Project acronym AYURYOG
Project Medicine, Immortality, Moksha: Entangled Histories of Yoga, Ayurveda and Alchemy in South Asia
Researcher (PI) Dagmar Wujastyk
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2014-STG
Summary The project will examine the histories of yoga, ayurveda and rasashastra (Indian alchemy and iatrochemistry) from the tenth century to the present, focussing on the disciplines' health, rejuvenation and longevity practices. The goals of the project are to reveal the entanglements of these historical traditions, and to trace the trajectories of their evolution as components of today's global healthcare and personal development industries.
Our hypothesis is that practices aimed at achieving health, rejuvenation and longevity constitute a key area of exchange between the three disciplines, preparing the grounds for a series of important pharmaceutical and technological innovations and also profoundly influencing the discourses of today's medicalized forms of globalized yoga as well as of contemporary institutionalized forms of ayurveda and rasashastra.
Drawing upon the primary historical sources of each respective tradition as well as on fieldwork data, the research team will explore the shared terminology, praxis and theory of these three disciplines. We will examine why, when and how health, rejuvenation and longevity practices were employed; how each discipline’s discourse and practical applications relates to those of the others; and how past encounters and cross-fertilizations impact on contemporary health-related practices in yogic, ayurvedic and alchemists’ milieus.
The five-year project will be based at the Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at Vienna University and carried out by an international team of 3 post-doctoral researchers. The research will be grounded in the fields of South Asian studies and social history. An international workshop and an international conference will be organized to present and discuss the research results, which will also be published in peer-reviewed journals, an edited volume, and in individual monographs. A project website will provide open access to all research results.
Summary
The project will examine the histories of yoga, ayurveda and rasashastra (Indian alchemy and iatrochemistry) from the tenth century to the present, focussing on the disciplines' health, rejuvenation and longevity practices. The goals of the project are to reveal the entanglements of these historical traditions, and to trace the trajectories of their evolution as components of today's global healthcare and personal development industries.
Our hypothesis is that practices aimed at achieving health, rejuvenation and longevity constitute a key area of exchange between the three disciplines, preparing the grounds for a series of important pharmaceutical and technological innovations and also profoundly influencing the discourses of today's medicalized forms of globalized yoga as well as of contemporary institutionalized forms of ayurveda and rasashastra.
Drawing upon the primary historical sources of each respective tradition as well as on fieldwork data, the research team will explore the shared terminology, praxis and theory of these three disciplines. We will examine why, when and how health, rejuvenation and longevity practices were employed; how each discipline’s discourse and practical applications relates to those of the others; and how past encounters and cross-fertilizations impact on contemporary health-related practices in yogic, ayurvedic and alchemists’ milieus.
The five-year project will be based at the Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at Vienna University and carried out by an international team of 3 post-doctoral researchers. The research will be grounded in the fields of South Asian studies and social history. An international workshop and an international conference will be organized to present and discuss the research results, which will also be published in peer-reviewed journals, an edited volume, and in individual monographs. A project website will provide open access to all research results.
Max ERC Funding
1 416 146 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-06-01, End date: 2020-05-31
Project acronym CanCoop
Project Understanding the Proximate Mechanisms of
Canine Cooperation
Researcher (PI) Friederike Range
Host Institution (HI) VETERINAERMEDIZINISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary Although it is clear that human collaborative skills are exceptional, elucidating similarities and differences of proximate processes underlying cooperative interactions between non-primate and primate taxa may have important implications for our understanding of cooperation in humans and non human-animals via a profound knowledge of 1) socio-cognitive skills as adaptations to specific environments and/or 2) the evolutionary background and origin of our own skills. The closely related wolves and dogs constitute the ideal non-primate model to implement this approach, since cooperation is at the core of their social organization and they are adapted to very different environments.
I propose a series of experiments with wolves (N = 20) and identically raised and kept dogs (N= 20) that will focus on cognitive processes closely linked to the emotional system such as empathy, inequity aversion and delayed gratification that are thought to be involved in triggering and maintaining primate cooperation. In Part 1 of the project, we will investigate whether and to what extent these processes are present in canines, while in Part 2 we will elucidate how they influence partner choice in cooperative interactions. Using social network theory, we will integrate knowledge about animals’ emotional tendencies and cognitive abilities to model canine cooperation. This is an important step towards unifying theoretical and empirical approaches in animal behaviour.
