In the latest round of applications for European Research Council (ERC) grants, five of the coveted Starting Grants have gone to researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Munich, Germany.
Dr Daniel Braun (Faculty of Medicine) is concerned with the mechanisms that underlie our ability to move about in the world around us, and particularly the interactions between sensory perception and the adaptation of movement to the nature of the surroundings in which we happen to find ourselves. The aim of his ERC project is to develop a new mathematical framework for the description of movements and motion sequences.
The Faculty of History and the Arts’s Dr Chiara Franceschini is a specialist in Renaissance art. Her ERC project (The Normativity of Sacred Images in Early Modern Europe (SACRIMA)) plans to investigate the interactions between artistic developments and shifts in the significance of religious images in Europe between 1450 and 1650. The goal is to elucidate the changing relationships between art, religion and geography during these two centuries and contribute to our understanding of cultural integration in early modern Europe.
Dr Ralf Jungmann (Faculty of Physics) is devoted to the development of innovative imaging techniques for biomedical applications based on the use of fluorescence microscopy and markers that exploit the versatility of DNA nanotechnology. His ERC project (From Tissues to Single Molecules: High Content in Situ Super-Resolution Imaging with DNA-PAINT) plans to extend the application of super-resolution imaging into hitherto inaccessible territory.
Developmental psychologist Professor Markus Paulus’s (Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences) ERC project (Unravelling the moral self) is designed to tease out the origins of moral behaviour. He intends to focus on the development of the individual’s self-perception as a moral person and its role in fostering pro-social behaviour, which promises to provide new insights relevant to current issues in moral education.
The Faculty for the Study of Culture’s Dr Philipp Stockhammer’s ERC project intends to trace the impact of intercultural contacts on the development of Eastern Mediterranean cuisines during the second millennium BCE. Among other issues, he wants to know how the increasingly close links between the various regions of the Eastern Mediterranean affected local food practices, and when and how different exotic ingredients were adopted by different societies.
LMU now offers the option of appointment to a tenure track professorship to successful applicants for ERC Starting Grants, each of which are worth some €1.5m.
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Projeler
The European Commission has drafted a first deliverable regulation of the Circular Economy Package with a boost for organic and waste-based fertilisers.
The re-use of raw materials has been established as a principle of the Circular Economy Package, which was adopted by the EU in December. The commission now proposes a regulation that aims to simplify the process of bringing organic and waste-based fertilisers to the EU single market, creating new market opportunities for businesses whilst simultaneously reducing waste, energy consumption and environmental damage.
Commission vice-president Jyrki Katainen, responsible for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness, said: “Very few of the abundant bio-waste resources are transformed into valuable fertilising products. Our farmers are using fertilisers manufactured from imported resources or from energy-intensive processes although our industry could valorise these bio-wastes in recycled nutrients. This regulation will help us turn problems into opportunities for farmers and businesses.”
The regulation mediates the conversion of bio-waste into raw materials to be used as fertilisers. Safety, quality and labelling requirements needed by fertilising products for free EU-wide trade are included as a key definition. Producers must prove that these requirements are met before the CE-mark can be affixed to their products.
The draft regulation will now go before the European Parliament and Council where, once adopted, it will become applicable without the need for transposition into national law. The existing regulation for fertilisers falls short of modern environmental concerns arising from contamination by fertilisers of soil, inland waters, sea waters and food.
Contributions to the Circular Economy Package are rapidly developing. Jobs and growth in the EU continue to be generated from secondary raw materials research, innovation and investment.
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SME Instrument champions joined a host of key players in the field of hydrogen and fuel cell (HFC) technology this week at the Commercialization of Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Technology Conference in Birmingham, UK.
The event showcased British and international projects, programmes and policies on mobile, stationary and storage applications, and showcased companies delivering to market and projects which are facilitating the move to commercialisation.
