Project acronym DISCOMPOSE
Project Disasters, Communication and Politics in South-Western Europe: the Making of Emergency Response Policies in the Early Modern Age
Researcher (PI) Domenico CECERE
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI FEDERICO II
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2017-STG
Summary The connections between the circulation of news of extreme events, the making of influential narratives of collective traumas and the development of emergency response policies lie at the heart of this research proposal, which focuses on four Southern European areas: Catalonia, Naples, Sicily and Valencia, from the 16th to the 18th century. How did accounts and individual memories of extreme events amount to authoritative interpretations? In which ways, and to what extent, did the latter orient collective behaviours and the recovery process, in both the short and the long term?
Starting from the assumption that human relations are enhanced by the increased levels of socialisation that commonly occur in the aftermath of shocking events, which trigger the sharing of information, opinions and memories; and that the emotional impact of such events is likely to create a public opinion that draws attention to government’s action; the research proposal aims to contribute new insights into these issues by adopting an original methodology, developed across a variety of disciplines, including Cultural and Social History, Textual Criticism, Philology and Anthropology. Moreover, it will adopt a transnational perspective: since the selected regions belonged to the Spanish Monarchy, the development of practices and polices aimed to respond to disruption depended not only on the specific social and cultural features of local societies, but also on the circulation of political and technical staff, as well as on the sharing of knowledge, experiences and policy models, among the various areas of the Empire and its colonies. Studying the information exchange in the aftermath of disasters and the formation of an imagery of extraordinary events, will allow a comprehensive perspective on the policies and practices adopted by early modern societies to manage uncertainty, and on the potential impact that such narratives could have on the renegotiation of political and social relations.
Summary
The connections between the circulation of news of extreme events, the making of influential narratives of collective traumas and the development of emergency response policies lie at the heart of this research proposal, which focuses on four Southern European areas: Catalonia, Naples, Sicily and Valencia, from the 16th to the 18th century. How did accounts and individual memories of extreme events amount to authoritative interpretations? In which ways, and to what extent, did the latter orient collective behaviours and the recovery process, in both the short and the long term?
Starting from the assumption that human relations are enhanced by the increased levels of socialisation that commonly occur in the aftermath of shocking events, which trigger the sharing of information, opinions and memories; and that the emotional impact of such events is likely to create a public opinion that draws attention to government’s action; the research proposal aims to contribute new insights into these issues by adopting an original methodology, developed across a variety of disciplines, including Cultural and Social History, Textual Criticism, Philology and Anthropology. Moreover, it will adopt a transnational perspective: since the selected regions belonged to the Spanish Monarchy, the development of practices and polices aimed to respond to disruption depended not only on the specific social and cultural features of local societies, but also on the circulation of political and technical staff, as well as on the sharing of knowledge, experiences and policy models, among the various areas of the Empire and its colonies. Studying the information exchange in the aftermath of disasters and the formation of an imagery of extraordinary events, will allow a comprehensive perspective on the policies and practices adopted by early modern societies to manage uncertainty, and on the potential impact that such narratives could have on the renegotiation of political and social relations.
Max ERC Funding
1 481 813 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-02-01, End date: 2023-01-31
Project acronym DOMESTICATION
Project Domestication in Action - Tracing Archaeological Markers of Human-Animal Interaction
Researcher (PI) Anna-Kaisa SALMI
Host Institution (HI) OULUN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2017-STG
Summary The project will create new methodology for identification and interpretation of animal domestication, with a case study pertaining to reindeer domestication among the indigenous Sámi in northern Fennoscandia. Identification of early animal domestication is complicated due to the limited human control over the animals’ life cycles in early stages of domestication, leading to difficulties in interpreting morphological and genetic data, as well as in using traditional concepts and definitions of domestication. These problems are especially pressing in the study of reindeer domestication, characterized by very limited human control over animals. However, understanding reindeer domestication is important to local communities as well as to the scientific community due to central role of human-reindeer relation as a carrier of culture and identity among many peoples, including Sámi of northern Fennoscandia.