CanCoop incorporates innovative methods and a novel approach that has the potential to elucidate the interactions between proximate and ultimate processes in regard to cooperation. The nature of CanCoop guarantees public and media attention needed for proper societal dissemination of the results, which will be relevant for animal behaviour, social sciences, wildlife and zoo management.
Summary
Although it is clear that human collaborative skills are exceptional, elucidating similarities and differences of proximate processes underlying cooperative interactions between non-primate and primate taxa may have important implications for our understanding of cooperation in humans and non human-animals via a profound knowledge of 1) socio-cognitive skills as adaptations to specific environments and/or 2) the evolutionary background and origin of our own skills. The closely related wolves and dogs constitute the ideal non-primate model to implement this approach, since cooperation is at the core of their social organization and they are adapted to very different environments.
I propose a series of experiments with wolves (N = 20) and identically raised and kept dogs (N= 20) that will focus on cognitive processes closely linked to the emotional system such as empathy, inequity aversion and delayed gratification that are thought to be involved in triggering and maintaining primate cooperation. In Part 1 of the project, we will investigate whether and to what extent these processes are present in canines, while in Part 2 we will elucidate how they influence partner choice in cooperative interactions. Using social network theory, we will integrate knowledge about animals’ emotional tendencies and cognitive abilities to model canine cooperation. This is an important step towards unifying theoretical and empirical approaches in animal behaviour.
CanCoop incorporates innovative methods and a novel approach that has the potential to elucidate the interactions between proximate and ultimate processes in regard to cooperation. The nature of CanCoop guarantees public and media attention needed for proper societal dissemination of the results, which will be relevant for animal behaviour, social sciences, wildlife and zoo management.
Max ERC Funding
1 295 716 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
Project acronym CMIL
Project Crosstalk of Metabolism and Inflammation
Researcher (PI) Andreas Bergthaler
Host Institution (HI) CEMM - FORSCHUNGSZENTRUM FUER MOLEKULARE MEDIZIN GMBH
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS6, ERC-2015-STG
Summary Inflammation is a response to noxious stimuli and initiates tissue repair. If resolution fails, however, chronic inflammation develops, which drives tissue damage in many diseases including autoimmunity, cancer and infections. Inflammatory processes are increasingly being appreciated as tightly integrated with metabolic pathways. The molecular crosstalk occurs on different levels including secreted metabolites and cytokines. I hypothesise that this interface of metabolism and inflammation represents a functional rheostat that shapes tissue damage and disease.
Here, I propose to analyse the metabolic and inflammatory processes in a mouse model of chronic viral hepatitis. I chose this model to explore the inflammatory rheostat because the liver is the central organ for metabolism and a hotspot for receiving, processing and distributing local and systemic signals. Cutting-edge technologies including deep sequencing, quantitative proteomics and metabolomics will let us create longitudinal multi-dimensional maps of virus-induced alterations. Paired with immunological, virological and pathological analyses, I expect to identify novel regulatory nodes between metabolism and inflammation. Within our systems-wide experiments and supported by preliminary results, we will specifically focus on the immunomodulatory roles of the metabolite bile acids and oxidative metabolism. These as well as other candidates will be investigated by genetic and pharmacological perturbations in cell culture and in mouse models. Bioinformatics integration of the orthogonal profiling kinetics is expected to reveal novel properties of the molecular networks mediating between metabolism and inflammation.
This proposed cross-disciplinary approach aims to improve our understanding of the crosstalk of metabolism and inflammation. The results of this project may be relevant to viral hepatitis in man and bear broader implications for other inflammatory diseases.
Summary
Inflammation is a response to noxious stimuli and initiates tissue repair. If resolution fails, however, chronic inflammation develops, which drives tissue damage in many diseases including autoimmunity, cancer and infections. Inflammatory processes are increasingly being appreciated as tightly integrated with metabolic pathways. The molecular crosstalk occurs on different levels including secreted metabolites and cytokines. I hypothesise that this interface of metabolism and inflammation represents a functional rheostat that shapes tissue damage and disease.
