Project acronym 15CBOOKTRADE
Project The 15th-century Book Trade: An Evidence-based Assessment and Visualization of the Distribution, Sale, and Reception of Books in the Renaissance
Researcher (PI) Cristina Dondi
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH6, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary The idea that underpins this project is to use the material evidence from thousands of surviving 15th-c. books, as well as unique documentary evidence — the unpublished ledger of a Venetian bookseller in the 1480s which records the sale of 25,000 printed books with their prices — to address four fundamental questions relating to the introduction of printing in the West which have so far eluded scholarship, partly because of lack of evidence, partly because of the lack of effective tools to deal with existing evidence. The book trade differs from other trades operating in the medieval and early modern periods in that the goods traded survive in considerable numbers. Not only do they survive, but many of them bear stratified evidence of their history in the form of marks of ownership, prices, manuscript annotations, binding and decoration styles. A British Academy pilot project conceived by the PI produced a now internationally-used database which gathers together this kind of evidence for thousands of surviving 15th-c. printed books. For the first time, this makes it possible to track the circulation of books, their trade routes and later collecting, across Europe and the USA, and throughout the centuries. The objectives of this project are to examine (1) the distribution and trade-routes, national and international, of 15th-c. printed books, along with the identity of the buyers and users (private, institutional, religious, lay, female, male, and by profession) and their reading practices; (2) the books' contemporary market value; (3) the transmission and dissemination of the texts they contain, their survival and their loss (rebalancing potentially skewed scholarship); and (4) the circulation and re-use of the illustrations they contain. Finally, the project will experiment with the application of scientific visualization techniques to represent, geographically and chronologically, the movement of 15th-c. printed books and of the texts they contain.
Summary
The idea that underpins this project is to use the material evidence from thousands of surviving 15th-c. books, as well as unique documentary evidence — the unpublished ledger of a Venetian bookseller in the 1480s which records the sale of 25,000 printed books with their prices — to address four fundamental questions relating to the introduction of printing in the West which have so far eluded scholarship, partly because of lack of evidence, partly because of the lack of effective tools to deal with existing evidence. The book trade differs from other trades operating in the medieval and early modern periods in that the goods traded survive in considerable numbers. Not only do they survive, but many of them bear stratified evidence of their history in the form of marks of ownership, prices, manuscript annotations, binding and decoration styles. A British Academy pilot project conceived by the PI produced a now internationally-used database which gathers together this kind of evidence for thousands of surviving 15th-c. printed books. For the first time, this makes it possible to track the circulation of books, their trade routes and later collecting, across Europe and the USA, and throughout the centuries. The objectives of this project are to examine (1) the distribution and trade-routes, national and international, of 15th-c. printed books, along with the identity of the buyers and users (private, institutional, religious, lay, female, male, and by profession) and their reading practices; (2) the books' contemporary market value; (3) the transmission and dissemination of the texts they contain, their survival and their loss (rebalancing potentially skewed scholarship); and (4) the circulation and re-use of the illustrations they contain. Finally, the project will experiment with the application of scientific visualization techniques to represent, geographically and chronologically, the movement of 15th-c. printed books and of the texts they contain.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 172 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-04-01, End date: 2019-03-31
Project acronym 2DQP
Project Two-dimensional quantum photonics
Researcher (PI) Brian David GERARDOT
Host Institution (HI) HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE3, ERC-2016-COG
Summary Quantum optics, the study of how discrete packets of light (photons) and matter interact, has led to the development of remarkable new technologies which exploit the bizarre properties of quantum mechanics. These quantum technologies are primed to revolutionize the fields of communication, information processing, and metrology in the coming years. Similar to contemporary technologies, the future quantum machinery will likely consist of a semiconductor platform to create and process the quantum information. However, to date the demanding requirements on a quantum photonic platform have yet to be satisfied with conventional bulk (three-dimensional) semiconductors.
