Project acronym 9 SALT
Project Reassessing Ninth Century Philosophy. A Synchronic Approach to the Logical Traditions
Researcher (PI) Christophe Florian Erismann
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH5, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary This project aims at a better understanding of the philosophical richness of ninth century thought using the unprecedented and highly innovative method of the synchronic approach. The hypothesis directing this synchronic approach is that studying together in parallel the four main philosophical traditions of the century – i.e. Latin, Greek, Syriac and Arabic – will bring results that the traditional enquiry limited to one tradition alone can never reach. This implies pioneering a new methodology to overcome the compartmentalization of research which prevails nowadays. Using this method is only possible because the four conditions of applicability – comparable intellectual environment, common text corpus, similar methodological perspective, commensurable problems – are fulfilled. The ninth century, a time of cultural renewal in the Carolingian, Byzantine and Abbasid empires, possesses the remarkable characteristic – which ensures commensurability – that the same texts, namely the writings of Aristotelian logic (mainly Porphyry’s Isagoge and Aristotle’s Categories) were read and commented upon in Latin, Greek, Syriac and Arabic alike.
Logic is fundamental to philosophical enquiry. The contested question is the human capacity to rationalise, analyse and describe the sensible reality, to understand the ontological structure of the world, and to define the types of entities which exist. The use of this unprecedented synchronic approach will allow us a deeper understanding of the positions, a clear identification of the a priori postulates of the philosophical debates, and a critical evaluation of the arguments used. It provides a unique opportunity to compare the different traditions and highlight the heritage which is common, to stress the specificities of each tradition when tackling philosophical issues and to discover the doctrinal results triggered by their mutual interactions, be they constructive (scholarly exchanges) or polemic (religious controversies).
Summary
This project aims at a better understanding of the philosophical richness of ninth century thought using the unprecedented and highly innovative method of the synchronic approach. The hypothesis directing this synchronic approach is that studying together in parallel the four main philosophical traditions of the century – i.e. Latin, Greek, Syriac and Arabic – will bring results that the traditional enquiry limited to one tradition alone can never reach. This implies pioneering a new methodology to overcome the compartmentalization of research which prevails nowadays. Using this method is only possible because the four conditions of applicability – comparable intellectual environment, common text corpus, similar methodological perspective, commensurable problems – are fulfilled. The ninth century, a time of cultural renewal in the Carolingian, Byzantine and Abbasid empires, possesses the remarkable characteristic – which ensures commensurability – that the same texts, namely the writings of Aristotelian logic (mainly Porphyry’s Isagoge and Aristotle’s Categories) were read and commented upon in Latin, Greek, Syriac and Arabic alike.
Logic is fundamental to philosophical enquiry. The contested question is the human capacity to rationalise, analyse and describe the sensible reality, to understand the ontological structure of the world, and to define the types of entities which exist. The use of this unprecedented synchronic approach will allow us a deeper understanding of the positions, a clear identification of the a priori postulates of the philosophical debates, and a critical evaluation of the arguments used. It provides a unique opportunity to compare the different traditions and highlight the heritage which is common, to stress the specificities of each tradition when tackling philosophical issues and to discover the doctrinal results triggered by their mutual interactions, be they constructive (scholarly exchanges) or polemic (religious controversies).
Max ERC Funding
1 998 566 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-09-01, End date: 2020-08-31
Project acronym A-LIFE
Project Absorbing aerosol layers in a changing climate: aging, lifetime and dynamics
Researcher (PI) Bernadett Barbara Weinzierl
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE10, ERC-2014-STG
Summary Aerosols (i.e. tiny particles suspended in the air) are regularly transported in huge amounts over long distances impacting air quality, health, weather and climate thousands of kilometers downwind of the source. Aerosols affect the atmospheric radiation budget through scattering and absorption of solar radiation and through their role as cloud/ice nuclei.
