Project acronym ADHESWITCHES
Project Adhesion switches in cancer and development: from in vivo to synthetic biology
Researcher (PI) Mari Johanna Ivaska
Host Institution (HI) TURUN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS3, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary Integrins are transmembrane cell adhesion receptors controlling cell proliferation and migration. Our objective is to gain fundamentally novel mechanistic insight into the emerging new roles of integrins in cancer and to generate a road map of integrin dependent pathways critical in mammary gland development and integrin signalling thus opening new targets for therapeutic interventions. We will combine an in vivo based translational approach with cell and molecular biological studies aiming to identify entirely novel concepts in integrin function using cutting edge techniques and synthetic-biology tools.
The specific objectives are:
1) Integrin inactivation in branching morphogenesis and cancer invasion. Integrins regulate mammary gland development and cancer invasion but the role of integrin inactivating proteins in these processes is currently completely unknown. We will investigate this using genetically modified mice, ex-vivo organoid models and human tissues with the aim to identify beneficial combinational treatments against cancer invasion.
2) Endosomal adhesomes – cross-talk between integrin activity and integrin “inside-in signaling”. We hypothesize that endocytosed active integrins engage in specialized endosomal signaling that governs cell survival especially in cancer. RNAi cell arrays, super-resolution STED imaging and endosomal proteomics will be used to investigate integrin signaling in endosomes.
3) Spatio-temporal co-ordination of adhesion and endocytosis. Several cytosolic proteins compete for integrin binding to regulate activation, endocytosis and recycling. Photoactivatable protein-traps and predefined matrix micropatterns will be employed to mechanistically dissect the spatio-temporal dynamics and hierarchy of their recruitment.
We will employ innovative and unconventional techniques to address three major unanswered questions in the field and significantly advance our understanding of integrin function in development and cancer.
Summary
Integrins are transmembrane cell adhesion receptors controlling cell proliferation and migration. Our objective is to gain fundamentally novel mechanistic insight into the emerging new roles of integrins in cancer and to generate a road map of integrin dependent pathways critical in mammary gland development and integrin signalling thus opening new targets for therapeutic interventions. We will combine an in vivo based translational approach with cell and molecular biological studies aiming to identify entirely novel concepts in integrin function using cutting edge techniques and synthetic-biology tools.
The specific objectives are:
1) Integrin inactivation in branching morphogenesis and cancer invasion. Integrins regulate mammary gland development and cancer invasion but the role of integrin inactivating proteins in these processes is currently completely unknown. We will investigate this using genetically modified mice, ex-vivo organoid models and human tissues with the aim to identify beneficial combinational treatments against cancer invasion.
2) Endosomal adhesomes – cross-talk between integrin activity and integrin “inside-in signaling”. We hypothesize that endocytosed active integrins engage in specialized endosomal signaling that governs cell survival especially in cancer. RNAi cell arrays, super-resolution STED imaging and endosomal proteomics will be used to investigate integrin signaling in endosomes.
3) Spatio-temporal co-ordination of adhesion and endocytosis. Several cytosolic proteins compete for integrin binding to regulate activation, endocytosis and recycling. Photoactivatable protein-traps and predefined matrix micropatterns will be employed to mechanistically dissect the spatio-temporal dynamics and hierarchy of their recruitment.
We will employ innovative and unconventional techniques to address three major unanswered questions in the field and significantly advance our understanding of integrin function in development and cancer.
Max ERC Funding
1 887 910 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-05-01, End date: 2019-04-30
Project acronym CORKtheCAMBIA
Project Thickening of plant organs by nested stem cells
Researcher (PI) Ari Pekka MÄHÖNEN
Host Institution (HI) HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), LS3, ERC-2018-COG
Summary Growth originates from meristems, where stem cells are located. Lateral meristems, which provide thickness to tree stems and other plant organs, include vascular cambium (produces xylem [wood] and phloem); and cork cambium (forms cork, a tough protective layer).
