Project acronym ImPRESS
Project Imaging Perfusion Restrictions from Extracellular Solid Stress
Researcher (PI) Kyrre Eeg Emblem
Host Institution (HI) OSLO UNIVERSITETSSYKEHUS HF
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS7, ERC-2017-STG
Summary Even the perfect cancer drug must reach its target to have an effect. The ImPRESS project main objective is to develop a novel imaging paradigm coined Restricted Perfusion Imaging (RPI) to reveal - for the first time in humans - vascular restrictions in solid cancers caused by mechanical solid stress, and use RPI to demonstrate that alleviating this force will repair the cancerous microenvironment and improve therapeutic response. Delivery of anti-cancer drugs to the tumor is critically dependent on a functional vascular bed. Developing biomarkers that can measure how mechanical forces in a solid tumor impair perfusion and promotes therapy resistance is essential for treatment of disease.
The ImPRESS project is based on the following observations; (I) pre-clinical work suggests that therapies targeting the tumor microenvironment and extracellular matrix may enhance drug delivery by decompressing tumor vessels; (II) results from animal models may not be transferable because compressive forces in human tumors in vivo can be many times higher; and (III) there are no available imaging technologies for medical diagnostics of solid stress in human cancers. Using RPI, ImPRESS will conduct a comprehensive series of innovative studies in brain cancer patients to answer three key questions: (Q1) Can we image vascular restrictions in human cancers and map how the vasculature changes with tumor growth or treatment? (Q2) Can we use medical engineering to image solid stress in vivo? (Q3) Can RPI show that matrix-depleting drugs improve patient response to conventional chemo- and radiation therapy as well as new targeted therapies?
The ImPRESS project holds a unique position to answer these questions by our unrivaled experience with advanced imaging of cancer patients. With successful delivery, ImPRESS will have a direct impact on patient treatment and establish an imaging paradigm that will pave the way for new scientific knowledge on how to revitalize cancer therapies.
Summary
Even the perfect cancer drug must reach its target to have an effect. The ImPRESS project main objective is to develop a novel imaging paradigm coined Restricted Perfusion Imaging (RPI) to reveal - for the first time in humans - vascular restrictions in solid cancers caused by mechanical solid stress, and use RPI to demonstrate that alleviating this force will repair the cancerous microenvironment and improve therapeutic response. Delivery of anti-cancer drugs to the tumor is critically dependent on a functional vascular bed. Developing biomarkers that can measure how mechanical forces in a solid tumor impair perfusion and promotes therapy resistance is essential for treatment of disease.
The ImPRESS project is based on the following observations; (I) pre-clinical work suggests that therapies targeting the tumor microenvironment and extracellular matrix may enhance drug delivery by decompressing tumor vessels; (II) results from animal models may not be transferable because compressive forces in human tumors in vivo can be many times higher; and (III) there are no available imaging technologies for medical diagnostics of solid stress in human cancers. Using RPI, ImPRESS will conduct a comprehensive series of innovative studies in brain cancer patients to answer three key questions: (Q1) Can we image vascular restrictions in human cancers and map how the vasculature changes with tumor growth or treatment? (Q2) Can we use medical engineering to image solid stress in vivo? (Q3) Can RPI show that matrix-depleting drugs improve patient response to conventional chemo- and radiation therapy as well as new targeted therapies?
The ImPRESS project holds a unique position to answer these questions by our unrivaled experience with advanced imaging of cancer patients. With successful delivery, ImPRESS will have a direct impact on patient treatment and establish an imaging paradigm that will pave the way for new scientific knowledge on how to revitalize cancer therapies.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 638 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2022-12-31
Project acronym INNOSTOCH
Project INNOVATIONS IN STOCHASTIC ANALYSIS AND APPLICATIONS with emphasis on STOCHASTIC CONTROL AND INFORMATION
Researcher (PI) Bernt Karsten Øksendal
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary "For almost all kinds of dynamic systems modeling real processes in nature or society, most of the mathematical models we can formulate are - at best - inaccurate, and subject to random fluctuations and other types of ""noise"". Therefore it is important to be able to deal with such noisy models in a mathematically rigorous way. This rigorous theory is stochastic analysis. Theoretical progress in stochastic analysis will lead to new and improved applications in a wide range of fields.
