Project acronym CUTTINGBUBBLES
Project Bubbles on the Cutting Edge
Researcher (PI) Niels Gerbrand Deen
Host Institution (HI) TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary Many processes in the chemical, petrochemical and/or biological industries involve three phase gas-liquidsolid flows, where the solid material acts as a catalyst carrier, the gas phase supplies the reactants for the (bio-)chemical transformations and the liquid phase carries the product. In these processes the performance and operation of the reactor is mostly constrained by the interfacial mass transfer rate and the achievable insitu heat removal rate. A micro-structured bubble column reactor that significantly improves these crucial properties is proposed in this project. This novel type of reactor takes advantage of micro-structuring of the catalyst carrier in the form of a wire-mesh (see Figure 1).
The aim of the wire-mesh is i) to cut bubbles into smaller pieces leading to a larger interfacial area, ii) to enhance the bubble interface dynamics and mass transfer due to the interaction between the bubbles and the wires, and iii) to save costs in practical operation due to the smaller required reactor volume and the fact that
there is no need for an external filtration unit.
Cutting edge three-phase direct numerical simulation (DNS) tools and novel non-invasive optical (highspeed camera) techniques are used to study the micro-scale interaction between bubbles and a wire-mesh to gain understanding of the splitting and merging of bubbles and associated mass transfer characteristics. Furthermore, a proof-of-principle of the micro-structured reactor will be given through lab-scale experiments and macroscopic Euler-Lagrange numerical simulations, employing bubble-wire interaction closures based on the DNS simulations.
In addition to the novel reactor type, the project will generate a broad set of fundamental numerical and experimental research tools that can be used for the improvement of various gas-liquid-solid processes.
Several large companies (AkzoNobel, DSM, Sabic and Shell) have indicated their interest in the proposed
project and would like to be involved in a users committee.
Summary
Many processes in the chemical, petrochemical and/or biological industries involve three phase gas-liquidsolid flows, where the solid material acts as a catalyst carrier, the gas phase supplies the reactants for the (bio-)chemical transformations and the liquid phase carries the product. In these processes the performance and operation of the reactor is mostly constrained by the interfacial mass transfer rate and the achievable insitu heat removal rate. A micro-structured bubble column reactor that significantly improves these crucial properties is proposed in this project. This novel type of reactor takes advantage of micro-structuring of the catalyst carrier in the form of a wire-mesh (see Figure 1).
The aim of the wire-mesh is i) to cut bubbles into smaller pieces leading to a larger interfacial area, ii) to enhance the bubble interface dynamics and mass transfer due to the interaction between the bubbles and the wires, and iii) to save costs in practical operation due to the smaller required reactor volume and the fact that
there is no need for an external filtration unit.
Cutting edge three-phase direct numerical simulation (DNS) tools and novel non-invasive optical (highspeed camera) techniques are used to study the micro-scale interaction between bubbles and a wire-mesh to gain understanding of the splitting and merging of bubbles and associated mass transfer characteristics. Furthermore, a proof-of-principle of the micro-structured reactor will be given through lab-scale experiments and macroscopic Euler-Lagrange numerical simulations, employing bubble-wire interaction closures based on the DNS simulations.
In addition to the novel reactor type, the project will generate a broad set of fundamental numerical and experimental research tools that can be used for the improvement of various gas-liquid-solid processes.
Several large companies (AkzoNobel, DSM, Sabic and Shell) have indicated their interest in the proposed
project and would like to be involved in a users committee.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-09-01, End date: 2015-08-31
Project acronym DATAJUSTICE
Project Global data justice in the era of big data: toward an inclusive framing of informational rights and freedoms
Researcher (PI) Linnet Taylor TAYLOR
Host Institution (HI) STICHTING KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT BRABANT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2017-STG
Summary The increasing adoption of digital technologies worldwide creates data flows from places and populations that were previously digitally invisible. The resulting ‘data revolution’ is hailed as a transformative tool for human and economic development. Yet the revolution is primarily a technical one: the power to monitor, sort and intervene is not yet connected to a social justice agenda, nor have the organisations involved addressed the discriminatory potential of data technologies. Instead, the assumption is that the power to visualise and monitor will inevitably benefit the poor and marginalised.