We recently identified the molecular mechanism that specifies stem cells of vascular cambium. Unexpectedly, this same set of experiments revealed also novel aspects of the regulation of cork cambium, a meristem whose development has remained unknown. CORKtheCAMBIA aims to identify the stem cells of cork cambium and reveal how they mechanistically regulate plant organ thickening. Thus, stemming from these novel unpublished findings and my matching expertise on plant stem cells and lateral growth, the timing is perfect to discover the molecular mechanism underlying specification of stem cells of cork cambium.
To identify the origin of stem cells of cork cambium, 1st-we will combine lineage tracing with a detailed molecular marker analysis. To deduce the cell dynamics of cork cambium, 2nd-we will follow regeneration of the stem cells after ablation of this meristem. To discover the molecular factors regulating the stem cell specification of cork cambium, 3rd-we will utilize molecular genetics and a novel method (inducible CRISPR/Cas9 mutant targeting) being developed in my lab. Since the lateral growth is orchestrated by two adjacent, nested meristems, cork and vascular cambia, the growth process must be tightly co-regulated. Thus, 4th-an in silico model of the intertwined growth process will be generated. By combining modelling with experimentation, we will uncover mechanistically how cork and vascular cambium coordinate lateral growth.
CORKtheCAMBIA will thus provide long-awaited insight into the regulatory mechanisms specifying the stem cells of lateral meristem as whole, lay the foundation for studies on radial thickening and facilitate rational manipulation of lateral meristems of crop plants and trees.
Summary
Growth originates from meristems, where stem cells are located. Lateral meristems, which provide thickness to tree stems and other plant organs, include vascular cambium (produces xylem [wood] and phloem); and cork cambium (forms cork, a tough protective layer).
We recently identified the molecular mechanism that specifies stem cells of vascular cambium. Unexpectedly, this same set of experiments revealed also novel aspects of the regulation of cork cambium, a meristem whose development has remained unknown. CORKtheCAMBIA aims to identify the stem cells of cork cambium and reveal how they mechanistically regulate plant organ thickening. Thus, stemming from these novel unpublished findings and my matching expertise on plant stem cells and lateral growth, the timing is perfect to discover the molecular mechanism underlying specification of stem cells of cork cambium.
To identify the origin of stem cells of cork cambium, 1st-we will combine lineage tracing with a detailed molecular marker analysis. To deduce the cell dynamics of cork cambium, 2nd-we will follow regeneration of the stem cells after ablation of this meristem. To discover the molecular factors regulating the stem cell specification of cork cambium, 3rd-we will utilize molecular genetics and a novel method (inducible CRISPR/Cas9 mutant targeting) being developed in my lab. Since the lateral growth is orchestrated by two adjacent, nested meristems, cork and vascular cambia, the growth process must be tightly co-regulated. Thus, 4th-an in silico model of the intertwined growth process will be generated. By combining modelling with experimentation, we will uncover mechanistically how cork and vascular cambium coordinate lateral growth.
CORKtheCAMBIA will thus provide long-awaited insight into the regulatory mechanisms specifying the stem cells of lateral meristem as whole, lay the foundation for studies on radial thickening and facilitate rational manipulation of lateral meristems of crop plants and trees.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 752 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-09-01, End date: 2024-08-31
Project acronym ETI
Project Epistemic Transitions in Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science: From the 12th to the 19th Century
Researcher (PI) Jari Pekka Kaukua
Host Institution (HI) JYVASKYLAN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH5, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary Not very long ago, it was still common to hold that little of interest took place in Islamic philosophy, theology and science after the death of the Peripatetic commentator Averroes in 1198. Recent research has produced increasing evidence against this view, and experts now commonly agree that texts from the so-called post-classical period merit serious analysis. That evidence, however, is still fragmentary, and we lack a clear understanding of the large scale and long run development in the various fields of Islamic intellectual culture after the twelfth century.
This project will investigate debates concerning the nature and methods of knowledge in four of the most ambitious strands of Islamic theoretical thought, that is, philosophy, theology, natural science, and philosophically inclined Sufism. Its temporal scope extends from the end of the twelfth century to the beginning of the colonial era, and it focuses on foundational epistemological questions (how knowledge is defined, what criteria are used to distinguish it from less secure epistemic attitudes, what methods are identified as valid in the acquisition of knowledge) as well as questions concerning knowledge as the goal of our existence (in particular, whether perceptual experience is inherently valuable).