The main purpose of this proposal is to establish a research environment which enhances the creation of new ideas and methods in the research of stochastic analysis and its applications. The emphasis is more on innovation, new models and challenges in the research frontiers, rather than small variations and minor improvements of already established theories and results. We will concentrate on applications in finance and biology, but the theoretical results may as well apply to several other areas.
Utilizing recent results and achievements by PI and a large group of distinguished coworkers, the natural extensions from the present knowledge is to concentrate on the mathematical theory of the interplay between stochastic analysis, stochastic control and information. More precisely, we have ambitions to make fundamental progress in the general theory of stochastic control of random systems and applications in finance and biology, and the explicit relation between the optimal performance and the amount of information available to the controller. Explicit examples of special interest include optimal control under partial or delayed information, and optimal control under inside or advanced information. A success of the present proposal will represent a substantial breakthrough, and in turn bring us a significant step forward in our attempts to understand various aspects of the world better, and it will help us to find optimal, sustainable ways to influence it."
Summary
"For almost all kinds of dynamic systems modeling real processes in nature or society, most of the mathematical models we can formulate are - at best - inaccurate, and subject to random fluctuations and other types of ""noise"". Therefore it is important to be able to deal with such noisy models in a mathematically rigorous way. This rigorous theory is stochastic analysis. Theoretical progress in stochastic analysis will lead to new and improved applications in a wide range of fields.
The main purpose of this proposal is to establish a research environment which enhances the creation of new ideas and methods in the research of stochastic analysis and its applications. The emphasis is more on innovation, new models and challenges in the research frontiers, rather than small variations and minor improvements of already established theories and results. We will concentrate on applications in finance and biology, but the theoretical results may as well apply to several other areas.
Utilizing recent results and achievements by PI and a large group of distinguished coworkers, the natural extensions from the present knowledge is to concentrate on the mathematical theory of the interplay between stochastic analysis, stochastic control and information. More precisely, we have ambitions to make fundamental progress in the general theory of stochastic control of random systems and applications in finance and biology, and the explicit relation between the optimal performance and the amount of information available to the controller. Explicit examples of special interest include optimal control under partial or delayed information, and optimal control under inside or advanced information. A success of the present proposal will represent a substantial breakthrough, and in turn bring us a significant step forward in our attempts to understand various aspects of the world better, and it will help us to find optimal, sustainable ways to influence it."
Max ERC Funding
1 864 800 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-09-01, End date: 2014-08-31
Project acronym INSULATRONICS
Project Controlling Electric Signals with Insulating Antiferromagnets and Insulating Ferromagnets
Researcher (PI) Arne Brataas
Host Institution (HI) NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET NTNU
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE3, ERC-2014-ADG
Summary The proposal aims to facilitate a revolution of information and communication technologies by controlling electric signals with antiferromagnetic insulators and ferromagnetic insulators. We recently discovered that antiferromagnets can be active components in spintronics devices despite their lack of a macroscopic magnetic moment, and even when they are insulating.
Conventional electronics- and spintronics-based logic and memory devices, interconnects, and microwave oscillators are based on (spin-polarized) charge transport, which inherently dissipates power due to ohmic losses. The research proposed seeks to determine the extents to which “Insulatronics” has the potential to control the electric and thermal signal generation, transmission, and detection in more power-efficient ways.
