, which stems from the intersection of different sources of law, and will propose a new theorization of the promotion of cultural diversity within the EU legal order.
Summary
The right of people with disabilities to participate in cultural life - which encompasses the rights of access to, and to be involved in cultural activities, as well as the recognition of disability identities, such as Deaf culture – has been for long denied. The cultural exclusion of disabled people has engendered their marginalisation. It has also entailed a loss for society as a whole, because of the lack of cultural diversity resulting from an inaccessible and exclusionary cultural realm. DANCING will investigate the extent to which the protection of the right to take part in culture of people with disabilities and the promotion of cultural diversity intersect and complement each other in the European Union (EU) legal order. It will disrupt the conventional approach adopted by EU law scholarship by using a combination of legal, empirical and arts-based research to pursue three complementary objectives, experiential, normative and theoretical respectively. First, it will identify and categorise barriers and facilitators to cultural participation experienced by disabled people and how they affect the wider cultural domain. Secondly, it will provide a normative exploration of how the EU has used and can use its competence to combat discrimination and its supporting competence on cultural matters, in synergy with its wide internal market powers, to ensure the accessibility of cultural activities, to promote disability identities, while achieving cultural diversity. In doing so, it will bridge, in an unprecedented way, the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Thirdly, it will advance the understanding of the legal concept of cultural diversity, which stems from the intersection of different sources of law, and will propose a new theorization of the promotion of cultural diversity within the EU legal order.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 337 €
Duration
Start date: 2020-09-01, End date: 2025-08-31
Project acronym DBSModel
Project Multiscale Modelling of the Neuromuscular System for Closed Loop Deep Brain Stimulation
Researcher (PI) Madeleine Mary Lowery
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE7, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective therapy for treating the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Despite its success, the mechanisms of DBS are not understood and there is a need to improve DBS to improve long-term stimulation in a wider patient population, limit side-effects, and extend battery life. Currently DBS operates in ‘open-loop’, with stimulus parameters empirically set. Closed-loop DBS, which adjusts parameters based on the state of the system, has the potential to overcome current limitations to increase therapeutic efficacy while reducing side-effects, costs and energy. Several key questions need to be addressed before closed loop DBS can be implemented clinically.
This research will develop a new multiscale model of the neuromuscular system for closed-loop DBS. The model will simulate neural sensing and stimulation on a scale not previously considered, encompassing the electric field around the electrode, the effect on individual neurons and neural networks, and generation of muscle force. This will involve integration across multiple temporal and spatial scales, in a complex system with incomplete knowledge of system variables. Experiments will be conducted to validate the model, and identify new biomarkers of neural activity that can used with signals from the brain to enable continuous symptom monitoring. The model will be used to design a new control strategy for closed-loop DBS that can accommodate the nonlinear nature of the system, and short- and long-term changes in system behavior.
Though challenging, this research will provide new insights into the changes that take place in PD and the mechanisms by which DBS exerts its therapeutic influence. This knowledge will be used to design a new strategy for closed-loop DBS, ready for testing in patients, with the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes in PD and fundamentally change the way in which implanted devices utilise electrical stimulation to modulate neural activity.
Summary
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective therapy for treating the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Despite its success, the mechanisms of DBS are not understood and there is a need to improve DBS to improve long-term stimulation in a wider patient population, limit side-effects, and extend battery life. Currently DBS operates in ‘open-loop’, with stimulus parameters empirically set. Closed-loop DBS, which adjusts parameters based on the state of the system, has the potential to overcome current limitations to increase therapeutic efficacy while reducing side-effects, costs and energy. Several key questions need to be addressed before closed loop DBS can be implemented clinically.