As a novel approach, we propose a focus on interactional events between humans and animals as indications of domestication taking place. We will create methods aimed at identifying interactional events such as draught use and feeding, between reindeer and humans. The methodological package includes physical activity reconstruction through entheseal changes, pathological lesions and bone cross-sections, and analysis of stable isotopes as indicator of animal diet. These methods will then be applied for archaeological reindeer bone finds and the results will be checked against aDNA data to examine changing human-animal relationships among the Sámi. The project has a potential to break new ground in understanding animal domestication as human-animal interaction, a viewpoint pivotal in today’s human-animal studies. Moreover, the project has potential of methodological breakthroughs and creation of transferable methodology. The results will be relevant to local communities and researchers dealing with domestication, human-animal studies and colonial histories.
Summary
The project will create new methodology for identification and interpretation of animal domestication, with a case study pertaining to reindeer domestication among the indigenous Sámi in northern Fennoscandia. Identification of early animal domestication is complicated due to the limited human control over the animals’ life cycles in early stages of domestication, leading to difficulties in interpreting morphological and genetic data, as well as in using traditional concepts and definitions of domestication. These problems are especially pressing in the study of reindeer domestication, characterized by very limited human control over animals. However, understanding reindeer domestication is important to local communities as well as to the scientific community due to central role of human-reindeer relation as a carrier of culture and identity among many peoples, including Sámi of northern Fennoscandia.
As a novel approach, we propose a focus on interactional events between humans and animals as indications of domestication taking place. We will create methods aimed at identifying interactional events such as draught use and feeding, between reindeer and humans. The methodological package includes physical activity reconstruction through entheseal changes, pathological lesions and bone cross-sections, and analysis of stable isotopes as indicator of animal diet. These methods will then be applied for archaeological reindeer bone finds and the results will be checked against aDNA data to examine changing human-animal relationships among the Sámi. The project has a potential to break new ground in understanding animal domestication as human-animal interaction, a viewpoint pivotal in today’s human-animal studies. Moreover, the project has potential of methodological breakthroughs and creation of transferable methodology. The results will be relevant to local communities and researchers dealing with domestication, human-animal studies and colonial histories.
Max ERC Funding
1 490 915 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-02-01, End date: 2023-01-31
Project acronym DyNET
Project Dynamical river NETworks: climatic controls and biogeochemical function
Researcher (PI) Gianluca BOTTER
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE10, ERC-2017-COG
Summary Despite the ubiquity of expansion and retraction dynamics of flowing streams, the large majority of biogeochemical and hydrological studies conceive river networks as static elements of the landscape, and a coherent framework to quantify nature and extent of drainage network dynamics is lacking. The implications of this phenomenon extend far beyond hydrology and involve key ecological and biogeochemical function of riparian corridors. The proposed research project will move beyond the traditional paradigm of static river networks by unravelling, for the first time, physical causes and biogeochemical consequences of stream dynamics. In particular, the project will undertake the following overarching scientific questions: 1) what are the climatic and geomorphic controls on the expansion/contraction of river networks? 2) what is the length of temporary streams and what is their impact on catchment-scale biogeochemical processes and stream water quality across scales? These challenging issues will be addressed by developing a novel theoretical framework complemented by extensive field observations within four representative sites along a climatic gradient in the EU. Field measurements will include long-term weekly mapping of the active drainage network and daily hydro-chemical data across scales. The experimental dataset will be used to develop and inform a set of innovative modelling tools, including an analytical framework for the description of spatially explicit hydrologic dynamics driven by stochastic rainfall and a modular hydro-chemical model based on the concept of water age, able to account for the variable connectivity among soil, groundwater and channels as induced by stream network dynamics. The project will open new avenues to quantify freshwater carbon emissions - crucially dependent on the extent of ephemeral streams - and it will provide a robust basis to identify temporary rivers and maintain their biogeochemical function in times of global change.
