ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

The main objective of this research project is to contribute at bridging the gap between the two main branches of financial theory, namely corporate finance and asset pricing. It is motivated by the conviction that these two aspects of financial activity should and can be analyzed within a unified framework. This research will borrow from these two approaches in order to construct theoretical models that allow one to analyze the design and issuance of financial securities, as well as the dynamics of their valuations. Unlike asset pricing, which takes as given the price of the fundamentals, the goal is to derive security price processes from a precise description of firm’s operations and internal frictions. Regarding the latter, and in line with traditional corporate finance theory, the analysis will emphasize the role of agency costs within the firm for the design of its securities. But the analysis will be pushed one step further by studying the impact of these agency costs on key financial variables such as stock and bond prices, leverage, book-to-market ratios, default risk, or the holding of liquidities by firms. One of the contributions of this research project is to show how these variables are interrelated when firms and investors agree upon optimal financial arrangements. The final objective is to derive a rich set of testable asset pricing implications that would eventually be brought to the data.

1 000 000 €

Start date: 2008-11-01, End date: 2014-10-31

The field of disordered quantum gases is developing rapidly. Dramatic progress has been achieved recently and first experimental observation of one-dimensional Anderson localization (AL) of matterwaves has been reported using Bose-Einstein condensates in controlled disorder (in our group at Institut d'Optique and at LENS; Nature, 2008). This dramatic success results from joint theoretical and experimental efforts, we have contributed to. Most importantly, it opens unprecedented routes to pursue several outstanding challenges in the multidisciplinary field of disordered systems, which, after fifty years of Anderson localization, is more active than ever. This theoretical project aims at further developing the emerging field of disordered quantum gases towards novel challenges. Our aim is twofold. First, we will propose and analyze schemes where experiments on ultracold atoms can address unsolved issues: AL in dimensions higher than one, effects of inter-atomic interactions on AL, strongly-correlated disordered gases and quantum simulators for spin systems (spin glasses). Second, by taking into account specific features of ultracold atoms, beyond standard toy-models, we will raise and study new questions which have not been addressed before (eg long-range correlations of speckle potentials, finite-size effects, controlled interactions). Both aspects would open new frontiers to disordered quantum gases and offer new possibilities to shed new light on highly debated issues. Our main concerns are thus to (i) study situations relevant to experiments, (ii) develop new approaches, applicable to ultracold atoms, (iii) identify key observables, and (iv) propose new challenging experiments. In this project, we will benefit from the original situation of our theory team: It is independent but forms part of a larger group (lead by A. Aspect), which is a world-leader in experiments on disordered quantum gases, we have already developed close collaborative relationship with.

985 200 €

Start date: 2011-01-01, End date: 2015-12-31

For over half a millennium, the great medieval capital of Angkor lay at the heart of a vast empire stretching across much of mainland SE Asia. Recent research has revealed that the famous monuments of Angkor were merely the epicentre of an immense settlement complex, with highly elaborate engineering works designed to manage water and mitigate the uncertainty of monsoon rains. Compelling evidence is now emerging that other temple complexes of the medieval Khmer Empire may also have formed the urban cores of dispersed, low-density settlements with similar systems of hydraulic engineering. Using innovative airborne laser scanning (‘lidar’) technology, CALI will uncover, map and compare archaeological landscapes around all the major temple complexes of Cambodia, with a view to understanding what role these complex and vulnerable water management schemes played in the growth and decline of early civilisations in SE Asia. CALI will evaluate the hypothesis that the Khmer civilisation, in a bid to overcome the inherent constraints of a monsoon environment, became locked into rigid and inflexible traditions of urban development and large-scale hydraulic engineering that constrained their ability to adapt to rapidly-changing social, political and environmental circumstances. By integrating data and techniques from fast-developing archaeological sciences like remote sensing, palaeoclimatology and geoinformatics, this work will provide important insights into the reasons for the collapse of inland agrarian empires in the middle of the second millennium AD, a transition that marks the emergence of modern mainland SE Asia. The lidar data will provide a comprehensive and internally-consistent archive of urban form at a regional scale, and offer a unique experimental space for evaluating socio-ecological resilience, persistence and transformation over two thousand years of human history, with clear implications for our understanding of contemporary urbanism and of urban futures.

1 482 844 €

Start date: 2015-03-01, End date: 2020-02-29

"Clonal evolution represents a driving force for cancer cells and a major challenge for therapy. There is a long-standing knowledge that clonal diversification and selection allows cancer cells to pass through distinct steps of transformation. More recently has emerged the concept that ""more malignant"" leukemia subclones can persist after treatment leading to relapse. My research is focused on two diseases which represent privileged models to study clonal evolution: Fanconi anemia (FA), which is a genetic condition predisposing to acute leukemia, and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), an aggressive leukemia which frequently relapses. The goal of this project is to decipher the crucial molecular and cellular events that drive gain of malignancy and to design new strategies to follow up and treat the patients. Specifically, we aim to: 1. Identify the key pathways involved in leukemia progression at two major steps: from pre-leukemia to overt leukemia (in FA), and from primary diagnosis to relapse (in T-ALL). This aim will use high-throughput molecular profiling and functional characterization of longitudinal samples from patients. 2. Model leukemia progression in vivo to functionally validate these pathways. We have developed read-outs based on gene silencing in human primary cells from patients followed by leukemia monitoring in immunodeficient mice. 3. Define new strategies to prevent the transition towards acute leukemia in pre-leukemic states in FA patients. We will develop new markers for transformation that should help in monitoring therapeutic intervention. 4. Test drugs in pre-clinical models to target critical pathways of relapsed ALL. We will use xenografted T-ALL which recapitulates leukemia progression. Completion of this innovative transversal project should markedly improve the knowledge on tumor progression and lead to new strategies to prevent, early detect and/or treat relapse, with the final objective to cure more patients."

1 497 028 €

Start date: 2013-04-01, End date: 2018-03-31