This research proposes that a conceptualisation of data justice is necessary to determine ethical paths through a datafying world. Its two main aims are: first, to provide the first critical assessment of the case for, and the obstacles to, data justice as an overall framework for data technologies’ design and governance. Second, to present a conceptual framework for data justice, refining it through public debate.
The project will develop an interdisciplinary approach integrating critical data studies with development studies and legal philosophy. Using Sen's Capabilities Approach, it will conceptualise data justice along three dimensions of freedoms: (in)visibility, digital (dis)engagement, and nondiscrimination. Multi-sited ethnography in combination with digital methods will be used to build a conceptual framework, which will then be tested and shaped by debates held in nine locations worldwide.
The research is groundbreaking in terms of 1) its use of the Capabilities Approach to address the social impacts of data technologies; 2) its integrative approach to problems previously addressed by the fields of law, informatics and development studies, and 3) its aim to reconcile negative with positive technologically-enabled freedoms, integrating data privacy, nondiscrimination and non-use of data technologies into the same framework as representation and access to data.
Summary
The increasing adoption of digital technologies worldwide creates data flows from places and populations that were previously digitally invisible. The resulting ‘data revolution’ is hailed as a transformative tool for human and economic development. Yet the revolution is primarily a technical one: the power to monitor, sort and intervene is not yet connected to a social justice agenda, nor have the organisations involved addressed the discriminatory potential of data technologies. Instead, the assumption is that the power to visualise and monitor will inevitably benefit the poor and marginalised.
This research proposes that a conceptualisation of data justice is necessary to determine ethical paths through a datafying world. Its two main aims are: first, to provide the first critical assessment of the case for, and the obstacles to, data justice as an overall framework for data technologies’ design and governance. Second, to present a conceptual framework for data justice, refining it through public debate.
The project will develop an interdisciplinary approach integrating critical data studies with development studies and legal philosophy. Using Sen's Capabilities Approach, it will conceptualise data justice along three dimensions of freedoms: (in)visibility, digital (dis)engagement, and nondiscrimination. Multi-sited ethnography in combination with digital methods will be used to build a conceptual framework, which will then be tested and shaped by debates held in nine locations worldwide.
The research is groundbreaking in terms of 1) its use of the Capabilities Approach to address the social impacts of data technologies; 2) its integrative approach to problems previously addressed by the fields of law, informatics and development studies, and 3) its aim to reconcile negative with positive technologically-enabled freedoms, integrating data privacy, nondiscrimination and non-use of data technologies into the same framework as representation and access to data.