Summary
Despite the ubiquity of expansion and retraction dynamics of flowing streams, the large majority of biogeochemical and hydrological studies conceive river networks as static elements of the landscape, and a coherent framework to quantify nature and extent of drainage network dynamics is lacking. The implications of this phenomenon extend far beyond hydrology and involve key ecological and biogeochemical function of riparian corridors. The proposed research project will move beyond the traditional paradigm of static river networks by unravelling, for the first time, physical causes and biogeochemical consequences of stream dynamics. In particular, the project will undertake the following overarching scientific questions: 1) what are the climatic and geomorphic controls on the expansion/contraction of river networks? 2) what is the length of temporary streams and what is their impact on catchment-scale biogeochemical processes and stream water quality across scales? These challenging issues will be addressed by developing a novel theoretical framework complemented by extensive field observations within four representative sites along a climatic gradient in the EU. Field measurements will include long-term weekly mapping of the active drainage network and daily hydro-chemical data across scales. The experimental dataset will be used to develop and inform a set of innovative modelling tools, including an analytical framework for the description of spatially explicit hydrologic dynamics driven by stochastic rainfall and a modular hydro-chemical model based on the concept of water age, able to account for the variable connectivity among soil, groundwater and channels as induced by stream network dynamics. The project will open new avenues to quantify freshwater carbon emissions - crucially dependent on the extent of ephemeral streams - and it will provide a robust basis to identify temporary rivers and maintain their biogeochemical function in times of global change.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 758 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-05-01, End date: 2023-04-30
Project acronym E-DESIGN
Project Artificial designer materials
Researcher (PI) Peter LILJEROTH
Host Institution (HI) AALTO KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE3, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary Constructing designer materials where the atomic geometry, interactions, magnetism and other relevant parameters can be precisely controlled is becoming reality. I will reach this aim by positioning every atom with the tip of a scanning probe microscope, or by using molecular self-assembly to reach the desired structures. I will realize and engineer several novel quantum materials hosting exotic electronic phases: 2D topological insulators in metal-organic frameworks (MOF) and 2D topological superconductors in hybrid molecule-superconductor structures. These classes of materials have not yet been experimentally realized but could enable novel spintronic and quantum computing devices. In addition, we will realize a tuneable platform for quantum simulation in solid-state artificial lattices, which could open a whole new area in this field.
I will employ a broad experimental approach to reach the above targets by utilizing molecular self-assembly and scanning probe microscopy -based atom/molecule manipulation. The systems are characterized using low-temperature atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). My group is one of the leading groups in these topics globally. We have initial results on the topics discussed in this proposal and are thus in a unique position to make ground-breaking contributions in realizing designer quantum materials.
The artificial designer materials we study are characterized by the engineered electronic response with atomically precise geometries, lattice symmetries and controlled interactions. Such ingredients can result in ultimately controllable materials that have large, robust and quick responses to small stimuli with applications in nanoelectronics, flexible electronics, high-selectivity and high-sensitivity sensors, and optoelectronic components. Longer term, the biggest impact is expected through a profound change in the way we view materials and what can be achieved through designer materials approach.
Summary
Constructing designer materials where the atomic geometry, interactions, magnetism and other relevant parameters can be precisely controlled is becoming reality. I will reach this aim by positioning every atom with the tip of a scanning probe microscope, or by using molecular self-assembly to reach the desired structures. I will realize and engineer several novel quantum materials hosting exotic electronic phases: 2D topological insulators in metal-organic frameworks (MOF) and 2D topological superconductors in hybrid molecule-superconductor structures. These classes of materials have not yet been experimentally realized but could enable novel spintronic and quantum computing devices. In addition, we will realize a tuneable platform for quantum simulation in solid-state artificial lattices, which could open a whole new area in this field.
I will employ a broad experimental approach to reach the above targets by utilizing molecular self-assembly and scanning probe microscopy -based atom/molecule manipulation. The systems are characterized using low-temperature atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). My group is one of the leading groups in these topics globally. We have initial results on the topics discussed in this proposal and are thus in a unique position to make ground-breaking contributions in realizing designer quantum materials.
The artificial designer materials we study are characterized by the engineered electronic response with atomically precise geometries, lattice symmetries and controlled interactions. Such ingredients can result in ultimately controllable materials that have large, robust and quick responses to small stimuli with applications in nanoelectronics, flexible electronics, high-selectivity and high-sensitivity sensors, and optoelectronic components. Longer term, the biggest impact is expected through a profound change in the way we view materials and what can be achieved through designer materials approach.