Our study of the four strands is based on the hypothesis that the post-classical period is witness to a sophisticated discussion of knowledge, in which epistemic realism, intuitionism, phenomenalism, and subjectivism are pitted against each other in a nuanced manner. Hence, the project will result in a well-founded reassessment of the common view according to which post-classical Islamic intellectual culture is authoritarian and stuck to an epistemic paradigm that stifles insight and creativity. Thereby it will provide new ingredients for projects of endogenous reform and reorientation in Islam, and corroborate the view that our future histories of philosophy should incorporate the Islamic tradition.
Summary
Not very long ago, it was still common to hold that little of interest took place in Islamic philosophy, theology and science after the death of the Peripatetic commentator Averroes in 1198. Recent research has produced increasing evidence against this view, and experts now commonly agree that texts from the so-called post-classical period merit serious analysis. That evidence, however, is still fragmentary, and we lack a clear understanding of the large scale and long run development in the various fields of Islamic intellectual culture after the twelfth century.
This project will investigate debates concerning the nature and methods of knowledge in four of the most ambitious strands of Islamic theoretical thought, that is, philosophy, theology, natural science, and philosophically inclined Sufism. Its temporal scope extends from the end of the twelfth century to the beginning of the colonial era, and it focuses on foundational epistemological questions (how knowledge is defined, what criteria are used to distinguish it from less secure epistemic attitudes, what methods are identified as valid in the acquisition of knowledge) as well as questions concerning knowledge as the goal of our existence (in particular, whether perceptual experience is inherently valuable).
Our study of the four strands is based on the hypothesis that the post-classical period is witness to a sophisticated discussion of knowledge, in which epistemic realism, intuitionism, phenomenalism, and subjectivism are pitted against each other in a nuanced manner. Hence, the project will result in a well-founded reassessment of the common view according to which post-classical Islamic intellectual culture is authoritarian and stuck to an epistemic paradigm that stifles insight and creativity. Thereby it will provide new ingredients for projects of endogenous reform and reorientation in Islam, and corroborate the view that our future histories of philosophy should incorporate the Islamic tradition.
Max ERC Funding
1 526 429 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym EUGenDem
Project Gender, party politics and democracy in Europe: A study of European Parliament's party groups
Researcher (PI) Johanna KANTOLA
Host Institution (HI) TAMPEREEN KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH2, ERC-2017-COG
Summary Given the crucial importance of European Parliament’s party groups to democratic representation in the European Union, it is surprising that there is limited empirical and theoretical understanding that relates to how they conceive of gender, gender hierarchies and gendered relations, or how they seek to address gender inequalities. Nor do we know what the conditions are for increasing a gender equal democracy in the EU in the face of the current political context shaped by political crises. This project aims to provide a systematic analysis of the gendered policies and practices of European party politics. The research comprises a comparative study of the eight European Parliament (EP) party groups and generates empirical findings about the significance of gender in the current party political transformations in Europe.
Further potential lies in the key methodological innovation whereby the proposed project links informal institutions and discourses to affects and emotions, generating research designs with which the persistence of gender inequalities can be analysed more thoroughly than current gender and politics research allows. More nuanced conceptualizations, and theories about inclusive representation, gender justice and democracy at the transnational level, are a likely consequence of adopting an innovative methodological approach where empirical findings inform the theoretical level. Therefore, the project may have a high societal impact as it speaks directly to the current political crises in Europe, and provides an understanding of their gendered underpinnings.
Thus, the key ambition of this research project is: based on a thorough empirical understanding of gender and party politics at the European Parliament to build novel methodologies, concepts and theories about inclusive representation, gender justice and democracy.