Insulatronics is profoundly different because there are no moving charges involved so the power reduction is significant. We hope to establish the extents to which spin-waves and coherent magnons in antiferromagnetic insulators and ferromagnetic insulators can be strongly coupled to electric and thermal currents in adjacent conductors and utilize this coupling to control electric signals. The coupling will be facilitated by spin-transfer torques and spin-pumping – a technique we pioneered – as well as spin-orbit torques and its reciprocal process of charge-pumping.
The core of this project focuses on the theoretical and fundamental challenges facing Insulatronics. Beyond the duration of the project, if we are successful, the use of spin signals in insulators with extremely low power dissipation may enable superior low-power technologies such as oscillators, logic devices, interconnects, non-volatile random access memories, and perhaps even quantum information processing.
Summary
The proposal aims to facilitate a revolution of information and communication technologies by controlling electric signals with antiferromagnetic insulators and ferromagnetic insulators. We recently discovered that antiferromagnets can be active components in spintronics devices despite their lack of a macroscopic magnetic moment, and even when they are insulating.
Conventional electronics- and spintronics-based logic and memory devices, interconnects, and microwave oscillators are based on (spin-polarized) charge transport, which inherently dissipates power due to ohmic losses. The research proposed seeks to determine the extents to which “Insulatronics” has the potential to control the electric and thermal signal generation, transmission, and detection in more power-efficient ways.
Insulatronics is profoundly different because there are no moving charges involved so the power reduction is significant. We hope to establish the extents to which spin-waves and coherent magnons in antiferromagnetic insulators and ferromagnetic insulators can be strongly coupled to electric and thermal currents in adjacent conductors and utilize this coupling to control electric signals. The coupling will be facilitated by spin-transfer torques and spin-pumping – a technique we pioneered – as well as spin-orbit torques and its reciprocal process of charge-pumping.
The core of this project focuses on the theoretical and fundamental challenges facing Insulatronics. Beyond the duration of the project, if we are successful, the use of spin signals in insulators with extremely low power dissipation may enable superior low-power technologies such as oscillators, logic devices, interconnects, non-volatile random access memories, and perhaps even quantum information processing.
Max ERC Funding
2 140 503 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-12-01, End date: 2020-11-30
Project acronym INTLAWRUSSIA
Project International Law and Non-liberal States: The Doctrine and Application of International Law in the Russian Federation
Researcher (PI) Lauri Mälksoo
Host Institution (HI) TARTU ULIKOOL
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2009-StG
Summary The central research question of our project is: what impact does the increasingly non-liberal orientation of the government of the Russian Federation have on the Russian doctrine and practice of international law? As the West and Russia hope to further build their relationship on international law, is it still the same international law that they are talking about? We aim to provide systematic empirical evidence on the use and conceptualization of international law in the Russian Federation. But we intend to go further than that. The project has also a wider theoretical ambition since we intend to analyze the situation in Russia as an example of something beyond Russia itself, namely from the viewpoint of the question of how non-liberal States understand and practice international law. Whether non-liberal States 'behave worse' in respect to international law than liberal States is one of the most important debates in the post-Cold War international legal theory. To combine these two questions - Russia and how non-liberal States relate to international law - promises ground-breaking new insights. Our method includes, beside obvious classical tools of international legal research, using IR theories of constructivism and liberalism. Moreover, we will conduct interviews with Russian judges, politicians and legal academicians in order to get a more nuanced and realistic view on the conceptualization and use of international law in Russia. Besides the PI, the research team includes two post-doc scholars at the Faculty of Law of Tartu University. Three doctoral student positions are also foreseen in the project.