In particular, light absorption by aerosol particles such as mineral dust and black carbon (BC; thought to be the second strongest contribution to current global warming after CO2) is of fundamental importance from a climate perspective because the presence of absorbing particles (1) contributes to solar radiative forcing, (2) heats absorbing aerosol layers, (3) can evaporate clouds and (4) change atmospheric dynamics.
Considering this prominent role of aerosols, vertically-resolved in-situ data on absorbing aerosols are surprisingly scarce and aerosol-dynamic interactions are poorly understood in general. This is, as recognized in the last IPCC report, a serious barrier for taking the accuracy of climate models and predictions to the next level. To overcome this barrier, I propose to investigate aging, lifetime and dynamics of absorbing aerosol layers with a holistic end-to-end approach including laboratory studies, airborne field experiments and numerical model simulations.
Building on the internationally recognized results of my aerosol research group and my long-term experience with airborne aerosol measurements, the time seems ripe to systematically bridge the gap between in-situ measurements of aerosol microphysical and optical properties and the assessment of dynamical interactions of absorbing particles with aerosol layer lifetime through model simulations.
The outcomes of this project will provide fundamental new understanding of absorbing aerosol layers in the climate system and important information for addressing the benefits of BC emission controls for mitigating climate change.
Summary
Aerosols (i.e. tiny particles suspended in the air) are regularly transported in huge amounts over long distances impacting air quality, health, weather and climate thousands of kilometers downwind of the source. Aerosols affect the atmospheric radiation budget through scattering and absorption of solar radiation and through their role as cloud/ice nuclei.
In particular, light absorption by aerosol particles such as mineral dust and black carbon (BC; thought to be the second strongest contribution to current global warming after CO2) is of fundamental importance from a climate perspective because the presence of absorbing particles (1) contributes to solar radiative forcing, (2) heats absorbing aerosol layers, (3) can evaporate clouds and (4) change atmospheric dynamics.
Considering this prominent role of aerosols, vertically-resolved in-situ data on absorbing aerosols are surprisingly scarce and aerosol-dynamic interactions are poorly understood in general. This is, as recognized in the last IPCC report, a serious barrier for taking the accuracy of climate models and predictions to the next level. To overcome this barrier, I propose to investigate aging, lifetime and dynamics of absorbing aerosol layers with a holistic end-to-end approach including laboratory studies, airborne field experiments and numerical model simulations.
Building on the internationally recognized results of my aerosol research group and my long-term experience with airborne aerosol measurements, the time seems ripe to systematically bridge the gap between in-situ measurements of aerosol microphysical and optical properties and the assessment of dynamical interactions of absorbing particles with aerosol layer lifetime through model simulations.
The outcomes of this project will provide fundamental new understanding of absorbing aerosol layers in the climate system and important information for addressing the benefits of BC emission controls for mitigating climate change.
Max ERC Funding
1 987 980 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-10-01, End date: 2020-09-30
Project acronym ABACUS
Project Advancing Behavioral and Cognitive Understanding of Speech
Researcher (PI) Bart De Boer
Host Institution (HI) VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2011-StG_20101124
Summary I intend to investigate what cognitive mechanisms give us combinatorial speech. Combinatorial speech is the ability to make new words using pre-existing speech sounds. Humans are the only apes that can do this, yet we do not know how our brains do it, nor how exactly we differ from other apes. Using new experimental techniques to study human behavior and new computational techniques to model human cognition, I will find out how we deal with combinatorial speech.
The experimental part will study individual and cultural learning. Experimental cultural learning is a new technique that simulates cultural evolution in the laboratory. Two types of cultural learning will be used: iterated learning, which simulates language transfer across generations, and social coordination, which simulates emergence of norms in a language community. Using the two types of cultural learning together with individual learning experiments will help to zero in, from three angles, on how humans deal with combinatorial speech. In addition it will make a methodological contribution by comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the three methods.