Here, I propose to analyse the metabolic and inflammatory processes in a mouse model of chronic viral hepatitis. I chose this model to explore the inflammatory rheostat because the liver is the central organ for metabolism and a hotspot for receiving, processing and distributing local and systemic signals. Cutting-edge technologies including deep sequencing, quantitative proteomics and metabolomics will let us create longitudinal multi-dimensional maps of virus-induced alterations. Paired with immunological, virological and pathological analyses, I expect to identify novel regulatory nodes between metabolism and inflammation. Within our systems-wide experiments and supported by preliminary results, we will specifically focus on the immunomodulatory roles of the metabolite bile acids and oxidative metabolism. These as well as other candidates will be investigated by genetic and pharmacological perturbations in cell culture and in mouse models. Bioinformatics integration of the orthogonal profiling kinetics is expected to reveal novel properties of the molecular networks mediating between metabolism and inflammation.
This proposed cross-disciplinary approach aims to improve our understanding of the crosstalk of metabolism and inflammation. The results of this project may be relevant to viral hepatitis in man and bear broader implications for other inflammatory diseases.
Max ERC Funding
1 701 011 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-04-01, End date: 2021-03-31
Project acronym COHORT
Project The demography of skills and beliefs in Europe with a focus on cohort change
Researcher (PI) Vegard Fykse Skirbekk
Host Institution (HI) INTERNATIONALES INSTITUT FUER ANGEWANDTE SYSTEMANALYSE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH3, ERC-2009-StG
Summary The central research theme of this proposal is the study of social change (skills, productivity, attitudes and beliefs) in Europe along cohort lines and as a function of changing age composition. Using demographic methods, age-specific and cohort-specific changes shall be quantitatively disentangled. The impact of migration flows as well as fertility differentials combined with intergenerational transmissions will be taken into account. It is expected that viewed together, these analyses will result in significant new insights and represent frontier research about likely social and economic challenges associated with ageing and demographic change in Europe and the appropriate policies for coping with them. Unlike projections of long-term economic growth or energy use, demographic forecasts tend to have comparatively low margins of error, even for forecasts half a century ahead. Traits that change systematically along age or cohort lines may therefore be projected with some degree of accuracy, which in turn can allow governments and individuals to better foresee and improve policies for predictable social change. The study will investigate two major topics, the first relating to human capital, skills, and work performance; the second relating to beliefs and attitudes in Europe. Understanding age variation in productivity and how to improve senior workers skills and capacities are paramount for ageing countries. Moreover, individual-level demographic behaviour can have aggregate level implications, including changing societal values and belief structures. The binding element is how such projections will improve one s capacity to foresee and hence develop more targeted policies that relate to ageing societies.
Summary
The central research theme of this proposal is the study of social change (skills, productivity, attitudes and beliefs) in Europe along cohort lines and as a function of changing age composition. Using demographic methods, age-specific and cohort-specific changes shall be quantitatively disentangled. The impact of migration flows as well as fertility differentials combined with intergenerational transmissions will be taken into account. It is expected that viewed together, these analyses will result in significant new insights and represent frontier research about likely social and economic challenges associated with ageing and demographic change in Europe and the appropriate policies for coping with them. Unlike projections of long-term economic growth or energy use, demographic forecasts tend to have comparatively low margins of error, even for forecasts half a century ahead. Traits that change systematically along age or cohort lines may therefore be projected with some degree of accuracy, which in turn can allow governments and individuals to better foresee and improve policies for predictable social change. The study will investigate two major topics, the first relating to human capital, skills, and work performance; the second relating to beliefs and attitudes in Europe. Understanding age variation in productivity and how to improve senior workers skills and capacities are paramount for ageing countries. Moreover, individual-level demographic behaviour can have aggregate level implications, including changing societal values and belief structures. The binding element is how such projections will improve one s capacity to foresee and hence develop more targeted policies that relate to ageing societies.
