Research

ERC Synergy 2020: four PSL projects won the ERC's most selective call for proposals

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The European Research Council (ERC) announced on November 5, 2020 the list of successful projects under the Synergy 2020 call for proposals. Université PSL is proud to count four winners out of the 34 European projects selected.

The ERC Synergy grant is one of the funding schemes for research projects of the European Horizon 2020 program and it is strongly selective. Synergy winners are granted an allocation of 10 million euros for 6 years to teams of 2 to 4 European researchers workin on ambitious research programs at the frontiers of knowledge.
With more than 440 projects submitted for the 2020 edition, one of the most selective in its history, the success of the 34 European projects selected is particularly significant. PSL University is proud to count four winning projects out of the 13 French and 34 European projects selected.

The four winning projects:

  • HISCORE (Highly informative drug screening by overcoming NMR restrictions), a group based in France, one in the Netherlands, and two in Germany aim to develop screening of novel drugs with high information contents and high throughput by magnetic resonance. The involved researchers are Professor Geoffrey Bodenhausen (département de chimie de l’Ecole normale supérieure - PSL) in partnership with Arno Kentgens (Radboud University, Pays-Bas), Jan Korvink et Benno Meier (Karlsruhe Institut of technologie, Allemagne)
  • LiquOrg (Do liquid crystal-like phases of proteins organize membrane compartments?), one group based in France, the UK and Spain aims to decipher the formation and self-organization of the protein secretory pathway. The involved researchers are Professor Frédéric Pincet (chercheur CNRS au laboratoire de physique statistique de l’Ecole normale supérieure - PSL) in partnership with Vivek Malhotra (Centre for Génomique Regulation, Espagne), Ivan Lopez Montero (Complutense University of Madrid, Espagne), James Roithman (University College London, Royaume-Uni)
  • MICRO-COPS (Microglia Control of Physiological Brain States), one group based in Germany, France and USA aims to uncover the mysteries of our brain’s immune system. The four involved researchers are Professor Antoine Triller (Inserm and Institut de Biologie de l’Ecole normale supérieure - PSL) in partnership with Nils Brose (Max Planck Society, Allemagne), Thomas Oertner (University medical center Hamburg – Eppendorf, Allemagne) et Anne Schaefer (ICAHN School of medecine at Mount Sinai, Etats-Unis).
  • UniverScale (Sub-percent calibration of the extragalactic distance scale in the era of big surveys) an international team of scientists aims to radically improve measuring astronomic distances. The involved researchers are Pierre Kervella (chercheur à l’Observatoire de Paris – PSL) in partnership with Grzgorz Pietrynski (Nicolaus Copernicus astronomical center, Pologne), Wolgang Gieren (University of Conception, Chili), Bozena Czerny (Center for Theortical Physics of Polish academy of sciences, Pologne)

 

  • UniverScale (Sub-percent calibration of the extragalactic distance scale in the era of big surveys) projet de recherche réunissant des experts de divers domaines de l’astrophysique avec pour objectif d’améliorer radicalement la mesure des distances astronomiques. Les chercheurs impliqués sont Pierre Kervella (chercheur à l’Observatoire de Paris – PSL) en collaboration avec Grzgorz Pietrynski (Nicolaus Copernicus astronomical center, Pologne), Wolfgang Gieren (University of Conception, Chili), Bozena Czerny (Center for Theoretical Physics of Polish academy of sciences, Pologne)

 

Funding from the ERC (European Research Council)

Founded in 2007, the European Research Council is part of the European Framework Program for Research and Innovation (Horizon 2020). Each year, the committee awards individual funding for a period of 5 years to scientists from all over the world. The ERC funds original exploratory research projects that bring scientific, technical and societal discoveries in all disciplines.

There are five ERC grants:

  • Starting Grant: for young researchers - 2 to 7 years after the dissertation was defended (up to 2 million euros)
  • Consolidator Grant: for researchers - 7 to 12 years after the dissertation was defended (up to 2.75 million euros)
  • Advanced Grant: for senior researchers (up to €3.5 million)
  • Synergy Grant: for a group of 2 to 4 researchers (up to 10 million euros over 6 years)
  • Proof of Concept: for the winners, to support the technology transfer of the results obtained within the framework of an ERC grant

PSL has created a dedicated service to support researchers in order to answer to European calls for proposals saap@psl.eu