Max ERC Funding
1 495 986 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-03-01, End date: 2023-02-28
Project acronym GlobalGoals
Project Global Governance through Goals? Assessing and Explaining the Steering Effects of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Researcher (PI) Frank BIERMANN
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary Achieving sustainable development worldwide remains probably the biggest political challenge of our time. In 2015, the international community adopted 17 'Sustainable Development Goals' with no less than 169 ‘targets’ as part of a global '2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'. The ambition expressed in these goals is unprecedented. But can such goal-setting, as a new central approach in global governance, help resolve the pressing challenges of economic development, poverty eradication, social justice and global environmental protection? Nobody knows at this stage. While the United Nations and its member states place high hopes on this novel strategy, there is little scientific knowledge on whether such global goals can live up to exceedingly high expectations. Sustainability research has tended to focus on concrete institutions, actors and practices – not on aspirational goals that bring little in terms of normative specificity, stable regime formation or compliance mechanisms. How can ‘global governance through goals’ nonetheless be effective – and under which conditions? GLOBALGOALS will address this puzzle and break new ground in sustainability and global governance theories. It offers the first and most comprehensive data compilation, network mapping and comparative institutional analysis of the evolution, effectiveness and future prospects of 'global governance through goals' as a central novel steering mechanism in world politics. This 5–year study programme deploys a unique set of cutting-edge methodologies, including social network analysis and online surveys, to assess and explain the steering effects of nine Sustainable Development Goals through a detailed investigation of their institutional arrangements and actor networks, at international and national levels. GLOBALGOALS makes a crucial knowledge contribution to both the theory of global sustainability governance and the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Summary
Achieving sustainable development worldwide remains probably the biggest political challenge of our time. In 2015, the international community adopted 17 'Sustainable Development Goals' with no less than 169 ‘targets’ as part of a global '2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'. The ambition expressed in these goals is unprecedented. But can such goal-setting, as a new central approach in global governance, help resolve the pressing challenges of economic development, poverty eradication, social justice and global environmental protection? Nobody knows at this stage. While the United Nations and its member states place high hopes on this novel strategy, there is little scientific knowledge on whether such global goals can live up to exceedingly high expectations. Sustainability research has tended to focus on concrete institutions, actors and practices – not on aspirational goals that bring little in terms of normative specificity, stable regime formation or compliance mechanisms. How can ‘global governance through goals’ nonetheless be effective – and under which conditions? GLOBALGOALS will address this puzzle and break new ground in sustainability and global governance theories. It offers the first and most comprehensive data compilation, network mapping and comparative institutional analysis of the evolution, effectiveness and future prospects of 'global governance through goals' as a central novel steering mechanism in world politics. This 5–year study programme deploys a unique set of cutting-edge methodologies, including social network analysis and online surveys, to assess and explain the steering effects of nine Sustainable Development Goals through a detailed investigation of their institutional arrangements and actor networks, at international and national levels. GLOBALGOALS makes a crucial knowledge contribution to both the theory of global sustainability governance and the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Max ERC Funding
2 493 750 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-11-01, End date: 2023-10-31
Project acronym GLOBTAXGOV
Project A New Model of Global Governance in International Tax Law Making
Researcher (PI) Irma Johanna MOSQUERA VALDERRAMA
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2017-STG
Summary The overall aim of this research project is to assess the feasibility and legitimacy of the current model of global tax governance and the role of the OECD and EU in international tax lawmaking. Unlike the former OECD projects that only provide for exchange of information between countries, in the BEPS Project, the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive, the EU state aid investigations and the EU External Strategy, the OECD and the EU focus on substantive issues that when implemented will change the international tax architecture of developed and developing countries. These initiatives aim to ensure that governments engage in fair competition and that multinationals pay their fair share. Even though these objectives are legitimate, these developments raise the questions what is the role of the OECD and the EU in global tax governance? and under what conditions can the model of global tax governance be feasible and legitimate for both developed and developing countries? These initiatives have generated tensions between developed and developed countries and between EU and third (non-EU) countries. The tensions between countries call for the articulation of a new framework of global tax governance that is legitimate and based on considerations of fairness for all countries participating.
Against this background, my project will first assess the feasibility of the legal transplant of the BEPS minimum standards into the tax systems of 12 countries of research by asking three sub-questions (i) why are these countries participating in the BEPS Project? (ii) how will the BEPS minimum standards be transplanted into the tax system of these countries? and (iii) how can the differences in tax systems and tax cultures of these countries influence the content of these minimum standards? Thereafter, the conditions for the legitimacy of the role of the OECD and the EU will be provided in light of the theories of legitimacy and governance.