Summary
The central research question of our project is: what impact does the increasingly non-liberal orientation of the government of the Russian Federation have on the Russian doctrine and practice of international law? As the West and Russia hope to further build their relationship on international law, is it still the same international law that they are talking about? We aim to provide systematic empirical evidence on the use and conceptualization of international law in the Russian Federation. But we intend to go further than that. The project has also a wider theoretical ambition since we intend to analyze the situation in Russia as an example of something beyond Russia itself, namely from the viewpoint of the question of how non-liberal States understand and practice international law. Whether non-liberal States 'behave worse' in respect to international law than liberal States is one of the most important debates in the post-Cold War international legal theory. To combine these two questions - Russia and how non-liberal States relate to international law - promises ground-breaking new insights. Our method includes, beside obvious classical tools of international legal research, using IR theories of constructivism and liberalism. Moreover, we will conduct interviews with Russian judges, politicians and legal academicians in order to get a more nuanced and realistic view on the conceptualization and use of international law in Russia. Besides the PI, the research team includes two post-doc scholars at the Faculty of Law of Tartu University. Three doctoral student positions are also foreseen in the project.
Max ERC Funding
500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-09-01, End date: 2014-08-31
Project acronym INVPROB
Project Inverse Problems
Researcher (PI) Lassi Juhani Päivärinta
Host Institution (HI) TALLINNA TEHNIKAULIKOOL
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2010-AdG_20100224
Summary Inverse problems constitute an interdisciplinary field of science concentrating on the mathematical theory and practical interpretation of indirect measurements. Their applications include medical imaging, atmospheric remote sensing, industrial process monitoring, and astronomical imaging. The common feature is extreme sensitivity to measurement noise. Computerized tomography, MRI, and exploration of the interior of earth by using earthquake data are typical inverse problems where mathematics has played an important role. By using the methods of inverse problems it is possible to bring modern mathematics to a vast number of applied fields. Genuine scientific innovations that are found in mathematical research, say in geometry, stochastics, or analysis, can be brought to real life applications through modelling. The solutions are often found by combining recent theoretical and computational advances. The study of inverse problems is one of the most active and fastest growing areas of modern applied mathematics, and the most interdisciplinary field of mathematics or even science in general.
The exciting but high risk problems in the research plan of the PI include mathematics of invisibility cloaking, invisible patterns, practical algorithms for imaging, and random quantum systems. Progress in these problems could have a considerable impact in applications such as construction of metamaterials for invisible optic fibre cables, scopes for MRI devices, and early screening for breast cancer. The progress here necessitates international collaboration. This will be realized in upcoming programs on inverse problems. The PI is involved in organizing semester programs in inverse problems at MSRI in 2010, Isaac Newton Institute in 2011, and Mittag-Leffler -institute in 2012.
Summary
Inverse problems constitute an interdisciplinary field of science concentrating on the mathematical theory and practical interpretation of indirect measurements. Their applications include medical imaging, atmospheric remote sensing, industrial process monitoring, and astronomical imaging. The common feature is extreme sensitivity to measurement noise. Computerized tomography, MRI, and exploration of the interior of earth by using earthquake data are typical inverse problems where mathematics has played an important role. By using the methods of inverse problems it is possible to bring modern mathematics to a vast number of applied fields. Genuine scientific innovations that are found in mathematical research, say in geometry, stochastics, or analysis, can be brought to real life applications through modelling. The solutions are often found by combining recent theoretical and computational advances. The study of inverse problems is one of the most active and fastest growing areas of modern applied mathematics, and the most interdisciplinary field of mathematics or even science in general.
The exciting but high risk problems in the research plan of the PI include mathematics of invisibility cloaking, invisible patterns, practical algorithms for imaging, and random quantum systems. Progress in these problems could have a considerable impact in applications such as construction of metamaterials for invisible optic fibre cables, scopes for MRI devices, and early screening for breast cancer. The progress here necessitates international collaboration. This will be realized in upcoming programs on inverse problems. The PI is involved in organizing semester programs in inverse problems at MSRI in 2010, Isaac Newton Institute in 2011, and Mittag-Leffler -institute in 2012.