Summary
Given the crucial importance of European Parliament’s party groups to democratic representation in the European Union, it is surprising that there is limited empirical and theoretical understanding that relates to how they conceive of gender, gender hierarchies and gendered relations, or how they seek to address gender inequalities. Nor do we know what the conditions are for increasing a gender equal democracy in the EU in the face of the current political context shaped by political crises. This project aims to provide a systematic analysis of the gendered policies and practices of European party politics. The research comprises a comparative study of the eight European Parliament (EP) party groups and generates empirical findings about the significance of gender in the current party political transformations in Europe.
Further potential lies in the key methodological innovation whereby the proposed project links informal institutions and discourses to affects and emotions, generating research designs with which the persistence of gender inequalities can be analysed more thoroughly than current gender and politics research allows. More nuanced conceptualizations, and theories about inclusive representation, gender justice and democracy at the transnational level, are a likely consequence of adopting an innovative methodological approach where empirical findings inform the theoretical level. Therefore, the project may have a high societal impact as it speaks directly to the current political crises in Europe, and provides an understanding of their gendered underpinnings.
Thus, the key ambition of this research project is: based on a thorough empirical understanding of gender and party politics at the European Parliament to build novel methodologies, concepts and theories about inclusive representation, gender justice and democracy.
Max ERC Funding
1 976 482 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-08-01, End date: 2023-07-31
Project acronym INDIRECT
Project Intergenerational Cumulative Disadvantage and Resource Compensation
Researcher (PI) Jani Petteri Erola
Host Institution (HI) TURUN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH2, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary "The previous literature has not been able to successfully explain why the loss of the certain family resources does not show as a weaker attainment. Neither the country differences in socioeconomic inheritance seem to reflect the institutional differences between them. We argue that these problems have followed from ignoring resource compensation. The lost capital (economic, human/cultural or social) may be replaced with the other types or with the resources of someone else (the new or extended family members or neighbors). European and other developed societies can be distinguished by their abilities to influence the compensation of the loss of the parental resources rather than by their direct impact on inheritance.
We study compensation in three analytic contexts:
1) Life-course changes followed by the loss of parental resources. The specific events to be considered are parental bereavement, separation, unemployment and geographical mobility.
2) Period changes in society reducing resources in many families approximately at the same time. The examples to be analyzed are economic recession, the inflation of educational credentials due to increasing overall level of education and changing family structures and family formation processes.
3) Structural disadvantage associated with lower level of parental resources. The forms of inequality to be analyzed include the number of siblings sharing the parental resources and childhood neighborhood and the compensation of low resources with the resources of the parents of the spouse.
We use high level Finnish register panel data to analyze the loss compensation after specific life course events. The results are compared to those acquired from German SOEP data and US-based PSID data. Multiple country comparisons are conducted using ESS. The project combines three novel analytic approaches: sibling correlation methods, conditional multinomial (event history) models and sequence analysis."
Summary
"The previous literature has not been able to successfully explain why the loss of the certain family resources does not show as a weaker attainment. Neither the country differences in socioeconomic inheritance seem to reflect the institutional differences between them. We argue that these problems have followed from ignoring resource compensation. The lost capital (economic, human/cultural or social) may be replaced with the other types or with the resources of someone else (the new or extended family members or neighbors). European and other developed societies can be distinguished by their abilities to influence the compensation of the loss of the parental resources rather than by their direct impact on inheritance.
We study compensation in three analytic contexts:
1) Life-course changes followed by the loss of parental resources. The specific events to be considered are parental bereavement, separation, unemployment and geographical mobility.
2) Period changes in society reducing resources in many families approximately at the same time. The examples to be analyzed are economic recession, the inflation of educational credentials due to increasing overall level of education and changing family structures and family formation processes.
3) Structural disadvantage associated with lower level of parental resources. The forms of inequality to be analyzed include the number of siblings sharing the parental resources and childhood neighborhood and the compensation of low resources with the resources of the parents of the spouse.
We use high level Finnish register panel data to analyze the loss compensation after specific life course events. The results are compared to those acquired from German SOEP data and US-based PSID data. Multiple country comparisons are conducted using ESS. The project combines three novel analytic approaches: sibling correlation methods, conditional multinomial (event history) models and sequence analysis."