This research will develop a new multiscale model of the neuromuscular system for closed-loop DBS. The model will simulate neural sensing and stimulation on a scale not previously considered, encompassing the electric field around the electrode, the effect on individual neurons and neural networks, and generation of muscle force. This will involve integration across multiple temporal and spatial scales, in a complex system with incomplete knowledge of system variables. Experiments will be conducted to validate the model, and identify new biomarkers of neural activity that can used with signals from the brain to enable continuous symptom monitoring. The model will be used to design a new control strategy for closed-loop DBS that can accommodate the nonlinear nature of the system, and short- and long-term changes in system behavior.
Though challenging, this research will provide new insights into the changes that take place in PD and the mechanisms by which DBS exerts its therapeutic influence. This knowledge will be used to design a new strategy for closed-loop DBS, ready for testing in patients, with the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes in PD and fundamentally change the way in which implanted devices utilise electrical stimulation to modulate neural activity.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 474 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-08-01, End date: 2021-07-31
Project acronym European Unions
Project Labour Politics and the EU's New Economic Governance Regime
Researcher (PI) Roland ERNE
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN
Country Ireland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH2, ERC-2016-COG
Summary Trade unions play a major role in democratic interest intermediation. This role is currently threatened by the increasingly authoritarian strain in EU’s new economic governance (NEG). This project aims to explore the challenges and possibilities that the NEG poses to labour politics. Until recently, European labour politics has mainly been shaped by horizontal market integration through the free movement of goods, capital, services and people. After the financial crisis, the latter has been complemented by vertical integration effected through the direct surveillance of member states. The resulting NEG opens contradictory possibilities for labour movements in Europe.
On the one hand, the reliance of the NEG on vertical surveillance makes decisions taken in its name more tangible, offering concrete targets for contentious transnational collective action. On the other hand however, the NEG mimics the governance structures of multinational firms, by using key performance indicators that put countries in competition with one another. This constitutes a deterrent to transnational collective action. The NEG’s interventionist and competitive strains also pose the threat of nationalist counter-movements, thus making European collective action ever more vital for the future of EU integration and democracy.
This project has the following objectives:
1. To understand the interrelation between NEG and existing ‘horizontal’ EU economic governance; and the shifts in labour politics triggered by NEG;
2. To open up novel analytical approaches that are able to capture both national and transnational social processes at work;
3. To analyse the responses of established trade unions and new social movements to NEG in selected subject areas and economic sectors at national and EU levels, and their feedback effects on NEG;
4. To develop a new scientific paradigm capable of accounting for the interplay between EU economic governance, labour politics and EU democracy.
Summary
Trade unions play a major role in democratic interest intermediation. This role is currently threatened by the increasingly authoritarian strain in EU’s new economic governance (NEG). This project aims to explore the challenges and possibilities that the NEG poses to labour politics. Until recently, European labour politics has mainly been shaped by horizontal market integration through the free movement of goods, capital, services and people. After the financial crisis, the latter has been complemented by vertical integration effected through the direct surveillance of member states. The resulting NEG opens contradictory possibilities for labour movements in Europe.
On the one hand, the reliance of the NEG on vertical surveillance makes decisions taken in its name more tangible, offering concrete targets for contentious transnational collective action. On the other hand however, the NEG mimics the governance structures of multinational firms, by using key performance indicators that put countries in competition with one another. This constitutes a deterrent to transnational collective action. The NEG’s interventionist and competitive strains also pose the threat of nationalist counter-movements, thus making European collective action ever more vital for the future of EU integration and democracy.
This project has the following objectives:
1. To understand the interrelation between NEG and existing ‘horizontal’ EU economic governance; and the shifts in labour politics triggered by NEG;
2. To open up novel analytical approaches that are able to capture both national and transnational social processes at work;
3. To analyse the responses of established trade unions and new social movements to NEG in selected subject areas and economic sectors at national and EU levels, and their feedback effects on NEG;
4. To develop a new scientific paradigm capable of accounting for the interplay between EU economic governance, labour politics and EU democracy.
Max ERC Funding
1 997 132 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-10-01, End date: 2023-03-31