Max ERC Funding
2 374 922 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31
Project acronym E-DUALITY
Project Exploring Duality for Future Data-driven Modelling
Researcher (PI) Johan SUYKENS
Host Institution (HI) KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE7, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary Future data-driven modelling is increasingly challenging for many systems due to higher complexity levels, such as in energy systems, environmental and climate modelling, traffic and transport, industrial processes, health, safety, and others. This requires powerful concepts and frameworks that enable the design of high quality predictive models. In this proposal E-DUALITY we will explore and engineer the potential of duality principles for future data-driven modelling. An existing example illustrating the important role of duality in this context is support vector machines, which possess primal and dual model representations, in terms of feature maps and kernels, respectively. Within this project, besides using existing notions of duality that are relevant for data-driven modelling (e.g. Lagrange duality, Legendre-Fenchel duality, Monge-Kantorovich duality), we will also explore new ones. Duality principles will be employed for obtaining a generically applicable framework with unifying insights, handling different system complexity levels, optimal model representations and designing efficient algorithms. This will require taking an integrative approach across different research fields. The new framework should be able to include e.g. multi-view and multiple function learning, multiplex and multilayer networks, tensor models, multi-scale and deep architectures as particular instances and to combine several of such characteristics, in addition to simple basic schemes. It will include both parametric and kernel-based approaches for tasks as regression, classification, clustering, dimensionality reduction, outlier detection and dynamical systems modelling. Higher risk elements are the search for new standard forms in modelling systems with different complexity levels, matching models and representations to system characteristics, and developing algorithms for large scale applications within this powerful new framework.
Summary
Future data-driven modelling is increasingly challenging for many systems due to higher complexity levels, such as in energy systems, environmental and climate modelling, traffic and transport, industrial processes, health, safety, and others. This requires powerful concepts and frameworks that enable the design of high quality predictive models. In this proposal E-DUALITY we will explore and engineer the potential of duality principles for future data-driven modelling. An existing example illustrating the important role of duality in this context is support vector machines, which possess primal and dual model representations, in terms of feature maps and kernels, respectively. Within this project, besides using existing notions of duality that are relevant for data-driven modelling (e.g. Lagrange duality, Legendre-Fenchel duality, Monge-Kantorovich duality), we will also explore new ones. Duality principles will be employed for obtaining a generically applicable framework with unifying insights, handling different system complexity levels, optimal model representations and designing efficient algorithms. This will require taking an integrative approach across different research fields. The new framework should be able to include e.g. multi-view and multiple function learning, multiplex and multilayer networks, tensor models, multi-scale and deep architectures as particular instances and to combine several of such characteristics, in addition to simple basic schemes. It will include both parametric and kernel-based approaches for tasks as regression, classification, clustering, dimensionality reduction, outlier detection and dynamical systems modelling. Higher risk elements are the search for new standard forms in modelling systems with different complexity levels, matching models and representations to system characteristics, and developing algorithms for large scale applications within this powerful new framework.
Max ERC Funding
2 492 500 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-10-01, End date: 2023-09-30
Project acronym eHONESTY
Project Embodied Honesty in Real World and Digital Interactions
Researcher (PI) Salvatore Maria AGLIOTI
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH4, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary Every day, everywhere, people make unethical choices ranging from minor selfish lies to massive frauds, with dramatic individual and societal costs.
Embodied cognition theories posit that even seemingly abstract processes (like grammar) may be biased by the body-related signals used for building and maintaining self-consciousness, the fundamental experience of owning a body (ownership) and being the author of an action (agency), that is at the basis of self-other distinction.
Applying this framework to morality, we hypothesize that strengthening or weakening participants’ bodily self-consciousness towards virtual avatars or real others will influence dishonesty in real, virtual, and web-based interactions.
To test this hypothesis, we will measure:
i) individual dishonesty after modifying body ownership (e.g., by changing the appearance of the virtual body) and agency (e.g., by changing the temporal synchrony between participant’s and avatar’s actions) over an avatar through which decisions are made;
ii) intergroup dishonesty after inducing inter-individual sharing of body self-consciousness (e.g., blur self-other distinction via facial visuo-tactile stimulation);
iii) individual and intergroup dishonesty by manipulating exteroceptive (e.g., the external features of a virtual body) or interoceptive (e.g., changing the degree of synchronicity between participant’s and avatar/real person’s breathing rhythm) bodily inputs.
Dishonesty will be assessed through novel ecological tasks based on virtual reality and web-based interactions. Behavioural (e.g., subjective reports, kinematics), autonomic (e.g., heartbeat, thermal imaging) and brain (e.g., EEG, TMS, lesion analyses) measures of dishonesty will be recorded in healthy and clinical populations.
Our person-based, embodied approach to dishonesty complements cross-cultural, large-scale, societal investigations and may inspire new strategies for contrasting dishonesty and other unethical behaviours.