Max ERC Funding
1 800 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-03-01, End date: 2016-02-29
Project acronym ISLAS
Project Isotopic links to atmopheric water's sources
Researcher (PI) Harald SODEMANN
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITETET I BERGEN
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE10, ERC-2017-COG
Summary The hydrological cycle, with its feedbacks related to water vapour and clouds, is the largest source of uncertainty in weather prediction and climate models. Particularly processes that occur on scales smaller than the model grid lead to errors, which can compensate one another, making them difficult to detect and correct for. Undetectable compensating errors critically limit the understanding of hydrological extremes, the response of the water cycle to a changing climate, and the interpretation of paleoclimate records. Stable water isotopes have a unique potential to serve as the needed constraints, as they provide measures of moisture origin and of the phase change history. We have recently spearheaded a revised view of the atmospheric water cycle, which highlights the importance of connections on a regional scale. This implies that in some areas, all relevant processes can be studied on a regional scale. The Nordic Seas are an ideal case of such a natural laboratory, with distinct evaporation events, shallow transport processes, and swift precipitation formation. Together with recent technological advances in isotope measurements and in-situ sample collection, this will allow us to acquire a new kind of observational data set that will follow the history of water vapour from source to sink. The high-resolution, high-precision isotope data will provide a combined view of established and novel natural isotopic source tracers and set new benchmarks for climate models. A unique palette of sophisticated model tools will allow us to decipher, synthesize and exploit these observations, and to identify compensating errors between water cycle processes in models. In ISLAS, my team and I will thus make unprecedented use of stable isotopes to provide the sought-after constraints for an improved understanding of the hydrological cycle in nature and in climate models, leading towards improved predictions of future climate.
Summary
The hydrological cycle, with its feedbacks related to water vapour and clouds, is the largest source of uncertainty in weather prediction and climate models. Particularly processes that occur on scales smaller than the model grid lead to errors, which can compensate one another, making them difficult to detect and correct for. Undetectable compensating errors critically limit the understanding of hydrological extremes, the response of the water cycle to a changing climate, and the interpretation of paleoclimate records. Stable water isotopes have a unique potential to serve as the needed constraints, as they provide measures of moisture origin and of the phase change history. We have recently spearheaded a revised view of the atmospheric water cycle, which highlights the importance of connections on a regional scale. This implies that in some areas, all relevant processes can be studied on a regional scale. The Nordic Seas are an ideal case of such a natural laboratory, with distinct evaporation events, shallow transport processes, and swift precipitation formation. Together with recent technological advances in isotope measurements and in-situ sample collection, this will allow us to acquire a new kind of observational data set that will follow the history of water vapour from source to sink. The high-resolution, high-precision isotope data will provide a combined view of established and novel natural isotopic source tracers and set new benchmarks for climate models. A unique palette of sophisticated model tools will allow us to decipher, synthesize and exploit these observations, and to identify compensating errors between water cycle processes in models. In ISLAS, my team and I will thus make unprecedented use of stable isotopes to provide the sought-after constraints for an improved understanding of the hydrological cycle in nature and in climate models, leading towards improved predictions of future climate.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 054 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-08-01, End date: 2023-07-31
Project acronym LITTLE TOOLS
Project Enacting the Good Economy: Biocapitalization and the little tools of valuation
Researcher (PI) Kristin Asdal
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2014-STG
Summary What shall we live off in the future? Where will our food come from, and what will form the basis for our economies? A so-called “blue revolution”, where fish become farmed rather than caught, is increasingly presented as an answer to the above questions. This transformation of the economy exemplifies ongoing efforts to produce new forms of capital out of the ordering and reordering of life. These processes are intimately related to the expanding life sciences, the bioeconomy and what is sometimes called new forms of biocapital.
But how do such large transformations take place in actual practice, and by which means? This project argues that if we are to understand such major transformations we need to study “little tools”, that is, material-semiotic entities that carefully modify and work upon bodies, markets and science.
Emerging bioeconomies are expected not only to produce economic value but also to enact values in other ways that contribute to what this project refers to as “the good economy”. Such values include enabling sustainable fisheries, secure animal welfare or sustainable growth.