To surmount these well-known obstacles, a new paradigm in quantum photonics is required. Initiated by the recent discovery of single photon emitters in atomically flat (two-dimensional) semiconducting materials, 2DQP aims to be at the nucleus of a new approach by realizing quantum optics with ultra-stable (coherent) quantum states integrated into devices with electronic and photonic functionality. We will characterize, identify, engineer, and coherently manipulate localized quantum states in this two-dimensional quantum photonic platform. A vital component of 2DQP’s vision is to go beyond the fundamental science and achieve the ideal solid-state single photon device yielding perfect extraction - 100% efficiency - of on-demand indistinguishable single photons. Finally, we will exploit this ideal device to implement the critical building block for a photonic quantum computer.
Summary
Quantum optics, the study of how discrete packets of light (photons) and matter interact, has led to the development of remarkable new technologies which exploit the bizarre properties of quantum mechanics. These quantum technologies are primed to revolutionize the fields of communication, information processing, and metrology in the coming years. Similar to contemporary technologies, the future quantum machinery will likely consist of a semiconductor platform to create and process the quantum information. However, to date the demanding requirements on a quantum photonic platform have yet to be satisfied with conventional bulk (three-dimensional) semiconductors.
To surmount these well-known obstacles, a new paradigm in quantum photonics is required. Initiated by the recent discovery of single photon emitters in atomically flat (two-dimensional) semiconducting materials, 2DQP aims to be at the nucleus of a new approach by realizing quantum optics with ultra-stable (coherent) quantum states integrated into devices with electronic and photonic functionality. We will characterize, identify, engineer, and coherently manipulate localized quantum states in this two-dimensional quantum photonic platform. A vital component of 2DQP’s vision is to go beyond the fundamental science and achieve the ideal solid-state single photon device yielding perfect extraction - 100% efficiency - of on-demand indistinguishable single photons. Finally, we will exploit this ideal device to implement the critical building block for a photonic quantum computer.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 135 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2022-12-31
Project acronym ADaPt
Project Adaptation, Dispersals and Phenotype: understanding the roles of climate,
natural selection and energetics in shaping global hunter-gatherer adaptability
Researcher (PI) Jay Stock
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH6, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary Relative to other species, humans are characterised by considerable biological diversity despite genetic homogeneity. This diversity is reflected in skeletal variation, but we lack sufficient understanding of the underlying mechanisms to adequately interpret the archaeological record. The proposed research will address problems in our current understanding of the origins of human variation in the past by: 1) documenting and interpreting the pattern of global hunter-gatherer variation relative to genetic phylogenies and climatic variation; 2) testing the relationship between environmental and skeletal variation among genetically related hunter-gatherers from different environments; 3) examining the adaptability of living humans to different environments, through the study of energetic expenditure and life history trade-offs associated with locomotion; and 4) investigating the relationship between muscle and skeletal variation associated with locomotion in diverse environments. This will be achieved by linking: a) detailed study of the global pattern of hunter-gatherer variation in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene with; b) ground-breaking experimental research which tests the relationship between energetic stress, muscle function, and bone variation in living humans. The first component tests the correspondence between skeletal variation and both genetic and climatic history, to infer mechanisms driving variation. The second component integrates this skeletal variation with experimental studies of living humans to, for the first time, directly test adaptive implications of skeletal variation observed in the past. ADaPt will provide the first links between prehistoric hunter-gatherer variation and the evolutionary parameters of life history and energetics that may have shaped our success as a species. It will lead to breakthroughs necessary to interpret variation in the archaeological record, relative to human dispersals and adaptation in the past.