Max ERC Funding
1 880 328 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-04-01, End date: 2019-03-31
Project acronym KETJU
Project Post-Newtonian modelling of the dynamics of supermassive black holes in galactic-scale hydrodynamical simulations (KETJU)
Researcher (PI) Peter Hilding JOHANSSON
Host Institution (HI) HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE9, ERC-2018-COG
Summary Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with masses in the range ~10^6-10^10 M⊙ are found at the centres of all massive galaxies in the Local Universe. In the ΛCDM picture of structure formation galaxies grow bottom-up through mergers and gas accretion, leading to multiple SMBHs in the same stellar system. Current simulation codes are unable to resolve in a single simulation the full SMBH merging process, which involves dynamical friction, three-body interactions and finally gravitational wave (GW) emission. KETJU will provide a significant breakthrough in SMBH research by following for the first time accurately global galactic-scale dynamical and gaseous astrophysical processes, while simultaneously solving the dynamics of SMBHs, SMBH binaries and surrounding stellar systems at sub-parsec scales. Our code KETJU (the word for 'chain' in Finnish) is built on the GADGET-3 code and it includes regions around every SMBH in which the dynamics of SMBHs and stellar particles is modelled using a non-softened Post-Newtonian algorithmic chain regularisation technique. The remaining simulation particles far from the SMBHs are evolved using softened GADGET-3. Using KETJU we can study at unprecedented accuracy the dynamics of SMBHs to separations of ~10 Schwarzschild radii, the formation of cores in massive galaxies, the formation of nuclear stellar clusters and finally provide a realistic prediction for the amplitude and frequency distribution of the cosmological gravitational wave background. The UH theoretical extragalactic team is ideally suited for this project, as it has an unusually versatile background in modelling the dynamics, feedback and merging of SMBHs. KETJU is also particularly timely, as the spectacular direct detection of GWs in 2016 is paving the way for a new era in gravitational wave astronomy. Future space-borne GW observatories, such as the European Space Agency's LISA, require accurate global GW predictions in order to fully realise their science goals.
Summary
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with masses in the range ~10^6-10^10 M⊙ are found at the centres of all massive galaxies in the Local Universe. In the ΛCDM picture of structure formation galaxies grow bottom-up through mergers and gas accretion, leading to multiple SMBHs in the same stellar system. Current simulation codes are unable to resolve in a single simulation the full SMBH merging process, which involves dynamical friction, three-body interactions and finally gravitational wave (GW) emission. KETJU will provide a significant breakthrough in SMBH research by following for the first time accurately global galactic-scale dynamical and gaseous astrophysical processes, while simultaneously solving the dynamics of SMBHs, SMBH binaries and surrounding stellar systems at sub-parsec scales. Our code KETJU (the word for 'chain' in Finnish) is built on the GADGET-3 code and it includes regions around every SMBH in which the dynamics of SMBHs and stellar particles is modelled using a non-softened Post-Newtonian algorithmic chain regularisation technique. The remaining simulation particles far from the SMBHs are evolved using softened GADGET-3. Using KETJU we can study at unprecedented accuracy the dynamics of SMBHs to separations of ~10 Schwarzschild radii, the formation of cores in massive galaxies, the formation of nuclear stellar clusters and finally provide a realistic prediction for the amplitude and frequency distribution of the cosmological gravitational wave background. The UH theoretical extragalactic team is ideally suited for this project, as it has an unusually versatile background in modelling the dynamics, feedback and merging of SMBHs. KETJU is also particularly timely, as the spectacular direct detection of GWs in 2016 is paving the way for a new era in gravitational wave astronomy. Future space-borne GW observatories, such as the European Space Agency's LISA, require accurate global GW predictions in order to fully realise their science goals.