Max ERC Funding
981 415 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-10-01, End date: 2015-03-31
Project acronym CT
Project ‘Challenging Time(s)’ – A New Approach to Written Sources for Ancient Egyptian Chronology
Researcher (PI) Roman GUNDACKER
Host Institution (HI) OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2017-STG
Summary The chronology of ancient Egypt is a golden thread for the memory of early civilisation. It is not only the scaffolding of four millennia of Egyptian history, but also one of the pillars of the chronology of the entire ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean. The basic division of Egyptian history into 31 dynasties was introduced by Manetho, an Egyptian historian (c. 280 BC) writing in Greek for the Ptolemaic kings. Despite the fact that this scheme was adopted by Egyptologists 200 years ago and remains in use until today, there has never been an in-depth analysis of Manetho’s kinglist and of the names in it. Until now, identifying the Greek renderings of royal names with their hieroglyphic counterparts was more or less educated guesswork. It is thus essential to introduce the principles of textual criticism, to evaluate royal names on a firm linguistic basis and to provide for the first time ever an Egyptological commentary on Manetho’s kinglist. Just like Manetho did long ago, now it is necessary to gather all inscriptional evidence on Egyptian history: dated inscriptions, biographic and prosopographic data of royalty and commoners, genuine Egyptian kinglists and annals. These data must be critically evaluated in context, their assignment to specific reigns must be reconsidered, and genealogies and sequences of officials must be reviewed. The results are not only important for Egyptian historical chronology and for our understanding of the Egyptian perception of history, but also for the interpretation of chronological data gained from archaeological excavations (material culture) and sciences (14C dates, which are interpreted on the basis of historical chronology, e.g., via ‘Bayesian modelling’). The applicant has already shown the significance of this approach in pilot studies on the pyramid age. Further work in cooperation with international specialists will thus shed new light on ancient sources in order to determine the chronology of early civilisation.
Summary
The chronology of ancient Egypt is a golden thread for the memory of early civilisation. It is not only the scaffolding of four millennia of Egyptian history, but also one of the pillars of the chronology of the entire ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean. The basic division of Egyptian history into 31 dynasties was introduced by Manetho, an Egyptian historian (c. 280 BC) writing in Greek for the Ptolemaic kings. Despite the fact that this scheme was adopted by Egyptologists 200 years ago and remains in use until today, there has never been an in-depth analysis of Manetho’s kinglist and of the names in it. Until now, identifying the Greek renderings of royal names with their hieroglyphic counterparts was more or less educated guesswork. It is thus essential to introduce the principles of textual criticism, to evaluate royal names on a firm linguistic basis and to provide for the first time ever an Egyptological commentary on Manetho’s kinglist. Just like Manetho did long ago, now it is necessary to gather all inscriptional evidence on Egyptian history: dated inscriptions, biographic and prosopographic data of royalty and commoners, genuine Egyptian kinglists and annals. These data must be critically evaluated in context, their assignment to specific reigns must be reconsidered, and genealogies and sequences of officials must be reviewed. The results are not only important for Egyptian historical chronology and for our understanding of the Egyptian perception of history, but also for the interpretation of chronological data gained from archaeological excavations (material culture) and sciences (14C dates, which are interpreted on the basis of historical chronology, e.g., via ‘Bayesian modelling’). The applicant has already shown the significance of this approach in pilot studies on the pyramid age. Further work in cooperation with international specialists will thus shed new light on ancient sources in order to determine the chronology of early civilisation.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 992 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-03-01, End date: 2023-02-28
Project acronym DecentLivingEnergy
Project Energy and emissions thresholds for providing decent living standards to all
Researcher (PI) Narasimha Desirazu Rao
Host Institution (HI) INTERNATIONALES INSTITUT FUER ANGEWANDTE SYSTEMANALYSE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH3, ERC-2014-STG
Summary There is confusion surrounding how poverty eradication will contribute to climate change. This is due to knowledge gaps related to the material basis of poverty, and the relationship between energy and human development. Addressing this issue rigorously requires bridging gaps between global justice, economics, energy systems analysis, and industrial ecology, and applying this knowledge to projections of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. This project will develop a body of knowledge that quantifies the energy needs and related climate change impacts for providing decent living standards to all. The research will address three questions: which goods and services, and with what characteristics, constitute ‘decent living standards’? What energy resources are required to provide these goods and services in different countries, and what impact will this energy use have on climate change? How do the constituents of decent living and their energy needs evolve as countries develop? The first task will operationalize basic needs views of human development and advance their empirical validity by discerning characteristics of basic goods in household consumption patterns. The second will quantify the energy needs (and climate-related emissions) for decent living constituents and reveal their dependence on culture, climate, technology, and other contextual conditions in countries. This will be done using lifecycle analysis and input-output analysis, and mapping energy to climate change using state-of-the-art energy-economy integrated assessment modelling tools for 5 emerging economies that face the challenges of eradicating poverty and mitigating climate change. The third task will shed light on path dependencies and trends in the evolution of basic goods and their energy intensity using empirical analysis. This research will identify opportunities to shift developing societies towards low-carbon pathways, and help quantify burden-sharing arrangements for climate mitigation.