Summary
Every day, everywhere, people make unethical choices ranging from minor selfish lies to massive frauds, with dramatic individual and societal costs.
Embodied cognition theories posit that even seemingly abstract processes (like grammar) may be biased by the body-related signals used for building and maintaining self-consciousness, the fundamental experience of owning a body (ownership) and being the author of an action (agency), that is at the basis of self-other distinction.
Applying this framework to morality, we hypothesize that strengthening or weakening participants’ bodily self-consciousness towards virtual avatars or real others will influence dishonesty in real, virtual, and web-based interactions.
To test this hypothesis, we will measure:
i) individual dishonesty after modifying body ownership (e.g., by changing the appearance of the virtual body) and agency (e.g., by changing the temporal synchrony between participant’s and avatar’s actions) over an avatar through which decisions are made;
ii) intergroup dishonesty after inducing inter-individual sharing of body self-consciousness (e.g., blur self-other distinction via facial visuo-tactile stimulation);
iii) individual and intergroup dishonesty by manipulating exteroceptive (e.g., the external features of a virtual body) or interoceptive (e.g., changing the degree of synchronicity between participant’s and avatar/real person’s breathing rhythm) bodily inputs.
Dishonesty will be assessed through novel ecological tasks based on virtual reality and web-based interactions. Behavioural (e.g., subjective reports, kinematics), autonomic (e.g., heartbeat, thermal imaging) and brain (e.g., EEG, TMS, lesion analyses) measures of dishonesty will be recorded in healthy and clinical populations.
Our person-based, embodied approach to dishonesty complements cross-cultural, large-scale, societal investigations and may inspire new strategies for contrasting dishonesty and other unethical behaviours.
Max ERC Funding
2 497 188 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-11-01, End date: 2023-10-31
Project acronym ElecOpteR
Project Electro-optical polariton router
Researcher (PI) Daniele SANVITTO
Host Institution (HI) CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE
Call Details Proof of Concept (PoC), ERC-2017-PoC
Summary In this proposal we plan to bring to a development stage TRL 3 an electro-optical device working at room temperature and based on polaritons (an hybrid photon-exciton particle) made of 2D perovskites and of an optical surface mode in a Distributed Bragg Reflector waveguide. Such a device could lead to extremely compact and ultrafast electro-optical modulators that can be fully integrated in a microchip to allow for fast signal communications between each peripheral component of a processor. As a matter of fact one of the major bottlenecks in processing speed is caused by retardations and dissipations in the interconnections between the CPU and the memory elements as well as other interconnect functions. Conversion of the electrical signal into an optical one can allow for faster and more efficient processing. Our prototype can allow for switching and routing of guided optical beams via electrical signals using the intrinsic nonlinearities of the hybrid photon-exciton states.
Summary
In this proposal we plan to bring to a development stage TRL 3 an electro-optical device working at room temperature and based on polaritons (an hybrid photon-exciton particle) made of 2D perovskites and of an optical surface mode in a Distributed Bragg Reflector waveguide. Such a device could lead to extremely compact and ultrafast electro-optical modulators that can be fully integrated in a microchip to allow for fast signal communications between each peripheral component of a processor. As a matter of fact one of the major bottlenecks in processing speed is caused by retardations and dissipations in the interconnections between the CPU and the memory elements as well as other interconnect functions. Conversion of the electrical signal into an optical one can allow for faster and more efficient processing. Our prototype can allow for switching and routing of guided optical beams via electrical signals using the intrinsic nonlinearities of the hybrid photon-exciton states.
Max ERC Funding
149 406 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-10-01, End date: 2019-03-31
Project acronym ELECTRIC
Project Chip Scale Electrically Powered Optical Frequency Combs
Researcher (PI) Bart Johan KUYKEN
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT GENT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE7, ERC-2017-STG
Summary In ELECTRIC, I will integrate electrically powered optical frequency combs on mass manufacturable silicon chips. This will allow for making use of all the advantageous properties of these light sources in real-life situations.