Summary
Relative to other species, humans are characterised by considerable biological diversity despite genetic homogeneity. This diversity is reflected in skeletal variation, but we lack sufficient understanding of the underlying mechanisms to adequately interpret the archaeological record. The proposed research will address problems in our current understanding of the origins of human variation in the past by: 1) documenting and interpreting the pattern of global hunter-gatherer variation relative to genetic phylogenies and climatic variation; 2) testing the relationship between environmental and skeletal variation among genetically related hunter-gatherers from different environments; 3) examining the adaptability of living humans to different environments, through the study of energetic expenditure and life history trade-offs associated with locomotion; and 4) investigating the relationship between muscle and skeletal variation associated with locomotion in diverse environments. This will be achieved by linking: a) detailed study of the global pattern of hunter-gatherer variation in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene with; b) ground-breaking experimental research which tests the relationship between energetic stress, muscle function, and bone variation in living humans. The first component tests the correspondence between skeletal variation and both genetic and climatic history, to infer mechanisms driving variation. The second component integrates this skeletal variation with experimental studies of living humans to, for the first time, directly test adaptive implications of skeletal variation observed in the past. ADaPt will provide the first links between prehistoric hunter-gatherer variation and the evolutionary parameters of life history and energetics that may have shaped our success as a species. It will lead to breakthroughs necessary to interpret variation in the archaeological record, relative to human dispersals and adaptation in the past.
Max ERC Funding
1 911 485 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-07-01, End date: 2019-06-30
Project acronym AFIRMATIVE
Project Acoustic-Flow Interaction Models for Advancing Thermoacoustic Instability prediction in Very low Emission combustors
Researcher (PI) Aimee MORGANS
Host Institution (HI) IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2017-COG
Summary Gas turbines are an essential ingredient in the long-term energy and aviation mix. They are flexible, offer fast start-up and the ability to burn renewable-generated fuels. However, they generate NOx emissions, which cause air pollution and damage human health, and reducing these is an air quality imperative. A major hurdle to this is that lean premixed combustion, essential for further NOx emission reductions, is highly susceptible to thermoacoustic instability. This is caused by a two-way coupling between unsteady combustion and acoustic waves, and the resulting large pressure oscillations can cause severe mechanical damage. Computational methods for predicting thermoacoustic instability, fast and accurate enough to be used as part of the industrial design process, are urgently needed.
The only computational methods with the prospect of being fast enough are those based on coupled treatment of the acoustic waves and unsteady combustion. These exploit the amenity of the acoustic waves to analytical modelling, allowing costly simulations to be directed only at the more complex flame. They show real promise: my group recently demonstrated the first accurate coupled predictions for lab-scale combustors. The method does not yet extend to industrial combustors, the more complex flow-fields in these rendering current acoustic models overly-simplistic. I propose to comprehensively overhaul acoustic models across the entirety of the combustor, accounting for real and important acoustic-flow interactions. These new models will offer the breakthrough prospect of extending efficient, accurate predictive capability to industrial combustors, which has a real chance of facilitating future, instability free, very low NOx gas turbines.
Summary
Gas turbines are an essential ingredient in the long-term energy and aviation mix. They are flexible, offer fast start-up and the ability to burn renewable-generated fuels. However, they generate NOx emissions, which cause air pollution and damage human health, and reducing these is an air quality imperative. A major hurdle to this is that lean premixed combustion, essential for further NOx emission reductions, is highly susceptible to thermoacoustic instability. This is caused by a two-way coupling between unsteady combustion and acoustic waves, and the resulting large pressure oscillations can cause severe mechanical damage. Computational methods for predicting thermoacoustic instability, fast and accurate enough to be used as part of the industrial design process, are urgently needed.
The only computational methods with the prospect of being fast enough are those based on coupled treatment of the acoustic waves and unsteady combustion. These exploit the amenity of the acoustic waves to analytical modelling, allowing costly simulations to be directed only at the more complex flame. They show real promise: my group recently demonstrated the first accurate coupled predictions for lab-scale combustors. The method does not yet extend to industrial combustors, the more complex flow-fields in these rendering current acoustic models overly-simplistic. I propose to comprehensively overhaul acoustic models across the entirety of the combustor, accounting for real and important acoustic-flow interactions. These new models will offer the breakthrough prospect of extending efficient, accurate predictive capability to industrial combustors, which has a real chance of facilitating future, instability free, very low NOx gas turbines.