Summary
The overall aim of this research project is to assess the feasibility and legitimacy of the current model of global tax governance and the role of the OECD and EU in international tax lawmaking. Unlike the former OECD projects that only provide for exchange of information between countries, in the BEPS Project, the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive, the EU state aid investigations and the EU External Strategy, the OECD and the EU focus on substantive issues that when implemented will change the international tax architecture of developed and developing countries. These initiatives aim to ensure that governments engage in fair competition and that multinationals pay their fair share. Even though these objectives are legitimate, these developments raise the questions what is the role of the OECD and the EU in global tax governance? and under what conditions can the model of global tax governance be feasible and legitimate for both developed and developing countries? These initiatives have generated tensions between developed and developed countries and between EU and third (non-EU) countries. The tensions between countries call for the articulation of a new framework of global tax governance that is legitimate and based on considerations of fairness for all countries participating.
Against this background, my project will first assess the feasibility of the legal transplant of the BEPS minimum standards into the tax systems of 12 countries of research by asking three sub-questions (i) why are these countries participating in the BEPS Project? (ii) how will the BEPS minimum standards be transplanted into the tax system of these countries? and (iii) how can the differences in tax systems and tax cultures of these countries influence the content of these minimum standards? Thereafter, the conditions for the legitimacy of the role of the OECD and the EU will be provided in light of the theories of legitimacy and governance.
Max ERC Funding
1 384 750 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-02-01, End date: 2023-01-31
Project acronym HHIT
Project The here and the hereafter in Islamic traditions
Researcher (PI) Christian Robert Lange
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2010-StG_20091209
Summary The aim of this project is to write a history of the Muslim paradise and hell. Researchers (PI, RF and two doctoral researchers) will assess the extent to which Islamic traditions favour or reject a view of human existence as directed toward the otherworld. They will do so by examining a variety of intellectual traditions from the inception of Islam in the 7th century CE until today. The focus of investigation will not just be on the ‘high tradition’ of Islamic theology and jurisprudence, but also on mystical, philosophical, artistic and ‘popular’ traditions, thereby avoiding a monolithic, essentialising account of Islam’s attitude toward the hereafter.
As has been argued, the relationship between this world (dunya) and the otherworld (akhira) is as important to Islam as the mind/body dualism is to the intellectual history of the West. However, no sustained effort of analysis has been made in modern Islamic Studies to reflect on the dunya/akhira relationship, and on the boundary that separates the two. This project will be the first comprehensive and systematic attempt in this direction. Five axes of research will underlie this endeavor: (1) the eschatological imaginaire, (2) material culture and the arts, (3) theology and law, (4) mysticism and philosophy, and (5) modern and contemporary visions of the hereafter.
The project (proposed duration: 48 months), which is to begin on 1 March 2011, will be based at the Utrecht University and led by Dr Christian Lange (PhD Harvard, 2006, 70%), currently Lecturer in Islamic Studies at New College/School of Divinity. The research team will include one research assistant (100%, 45 months) and two doctoral researchers (100%, 36 months). Financial support is solicited to facilitate the survey of manuscripts and manuscript research in various collections in North America, Europe and Asia, and to help organise two scholarly symposia in Islamic eschatology and one comparative conference.
Summary
The aim of this project is to write a history of the Muslim paradise and hell. Researchers (PI, RF and two doctoral researchers) will assess the extent to which Islamic traditions favour or reject a view of human existence as directed toward the otherworld. They will do so by examining a variety of intellectual traditions from the inception of Islam in the 7th century CE until today. The focus of investigation will not just be on the ‘high tradition’ of Islamic theology and jurisprudence, but also on mystical, philosophical, artistic and ‘popular’ traditions, thereby avoiding a monolithic, essentialising account of Islam’s attitude toward the hereafter.
As has been argued, the relationship between this world (dunya) and the otherworld (akhira) is as important to Islam as the mind/body dualism is to the intellectual history of the West. However, no sustained effort of analysis has been made in modern Islamic Studies to reflect on the dunya/akhira relationship, and on the boundary that separates the two. This project will be the first comprehensive and systematic attempt in this direction. Five axes of research will underlie this endeavor: (1) the eschatological imaginaire, (2) material culture and the arts, (3) theology and law, (4) mysticism and philosophy, and (5) modern and contemporary visions of the hereafter.