Summary
There is confusion surrounding how poverty eradication will contribute to climate change. This is due to knowledge gaps related to the material basis of poverty, and the relationship between energy and human development. Addressing this issue rigorously requires bridging gaps between global justice, economics, energy systems analysis, and industrial ecology, and applying this knowledge to projections of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. This project will develop a body of knowledge that quantifies the energy needs and related climate change impacts for providing decent living standards to all. The research will address three questions: which goods and services, and with what characteristics, constitute ‘decent living standards’? What energy resources are required to provide these goods and services in different countries, and what impact will this energy use have on climate change? How do the constituents of decent living and their energy needs evolve as countries develop? The first task will operationalize basic needs views of human development and advance their empirical validity by discerning characteristics of basic goods in household consumption patterns. The second will quantify the energy needs (and climate-related emissions) for decent living constituents and reveal their dependence on culture, climate, technology, and other contextual conditions in countries. This will be done using lifecycle analysis and input-output analysis, and mapping energy to climate change using state-of-the-art energy-economy integrated assessment modelling tools for 5 emerging economies that face the challenges of eradicating poverty and mitigating climate change. The third task will shed light on path dependencies and trends in the evolution of basic goods and their energy intensity using empirical analysis. This research will identify opportunities to shift developing societies towards low-carbon pathways, and help quantify burden-sharing arrangements for climate mitigation.
Max ERC Funding
869 722 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-06-01, End date: 2019-05-31
Project acronym EURREP
Project Fertility, reproduction and population change in 21st Century Europe
Researcher (PI) Tomas Sobotka
Host Institution (HI) OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH3, ERC-2011-StG_20101124
Summary This project will address key issues related to fertility and reproduction in 21st century Europe and their implications. We aim to expand our knowledge of contemporary reproductive behaviour, critically assess theoretical perspectives on fertility, develop new indicators for analyzing and projecting fertility and improve our understanding of fertility intentions.
Combining detailed databases, especially the expanding Human Fertility Database, as well as surveys, and theoretical perspectives, the research team will study contemporary fertility trends and their explanations. An emphasis will be put on analyzing and explaining very low fertility that became a matter of public concern in some countries.
We will review and confront the existing theories of fertility and examine their validity and premises at different levels of explanation. We will look how and under which circumstances they can illuminate observed fertility trends as well as the reversals in correlation between selected aggregate level-level indicators (female labour force participation, GDP level, marriage rates, etc.) and fertility.
Specific attention will be paid to studying systematically fertility intentions and desires of men and women in different settings and populations. Here the key issue is whether and why a systematic disagreement between intended and realized fertility exists at an aggregate level.
Finally, we aim to elaborate the indicators of fertility and population replacement. These will be used to assess long-term implications of contemporary fertility and migration patterns for population change and composition in different regions of Europe.
Summary
This project will address key issues related to fertility and reproduction in 21st century Europe and their implications. We aim to expand our knowledge of contemporary reproductive behaviour, critically assess theoretical perspectives on fertility, develop new indicators for analyzing and projecting fertility and improve our understanding of fertility intentions.
Combining detailed databases, especially the expanding Human Fertility Database, as well as surveys, and theoretical perspectives, the research team will study contemporary fertility trends and their explanations. An emphasis will be put on analyzing and explaining very low fertility that became a matter of public concern in some countries.
We will review and confront the existing theories of fertility and examine their validity and premises at different levels of explanation. We will look how and under which circumstances they can illuminate observed fertility trends as well as the reversals in correlation between selected aggregate level-level indicators (female labour force participation, GDP level, marriage rates, etc.) and fertility.
Specific attention will be paid to studying systematically fertility intentions and desires of men and women in different settings and populations. Here the key issue is whether and why a systematic disagreement between intended and realized fertility exists at an aggregate level.
Finally, we aim to elaborate the indicators of fertility and population replacement. These will be used to assess long-term implications of contemporary fertility and migration patterns for population change and composition in different regions of Europe.
Max ERC Funding
1 271 342 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-02-01, End date: 2017-01-31
Project acronym HEFT
Project Hidden Emissions of Forest Transitions: GHG effects of socio-metabolic processes reducingpressures on forests
Researcher (PI) Simone GINGRICH
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAET FUER BODENKULTUR WIEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2017-STG
Summary A forest transition, i.e. forest expansion after a long period of deforestation, has occurred in many, mostly industrialized countries. Forest transitions have recently resulted in declining rates of global net deforestation and contributed to carbon (C) sinks in terrestrial ecosystems. Studies have shown the concurrence of forest transitions and industrialization processes, but the systemic links between forest transitions, their underlying socio-metabolic processes and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been neither systematically explored nor quantified.