The computer modeling part will formalize hypotheses about how our brains deal with combinatorial speech. Two models will be built: a high-level model that will establish the basic algorithms with which combinatorial speech is learned and reproduced, and a neural model that will establish in more detail how the algorithms are implemented in the brain. In addition, the models, through increasing understanding of how humans deal with speech, will help bridge the performance gap between human and computer speech recognition.
The project will advance science in four ways: it will provide insight into how our unique ability for using combinatorial speech works, it will tell us how this is implemented in the brain, it will extend the novel methodology of experimental cultural learning and it will create new computer models for dealing with human speech.
Summary
I intend to investigate what cognitive mechanisms give us combinatorial speech. Combinatorial speech is the ability to make new words using pre-existing speech sounds. Humans are the only apes that can do this, yet we do not know how our brains do it, nor how exactly we differ from other apes. Using new experimental techniques to study human behavior and new computational techniques to model human cognition, I will find out how we deal with combinatorial speech.
The experimental part will study individual and cultural learning. Experimental cultural learning is a new technique that simulates cultural evolution in the laboratory. Two types of cultural learning will be used: iterated learning, which simulates language transfer across generations, and social coordination, which simulates emergence of norms in a language community. Using the two types of cultural learning together with individual learning experiments will help to zero in, from three angles, on how humans deal with combinatorial speech. In addition it will make a methodological contribution by comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the three methods.
The computer modeling part will formalize hypotheses about how our brains deal with combinatorial speech. Two models will be built: a high-level model that will establish the basic algorithms with which combinatorial speech is learned and reproduced, and a neural model that will establish in more detail how the algorithms are implemented in the brain. In addition, the models, through increasing understanding of how humans deal with speech, will help bridge the performance gap between human and computer speech recognition.
The project will advance science in four ways: it will provide insight into how our unique ability for using combinatorial speech works, it will tell us how this is implemented in the brain, it will extend the novel methodology of experimental cultural learning and it will create new computer models for dealing with human speech.
Max ERC Funding
1 276 620 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-02-01, End date: 2017-01-31
Project acronym ABINITIODGA
Project Ab initio Dynamical Vertex Approximation
Researcher (PI) Karsten Held
Host Institution (HI) TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET WIEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE3, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Some of the most fascinating physical phenomena are experimentally observed in strongly correlated electron systems and, on the theoretical side, only poorly understood hitherto. The aim of the ERC project AbinitioDGA is the development, implementation and application of a new, 21th century method for the ab initio calculation of materials with such strong electronic correlations. AbinitioDGA includes strong electronic correlations on all time and length scales and hence is a big step beyond the state-of-the-art methods, such as the local density approximation, dynamical mean field theory, and the GW approach (Green function G times screened interaction W). It has the potential for an extraordinary high impact not only in the field of computational materials science but also for a better understanding of quantum critical heavy fermion systems, high-temperature superconductors, and transport through nano- and heterostructures. These four physical problems and related materials will be studied within the ERC project, besides the methodological development.
On the technical side, AbinitioDGA realizes Hedin's idea to include vertex corrections beyond the GW approximation. All vertex corrections which can be traced back to a fully irreducible local vertex and the bare non-local Coulomb interaction are included. This way, AbinitioDGA does not only contain the GW physics of screened exchange and the strong local correlations of dynamical mean field theory but also non-local correlations beyond on all length scales. Through the latter, AbinitioDGA can prospectively describe phenomena such as quantum criticality, spin-fluctuation mediated superconductivity, and weak localization corrections to the conductivity. Nonetheless, the computational effort is still manageable even for realistic materials calculations, making the considerable effort to implement AbinitioDGA worthwhile.
Summary
Some of the most fascinating physical phenomena are experimentally observed in strongly correlated electron systems and, on the theoretical side, only poorly understood hitherto. The aim of the ERC project AbinitioDGA is the development, implementation and application of a new, 21th century method for the ab initio calculation of materials with such strong electronic correlations. AbinitioDGA includes strong electronic correlations on all time and length scales and hence is a big step beyond the state-of-the-art methods, such as the local density approximation, dynamical mean field theory, and the GW approach (Green function G times screened interaction W). It has the potential for an extraordinary high impact not only in the field of computational materials science but also for a better understanding of quantum critical heavy fermion systems, high-temperature superconductors, and transport through nano- and heterostructures. These four physical problems and related materials will be studied within the ERC project, besides the methodological development.