The project (proposed duration: 48 months), which is to begin on 1 March 2011, will be based at the Utrecht University and led by Dr Christian Lange (PhD Harvard, 2006, 70%), currently Lecturer in Islamic Studies at New College/School of Divinity. The research team will include one research assistant (100%, 45 months) and two doctoral researchers (100%, 36 months). Financial support is solicited to facilitate the survey of manuscripts and manuscript research in various collections in North America, Europe and Asia, and to help organise two scholarly symposia in Islamic eschatology and one comparative conference.
Max ERC Funding
978 368 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-03-01, End date: 2015-04-30
Project acronym INFRAGLOB
Project AFRICA's ‘INFRASTRUCTURE GLOBALITIES’: Rethinking the Political Geographies of Economic Hubs from the Global South
Researcher (PI) Jana HOENKE
Host Institution (HI) RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2017-STG
Summary Power beyond the state is most prevalent in economic infrastructure hubs with high technology and multiple global actors. Here, investors from emerging powers challenge traditional theory and practice. Chinese and Brazilian companies are now the most important bilateral investors in Africa. They apply existing rules and practices, and introduce new practices of governance and business-society relations that compete with Western norms. But their impact is not properly understood in theories of transnational governance.
This project will rethink transnational governance by focusing on the margins of international relations to explain how models and experiences of actors from the Global South redefine the governance of economic hubs. Seemingly in the margins of international political economy, and neglected in International Relations, in Africa new forms of power and governance are invented and tested. Here states are weaker and experiments with multiple non-state actors and modes of governance tolerated. The fringes of theory-building in the discipline, the hubs of transnational economic infrastructure, and everyday practices of cross-border management can be theorized as arenas of the production, contestation and change of transnational governance.
INFRAGLOB combines analysing the ideas driving Chinese and Brazilian management of large-scale port and mining projects with multi-sited ethnographic research of exemplary cases in Mozambique and Tanzania, establishing how these concepts are enacted, negotiated and disregarded in practice. It rethinks publics by mapping controversies that connect Africa, Brazil and China, and establishes how interactions and frictions between diverse practitioners and standards change broader transnational governance of business-community relations and security.
‘Infrastructure globalities’ will provide a unique understanding of how the Global South changes practices of governance and business-society relations in a multipolar world.
Summary
Power beyond the state is most prevalent in economic infrastructure hubs with high technology and multiple global actors. Here, investors from emerging powers challenge traditional theory and practice. Chinese and Brazilian companies are now the most important bilateral investors in Africa. They apply existing rules and practices, and introduce new practices of governance and business-society relations that compete with Western norms. But their impact is not properly understood in theories of transnational governance.
This project will rethink transnational governance by focusing on the margins of international relations to explain how models and experiences of actors from the Global South redefine the governance of economic hubs. Seemingly in the margins of international political economy, and neglected in International Relations, in Africa new forms of power and governance are invented and tested. Here states are weaker and experiments with multiple non-state actors and modes of governance tolerated. The fringes of theory-building in the discipline, the hubs of transnational economic infrastructure, and everyday practices of cross-border management can be theorized as arenas of the production, contestation and change of transnational governance.
INFRAGLOB combines analysing the ideas driving Chinese and Brazilian management of large-scale port and mining projects with multi-sited ethnographic research of exemplary cases in Mozambique and Tanzania, establishing how these concepts are enacted, negotiated and disregarded in practice. It rethinks publics by mapping controversies that connect Africa, Brazil and China, and establishes how interactions and frictions between diverse practitioners and standards change broader transnational governance of business-community relations and security.
‘Infrastructure globalities’ will provide a unique understanding of how the Global South changes practices of governance and business-society relations in a multipolar world.