The main hypothesis of the current project is that the enactment of the good economy can be studied by valuation practices performed by material-semiotic little tools. The project will explore this hypothesis at multiple sites for biocapitalization: science, the market, policy and funding institutions. This project will focus on how these interact and encounter one another. The aim is twofold: first, to provide new empirical insights about how biocapitalization processes are enacted in practice and at strategic sites, using cross-disciplinary methods from actor-network theory, the humanities and economic sociology; second to contribute analytically and methodologically to the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) by drawing on resources from economic sociology and the humanities in order to provide an analytical framework for comprehending biocapitalization practices.
Summary
What shall we live off in the future? Where will our food come from, and what will form the basis for our economies? A so-called “blue revolution”, where fish become farmed rather than caught, is increasingly presented as an answer to the above questions. This transformation of the economy exemplifies ongoing efforts to produce new forms of capital out of the ordering and reordering of life. These processes are intimately related to the expanding life sciences, the bioeconomy and what is sometimes called new forms of biocapital.
But how do such large transformations take place in actual practice, and by which means? This project argues that if we are to understand such major transformations we need to study “little tools”, that is, material-semiotic entities that carefully modify and work upon bodies, markets and science.
Emerging bioeconomies are expected not only to produce economic value but also to enact values in other ways that contribute to what this project refers to as “the good economy”. Such values include enabling sustainable fisheries, secure animal welfare or sustainable growth.
The main hypothesis of the current project is that the enactment of the good economy can be studied by valuation practices performed by material-semiotic little tools. The project will explore this hypothesis at multiple sites for biocapitalization: science, the market, policy and funding institutions. This project will focus on how these interact and encounter one another. The aim is twofold: first, to provide new empirical insights about how biocapitalization processes are enacted in practice and at strategic sites, using cross-disciplinary methods from actor-network theory, the humanities and economic sociology; second to contribute analytically and methodologically to the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) by drawing on resources from economic sociology and the humanities in order to provide an analytical framework for comprehending biocapitalization practices.
Max ERC Funding
1 495 079 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-09-01, End date: 2020-08-31
Project acronym LOPRE
Project Lossy Preprocessing
Researcher (PI) Saket SAURABH
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITETET I BERGEN
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE6, ERC-2018-COG
Summary A critical component of computational processing of data sets is the `preprocessing' or `compression' step which is the computation of a \emph{succinct, sufficiently accurate} representation
of the given data. Preprocessing is ubiquitous and a rigorous mathematical understanding of preprocessing algorithms is crucial in order to reason about and understand the limits of preprocessing.
Unfortunately, there is no mathematical framework to analyze and objectively compare two preprocessing routines while simultaneously taking into account `all three dimensions' --
-- the efficiency of computing the succinct representation,
-- the space required to store this representation, and
-- the accuracy with which the original data is captured in the succinct representation.
``The overarching goal of this proposal is the development of a mathematical framework for the rigorous analysis of preprocessing algorithms. ''
We will achieve the goal by designing new algorithmic techniques for preprocessing, developing a framework of analysis to make qualitative comparisons between various preprocessing routines based on the criteria above and by developing lower bound tools required
to understand the limitations of preprocessing for concrete problems.
This project will lift our understanding of algorithmic preprocessing to new heights and lead to a groundbreaking shift in the set of basic research questions attached to the study of preprocessing for specific problems. It will significantly advance the analysis of preprocessing and yield substantial technology transfer between adjacent subfields of computer science such as dynamic algorithms, streaming algorithms, property testing and graph theory.
Summary
A critical component of computational processing of data sets is the `preprocessing' or `compression' step which is the computation of a \emph{succinct, sufficiently accurate} representation
of the given data. Preprocessing is ubiquitous and a rigorous mathematical understanding of preprocessing algorithms is crucial in order to reason about and understand the limits of preprocessing.