On the technical side, AbinitioDGA realizes Hedin's idea to include vertex corrections beyond the GW approximation. All vertex corrections which can be traced back to a fully irreducible local vertex and the bare non-local Coulomb interaction are included. This way, AbinitioDGA does not only contain the GW physics of screened exchange and the strong local correlations of dynamical mean field theory but also non-local correlations beyond on all length scales. Through the latter, AbinitioDGA can prospectively describe phenomena such as quantum criticality, spin-fluctuation mediated superconductivity, and weak localization corrections to the conductivity. Nonetheless, the computational effort is still manageable even for realistic materials calculations, making the considerable effort to implement AbinitioDGA worthwhile.
Max ERC Funding
1 491 090 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2018-07-31
Project acronym ACTIVENP
Project Active and low loss nano photonics (ActiveNP)
Researcher (PI) Thomas Arno Klar
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT LINZ
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE3, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary This project aims at designing novel hybrid nanophotonic devices comprising metallic nanostructures and active elements such as dye molecules or colloidal quantum dots. Three core objectives, each going far beyond the state of the art, shall be tackled: (i) Metamaterials containing gain materials: Metamaterials introduce magnetism to the optical frequency range and hold promise to create entirely novel devices for light manipulation. Since present day metamaterials are extremely absorptive, it is of utmost importance to fight losses. The ground-breaking approach of this proposal is to incorporate fluorescing species into the nanoscale metallic metastructures in order to compensate losses by stimulated emission. (ii) The second objective exceeds the ansatz of compensating losses and will reach out for lasing action. Individual metallic nanostructures such as pairs of nanoparticles will form novel and unusual nanometre sized resonators for laser action. State of the art microresonators still have a volume of at least half of the wavelength cubed. Noble metal nanoparticle resonators scale down this volume by a factor of thousand allowing for truly nanoscale coherent light sources. (iii) A third objective concerns a substantial improvement of nonlinear effects. This will be accomplished by drastically sharpened resonances of nanoplasmonic devices surrounded by active gain materials. An interdisciplinary team of PhD students and a PostDoc will be assembled, each scientist being uniquely qualified to cover one of the expertise fields: Design, spectroscopy, and simulation. The project s outcome is twofold: A substantial expansion of fundamental understanding of nanophotonics and practical devices such as nanoscopic lasers and low loss metamaterials.
Summary
This project aims at designing novel hybrid nanophotonic devices comprising metallic nanostructures and active elements such as dye molecules or colloidal quantum dots. Three core objectives, each going far beyond the state of the art, shall be tackled: (i) Metamaterials containing gain materials: Metamaterials introduce magnetism to the optical frequency range and hold promise to create entirely novel devices for light manipulation. Since present day metamaterials are extremely absorptive, it is of utmost importance to fight losses. The ground-breaking approach of this proposal is to incorporate fluorescing species into the nanoscale metallic metastructures in order to compensate losses by stimulated emission. (ii) The second objective exceeds the ansatz of compensating losses and will reach out for lasing action. Individual metallic nanostructures such as pairs of nanoparticles will form novel and unusual nanometre sized resonators for laser action. State of the art microresonators still have a volume of at least half of the wavelength cubed. Noble metal nanoparticle resonators scale down this volume by a factor of thousand allowing for truly nanoscale coherent light sources. (iii) A third objective concerns a substantial improvement of nonlinear effects. This will be accomplished by drastically sharpened resonances of nanoplasmonic devices surrounded by active gain materials. An interdisciplinary team of PhD students and a PostDoc will be assembled, each scientist being uniquely qualified to cover one of the expertise fields: Design, spectroscopy, and simulation. The project s outcome is twofold: A substantial expansion of fundamental understanding of nanophotonics and practical devices such as nanoscopic lasers and low loss metamaterials.