Max ERC Funding
1 495 909 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-03-01, End date: 2023-02-28
Project acronym LIFE-HIS-T
Project Mapping the life histories of T cells
Researcher (PI) Antonius Nicolaas Maria Schumacher
Host Institution (HI) STICHTING HET NEDERLANDS KANKER INSTITUUT-ANTONI VAN LEEUWENHOEK ZIEKENHUIS
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS6, ERC-2010-AdG_20100317
Summary T cells display many different phenotypes and functions, depending on the nature of previously encountered signals. If we want to understand how these different T cell subsets arise, we need to be able to follow individual T cells and their progeny through time. With the aim to map the life histories of individual T cells we have developed unique technologies that allow us to determine whether different T cell populations arise from common or distinct progenitors.
Within this project we will utilize genetic reporter systems to determine:
1. How T cell recruitment, proliferation and death shape antigen-specific T cell responses
2. At which stage the resulting T cells commit to the effector or the memory T cell lineage
3. The self renewal potential of the tissue-resident memory T cells that remain after infection is cleared
By following T cells and their progeny through time, this project will describe the regulation of cell fate in antigen-specific T cell responses. Furthermore, this project will lead to the creation of novel reporters of cellular history that will be of broad value to analyze cell fate and kinship for a variety of cell types.
Summary
T cells display many different phenotypes and functions, depending on the nature of previously encountered signals. If we want to understand how these different T cell subsets arise, we need to be able to follow individual T cells and their progeny through time. With the aim to map the life histories of individual T cells we have developed unique technologies that allow us to determine whether different T cell populations arise from common or distinct progenitors.
Within this project we will utilize genetic reporter systems to determine:
1. How T cell recruitment, proliferation and death shape antigen-specific T cell responses
2. At which stage the resulting T cells commit to the effector or the memory T cell lineage
3. The self renewal potential of the tissue-resident memory T cells that remain after infection is cleared
By following T cells and their progeny through time, this project will describe the regulation of cell fate in antigen-specific T cell responses. Furthermore, this project will lead to the creation of novel reporters of cellular history that will be of broad value to analyze cell fate and kinship for a variety of cell types.
Max ERC Funding
2 499 640 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-05-01, End date: 2017-01-31
Project acronym MemoMOFEnergy
Project Constructing polar rotors in metal-organic frameworks for memories and energy harvesting
Researcher (PI) Monique VAN DER VEEN
Host Institution (HI) TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE8, ERC-2017-STG
Summary I seek to develop new ferroelectrics based on metal-organic frameworks with dipolar rotors. Ferroelectrics are targeted to be used as physically flexible memories and mechanical energy harvesters for biocompatible sensors and implantable monitoring devices.
As ferroelectrics can store and switch their polarity, they can be used as memories. Via the piezoelectric effect, they can harvest mechanical vibrations. The materials most compatible with flexible substrates, are soft matter materials. However, these so far don’t meet the requirements. Especially lacking is a combination of i) polarisation stability, ii) a sufficiently low energy barrier for polarisation switching and iii) fast switching. As energy harvesters, soft matter materials are hampered by low piezoelectric coefficients.
The main objective of this proposal is rational design of ferroelectrics by obtaining a fundamental understanding of the relation between structure and properties. I will achieve this by uniquely synthesizing polar rotors into 3D crystalline scaffolds that allow to alter the rotors’ nano-environement. I will achieve this via polar ligands in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The variability of MOFs allows to tune the nature of the hindrance towards rotation of the polar rotors. The tuneable flexibility allows to regulate the energy harvesting efficiency. Moreover, MOFs have already shown potential as biocompatible materials that can be integrated on physically flexible substrates.
The research consists of i) synthesis of polar rotor MOFs with targeted variations, ii) reliable characterisation and computational modelling of the electronic properties, iii) nanoscopic insight in the switching dynamics. The approach allows to understand how ferro- and piezoelectricity are related to the materials’ structure, and hence to develop materials with exceptional performance. My recent observation of the ferroelectric behaviour of a nitrofunctionalised MOF is the basis for this proposal.
Summary
I seek to develop new ferroelectrics based on metal-organic frameworks with dipolar rotors. Ferroelectrics are targeted to be used as physically flexible memories and mechanical energy harvesters for biocompatible sensors and implantable monitoring devices.