Max ERC Funding
1 985 288 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-06-01, End date: 2023-05-31
Project acronym ALTERUMMA
Project Creating an Alternative umma: Clerical Authority and Religio-political Mobilisation in Transnational Shii Islam
Researcher (PI) Oliver Paul SCHARBRODT
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH5, ERC-2016-COG
Summary This interdisciplinary project investigates the transformation of Shii Islam in the Middle East and Europe since the 1950s. The project examines the formation of modern Shii communal identities and the role Shii clerical authorities and their transnational networks have played in their religio-political mobilisation. The volatile situation post-Arab Spring, the rise of militant movements such as ISIS and the sectarianisation of geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East have intensified efforts to forge distinct Shii communal identities and to conceive Shii Muslims as part of an alternative umma (Islamic community). The project focusses on Iran, Iraq and significant but unexplored diasporic links to Syria, Kuwait and Britain. In response to the rise of modern nation-states in the Middle East, Shii clerical authorities resorted to a wide range of activities: (a) articulating intellectual responses to the ideologies underpinning modern Middle Eastern nation-states, (b) forming political parties and other platforms of socio-political activism and (c) using various forms of cultural production by systematising and promoting Shii ritual practices and utilising visual art, poetry and new media.
The project yields a perspectival shift on the factors that led to Shii communal mobilisation by:
- Analysing unacknowledged intellectual responses of Shii clerical authorities to the secular or sectarian ideologies of post-colonial nation-states and to the current sectarianisation of geopolitics in the Middle East.
- Emphasising the central role of diasporic networks in the Middle East and Europe in mobilising Shii communities and in influencing discourses and agendas of clerical authorities based in Iraq and Iran.
- Exploring new modes of cultural production in the form of a modern Shii aesthetics articulated in ritual practices, visual art, poetry and new media and thus creating a more holistic narrative on Shii religio-political mobilisation.
Summary
This interdisciplinary project investigates the transformation of Shii Islam in the Middle East and Europe since the 1950s. The project examines the formation of modern Shii communal identities and the role Shii clerical authorities and their transnational networks have played in their religio-political mobilisation. The volatile situation post-Arab Spring, the rise of militant movements such as ISIS and the sectarianisation of geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East have intensified efforts to forge distinct Shii communal identities and to conceive Shii Muslims as part of an alternative umma (Islamic community). The project focusses on Iran, Iraq and significant but unexplored diasporic links to Syria, Kuwait and Britain. In response to the rise of modern nation-states in the Middle East, Shii clerical authorities resorted to a wide range of activities: (a) articulating intellectual responses to the ideologies underpinning modern Middle Eastern nation-states, (b) forming political parties and other platforms of socio-political activism and (c) using various forms of cultural production by systematising and promoting Shii ritual practices and utilising visual art, poetry and new media.
The project yields a perspectival shift on the factors that led to Shii communal mobilisation by:
- Analysing unacknowledged intellectual responses of Shii clerical authorities to the secular or sectarian ideologies of post-colonial nation-states and to the current sectarianisation of geopolitics in the Middle East.
- Emphasising the central role of diasporic networks in the Middle East and Europe in mobilising Shii communities and in influencing discourses and agendas of clerical authorities based in Iraq and Iran.
- Exploring new modes of cultural production in the form of a modern Shii aesthetics articulated in ritual practices, visual art, poetry and new media and thus creating a more holistic narrative on Shii religio-political mobilisation.
Max ERC Funding
1 952 374 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2022-12-31
Project acronym ALUNIF
Project Algorithms and Lower Bounds: A Unified Approach
Researcher (PI) Rahul Santhanam
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE6, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary One of the fundamental goals of theoretical computer science is to
understand the possibilities and limits of efficient computation. This
quest has two dimensions. The
theory of algorithms focuses on finding efficient solutions to
problems, while computational complexity theory aims to understand when
and why problems are hard to solve. These two areas have different
philosophies and use different sets of techniques. However, in recent
years there have been indications of deep and mysterious connections
between them.