Max ERC Funding
1 494 756 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-10-01, End date: 2015-09-30
Project acronym AfricanWomen
Project Women in Africa
Researcher (PI) catherine GUIRKINGER
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE NAMUR ASBL
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH1, ERC-2017-STG
Summary Rates of domestic violence and the relative risk of premature death for women are higher in sub-Saharan Africa than in any other region. Yet we know remarkably little about the economic forces, incentives and constraints that drive discrimination against women in this region, making it hard to identify policy levers to address the problem. This project will help fill this gap.
I will investigate gender discrimination from two complementary perspectives. First, through the lens of economic history, I will investigate the forces driving trends in women’s relative well-being since slavery. To quantify the evolution of well-being of sub-Saharan women relative to men, I will use three types of historical data: anthropometric indicators (relative height), vital statistics (to compute numbers of missing women), and outcomes of formal and informal family law disputes. I will then investigate how major economic developments and changes in family laws differentially affected women’s welfare across ethnic groups with different norms on women’s roles and rights.
Second, using intra-household economic models, I will provide new insights into domestic violence and gender bias in access to crucial resources in present-day Africa. I will develop a new household model that incorporates gender identity and endogenous outside options to explore the relationship between women’s empowerment and the use of violence. Using the notion of strategic delegation, I will propose a new rationale for the separation of budgets often observed in African households and generate predictions of how improvements in women’s outside options affect welfare. Finally, with first hand data, I will investigate intra-household differences in nutrition and work effort in times of food shortage from the points of view of efficiency and equity. I will use activity trackers as an innovative means of collecting high quality data on work effort and thus overcome data limitations restricting the existing literature
Summary
Rates of domestic violence and the relative risk of premature death for women are higher in sub-Saharan Africa than in any other region. Yet we know remarkably little about the economic forces, incentives and constraints that drive discrimination against women in this region, making it hard to identify policy levers to address the problem. This project will help fill this gap.
I will investigate gender discrimination from two complementary perspectives. First, through the lens of economic history, I will investigate the forces driving trends in women’s relative well-being since slavery. To quantify the evolution of well-being of sub-Saharan women relative to men, I will use three types of historical data: anthropometric indicators (relative height), vital statistics (to compute numbers of missing women), and outcomes of formal and informal family law disputes. I will then investigate how major economic developments and changes in family laws differentially affected women’s welfare across ethnic groups with different norms on women’s roles and rights.
Second, using intra-household economic models, I will provide new insights into domestic violence and gender bias in access to crucial resources in present-day Africa. I will develop a new household model that incorporates gender identity and endogenous outside options to explore the relationship between women’s empowerment and the use of violence. Using the notion of strategic delegation, I will propose a new rationale for the separation of budgets often observed in African households and generate predictions of how improvements in women’s outside options affect welfare. Finally, with first hand data, I will investigate intra-household differences in nutrition and work effort in times of food shortage from the points of view of efficiency and equity. I will use activity trackers as an innovative means of collecting high quality data on work effort and thus overcome data limitations restricting the existing literature
Max ERC Funding
1 499 313 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-08-01, End date: 2023-07-31
Project acronym AFRIVAL
Project African river basins: catchment-scale carbon fluxes and transformations
Researcher (PI) Steven Bouillon
Host Institution (HI) KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE10, ERC-2009-StG
Summary This proposal wishes to fundamentally improve our understanding of the role of tropical freshwater ecosystems in carbon (C) cycling on the catchment scale. It uses an unprecedented combination of state-of-the-art proxies such as stable isotope, 14C and biomarker signatures to characterize organic matter, radiogenic isotope signatures to determine particle residence times, as well as field measurements of relevant biogeochemical processes. We focus on tropical systems since there is a striking lack of data on such systems, even though riverine C transport is thought to be disproportionately high in tropical areas. Furthermore, the presence of landscape-scale contrasts in vegetation (in particular, C3 vs. C4 plants) are an important asset in the use of stable isotopes as natural tracers of C cycling processes on this scale. Freshwater ecosystems are an important component in the global C cycle, and the primary link between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Recent estimates indicate that ~2 Pg C y-1 (Pg=Petagram) enter freshwater systems, i.e., about twice the estimated global terrestrial C sink. More than half of this is thought to be remineralized before it reaches the coastal zone, and for the Amazon basin this has even been suggested to be ~90% of the lateral C inputs. The question how general these patterns are is a matter of debate, and assessing the mechanisms determining the degree of processing versus transport of organic carbon in lakes and river systems is critical to further constrain their role in the global C cycle. This proposal provides an interdisciplinary approach to describe and quantify catchment-scale C transport and cycling in tropical river basins. Besides conceptual and methodological advances, and a significant expansion of our dataset on C processes in such systems, new data gathered in this project are likely to provide exciting and novel hypotheses on the functioning of freshwater systems and their linkage to the terrestrial C budget.