Max ERC Funding
1 953 569 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-07-01, End date: 2024-06-30
Project acronym PRESTISSIMO
Project Plasma Reconnection, Shocks and Turbulence in Solar System Interactions: Modelling and Observations
Researcher (PI) MINNA MARIA EMILIA Palmroth
Host Institution (HI) HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE9, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary This project combines the forefront space physics with top-tier high performance computing. Three phenomena are above others in importance in explaining plasma behaviour in the Solar-Terrestrial system, laboratories, fusion devices, and astrophysical domains: 1) magnetic reconnection enabling energy and mass transfer between magnetic domains, 2) collisionless shocks forming due to supersonic relative flow speeds between plasmas, and 3) particle acceleration associated with both. These processes are critical in understanding the scientific foundation of space weather, i.e., harmful effects caused by enhanced radiation and dynamical processes that endanger space- and ground-based technological systems or human life. Space weather forecasts require physics-based models; however, to date only simple plasma descriptions have been used in the global context. We have developed the first 6-dimensional global magnetospheric kinetic simulation in the world, Vlasiator, promising a grand leap both in understanding fundamental space plasma physics, and in improving the accuracy of present space weather models. Combining the unique Vlasiator with newest spacecraft data, local kinetic physics can be interpreted in global context in a ground-breaking fashion. We examine in the global and self-consistent context
1. Near-Earth reconnection,
2. Ion-scale phenomena in the near-Earth shocks,
3. Particle acceleration by shocks and reconnection,
4. Inner magnetospheric wave-particle processes, and the consequent particle precipitation into the ionosphere.
The proposed work is now feasible thanks to increased computational capabilities and Vlasiator. The newest space missions produce high-fidelity multi-point observations that require directly comparable global kinetic simulations offered by Vlasiator. The proposing team has an outstanding record and a leading role in global space physics modelling.
Summary
This project combines the forefront space physics with top-tier high performance computing. Three phenomena are above others in importance in explaining plasma behaviour in the Solar-Terrestrial system, laboratories, fusion devices, and astrophysical domains: 1) magnetic reconnection enabling energy and mass transfer between magnetic domains, 2) collisionless shocks forming due to supersonic relative flow speeds between plasmas, and 3) particle acceleration associated with both. These processes are critical in understanding the scientific foundation of space weather, i.e., harmful effects caused by enhanced radiation and dynamical processes that endanger space- and ground-based technological systems or human life. Space weather forecasts require physics-based models; however, to date only simple plasma descriptions have been used in the global context. We have developed the first 6-dimensional global magnetospheric kinetic simulation in the world, Vlasiator, promising a grand leap both in understanding fundamental space plasma physics, and in improving the accuracy of present space weather models. Combining the unique Vlasiator with newest spacecraft data, local kinetic physics can be interpreted in global context in a ground-breaking fashion. We examine in the global and self-consistent context
1. Near-Earth reconnection,
2. Ion-scale phenomena in the near-Earth shocks,
3. Particle acceleration by shocks and reconnection,
4. Inner magnetospheric wave-particle processes, and the consequent particle precipitation into the ionosphere.
The proposed work is now feasible thanks to increased computational capabilities and Vlasiator. The newest space missions produce high-fidelity multi-point observations that require directly comparable global kinetic simulations offered by Vlasiator. The proposing team has an outstanding record and a leading role in global space physics modelling.
Max ERC Funding
1 998 054 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-06-01, End date: 2021-05-31
Project acronym RE-FASHIONING
Project Re-fashioning the Renaissance: Popular Groups, Fashion and the Material and Cultural Significance of Clothing in Europe, 1550-1650
Researcher (PI) Paula Sofia Hohti
Host Institution (HI) AALTO KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH5, ERC-2016-COG
Summary This study of Renaissance dress offers a better understanding of how fashion developed at popular levels of
society in Europe, 1550-1650. Drawing on documentary, visual and material evidence, it investigates
fundamental questions relating to the transformation of fashion that will shed light on popular taste,
dissemination, transformation and adaption of fashion, on imitation and meaning, and on changing cultural
attitudes to dress among popular groups. The central goal of the project is to develop a new methodology that
combines my previous experience of empirical research and theoretical models with the tradition of textile
analysis and costume conservation. This involves experimenting with a range of techniques, including
technical analysis of textiles, dye- and fibre analysis, and the reconstruction and visualization of historical
fashions using both 16th-century recipes as well as modern digital tools such as 3D printing and digital
reconstruction. This framework of dress and textile history at both scientific and experimental levels helps me
to provide a more comprehensive interpretation of the value, variations, and material experiences that were
associated with dress and dressing in the Renaissance, and to develop methodologies that allow us to explore
new ways in which narratives from historical documents, books, images, and material objects can be created.