HEFT introduces the idea of “hidden emissions of forest transitions”, i.e. the GHG emissions from socio-metabolic processes reducing pressures on forests. Hidden emissions may stem from processes such as substitution of fuelwood by modern energy sources, intensification of agriculture, and externalization of biomass production to remote regions. Building on the concept of socio-ecological metabolism, HEFT develops a consistent methodological framework to quantify the full GHG emissions and sinks from socio-metabolic and ecological processes in the course of forest transitions, within which their hidden emissions are identified. Forest transitions in multiple contexts are analyzed at local, national and supranational scales: in Europe since c. 1850, North America since c. 1880, and South East Asia since 1980. A coarse global-scale assessment complements the regional case studies.
We will integrate sources and analytical methods from environmental and social sciences as well as the humanities to analyze context-specific trajectories and general features of socio-ecological GHG budgets and their respective socio-political contexts since the onset of forest transitions. The sound understanding of hidden emissions will be used to identify the least GHG-intensive trajectories and to draw lessons for future climate-friendly forest transitions.
Summary
A forest transition, i.e. forest expansion after a long period of deforestation, has occurred in many, mostly industrialized countries. Forest transitions have recently resulted in declining rates of global net deforestation and contributed to carbon (C) sinks in terrestrial ecosystems. Studies have shown the concurrence of forest transitions and industrialization processes, but the systemic links between forest transitions, their underlying socio-metabolic processes and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been neither systematically explored nor quantified.
HEFT introduces the idea of “hidden emissions of forest transitions”, i.e. the GHG emissions from socio-metabolic processes reducing pressures on forests. Hidden emissions may stem from processes such as substitution of fuelwood by modern energy sources, intensification of agriculture, and externalization of biomass production to remote regions. Building on the concept of socio-ecological metabolism, HEFT develops a consistent methodological framework to quantify the full GHG emissions and sinks from socio-metabolic and ecological processes in the course of forest transitions, within which their hidden emissions are identified. Forest transitions in multiple contexts are analyzed at local, national and supranational scales: in Europe since c. 1850, North America since c. 1880, and South East Asia since 1980. A coarse global-scale assessment complements the regional case studies.
We will integrate sources and analytical methods from environmental and social sciences as well as the humanities to analyze context-specific trajectories and general features of socio-ecological GHG budgets and their respective socio-political contexts since the onset of forest transitions. The sound understanding of hidden emissions will be used to identify the least GHG-intensive trajectories and to draw lessons for future climate-friendly forest transitions.
Max ERC Funding
1 401 941 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-04-01, End date: 2023-03-31
Project acronym HEMOX
Project The male-female health-mortality paradox
Researcher (PI) Marc Luy
Host Institution (HI) OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH3, ERC-2010-StG_20091209
Summary "From the 1960s to the 1980s a common wisdom about differences between males and females in health and mortality emerged which was summarised by the well-known phrase ""women are sicker, but men die quicker"". Recently this wisdom has been increasingly questioned. Nevertheless, the general idea of a paradoxical relationship between health and mortality among women and men persists until today. The purpose of this project is to decisively advance the understanding of the paradox by demonstrating that the reverse relationship between sex on the one side and health and mortality on the other is not as paradoxical as it seems. We hypothesise that two factors are mainly responsible for causing this intuitive contradiction. First, the overall reversal in sex morbidity and sex mortality differentials occurs because conditions that figure importantly in morbidity are not very important in mortality, and vice versa. Second, it is very likely that longevity is directly related to the absolute number of life years in ill health. Thus, women show higher morbidity rates not because they are female but because they are the sex with higher life expectancy. We will test these hypotheses in a ""natural experiment"" by analysing the relationship between health and mortality among Catholic nuns and monks from Austria and Germany in comparison to women and men of the general population. Cloister studies have a long scientific tradition and provided path-breaking knowledge for human medicine and demography, including the applicant s research during the last decade. This project follows the line of this tradition and will investigate the male-female health-mortality paradox in a longitudinal setting that is as close as one can get to an ideal long-term experiment in humans."