Summary
This proposal wishes to fundamentally improve our understanding of the role of tropical freshwater ecosystems in carbon (C) cycling on the catchment scale. It uses an unprecedented combination of state-of-the-art proxies such as stable isotope, 14C and biomarker signatures to characterize organic matter, radiogenic isotope signatures to determine particle residence times, as well as field measurements of relevant biogeochemical processes. We focus on tropical systems since there is a striking lack of data on such systems, even though riverine C transport is thought to be disproportionately high in tropical areas. Furthermore, the presence of landscape-scale contrasts in vegetation (in particular, C3 vs. C4 plants) are an important asset in the use of stable isotopes as natural tracers of C cycling processes on this scale. Freshwater ecosystems are an important component in the global C cycle, and the primary link between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Recent estimates indicate that ~2 Pg C y-1 (Pg=Petagram) enter freshwater systems, i.e., about twice the estimated global terrestrial C sink. More than half of this is thought to be remineralized before it reaches the coastal zone, and for the Amazon basin this has even been suggested to be ~90% of the lateral C inputs. The question how general these patterns are is a matter of debate, and assessing the mechanisms determining the degree of processing versus transport of organic carbon in lakes and river systems is critical to further constrain their role in the global C cycle. This proposal provides an interdisciplinary approach to describe and quantify catchment-scale C transport and cycling in tropical river basins. Besides conceptual and methodological advances, and a significant expansion of our dataset on C processes in such systems, new data gathered in this project are likely to provide exciting and novel hypotheses on the functioning of freshwater systems and their linkage to the terrestrial C budget.
Max ERC Funding
1 745 262 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-10-01, End date: 2014-09-30
Project acronym AIDA
Project Architectural design In Dialogue with dis-Ability Theoretical and methodological exploration of a multi-sensorial design approach in architecture
Researcher (PI) Ann Heylighen
Host Institution (HI) KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2007-StG
Summary This research project is based on the notion that, because of their specific interaction with space, people with particular dis-abilities are able to appreciate spatial qualities or detect misfits in the environment that most architects—or other designers—are not even aware of. This notion holds for sensory dis-abilities such as blindness or visual impairment, but also for mental dis-abilities like autism or Alzheimer’s dementia. The experiences and subsequent insights of these dis-abled people, so it is argued, represent a considerable knowledge resource that would complement and enrich the professional expertise of architects and designers in general. This argument forms the basis for a methodological and theoretical exploration of a multi-sensorial design approach in architecture. On the one hand, a series of retrospective case studies will be conducted to identify and describe the motives and elements that trigger or stimulate architects’ attention for the multi-sensorial spatial experiences of people with dis-abilities when designing spaces. On the other hand, the research project will investigate experimentally in real time to what extent design processes and products in architecture can be enriched by establishing a dialogue between the multi-sensorial ‘knowing-in-action’ of people with dis-abilities and the expertise of professional architects/designers. In this way, the research project aims to develop a more profound understanding of how the concept of Design for All can be realised in architectural practice. At least as important, however, is its contribution to innovation in architecture tout court. The research results are expected to give a powerful impulse to quality improvement of the built environment by stimulating and supporting the development of innovative design concepts.