Norbert Dischinger, the CFO of the Phase 1 SME Instrument champion Promeos GmbH, held a presentation during the event about its project HyBurn, the innovative in situ premix gas burner which makes the combustion of difficult-to-handle gaseous fuels like hydrogen or hot gases more efficient, less polluting, less noisy, safer and more compact.
Two other SME Instrument champions were also present at the event in order to engage in networking with the HFC players and find new information about this growing market: Leunamme Engineering SLU, Spain, which received the SME Instrument grant for Phase 1 for the project WELL, an innovative ‘telescopic lift’ system that allows the assembly and replacement of the blades of a wind turbine on a wind farm without the need for tonnage cranes; and Kiwi Power, UK, which received the SME Instrument grant for Phase 1 project KDRP, a revolutionary, low cost, demand-response platform.
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The 11th Summit of National Ethics/Bioethics Committees wil take place tomorrow (17 March) in Berlin, from where UNESCO’s Dr Dafna Feinholz Klip and a SATORI partner will provide a briefing on ethics practices in the EU.
The SATORI (Stakeholders Acting Together On the ethical impact assessment of Research and Innovation) project is a 45-month project assessing the ethics of research and innovation (R&I) supported by the European Commission through the predecessor to its Horizon 2020 funding scheme the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). SATORI’s aim is to develop common principles, protocols, procedures and methodologies for the ethical assessment of R&I in the European Union and beyond.
Feinholz Klip, a member of the Steering Committee of the Global Summit 2016, said: “There are many aspects of this work relevant to the Global Summit’s main theme ‘Global Health, Global Ethics, Global Justice’. UNESCO, as one of the SATORI partners, led reports on legal aspects and the impact of globalisation on research and innovation.”
SATORI and other invited stakeholders created policy recommendations for ethical R&I at a workshop at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris in June 2015 by way of three reports: ‘How Globalisation Is Changing Research Agendas, Activities and Assessment Procedures within Research & Innovation’; ‘International differences in ethical standards and in the interpretation of legal frameworks’; and ‘Responsible and Ethical Governance of Research and Innovation in the Context of Globalisation’.
The consortium develops tools to help establish a unified European approach to ethics based upon its findings. During the course of the project, SATORI interacts with research ethics committees, national bioethics committees and standardisation organisations around Europe. All SATORI reports are available to view here.
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The EU’s climate innovation initiative, Climate-KIC, has been shortlisted in two of the 2016 Guardian categories, Communicating Sustainability and Collaboration, for the Sustainable Business Awards.
Multinational corporations IKEA and SABMiller are nominees for this year’s annual Sustainable Business Awards, as are organisations Climate-KIC, the Carbon Trust and the Carbon Tracker Initiative.
Angela Howarth, European head of communications at Climate-KIC, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be shortlisted for such a prestigious award alongside so many other high-impact organisations. This nomination is a well-earned recognition of Climate-KIC’s fantastic community across Europe and around the world. They have put so much hard work into this project.
“The world has an unprecedented opportunity to create a prosperous low carbon future, driven by innovation, jobs, and investment. At Climate-KIC we are seizing this opportunity for Europe, and initiatives like our Climathon and Calculator – and the Guardian‘s sustainable business awards – are some of the projects that allow us to reach out and communicate that.”
Climate-KIC’s 2015 ‘Global Climathon’ and accompanying communications campaign, nominated in the Communicating Sustainability category, saw the project trending on social media in London and Washington DC. In June 2015, the 24-hour event inspired worldwide collaboration to help solve the climate change challenges of 20 participating cities, with the winning solutions presented at the UN climate summit in Paris in December.
Climate-KIC’s Calculator, shortlisted in the Collaboration category, was created in another global collaborative project involving organisations from the US, China, India and Europe. It is an interactive tool for businesses, NGOs and governments to help cut CO2 emissions.
Winners of this year’s awards will be announced online on 27 May 2016.