In this project, we propose to explore and develop the connections between
algorithmic analysis and complexity lower bounds in a systematic way.
On the one hand, we plan to use complexity lower bound techniques as inspiration
to design new and improved algorithms for Satisfiability and other
NP-complete problems, as well as to analyze existing algorithms better.
On the other hand, we plan to strengthen implications yielding circuit
lower bounds from non-trivial algorithms for Satisfiability, and to derive
new circuit lower bounds using these stronger implications.
This project has potential for massive impact in both the areas of algorithms
and computational complexity. Improved algorithms for Satisfiability could lead
to improved SAT solvers, and the new analytical tools would lead to a better
understanding of existing heuristics. Complexity lower bound questions are
fundamental
but notoriously difficult, and new lower bounds would open the way to
unconditionally secure cryptographic protocols and derandomization of
probabilistic algorithms. More broadly, this project aims to initiate greater
dialogue between the two areas, with an exchange of ideas and techniques
which leads to accelerated progress in both, as well as a deeper understanding
of the nature of efficient computation.
Summary
One of the fundamental goals of theoretical computer science is to
understand the possibilities and limits of efficient computation. This
quest has two dimensions. The
theory of algorithms focuses on finding efficient solutions to
problems, while computational complexity theory aims to understand when
and why problems are hard to solve. These two areas have different
philosophies and use different sets of techniques. However, in recent
years there have been indications of deep and mysterious connections
between them.
In this project, we propose to explore and develop the connections between
algorithmic analysis and complexity lower bounds in a systematic way.
On the one hand, we plan to use complexity lower bound techniques as inspiration
to design new and improved algorithms for Satisfiability and other
NP-complete problems, as well as to analyze existing algorithms better.
On the other hand, we plan to strengthen implications yielding circuit
lower bounds from non-trivial algorithms for Satisfiability, and to derive
new circuit lower bounds using these stronger implications.
This project has potential for massive impact in both the areas of algorithms
and computational complexity. Improved algorithms for Satisfiability could lead
to improved SAT solvers, and the new analytical tools would lead to a better
understanding of existing heuristics. Complexity lower bound questions are
fundamental
but notoriously difficult, and new lower bounds would open the way to
unconditionally secure cryptographic protocols and derandomization of
probabilistic algorithms. More broadly, this project aims to initiate greater
dialogue between the two areas, with an exchange of ideas and techniques
which leads to accelerated progress in both, as well as a deeper understanding
of the nature of efficient computation.
Max ERC Funding
1 274 496 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-03-01, End date: 2019-02-28
Project acronym ALZSYN
Project Imaging synaptic contributors to dementia
Researcher (PI) Tara Spires-Jones
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS5, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia in older people, is a devastating condition that is becoming a public health crisis as our population ages. Despite great progress recently in Alzheimer’s disease research, we have no disease modifying drugs and a decade with a 99.6% failure rate of clinical trials attempting to treat the disease. This project aims to develop relevant therapeutic targets to restore brain function in Alzheimer’s disease by integrating human and model studies of synapses. It is widely accepted in the field that alterations in amyloid beta initiate the disease process. However the cascade leading from changes in amyloid to widespread tau pathology and neurodegeneration remain unclear. Synapse loss is the strongest pathological correlate of dementia in Alzheimer’s, and mounting evidence suggests that synapse degeneration plays a key role in causing cognitive decline. Here I propose to test the hypothesis that the amyloid cascade begins at the synapse leading to tau pathology, synapse dysfunction and loss, and ultimately neural circuit collapse causing cognitive impairment. The team will use cutting-edge multiphoton and array tomography imaging techniques to test mechanisms downstream of amyloid beta at synapses, and determine whether intervening in the cascade allows recovery of synapse structure and function. Importantly, I will combine studies in robust models of familial Alzheimer’s disease with studies in postmortem human brain to confirm relevance of our mechanistic studies to human disease. Finally, human stem cell derived neurons will be used to test mechanisms and potential therapeutics in neurons expressing the human proteome. Together, these experiments are ground-breaking since they have the potential to further our understanding of how synapses are lost in Alzheimer’s disease and to identify targets for effective therapeutic intervention, which is a critical unmet need in today’s health care system.