As ferroelectrics can store and switch their polarity, they can be used as memories. Via the piezoelectric effect, they can harvest mechanical vibrations. The materials most compatible with flexible substrates, are soft matter materials. However, these so far don’t meet the requirements. Especially lacking is a combination of i) polarisation stability, ii) a sufficiently low energy barrier for polarisation switching and iii) fast switching. As energy harvesters, soft matter materials are hampered by low piezoelectric coefficients.
The main objective of this proposal is rational design of ferroelectrics by obtaining a fundamental understanding of the relation between structure and properties. I will achieve this by uniquely synthesizing polar rotors into 3D crystalline scaffolds that allow to alter the rotors’ nano-environement. I will achieve this via polar ligands in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The variability of MOFs allows to tune the nature of the hindrance towards rotation of the polar rotors. The tuneable flexibility allows to regulate the energy harvesting efficiency. Moreover, MOFs have already shown potential as biocompatible materials that can be integrated on physically flexible substrates.
The research consists of i) synthesis of polar rotor MOFs with targeted variations, ii) reliable characterisation and computational modelling of the electronic properties, iii) nanoscopic insight in the switching dynamics. The approach allows to understand how ferro- and piezoelectricity are related to the materials’ structure, and hence to develop materials with exceptional performance. My recent observation of the ferroelectric behaviour of a nitrofunctionalised MOF is the basis for this proposal.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2022-12-31
Project acronym NPW
Project Novel Process Windows - Boosted Micro Process Technology
Researcher (PI) Volker Hessel
Host Institution (HI) TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2010-AdG_20100224
Summary Novel Process Windows (NPW) is an entirely new way of process design to boost micro process technology for the production of high-added value fine chemicals. Such process intensification demands for microstructured reactors with their excellent capabilities on mass and heat transfer and short residence times with prime constructional and functional features. This proposal is truly comprehensive and holistic as it includes four projects with different NPW facets; starting from a molecular-mechanistic- (New Chemical Trans¬formations) and kinetic-scale (High-Temperature / Pressure Processing) via the scale of reaction environment (Solvent-free Operation and Tuneable / Reactive Solvents) up to a process scale (Process Simplification and Integration). These four individual measures are bundled and directed by a generic project for cross-cutting insight, evaluation through cost and life-cycle analysis, and transfer to a large number of reactions.
High-p,T processing will enable for the Claisen rearrangement to shrink reaction times by orders of magnitude and to increase space-time yields consequently. Substantial selectivity increases are targeted for this reaction and the hydroformylation. The latter reaction will make use of tuneable solvents and near-critical water processing. As new chemical transformations with process simplification and integration, the direct oxidation of cyclohexene to adipic acid as one-step synthesis and the copper-catalysed triazole Click Chemistry as one-flow multi-step synthesis will be tested.
These new and challenging processing technologies provide highly promising perspectives for future ‘green’ chemical factories to boost sustainability, covering the whole manufacturing chain in one system and providing a multi-purpose infrastructure.
Summary
Novel Process Windows (NPW) is an entirely new way of process design to boost micro process technology for the production of high-added value fine chemicals. Such process intensification demands for microstructured reactors with their excellent capabilities on mass and heat transfer and short residence times with prime constructional and functional features. This proposal is truly comprehensive and holistic as it includes four projects with different NPW facets; starting from a molecular-mechanistic- (New Chemical Trans¬formations) and kinetic-scale (High-Temperature / Pressure Processing) via the scale of reaction environment (Solvent-free Operation and Tuneable / Reactive Solvents) up to a process scale (Process Simplification and Integration). These four individual measures are bundled and directed by a generic project for cross-cutting insight, evaluation through cost and life-cycle analysis, and transfer to a large number of reactions.