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SMEs in Turkey are to enjoy easier access to risk capital thanks to a deal signed today by the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Türkiye Sınai Kalkınma Bankası (TSKB).
The deal will allow the bank to enter into new loan agreements with SMEs as well as small midcaps for a total of €20m over the next two years and is supported by the InnovFin SME guarantee, a new EU-backed loan facility under the Horizon 2020 programme.
“Turkey has a long association with EU research and innovation programmes. The InnovFin SME Guarantee deal signed today under Horizon 2020 will support Turkey’s dynamic economy by opening up new financial opportunities for innovative companies,” said science and innovation commissioner Carlos Moedas.
The loans to finance innovation activities will be guaranteed up to 50% by the EIF and EU under the InnovFin SME Guarantee, which targets early and development stage companies as part of ‘InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators’, a new generation of EU financial instruments and advisory services to help innovative firms access finance more easily.
Turkey has been a candidate for EU membership since 1999 and began accession negotiations in 2005. It became the third EU partner country to become associated to Horizon 2020 in June 2014.
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The European Commission will dedicate €10m from its Horizon 2020 budget to research on the Zika virus currently ravaging Latin America.
The money will go towards proving the link between Zika and the severe brain malformations found in newborns first suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO). If proven, researchers will then be able to move on to combatting the virus, including developing diagnostics and testing potential treatments or vaccines.
This research could prove crucial in helping public health authorities prevent further spreading and reduce the risks to pregnant women.
“This funding will enable urgently needed research on the emerging global threat of the Zika virus. This shows once again that we are ready to face new epidemics like Zika with fast and effective research,” said research commissioner Carlos Moedas.
The funding will complement a number of other research initiatives currently funded under Horizon 2020 that can aid in the fight against Zika. These include a €40m call for research on vaccine development for malaria and neglected infectious diseases, as well as a €10m topic on research infrastructures for the control of vector-borne diseases which could go a long way towards combatting the mosquitos that spread Zika and a number of other prevalent diseases.
The EU is also co-funding research on the prevention of infectious diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean under the ERANET programme.
Some 41 countries have reported cases of native Zika virus infection over the past nine months, most of them in Latin America. In February the WHO declared it a ‘public health emergency of international concern’.
“A number of EU citizens have returned from the affected areas with the Zika virus. The commission is carefully monitoring the situation and, as the summer approaches, is working closely together with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the WHO and member states to put in place all necessary measures to ensure that the response to the virus is coherent and well co-ordinated,” said health commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis.
According to the latest assessment by the ECDC, the risk to the EU remains extremely low.
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The European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved €4.7bn worth of new loans for 25 projects across Europe and around the world.
They include nine projects earmarked for financing under the EFSI initiative.
Among those projects expected to receive EIB loans in Europe are the replacement of a coal-fired district heating plant in Germany, new roads to alleviate congestion in the Netherlands and southern France, and the relocation of a key container port in Cork, Ireland.
The EIB also approved support for the expansion of modernised milk production activities in Normandy, France, and reinforcement of the transmission network serving the north of Scotland.
Two new loans were also agreed for banks financing SMEs in Egypt and Lebanon in line with the EIB’s commitment to support economic activity and improve access to finance for entrepreneurs across the Mediterranean.
“Europe faces enormous challenges. The EU Bank is stepping up and proving its critical value in addressing today’s imperatives and crises. EIB lending backed by the EU budget under the Investment Plan for Europe is now accelerating, enabling the EIB to support the projects that need it most, catalysing and accelerating private investment,” said EIB president Werner Hoyer.
“And the bank is putting investment to work in the countries neighbouring Syria, a region whose growth and prosperity are an urgent priority for Europe. Without the prospect of a decent future, people in those countries will continue to see migration to Europe as their only hope. As the largest international public bank, the EIB has a central role to play in addressing the root causes of the refugee crisis, starting by targeting projects in the countries that currently shoulder the heaviest burden.”
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