Summary
Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia in older people, is a devastating condition that is becoming a public health crisis as our population ages. Despite great progress recently in Alzheimer’s disease research, we have no disease modifying drugs and a decade with a 99.6% failure rate of clinical trials attempting to treat the disease. This project aims to develop relevant therapeutic targets to restore brain function in Alzheimer’s disease by integrating human and model studies of synapses. It is widely accepted in the field that alterations in amyloid beta initiate the disease process. However the cascade leading from changes in amyloid to widespread tau pathology and neurodegeneration remain unclear. Synapse loss is the strongest pathological correlate of dementia in Alzheimer’s, and mounting evidence suggests that synapse degeneration plays a key role in causing cognitive decline. Here I propose to test the hypothesis that the amyloid cascade begins at the synapse leading to tau pathology, synapse dysfunction and loss, and ultimately neural circuit collapse causing cognitive impairment. The team will use cutting-edge multiphoton and array tomography imaging techniques to test mechanisms downstream of amyloid beta at synapses, and determine whether intervening in the cascade allows recovery of synapse structure and function. Importantly, I will combine studies in robust models of familial Alzheimer’s disease with studies in postmortem human brain to confirm relevance of our mechanistic studies to human disease. Finally, human stem cell derived neurons will be used to test mechanisms and potential therapeutics in neurons expressing the human proteome. Together, these experiments are ground-breaking since they have the potential to further our understanding of how synapses are lost in Alzheimer’s disease and to identify targets for effective therapeutic intervention, which is a critical unmet need in today’s health care system.
Max ERC Funding
2 000 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-11-01, End date: 2021-10-31
Project acronym AnCon
Project A Comparative Anthropology of Conscience, Ethics and Human Rights
Researcher (PI) Tobias William Kelly
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH2, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary This project is a comparative anthropology of conscience, ethics and human rights. Numerous international human rights documents formally declare their commitment to protect freedom of conscience. But, what is conscience and how do we know it when we see it? How do we distinguish it from self-interest or fanaticism? And what happens when the concept, often associated with a distinct Christian or liberal history, travels across cultural boundaries? The project will examine the cultural conditions under which claims to conscience are made possible, and the types of claims that are most persuasive when doing so. The project addresses these issues through the comparative analysis of three case studies: British pacifists, Sri Lankan activists, and Soviet dissidents. These case studies have been carefully chosen to provide globally significant, but contrasting examples of contests over the implications of claims to conscience. If claims of conscience are often associated with a specifically liberal and Christian tradition, mid-twentieth century Britain can be said to stand at the centre of that tradition. Sri Lanka represents a particularly fraught post-colonial South Asian counterpoint, wracked by nationalist violence, and influenced by ethical traditions associated with forms of Hinduism and Buddhism. Soviet Russia represents a further contrast, a totalitarian regime, where atheism was the dominant ethical language. Finally, the project will return specifically to international human rights institutions, examining the history of the category of conscience in the UN human rights system. This project will be ground breaking, employing novel methods and analytical insights, in order to producing the first comparative analysis of the cultural and political salience of claims of conscience. In doing so, the research aims to transform our understandings of the limits and potentials of attempts to protect freedom of conscience.