The new historical knowledge and methodologies built during the ERC will lead to the ultimate theoretical
objective of the project –to rethink the scientific foundation and theory of dress studies within the ‘new
materialist’ framework. By creating a material-based approach and methodologies to the study of fashion in the
context of popular groups, my research will not only build new horizons for the study of popular dress and its
material and cultural significance in the Renaissance, but it will also create a theoretical model that challenges
dress historians to go beyond semiotic analysis of dress.
Summary
This study of Renaissance dress offers a better understanding of how fashion developed at popular levels of
society in Europe, 1550-1650. Drawing on documentary, visual and material evidence, it investigates
fundamental questions relating to the transformation of fashion that will shed light on popular taste,
dissemination, transformation and adaption of fashion, on imitation and meaning, and on changing cultural
attitudes to dress among popular groups. The central goal of the project is to develop a new methodology that
combines my previous experience of empirical research and theoretical models with the tradition of textile
analysis and costume conservation. This involves experimenting with a range of techniques, including
technical analysis of textiles, dye- and fibre analysis, and the reconstruction and visualization of historical
fashions using both 16th-century recipes as well as modern digital tools such as 3D printing and digital
reconstruction. This framework of dress and textile history at both scientific and experimental levels helps me
to provide a more comprehensive interpretation of the value, variations, and material experiences that were
associated with dress and dressing in the Renaissance, and to develop methodologies that allow us to explore
new ways in which narratives from historical documents, books, images, and material objects can be created.
The new historical knowledge and methodologies built during the ERC will lead to the ultimate theoretical
objective of the project –to rethink the scientific foundation and theory of dress studies within the ‘new
materialist’ framework. By creating a material-based approach and methodologies to the study of fashion in the
context of popular groups, my research will not only build new horizons for the study of popular dress and its
material and cultural significance in the Renaissance, but it will also create a theoretical model that challenges
dress historians to go beyond semiotic analysis of dress.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 854 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-04-01, End date: 2022-03-31
Project acronym SolMAG
Project Unravelling The Structure and Evolution of Solar Magnetic Flux Ropes and Their Magnetosheaths
Researcher (PI) Emilia KILPUA
Host Institution (HI) HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE9, ERC-2016-COG
Summary Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are spectacular stellar eruptions that carry huge amounts of plasma and magnetic flux into the space. The interests in their origin, structure, and dynamics reach from fundamental plasma physics to paramount impact on their parent stars and the surrounding planets. One of the most outstanding problems in the studies of CMEs is the lack of reliable information on their magnetic field properties until observed directly. This severely limits our understanding of many aspects in the lifespan of CMEs and their far-reaching consequences. SolMAG will deliver realistic and detailed information of the magnetic fields in CMEs. We will further use this knowledge to obtain significant breakthroughs in CME research, including unravelling physical processes that control CME initiation and evolution, and characterizing formation and interaction of key CME structures. A unique opportunity is provided by recent advances in data-driven and time-dependent numerical simulations and state-of-the-art high-quality remote-sensing solar observations. We will form an unprecedented synthesis of a revolutionary coupled coronal simulation my group is now developing and innovative cross-scale observational analyses. UH space physics team is exceptionally well-placed to carry out this challenging project: We have an unusually versatile background in CME research and strong experience both in numerical simulations and data analysis covering the whole Sun to Earth chain. SolMAG is also particularly timely now when our society is becoming increasingly dependent on technology that solar eruptions have potential to damage and the role of CMEs influencing planetary and stellar evolution is being emphasized. In addition, this project will be an important contribution to European Space Agency’s activities, including the future Solar Orbiter and BebiColombo missions, which also provides a natural exit strategy for this project.
