ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

This proposal aims to develop a generic synthesis approach for core-shell nanoparticles by unravelling the relevant mechanisms. Core-shell nanoparticles have high potential in heterogeneous catalysis, energy storage, and medical applications. However, on a fundamental level there is currently a poor understanding of how to produce such nanostructured particles in a controllable and scalable manner. The main barriers to achieving this goal are understanding how nanoparticles agglomerate to loose dynamic clusters and controlling the agglomeration process in gas flows during coating, such that uniform coatings can be made. This is very challenging because of the two-way coupling between agglomeration and coating. During the coating we change the particle surfaces and thus the way the particles stick together. Correspondingly, the stickiness of particles determines how easy reactants can reach the surface. Innovatively the project will be the first systematic study into this multi-scale phenomenon with investigations at all relevant length scales. Current synthesis approaches – mostly carried out in the liquid phase – are typically developed case by case. I will coat nanoparticles in the gas phase with atomic layer deposition (ALD): a technique from the semi-conductor industry that can deposit a wide range of materials. ALD applied to flat substrates offers excellent control over layer thickness. I will investigate the modification of single particle surfaces, particle-particle interaction, the structure of agglomerates, and the flow behaviour of large number of agglomerates. To this end, I will apply a multidisciplinary approach, combining disciplines as physical chemistry, fluid dynamics, and reaction engineering.

1 409 952 €

Start date: 2011-12-01, End date: 2016-11-30

"This project will undertake a transnational, multi-sited ethnographic study of moral and political subjectivity in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs from the perspective of socio-cultural anthropology. The main research question is: what kinds of politico-moral persons are constituted in institutional contexts that combine human rights and personal responsibility approaches to health, and how these kinds of subjectivities relate to local, national, and global forms of the politico-moral represented in health policies? In particular, this research will be carried out in Indonesia (Jakarta and Bali), South Africa (Western Cape), USA (New York City), and various locations throughout Eastern Europe in HIV/AIDS programs and institutions that increasingly combine human rights and personal responsibility approaches to treatment and prevention. This project is the first anthropological research on health governance done on a global scale. Until now most anthropological studies have focused on one health program in one location without simultaneously studying similar processes in comparable contexts in other parts of the world. In contrast, this project will take a global perspective on the relationship between health issues, morality, and governance by doing transnational multi-sited research. This project will significantly contribute to the current anthropological focus on bio-citizenship and push it in new directions, resulting in a new anthropological theory of global bio-political governance and global politico-moral subjectivities. This theory will describe and explain recent transnational processes of shaping particular kinds of politico-moral subjectivities through health initiatives. By doing research in comparable world areas this project will significantly contribute to the development of a theory of politico-moral governance with global reach."

1 499 370 €

Start date: 2012-05-01, End date: 2017-04-30

Meta-materials, best known for their extraordinary properties (e.g. negative stiffness), are halfway from both materials and structures: their unusual properties are direct results of their complex 3D structures. This project introduces a new class of meta-materials called meta-biomaterials. Meta-biomaterials go beyond meta-materials by adding an extra dimension to the complex 3D structure, i.e. complex and precisely controlled surface nano-patterns. The 3D structure gives rise to unprecedented or rare combination of mechanical (e.g. stiffness), mass transport (e.g. permeability, diffusivity), and biological (e.g. tissue regeneration rate) properties. Those properties optimize the distribution of mechanical loads and the transport of nutrients and oxygen while providing geometrical shapes preferable for tissue regeneration (e.g. higher curvatures). Surface nano-patterns communicate with (stem) cells, control their differentiation behavior, and enhance tissue regeneration. There is one important problem: meta-biomaterials cannot be manufactured with current technology. 3D printing can create complex shapes while nanolithography creates complex surface nano-patterns down to a few nanometers but only on flat surfaces. There is, however, no way of combining complex shapes with complex surface nano-patterns. The groundbreaking nature of this project is in solving that deadlock using the Origami concept (the ancient Japanese art of paper folding). In this approach, I first decorate flat 3D-printed sheets with nano-patterns. Then, I apply Origami techniques to fold the decorated flat sheet and create complex 3D shapes. The sheet knows how to self-fold to the desired structure when subjected to compression, owing to pre-designed joints, crease patterns, and thickness/material distributions that control its mechanical instability. I will demonstrate the added value of meta-biomaterials in improving bone tissue regeneration using in vitro cell culture assays and animal models

1 499 600 €

Start date: 2016-02-01, End date: 2021-01-31

The emergence of participatory governance has resulted in the delegation of governmental responsibilities to citizens. Individuals position themselves as voluntary mediators, or brokers, between the government and their fellow citizens. This research asks: what are the roles of such brokers in participatory urban governance, and how do they influence democratic governance? This study will investigate ethnographically how brokers position themselves in administrative schemes, and examine the formal and informal dimensions of their performance. It will analyse the practices, discourses and networks, both in and out of officially sanctioned channels and government institutions. The research approaches brokers as ‘assemblers’, connective agents who actively bring together different governmental and citizen actors, institutions and resources. The scholarly debate on brokerage within participatory governance is divided into two different arguments: first, an argument about neoliberal deregulation located in the Global North, which encourages the practices of active citizen-mediators, and second, a modernization argument in the Global South, which sees brokers as remnants of a clientelist political system. This research will combine these arguments to study settings in both the North and the South. It employs a comparative urbanism design to study four cities that are recognized as pioneers in democratic participatory governance, two in the North and two in the South: Rotterdam (NL), Manchester (UK), Cochabamba (Bolivia) and Recife (Brazil). This research builds upon theories from political anthropology, urban studies, citizenship studies and public administration to develop a new framework for analysing brokerage in participatory urban governance. Understanding how the formal and informal dimensions of participatory governance are entwined will contribute to our ability to theorize the conditions under which this type of governance can give rise to more democratic cities.

1 497 570 €

Start date: 2016-08-01, End date: 2021-07-31