Summary
This research project is based on the notion that, because of their specific interaction with space, people with particular dis-abilities are able to appreciate spatial qualities or detect misfits in the environment that most architects—or other designers—are not even aware of. This notion holds for sensory dis-abilities such as blindness or visual impairment, but also for mental dis-abilities like autism or Alzheimer’s dementia. The experiences and subsequent insights of these dis-abled people, so it is argued, represent a considerable knowledge resource that would complement and enrich the professional expertise of architects and designers in general. This argument forms the basis for a methodological and theoretical exploration of a multi-sensorial design approach in architecture. On the one hand, a series of retrospective case studies will be conducted to identify and describe the motives and elements that trigger or stimulate architects’ attention for the multi-sensorial spatial experiences of people with dis-abilities when designing spaces. On the other hand, the research project will investigate experimentally in real time to what extent design processes and products in architecture can be enriched by establishing a dialogue between the multi-sensorial ‘knowing-in-action’ of people with dis-abilities and the expertise of professional architects/designers. In this way, the research project aims to develop a more profound understanding of how the concept of Design for All can be realised in architectural practice. At least as important, however, is its contribution to innovation in architecture tout court. The research results are expected to give a powerful impulse to quality improvement of the built environment by stimulating and supporting the development of innovative design concepts.
Max ERC Funding
1 195 385 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-05-01, End date: 2013-10-31
Project acronym ALICE
Project Strange Mirrors, Unsuspected Lessons: Leading Europe to a new way of sharing the world experiences
Researcher (PI) Boaventura De Sousa Santos
Host Institution (HI) CENTRO DE ESTUDOS SOCIAIS
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2010-AdG_20100407
Summary Europe sits uncomfortably on the idea that there are no political and cultural alternatives credible enough to respond to the current uneasiness or malaise caused by both a world that is more and more non-European and a Europe that increasingly questions what is European about itself. This project will develop a new grounded theoretical paradigm for contemporary Europe based on two key ideas: the understanding of the world by far exceeds the European understanding of the world; social, political and institutional transformation in Europe may benefit from innovations taking place in regions and countries with which Europe is increasingly interdependent. I will pursue this objective focusing on four main interconnected topics: democratizing democracy, intercultural constitutionalism, the other economy, human rights (right to health in particular).
In a sense that the European challenges are unique but, in one way or another, are being experienced in different corners of the world. The novelty resides in bringing new ideas and experiences into the European conversation, show their relevance to our current uncertainties and aspirations and thereby contribute to face them with new intellectual and political resources. The usefulness and relevance of non-European conceptions and experiences un-thinking the conventional knowledge through two epistemological devices I have developed: the ecology of knowledges and intercultural translation. By resorting to them I will show that there are alternatives but they cannot be made credible and powerful if we go on relying on the modes of theoretical and political thinking that have dominated so far. In other words, the claim put forward by and worked through this project is that in Europe we don’t need alternatives but rather an alternative thinking of alternatives.
Summary
Europe sits uncomfortably on the idea that there are no political and cultural alternatives credible enough to respond to the current uneasiness or malaise caused by both a world that is more and more non-European and a Europe that increasingly questions what is European about itself. This project will develop a new grounded theoretical paradigm for contemporary Europe based on two key ideas: the understanding of the world by far exceeds the European understanding of the world; social, political and institutional transformation in Europe may benefit from innovations taking place in regions and countries with which Europe is increasingly interdependent. I will pursue this objective focusing on four main interconnected topics: democratizing democracy, intercultural constitutionalism, the other economy, human rights (right to health in particular).