Unfortunately, there is no mathematical framework to analyze and objectively compare two preprocessing routines while simultaneously taking into account `all three dimensions' --
-- the efficiency of computing the succinct representation,
-- the space required to store this representation, and
-- the accuracy with which the original data is captured in the succinct representation.
``The overarching goal of this proposal is the development of a mathematical framework for the rigorous analysis of preprocessing algorithms. ''
We will achieve the goal by designing new algorithmic techniques for preprocessing, developing a framework of analysis to make qualitative comparisons between various preprocessing routines based on the criteria above and by developing lower bound tools required
to understand the limitations of preprocessing for concrete problems.
This project will lift our understanding of algorithmic preprocessing to new heights and lead to a groundbreaking shift in the set of basic research questions attached to the study of preprocessing for specific problems. It will significantly advance the analysis of preprocessing and yield substantial technology transfer between adjacent subfields of computer science such as dynamic algorithms, streaming algorithms, property testing and graph theory.
Max ERC Funding
2 000 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-05-01, End date: 2024-04-30
Project acronym LORAX
Project The Lorax Project: Understanding Ecosystemic Politics
Researcher (PI) Elana Tovah Wilson ROWE
Host Institution (HI) NORSK UTENRIKSPOLITISK INSTITUTT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2018-STG
Summary The Lorax project is a comparative effort to expand our understanding of global political architecture through the consideration of a potential set of ‘missing cases’, namely supranational policy fields organized around regional ecosystems. The project explores this question: Do regional politics around national border-crossing ecosystems share important resemblances and differ in significant ways from global politics? To address this question, the Lorax project analyzes the networks of actors, hierarchies between actors and diplomatic norms of the governance fields that have grown up around efforts to ‘speak for’ border-crossing ecosystems in three locations – the Arctic Ocean, the Amazon Basin, and the Caspian Sea.
‘Ecosystemic politics’ is meant to indicate regional-level political efforts justified by the shared management or discussion of collectively acknowledged ‘border-crossing’ ecosystems. Frequently, the political cooperation may be on issues that would be seen as environmental or regulatory politics relating to the ecosystem itself, but ecosystemic politics is not, by definition, limited to such questions of environmental politics. Rather, the word ‘ecosystemic’ gives the Lorax team a sense of where to look without presupposing the interests and issues that engaged actors may bring to those regional interactions.
The project aims to generate new insights about the architecture and dynamics of global governance by rigorously researching and then comparing three cases of policy fields around national border-crossing ecosystems. The team will consist of the PI, a postdoc, a PhD and additional senior researcher capacity as needed. An ambitious, but achievable, publication plan (9 articles, 1 book) is mapped out to ensure rigorous finalization of results and dissemination to social science fields engaged with supranational governance questions.
Summary
The Lorax project is a comparative effort to expand our understanding of global political architecture through the consideration of a potential set of ‘missing cases’, namely supranational policy fields organized around regional ecosystems. The project explores this question: Do regional politics around national border-crossing ecosystems share important resemblances and differ in significant ways from global politics? To address this question, the Lorax project analyzes the networks of actors, hierarchies between actors and diplomatic norms of the governance fields that have grown up around efforts to ‘speak for’ border-crossing ecosystems in three locations – the Arctic Ocean, the Amazon Basin, and the Caspian Sea.
‘Ecosystemic politics’ is meant to indicate regional-level political efforts justified by the shared management or discussion of collectively acknowledged ‘border-crossing’ ecosystems. Frequently, the political cooperation may be on issues that would be seen as environmental or regulatory politics relating to the ecosystem itself, but ecosystemic politics is not, by definition, limited to such questions of environmental politics. Rather, the word ‘ecosystemic’ gives the Lorax team a sense of where to look without presupposing the interests and issues that engaged actors may bring to those regional interactions.