Summary
Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are spectacular stellar eruptions that carry huge amounts of plasma and magnetic flux into the space. The interests in their origin, structure, and dynamics reach from fundamental plasma physics to paramount impact on their parent stars and the surrounding planets. One of the most outstanding problems in the studies of CMEs is the lack of reliable information on their magnetic field properties until observed directly. This severely limits our understanding of many aspects in the lifespan of CMEs and their far-reaching consequences. SolMAG will deliver realistic and detailed information of the magnetic fields in CMEs. We will further use this knowledge to obtain significant breakthroughs in CME research, including unravelling physical processes that control CME initiation and evolution, and characterizing formation and interaction of key CME structures. A unique opportunity is provided by recent advances in data-driven and time-dependent numerical simulations and state-of-the-art high-quality remote-sensing solar observations. We will form an unprecedented synthesis of a revolutionary coupled coronal simulation my group is now developing and innovative cross-scale observational analyses. UH space physics team is exceptionally well-placed to carry out this challenging project: We have an unusually versatile background in CME research and strong experience both in numerical simulations and data analysis covering the whole Sun to Earth chain. SolMAG is also particularly timely now when our society is becoming increasingly dependent on technology that solar eruptions have potential to damage and the role of CMEs influencing planetary and stellar evolution is being emphasized. In addition, this project will be an important contribution to European Space Agency’s activities, including the future Solar Orbiter and BebiColombo missions, which also provides a natural exit strategy for this project.
Max ERC Funding
1 934 876 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-06-01, End date: 2022-05-31
Project acronym SOS.aquaterra
Project Respecting safe operating spaces: opportunities to meet future food demand with sustainable use of water and land resources
Researcher (PI) Matti Kummu
Host Institution (HI) AALTO KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH2, ERC-2018-COG
Summary Although the human population has quadrupled over the past century, per capita food availability is globally higher than ever - at the expense of environment: scarcity of water and land as well as exceedance of several planetary boundaries. Projected population growth and climate change will further increase the pressure on feeding the planet with sustainably managed natural resources.
SOS.aquaterra takes up this challenge by identifying feasible measures to meet future food demand while staying below water and land scarcity thresholds. The project develops novel integrated modelling and data analysis methods to fully exploit the rapidly increasing global open spatio-temporal datasets together with outputs from global agrological and hydrological models.
In the proposal, instead of assessing water and land scarcity separately, which is the current practice, the assessments are integrated. The second novelty in SOS.aquaterra is developing an integrated model that combines for the first time the potential of conventional and innovative measures -e.g. yield gap closure, alternative protein sources- towards increased food availability. The feasibility of these measures, within the safe operating space resulting from scarcity assessment, is explored by analogical problem solving and clustering methods.
The innovative integration of measures using the latest datasets and modelling tools holds high risks, yet it significantly advances the scientific and technological state of the art to meet food demand with sustainably managed natural resources.
Summary
Although the human population has quadrupled over the past century, per capita food availability is globally higher than ever - at the expense of environment: scarcity of water and land as well as exceedance of several planetary boundaries. Projected population growth and climate change will further increase the pressure on feeding the planet with sustainably managed natural resources.
SOS.aquaterra takes up this challenge by identifying feasible measures to meet future food demand while staying below water and land scarcity thresholds. The project develops novel integrated modelling and data analysis methods to fully exploit the rapidly increasing global open spatio-temporal datasets together with outputs from global agrological and hydrological models.
In the proposal, instead of assessing water and land scarcity separately, which is the current practice, the assessments are integrated. The second novelty in SOS.aquaterra is developing an integrated model that combines for the first time the potential of conventional and innovative measures -e.g. yield gap closure, alternative protein sources- towards increased food availability. The feasibility of these measures, within the safe operating space resulting from scarcity assessment, is explored by analogical problem solving and clustering methods.
The innovative integration of measures using the latest datasets and modelling tools holds high risks, yet it significantly advances the scientific and technological state of the art to meet food demand with sustainably managed natural resources.
Max ERC Funding
1 982 113 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-06-01, End date: 2024-05-31