In a sense that the European challenges are unique but, in one way or another, are being experienced in different corners of the world. The novelty resides in bringing new ideas and experiences into the European conversation, show their relevance to our current uncertainties and aspirations and thereby contribute to face them with new intellectual and political resources. The usefulness and relevance of non-European conceptions and experiences un-thinking the conventional knowledge through two epistemological devices I have developed: the ecology of knowledges and intercultural translation. By resorting to them I will show that there are alternatives but they cannot be made credible and powerful if we go on relying on the modes of theoretical and political thinking that have dominated so far. In other words, the claim put forward by and worked through this project is that in Europe we don’t need alternatives but rather an alternative thinking of alternatives.
Max ERC Funding
2 423 140 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-07-01, End date: 2016-12-31
Project acronym AMBH
Project Ancient Music Beyond Hellenisation
Researcher (PI) Stefan HAGEL
Host Institution (HI) OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH5, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary From medieval times, Arabic as well as European music was analysed in terms that were inherited from Classical Antiquity and had thus developed in a very different music culture. In spite of recent breakthroughs in the understanding of the latter, whose technicalities we access not only through texts and iconography, but also through instrument finds and surviving notated melodies, its relation to music traditions known from later periods and different places is almost uncharted territory.
The present project explores relations between Hellenic/Hellenistic music as pervaded the theatres and concert halls throughout and beyond the Roman empire, Near Eastern traditions – from the diatonic system emerging from cuneiform sources to the flourishing musical world of the caliphates – and, as far as possible, African musical life south of Egypt as well – a region that maintained close ties both with the Hellenised culture of its northern neighbours and with the Arabian Peninsula.
On the one hand, this demands collaboration between Classical Philology and Arabic Studies, extending methods recently developed within music archaeological research related to the Classical Mediterranean. Arabic writings need to be examined in close reading, using recent insights into the interplay between ancient music theory and practice, in order to segregate the influence of Greek thinking from ideas and facts that must relate to contemporaneous ‘Arabic’ music-making. In this way we hope better to define the relation of this tradition to the ‘Classical world’, potentially breaking free of Orientalising bias informing modern views. On the other hand, the study and reconstruction, virtual and material, of wind instruments of Hellenistic pedigree but found outside the confinements of the Hellenistic ‘heartlands’ may provide evidence of ‘foreign’ tonality employed in those regions – specifically the royal city of Meroë in modern Sudan and the Oxus Temple in modern Tajikistan.
Summary
From medieval times, Arabic as well as European music was analysed in terms that were inherited from Classical Antiquity and had thus developed in a very different music culture. In spite of recent breakthroughs in the understanding of the latter, whose technicalities we access not only through texts and iconography, but also through instrument finds and surviving notated melodies, its relation to music traditions known from later periods and different places is almost uncharted territory.
The present project explores relations between Hellenic/Hellenistic music as pervaded the theatres and concert halls throughout and beyond the Roman empire, Near Eastern traditions – from the diatonic system emerging from cuneiform sources to the flourishing musical world of the caliphates – and, as far as possible, African musical life south of Egypt as well – a region that maintained close ties both with the Hellenised culture of its northern neighbours and with the Arabian Peninsula.
On the one hand, this demands collaboration between Classical Philology and Arabic Studies, extending methods recently developed within music archaeological research related to the Classical Mediterranean. Arabic writings need to be examined in close reading, using recent insights into the interplay between ancient music theory and practice, in order to segregate the influence of Greek thinking from ideas and facts that must relate to contemporaneous ‘Arabic’ music-making. In this way we hope better to define the relation of this tradition to the ‘Classical world’, potentially breaking free of Orientalising bias informing modern views. On the other hand, the study and reconstruction, virtual and material, of wind instruments of Hellenistic pedigree but found outside the confinements of the Hellenistic ‘heartlands’ may provide evidence of ‘foreign’ tonality employed in those regions – specifically the royal city of Meroë in modern Sudan and the Oxus Temple in modern Tajikistan.
Max ERC Funding
775 959 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31