The project aims to generate new insights about the architecture and dynamics of global governance by rigorously researching and then comparing three cases of policy fields around national border-crossing ecosystems. The team will consist of the PI, a postdoc, a PhD and additional senior researcher capacity as needed. An ambitious, but achievable, publication plan (9 articles, 1 book) is mapped out to ensure rigorous finalization of results and dissemination to social science fields engaged with supranational governance questions.
Max ERC Funding
1 496 848 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-01-01, End date: 2023-12-31
Project acronym LUSI LAB
Project Lusi: a unique natural laboratory for multidisciplinary studies of focussed fluid flow in sedimentary basins
Researcher (PI) Adriano Mazzini
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE10, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary The 29th of May 2006 several gas and mud eruption sites suddenly appeared along a fault in the NE of Java, Indonesia. Within weeks several villages were submerged by boiling mud. The most prominent eruption site was named Lusi. To date Lusi is still active and has forced 50.000 people to be evacuated and an area of more than 7 km2 is covered by mud. The social impact of the eruption and its spectacular dimensions still attract the attention of international media. Since 2006 I have completed four expeditions to Indonesia and initiated quantitative and experimental studies leading to the publication of two papers focussing on the plumbing system and the mechanisms of the Lusi eruption. However still many unanswered questions remain. What lies beneath Lusi? Is Lusi a mud volcano or part of a larger hydrothermal system? What are the mechanisms triggering the eruption? How long will the eruption last?
LUSI LAB is an ambitious project that aims to answer these questions and to perform a multidisciplinary study using Lusi as a unique natural laboratory. Due to its relatively easy accessibility, the geological setting, and the vast scale, the Lusi eruption represents an unprecedented opportunity to study and learn from an ongoing active eruptive system. The results will be crucial for understanding focused fluid flow systems in other sedimentary basins world-wide, and to unravel issues related to geohazards and palaeoclimate aspects. The project will use multisensory sampling devices within the active feeder channel and a remote-controlled raft and flying device to access and sample the crater and the erupted gases. UV-gas camera imaging to measure the rate and composition of the erupted gases will be coupled with a network of seismometers to evaluate the impact that seismicity, local faulting and the neighbouring Arjuno-Welirang volcanic complex have on the long-lasting Lusi activity. This information will provide robust constraints to model the pulsating Lusi behaviour.
Summary
The 29th of May 2006 several gas and mud eruption sites suddenly appeared along a fault in the NE of Java, Indonesia. Within weeks several villages were submerged by boiling mud. The most prominent eruption site was named Lusi. To date Lusi is still active and has forced 50.000 people to be evacuated and an area of more than 7 km2 is covered by mud. The social impact of the eruption and its spectacular dimensions still attract the attention of international media. Since 2006 I have completed four expeditions to Indonesia and initiated quantitative and experimental studies leading to the publication of two papers focussing on the plumbing system and the mechanisms of the Lusi eruption. However still many unanswered questions remain. What lies beneath Lusi? Is Lusi a mud volcano or part of a larger hydrothermal system? What are the mechanisms triggering the eruption? How long will the eruption last?
LUSI LAB is an ambitious project that aims to answer these questions and to perform a multidisciplinary study using Lusi as a unique natural laboratory. Due to its relatively easy accessibility, the geological setting, and the vast scale, the Lusi eruption represents an unprecedented opportunity to study and learn from an ongoing active eruptive system. The results will be crucial for understanding focused fluid flow systems in other sedimentary basins world-wide, and to unravel issues related to geohazards and palaeoclimate aspects. The project will use multisensory sampling devices within the active feeder channel and a remote-controlled raft and flying device to access and sample the crater and the erupted gases. UV-gas camera imaging to measure the rate and composition of the erupted gases will be coupled with a network of seismometers to evaluate the impact that seismicity, local faulting and the neighbouring Arjuno-Welirang volcanic complex have on the long-lasting Lusi activity. This information will provide robust constraints to model the pulsating Lusi behaviour.
Max ERC Funding
1 422 420 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2018-12-31