High-p,T processing will enable for the Claisen rearrangement to shrink reaction times by orders of magnitude and to increase space-time yields consequently. Substantial selectivity increases are targeted for this reaction and the hydroformylation. The latter reaction will make use of tuneable solvents and near-critical water processing. As new chemical transformations with process simplification and integration, the direct oxidation of cyclohexene to adipic acid as one-step synthesis and the copper-catalysed triazole Click Chemistry as one-flow multi-step synthesis will be tested.
These new and challenging processing technologies provide highly promising perspectives for future ‘green’ chemical factories to boost sustainability, covering the whole manufacturing chain in one system and providing a multi-purpose infrastructure.
Max ERC Funding
2 496 100 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2016-03-31
Project acronym POLEMIC
Project Politics and Emotions Investigated Comparatively
Researcher (PI) Gijs SCHUMACHER
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2017-STG
Summary Many claim that politicians make more, and more extreme, emotional appeals than ever before, because these appeals win over the emotional citizen. With highly emotive language people like Donald Trump, Geert Wilders or Marine Le Pen are pounding on the portals to power. Do such emotional appeals affect citizens’ political choices? Yes, they can. But, citizens’ existing emotional attachments to parties, leaders or issues moderate the success of emotional appeals. POLEMIC will extend existing theory and use novel methods to explain when (types of) emotional appeals are persuasive, and when emotional attachments prevent persuasion.
Do politicians actually make more emotional appeals than in the past? And if so why are they doing it? We lack historical data of emotional appeals so we cannot answer these questions. POLEMIC will provide unique, historical data (1945-now, 9 countries) of emotional appeals by politicians in their speeches. I develop and test 3 alternative theories from different intellectual traditions that explain why politicians make emotional appeals: is it either (1) a vote-maximizing strategy, (2) a product of the personality of a politician or (3) just fashionable?
POLEMIC analyses emotional appeals of politicians and the emotional responses of citizens to these appeals. Emotional appeals are texts, and emotions are experiences by the brain. To measure them POLEMIC will use innovative methods in political science: automated text analysis to extract emotion from appeals; physiological measurement to measure emotions.
POLEMIC offers a ground-breaking combination of a macro-perspective (what politicians say) and a micro-perspective (how citizens respond) and forms a bridge between party politics and political psychology. The project’s output will indicate the importance of emotion in the decision-making of citizens, and the level of rationality that is behind politicians’ decision to make emotional appeals.
Summary
Many claim that politicians make more, and more extreme, emotional appeals than ever before, because these appeals win over the emotional citizen. With highly emotive language people like Donald Trump, Geert Wilders or Marine Le Pen are pounding on the portals to power. Do such emotional appeals affect citizens’ political choices? Yes, they can. But, citizens’ existing emotional attachments to parties, leaders or issues moderate the success of emotional appeals. POLEMIC will extend existing theory and use novel methods to explain when (types of) emotional appeals are persuasive, and when emotional attachments prevent persuasion.
Do politicians actually make more emotional appeals than in the past? And if so why are they doing it? We lack historical data of emotional appeals so we cannot answer these questions. POLEMIC will provide unique, historical data (1945-now, 9 countries) of emotional appeals by politicians in their speeches. I develop and test 3 alternative theories from different intellectual traditions that explain why politicians make emotional appeals: is it either (1) a vote-maximizing strategy, (2) a product of the personality of a politician or (3) just fashionable?
POLEMIC analyses emotional appeals of politicians and the emotional responses of citizens to these appeals. Emotional appeals are texts, and emotions are experiences by the brain. To measure them POLEMIC will use innovative methods in political science: automated text analysis to extract emotion from appeals; physiological measurement to measure emotions.
POLEMIC offers a ground-breaking combination of a macro-perspective (what politicians say) and a micro-perspective (how citizens respond) and forms a bridge between party politics and political psychology. The project’s output will indicate the importance of emotion in the decision-making of citizens, and the level of rationality that is behind politicians’ decision to make emotional appeals.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 664 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-04-01, End date: 2023-03-31