Optical frequency combs are light sources with a spectrum consisting of millions of laser lines, equally spaced in frequency. This equifrequency spacing provides a link between the radio frequency band and the optical frequency band of the electromagnetic spectrum. This property has literally revolutionized the field of frequency metrology and precision laser spectroscopy. Recently, their application field has been extended. Amongst others, their unique properties have been exploited in precision distant measurement experiments as well as optical waveform and microwave synthesis demonstrators. Moreover, so called “dual-comb spectroscopy” experiments have demonstrated broadband Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy with ultra-high resolution and record acquisition speeds. However, most of these demonstrations required large bulky experimental setups which hampers wide deployment.
I will build frequency combs on optical chips that can be mass-manufactured. Unlike the current chip scale Kerr comb based solutions they do not need to be optically pumped with a powerful continuous wave laser and can have a narrower comb spacing. The challenge here is two-fold. First, we need to make electrically powered integrated low noise oscillators. Second, we need to lower the threshold of current on-chip nonlinear optical interactions by an order of magnitude to use them in on-chip OFC generators.
Specifically I will achieve this goal by:
• Making use of ultra-efficient nonlinear optical interactions based on soliton compression in dispersion engineered III-V waveguides and plasmonic enhanced second order nonlinear materials.
• Enhance the performance of ultra-low noise silicon nitride mode locked lasers with these nonlinear components.
Summary
In ELECTRIC, I will integrate electrically powered optical frequency combs on mass manufacturable silicon chips. This will allow for making use of all the advantageous properties of these light sources in real-life situations.
Optical frequency combs are light sources with a spectrum consisting of millions of laser lines, equally spaced in frequency. This equifrequency spacing provides a link between the radio frequency band and the optical frequency band of the electromagnetic spectrum. This property has literally revolutionized the field of frequency metrology and precision laser spectroscopy. Recently, their application field has been extended. Amongst others, their unique properties have been exploited in precision distant measurement experiments as well as optical waveform and microwave synthesis demonstrators. Moreover, so called “dual-comb spectroscopy” experiments have demonstrated broadband Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy with ultra-high resolution and record acquisition speeds. However, most of these demonstrations required large bulky experimental setups which hampers wide deployment.
I will build frequency combs on optical chips that can be mass-manufactured. Unlike the current chip scale Kerr comb based solutions they do not need to be optically pumped with a powerful continuous wave laser and can have a narrower comb spacing. The challenge here is two-fold. First, we need to make electrically powered integrated low noise oscillators. Second, we need to lower the threshold of current on-chip nonlinear optical interactions by an order of magnitude to use them in on-chip OFC generators.
Specifically I will achieve this goal by:
• Making use of ultra-efficient nonlinear optical interactions based on soliton compression in dispersion engineered III-V waveguides and plasmonic enhanced second order nonlinear materials.
• Enhance the performance of ultra-low noise silicon nitride mode locked lasers with these nonlinear components.
Max ERC Funding
1 391 250 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-02-01, End date: 2023-01-31
Project acronym ENERGYA
Project ENERGY use for Adaptation
Researcher (PI) Enrica DE CIAN
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2017-STG
Summary ENERGYA will improve our understanding of how energy and energy services can be used by households and industries to adapt to the risk posed by climate change. Specifically, the project will develop an interdisciplinary and scalable research framework integrating data and methods from economics with geography, climate science, and integrated assessment modelling to provide new knowledge concerning heterogeneity in energy use across countries, sectors, socioeconomic conditions and income groups, and assess the broad implications adaptation-driven energy use can have on the economy, the environment, and welfare.
The key novelty of ENERGYA is to link energy statistics and energy survey data with high spatial resolution data from climate science and remote sensing, including high-resolution spatial data on meteorology, population and economic activity distribution, electrification, and the built environment.
ENERGYA has three main objectives. First, it will produce novel statistical and econometric analyses for OECD and major emerging countries (Brazil, Mexico, India, and Indonesia) to shed light on the underlying mechanisms driving energy use. Second, it will infer future potential impacts from long-run climate and socioeconomic changes building on historical empirical evidence. Third, it will analyse the macro and distributional implications of adaptation-driven energy use with an economy-energy model characterising the distribution of energy use dynamics across and within countries.
Given the central role of energy as multiplier for socioeconomic development and as enabling condition for climate resilience, the research proposed in ENERGYA will result in timely insights for the transition towards sustainability described by the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations as well as the Paris International Climate Agreement.