Summary
"From the 1960s to the 1980s a common wisdom about differences between males and females in health and mortality emerged which was summarised by the well-known phrase ""women are sicker, but men die quicker"". Recently this wisdom has been increasingly questioned. Nevertheless, the general idea of a paradoxical relationship between health and mortality among women and men persists until today. The purpose of this project is to decisively advance the understanding of the paradox by demonstrating that the reverse relationship between sex on the one side and health and mortality on the other is not as paradoxical as it seems. We hypothesise that two factors are mainly responsible for causing this intuitive contradiction. First, the overall reversal in sex morbidity and sex mortality differentials occurs because conditions that figure importantly in morbidity are not very important in mortality, and vice versa. Second, it is very likely that longevity is directly related to the absolute number of life years in ill health. Thus, women show higher morbidity rates not because they are female but because they are the sex with higher life expectancy. We will test these hypotheses in a ""natural experiment"" by analysing the relationship between health and mortality among Catholic nuns and monks from Austria and Germany in comparison to women and men of the general population. Cloister studies have a long scientific tradition and provided path-breaking knowledge for human medicine and demography, including the applicant s research during the last decade. This project follows the line of this tradition and will investigate the male-female health-mortality paradox in a longitudinal setting that is as close as one can get to an ideal long-term experiment in humans."
Max ERC Funding
999 999 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2016-09-30
Project acronym HUNAYNNET
Project Transmission of Classical Scientific and Philosophical Literature from Greek into Syriac and Arabic
Researcher (PI) Grigory Kessel
Host Institution (HI) OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2015-STG
Summary It is often taken for granted that the Greek-Arabic translation movement (8th-10th c.) that made the whole bulk of Classical Greek scientific and philosophical literature available in Arabic (and that was later handed over to Europe in Latin translations) owes much to the preceding period in the history of transmission of this scientific and philosophical literature, namely translations into the Syriac language that were implemented by Aramaic-speaking Syriac Christians. The problem of continuity between the two periods however has not been tackled thoroughly in scholarship and thus the actual impact of the Syriac translations on later methods of translation has so far not been measured and assessed. One feasible solution to this problem in our understanding of the background to the Greek-Arabic translation movement is to implement a comprehensive comparison of Syriac and Arabic translations by means of lexicographical analysis. This project offers a research tool capable of allowing this comparison. It will combine methods of online lexicography and of corpus linguistics with the aim of presenting in a systematic and rationalized way the lexical data from the entire corpus of Syriac scientific and philosophical translations, comparing and analyzing its terminology and translation techniques, first, with the extant Greek originals and, secondly, with Arabic versions. The lexicographic database will be an effective instrument providing definite data for the study of Syriac and Arabic translations and their close connections. It will reveal how the Syriac translations along with underlying methods and tools that were put to use for the first time ever by Syriac Christians eventually determined the prosperity of the Islamic sciences. Fully endorsing a principle of open access the database creates a new instrument for a study of the history of the transmission of Greek scientific literature in Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
Summary
It is often taken for granted that the Greek-Arabic translation movement (8th-10th c.) that made the whole bulk of Classical Greek scientific and philosophical literature available in Arabic (and that was later handed over to Europe in Latin translations) owes much to the preceding period in the history of transmission of this scientific and philosophical literature, namely translations into the Syriac language that were implemented by Aramaic-speaking Syriac Christians. The problem of continuity between the two periods however has not been tackled thoroughly in scholarship and thus the actual impact of the Syriac translations on later methods of translation has so far not been measured and assessed. One feasible solution to this problem in our understanding of the background to the Greek-Arabic translation movement is to implement a comprehensive comparison of Syriac and Arabic translations by means of lexicographical analysis. This project offers a research tool capable of allowing this comparison. It will combine methods of online lexicography and of corpus linguistics with the aim of presenting in a systematic and rationalized way the lexical data from the entire corpus of Syriac scientific and philosophical translations, comparing and analyzing its terminology and translation techniques, first, with the extant Greek originals and, secondly, with Arabic versions. The lexicographic database will be an effective instrument providing definite data for the study of Syriac and Arabic translations and their close connections. It will reveal how the Syriac translations along with underlying methods and tools that were put to use for the first time ever by Syriac Christians eventually determined the prosperity of the Islamic sciences. Fully endorsing a principle of open access the database creates a new instrument for a study of the history of the transmission of Greek scientific literature in Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
Max ERC Funding
1 498 452 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-05-01, End date: 2021-04-30