Summary
This project is a comparative anthropology of conscience, ethics and human rights. Numerous international human rights documents formally declare their commitment to protect freedom of conscience. But, what is conscience and how do we know it when we see it? How do we distinguish it from self-interest or fanaticism? And what happens when the concept, often associated with a distinct Christian or liberal history, travels across cultural boundaries? The project will examine the cultural conditions under which claims to conscience are made possible, and the types of claims that are most persuasive when doing so. The project addresses these issues through the comparative analysis of three case studies: British pacifists, Sri Lankan activists, and Soviet dissidents. These case studies have been carefully chosen to provide globally significant, but contrasting examples of contests over the implications of claims to conscience. If claims of conscience are often associated with a specifically liberal and Christian tradition, mid-twentieth century Britain can be said to stand at the centre of that tradition. Sri Lanka represents a particularly fraught post-colonial South Asian counterpoint, wracked by nationalist violence, and influenced by ethical traditions associated with forms of Hinduism and Buddhism. Soviet Russia represents a further contrast, a totalitarian regime, where atheism was the dominant ethical language. Finally, the project will return specifically to international human rights institutions, examining the history of the category of conscience in the UN human rights system. This project will be ground breaking, employing novel methods and analytical insights, in order to producing the first comparative analysis of the cultural and political salience of claims of conscience. In doing so, the research aims to transform our understandings of the limits and potentials of attempts to protect freedom of conscience.
Max ERC Funding
1 457 869 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-08-01, End date: 2020-07-31
Project acronym APPELS
Project A Probe of the Periodic Elements for Life in the Sea
Researcher (PI) Rosalind Emily Mayors Rickaby
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE10, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary "Chemical elements are the building blocks of life. The major elements, C, H. O, N, P, S are easily recognised as essential nutrients, but their use by life relies on metalloproteins. The identity of the metal centres of these metalloproteins and even the broader palette of trace elements fundamental to life are remarkably poorly known. Whole genomes remain opaque to decoding of this bioinorganic dimension, and optimal trace element concentrations for physiological function. Defining the elemental requirements for maximum growth rate of photosynthesising phytoplankton in the ocean, is critical to understanding Earth's climate. Although microscopic in stature, phytoplankton exert a gigantic influence on the biological pumping of carbon from the atmosphere to the deep ocean. Yet their metal requirements are poorly constrained, being inferred from cellular quotas and "nutrient-like" ocean metal distributions, susceptible to ambiguity between mistaken cellular uptake and use.
APPELS will undertake a two-pronged approach to define the modern marine metallome/metalloproteome. I will explore the expanse of the periodic table for novel required elements by growing phytoplankton, representative of the broadest chemotypes, in manipulated media, to delineate optimal conditions for growth whereby any limitation at lowered concentrations implies use. The second prong uses cutting-edge techniques that unite methods from proteomics with geochemical mass-spectrometry to allow both metals and their associated proteins to be examined comprehensively. APPELS will transform our understanding of the essential elements in the ocean and how the biological pump of carbon is geared to ocean chemistry in an evolving world. More broadly, APPELS will provide a step change in documented protein-metal binding centres, with implications for discovery of novel biochemical pathways, and optimal nutrition."
Summary
"Chemical elements are the building blocks of life. The major elements, C, H. O, N, P, S are easily recognised as essential nutrients, but their use by life relies on metalloproteins. The identity of the metal centres of these metalloproteins and even the broader palette of trace elements fundamental to life are remarkably poorly known. Whole genomes remain opaque to decoding of this bioinorganic dimension, and optimal trace element concentrations for physiological function. Defining the elemental requirements for maximum growth rate of photosynthesising phytoplankton in the ocean, is critical to understanding Earth's climate. Although microscopic in stature, phytoplankton exert a gigantic influence on the biological pumping of carbon from the atmosphere to the deep ocean. Yet their metal requirements are poorly constrained, being inferred from cellular quotas and "nutrient-like" ocean metal distributions, susceptible to ambiguity between mistaken cellular uptake and use.
