The last open call for Mobilitas Pluss Top Researcher grants brought six top-level researchers to Estonian research institutions. The researchers will create research groups here and supervise young researches. In this way they will strengthen the international competitiveness of Estonian researchers and R&D institutions. The 2017 call for applications was the second and last Mobilitas Pluss top researcher call.
With the help of these two calls 13 high level researchers will start their work in Estonia. Six of them will work in the University of Tartu, two in the Tallinn University of Technology and the National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics and one in Tallinn University, the Estonian University of Life Sciences and the Estonian Biocentre. The total budget of the research projects is 11 011 716 euros. 17 per cent of it is paid by research institutions, the rest comes from the budget of the Mobilitas Pluss programme.
“The top-level researchers coming to Estonia bring valuable knowledge from more than ten countries. We hope that the research groups they are starting in Estonia will become internationally competitive and recongnized,” said Oskar Otsus, the Manager of Mobilitas Pluss programme in the Estonian Research Council.
Six top-level researchers
The competition for Mobilitas Pluss Top Researcher grant in 2017 was high: six grantees were chosen from 27 applicants (in the 2016 call 7 applications from 29 were funded). The combined budget of these six projects is 5 312 528 euros. All research projects will be carried out in five years.
Project summary: The proposed multidisciplinary project integrates film and digital media studies, physiological experiments, and theoretical synthesis. The future medium that combines cinema with immersive virtual reality (VR) allows real-time interaction between the viewer and screen characters. The core assumption is that new technological developments such as VR do not radically change the way how stories are told. Rather, same emotive-cognitive rules that drive narrative sense-making in literature and films drive our minds also when exploring narratives in VR headsets. What aspects these new methods of storytelling add to the viewer’s experience of co-presence, and how they can be harnessed for storytelling in VR?
The goal of the proposed 5-year project is to augment multidisciplinary knowledge exchange about narrative film and media. Accommodating young researchers and fuelling future innovations, the project will benefit both the academic community as well as local film industry.
Project summary: A major issue in particle physics is the exploration of the fundamental mechanism that generates elementary particle masses and leads to the existence of a new type of particle, the Higgs boson. Its discovery in 2012 at the CERN LHC was of paramount importance. The next equally important step would be the precise determination of the particle basic properties and the search for new physics associated with it. This will be the issue addressed by this project.
At the LHC and other colliders, Higgs detection, production and decay channels will be analyzed in the theoretically most precise manner and very close to the experimental conditions. Highly motivated new physics scenarios, like supersymmetric models will be considered and the implications for cosmology -dark matter and baryon asymmetry in the universe- will be worked out. The project initiates a close collaboration between CERN, France and Estonia in a period where the LHC is expected to make major breakthroughs in the field.
Project summary: Actinomycetes are one of the most abundant soil bacterial order belonging to phyla Actiniobacteria that are of great economic importance. Much like fungi, Streptomcetes, too, are involved in the decomposition of organic material. It is also known that actinomycetes secrete enzymes which can depolymerize lignin. However, the identity of these lignolytic enzymes was only discovered recently.
In the framework of the top researcher programme, Lukk proposes to study the metalloproteins secreted by Streptomycetes and investigate their role in lignin depolymerization and evolution of soil chemistry. Based on preliminary results, three classes of enzymes will be studied – large laccases, small laccases and DyP-peroxiases. The work will be carried out utilizing a multidisciplinary approach focusing on structural biology, enzymology and microbiology. Higher redox potential laccases and DyP-peroxiases will be designed for implementation in cellulosic ethanol production and bioremediation processes.
Project summary: The project combines classic coastal process-response research and modelling in the Eulerian framework with novel approaches such as satellite and other remote sensing data, analysis of the structural properties of sedimentary sections and morphological units for stability and resilience, and employing Lagrangian modelling of sediment transport, to relate changes to driving variables with current and projected changes and to progress fundamental problems in coastal science.
The results will be used for the development of tools to support decision making and to engage communities and relevant professionals.
A team of coastal specialists will be developed who can effectively contribute to cutting edge science, promoting the findings as the basis of coastal management and decision making in Estonia with application elsewhere, and supporting environmental protection, adaptation, and economic and community development under a changing climate.
Project summary: We are progressively moving towards being a data-driven society where data has become one of the most valuable assets. Big Data has become a core concept in different industries and research disciplines. Big Data analytics currently represent a revolution that cannot be missed.
Sakr proposes to develop a novel and holistic Big Data Analytics-as-a-Service framework that provides various levels of front-end abstractions, which cover the different types of end users and supports a broad range of back-end big data processing engines. The research group will design the framework to be platform independent and will pave the way for providing users with more freedom and flexibility in developing their Big Data analytics jobs. The framework represents a significant step towards achieving the Big Data Analytics’ vision by unleashing its capabilities in the various application domains in a way that continuously improve the people’s daily life.
Project summary: Mind-immune connection plays an important role in brain development and in modulation of mood and cognition. Tians research group focuses on studying the mechanisms of immune activation in regulating brain development and behaviors in patients with mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, depression and Alzheimer’s disease, and in related animal models, in order to better understand mind-immune connection and its contribution to stress-associated brain diseases.
The research group uses cutting-edge laboratory approaches, as well as genetically modified mouse lines and patient samples to holistically evaluate the role of candidate immune genes and gene networks in these diseases. Tians research goals for the next 5 years are to discover and characterize novel target genes that control microglial and peripheral immune cell activation, to develop state-of-the-art neuroimmunological technology platforms, and to translate our knowledge into clinical applications for diagnosis or treatment of mental disorders.
The aim of the Mobilitas Pluss programme is to improve international visibility of Estonian research and support the mobility and competitiveness of Estonian researchers. The Top Researcher grant is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Estonian state.
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