Summary
ENERGYA will improve our understanding of how energy and energy services can be used by households and industries to adapt to the risk posed by climate change. Specifically, the project will develop an interdisciplinary and scalable research framework integrating data and methods from economics with geography, climate science, and integrated assessment modelling to provide new knowledge concerning heterogeneity in energy use across countries, sectors, socioeconomic conditions and income groups, and assess the broad implications adaptation-driven energy use can have on the economy, the environment, and welfare.
The key novelty of ENERGYA is to link energy statistics and energy survey data with high spatial resolution data from climate science and remote sensing, including high-resolution spatial data on meteorology, population and economic activity distribution, electrification, and the built environment.
ENERGYA has three main objectives. First, it will produce novel statistical and econometric analyses for OECD and major emerging countries (Brazil, Mexico, India, and Indonesia) to shed light on the underlying mechanisms driving energy use. Second, it will infer future potential impacts from long-run climate and socioeconomic changes building on historical empirical evidence. Third, it will analyse the macro and distributional implications of adaptation-driven energy use with an economy-energy model characterising the distribution of energy use dynamics across and within countries.
Given the central role of energy as multiplier for socioeconomic development and as enabling condition for climate resilience, the research proposed in ENERGYA will result in timely insights for the transition towards sustainability described by the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations as well as the Paris International Climate Agreement.
Max ERC Funding
1 495 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-03-01, End date: 2023-02-28
Project acronym EpComp
Project Competence and Success in Epistemology and Beyond
Researcher (PI) Maria LASONEN-AARNIO
Host Institution (HI) HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2017-STG
Summary This project formulates and defends a novel approach in epistemology, demonstrating how it solves a range of key problems in the field. New frontiers of research are opened up by applying the core lessons learnt in epistemology to the study of practical reason and ethics.
My dual evaluations approach hypothesizes that for a wide range of key evaluative notions, competence is neither necessary nor sufficient for success: there are both cases of incompetent success and of competent failure. For instance, a subject can know without exercising knowledge-conducive competence, and vice versa – and similarly for justified or rational belief. The project demonstrates how this recognition solves a cluster of key problems in the field relating to so-called higher-order evidence, and how it allows accommodating internalist evaluations in more externalist frameworks, thus bridging perhaps the most significant divide in epistemology.
What will emerge is a thorough re-structuring of the epistemological landscape. The project generalizes some of the lessons learnt to the study of structural requirements of rationality. Finally, the approach is deployed to investigate the relationship between morally right and morally worthy action. The main objectives of the project are:
(O1) To develop the theoretical foundations of the dual evaluations approach.
(O2) To put forth a novel view in epistemology that demonstrates how recognizing both cases of competent failure and incompetent success solves highly current problems and puzzles, reconciling two opposing theoretical starting points.
(O3) To investigate and ultimately reject as theoretically important the notion of structural rationality, offering an alternative, competence-based explanation of verdicts that seem to show the need for such a notion.
(O4) To explore generalizations of the results of the previous parts of the project to the practical and moral domains.
Summary
This project formulates and defends a novel approach in epistemology, demonstrating how it solves a range of key problems in the field. New frontiers of research are opened up by applying the core lessons learnt in epistemology to the study of practical reason and ethics.
My dual evaluations approach hypothesizes that for a wide range of key evaluative notions, competence is neither necessary nor sufficient for success: there are both cases of incompetent success and of competent failure. For instance, a subject can know without exercising knowledge-conducive competence, and vice versa – and similarly for justified or rational belief. The project demonstrates how this recognition solves a cluster of key problems in the field relating to so-called higher-order evidence, and how it allows accommodating internalist evaluations in more externalist frameworks, thus bridging perhaps the most significant divide in epistemology.
What will emerge is a thorough re-structuring of the epistemological landscape. The project generalizes some of the lessons learnt to the study of structural requirements of rationality. Finally, the approach is deployed to investigate the relationship between morally right and morally worthy action. The main objectives of the project are:
(O1) To develop the theoretical foundations of the dual evaluations approach.
(O2) To put forth a novel view in epistemology that demonstrates how recognizing both cases of competent failure and incompetent success solves highly current problems and puzzles, reconciling two opposing theoretical starting points.
(O3) To investigate and ultimately reject as theoretically important the notion of structural rationality, offering an alternative, competence-based explanation of verdicts that seem to show the need for such a notion.
(O4) To explore generalizations of the results of the previous parts of the project to the practical and moral domains.
Max ERC Funding
1 470 665 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2022-12-31