APPELS will undertake a two-pronged approach to define the modern marine metallome/metalloproteome. I will explore the expanse of the periodic table for novel required elements by growing phytoplankton, representative of the broadest chemotypes, in manipulated media, to delineate optimal conditions for growth whereby any limitation at lowered concentrations implies use. The second prong uses cutting-edge techniques that unite methods from proteomics with geochemical mass-spectrometry to allow both metals and their associated proteins to be examined comprehensively. APPELS will transform our understanding of the essential elements in the ocean and how the biological pump of carbon is geared to ocean chemistry in an evolving world. More broadly, APPELS will provide a step change in documented protein-metal binding centres, with implications for discovery of novel biochemical pathways, and optimal nutrition."
Max ERC Funding
2 000 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-06-01, End date: 2021-05-31
Project acronym ARCTIC CULT
Project ARCTIC CULTURES: SITES OF COLLECTION IN THE FORMATION OF THE EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN NORTHLANDS
Researcher (PI) Richard Charles POWELL
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH5, ERC-2016-COG
Summary The Arctic has risen to global attention in recent years, as it has been reconfigured through debates about global environmental change, resource extraction and disputes over sovereign rights. Within these discourses, little attention has been paid to the cultures of the Arctic. Indeed, it often seems as if the Circumpolar Arctic in global public understanding remains framed as a 'natural region' - that is, a place where the environment dominates the creation of culture. This framing has consequences for the region, because through this the Arctic becomes constructed as a space where people are absent. This proposal aims to discover how and why this might be so.
The proposal argues that this construction of the Arctic emerged from the exploration of the region by Europeans and North Americans and their contacts with indigenous people from the middle of the eighteenth century. Particular texts, cartographic representations and objects were collected and returned to sites like London, Copenhagen, Berlin and Philadelphia. The construction of the Arctic thereby became entwined within the growth of colonial museum cultures and, indeed, western modernity. This project aims to delineate the networks and collecting cultures involved in this creation of Arctic Cultures. It will bring repositories in colonial metropoles into dialogue with sites of collection in the Arctic by tracing the contexts of discovery and memorialisation. In doing so, it aspires to a new understanding of the consequences of certain forms of colonial representation for debates about the Circumpolar Arctic today.
The project involves research by the Principal Investigator and four Post Doctoral Researchers at museums, archives, libraries and repositories across Europe and North America, as well as in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. A Project Assistant based in Oxford will help facilitate the completion of the research.
Summary
The Arctic has risen to global attention in recent years, as it has been reconfigured through debates about global environmental change, resource extraction and disputes over sovereign rights. Within these discourses, little attention has been paid to the cultures of the Arctic. Indeed, it often seems as if the Circumpolar Arctic in global public understanding remains framed as a 'natural region' - that is, a place where the environment dominates the creation of culture. This framing has consequences for the region, because through this the Arctic becomes constructed as a space where people are absent. This proposal aims to discover how and why this might be so.
The proposal argues that this construction of the Arctic emerged from the exploration of the region by Europeans and North Americans and their contacts with indigenous people from the middle of the eighteenth century. Particular texts, cartographic representations and objects were collected and returned to sites like London, Copenhagen, Berlin and Philadelphia. The construction of the Arctic thereby became entwined within the growth of colonial museum cultures and, indeed, western modernity. This project aims to delineate the networks and collecting cultures involved in this creation of Arctic Cultures. It will bring repositories in colonial metropoles into dialogue with sites of collection in the Arctic by tracing the contexts of discovery and memorialisation. In doing so, it aspires to a new understanding of the consequences of certain forms of colonial representation for debates about the Circumpolar Arctic today.
The project involves research by the Principal Investigator and four Post Doctoral Researchers at museums, archives, libraries and repositories across Europe and North America, as well as in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. A Project Assistant based in Oxford will help facilitate the completion of the research.
Max ERC Funding
1 996 250 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-10-01, End date: 2022-09-30
