The GHaNA project aims to explore and characterize a new marine bioresource, for blue biotechnology applications in aquaculture, cosmetics and possibly food and health industry. The project will determine the biological and chemical diversity of Haslea diatoms to develop mass-scale production for viable industrial applications by maximising biomass production and associated high-value compound production, including terpenoids, marennine-like pigments, lipids and silica skeletons. The genus Haslea species type H. ostrearia, produces marennine, a water-soluble blue pigment used for greening oysters in Western France, which is also a bioactive molecule. Haslea diatoms have thus a high potential for use in (1) existing oyster farming, (2) production of pigments and bioactive compounds with natural antibacterial properties, (3) application as a colouring agent within industry, and (4) use of silica skeletons as inorganic “biocharges” in the formulation of new elastomeric materials. This will be achieved through fundamental and applied-oriented research to isolate fast- growing strains of Haslea, optimising their growth environment to increase marennine and other high-value compound productivity; to develop blue biotechnology specifically applied to benthic microalgae (biorefinery approach, processes); and to develop industrial exploitation of colouring and bioactive compounds through commercial activities of aquaculture, food, cosmetics and health.

The FREETOACT project involves 16 experienced partners and is the legacy of 16 years of a collective participation to the ERN as a Consortium. We will organize events in 16 different French cities, sharing the same objectives and approach to science engagement, and most of the activities, and involving local researchers. FREETOACT is based on two connected themes. In 2022, the public will discuss the functioning of research through an attractive theme, “The unexpected”, which will bring surprises to the visitors, while discussing predictability in research. In the process, in 2023, researchers and the public will debate together around the theme "Our futures". These themes foster the quality of the discussion with researchers (a key factor in enriching the public's vision of science in society), and renew ERN proposition for the public and the press. During the events, we will create warm and aesthetic encounters and design playful activities to be shared by researchers and the public. The 2,800 researchers involved in the project will be coached and trained by mediators. All the local organizers have extensive experience in conducting researcher-public meetings. Thus, “Researchers at school” activities will be organized thanks to our existing networks. Adults will also be able to participate through a new edition of the Great Participatory Experiment in 2023 (a research team will propose participatory research for the ERN in 16 cities). Online activities will be proposed to interact with the public located outside our 16 cities. The French Ministry of Culture will financially support the event for the 5th year, fostering the participation of researchers in humanities and social sciences; the Ministry of Research will also maintain its support. The ERN will take on the responsibility of improving the understanding of how research actually works and will get young people, the public and researchers to question the role of research in shaping our (un)expected futures

The constant release of pollutants into the environment and their presence in the food chain pose a threat to the equilibrium state of our ecosystems and human health. Long-term water quality management has become a new ecological and societal issue. Water analysis requires today the development of innovative, specific and sensitive advanced technologies for the detection and quantification of diluted substances in complex environments. In Hydrae project, we propose to develop an innovative detection method based on hyperspectral chemical imaging recorded on several optimized SERS-active nanostructured patterns elaborated on the same substrate and to use a statistical analysis of spectral data (chemometrics) to detect and identify the pollutants. L’Institut des Molécules et Matériaux du Mans (IMMM, Le Mans Université) has developed and recently patented an alternative structuring methodology to elaborate SERS substrates based on soft lithography. The discriminating advantage of the methodology is based on the control and reproducibility of the nanostructured patterns as well as the stability over time and under irradiation of the exaltation factors. In Hydrae project, different nanostructures will be patterned on the same metallic substrates and tested in order to determine which material (Au, Ag, Al) and types of 3D-architecture can ensure both an efficient and selective exaltation of the RAMAN signal in the visible range [400, 780 nm]. By simulation, we will estimate and predict the variation of the exaltation factor of the electric field for different types of nanostructure induced by the excitation (under illumination) of the plasmons on metallic surfaces. These theoretical results will be then confronted with experimental results acquired by experts at CEA (SPEC, Saclay) by photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM), a unique high spatial resolution mapping technique allowing to reveal the distribution of the near-optical field at the nanoscale. The combination of these two approaches will allow a direct validation of some substrate geometry designs and will constitute an essential support both to optimise our substrates and to better understand the analytical measurements under real conditions of use. Our nanostructured substrates will then be used to both validate the concept of detection of single model molecules, and quantitatively analyse low concentrated mixtures using hyperspectral chemical imaging and multivariate statistical analysis of spectral data (chemometrics). After validation of the method, our work will focus on verifying the detection of several pollutants (pesticides, emerging pollutants) in mixtures at different concentration ranges using a single SERS sensor. Thanks to the recognized expertise of the LASIR Lab. (Lille University), we will develop an original spectral data processing methodology called multivariate resolution curve analysis in order to extract without a priori the pure spectra and the corresponding relative concentrations for each chemical component present in the considered chemical system. This concept will be particularly exploited in the analysis of hyperspectral imaging data sets. Accordingly, we are convinced that all the experimental and simulation developments and multivariate statistical analysis will help facilitating a fast and cheap on-site analysis from a portable Raman spectrometer. Indeed, the major interest of this technique is specially to reliably provide molecular information on the target of interest in a label-free way.

The project FRICTIONAL aims to characterize, analyze, model and control the nonlinear mechanisms involved in friction-induced vibrations and sound production. Frictional systems are non-smooth dynamical systems. They display a wealth of dynamics, from the sound produced by insects (e.g. crickets) to the sound of a violin to the diversity of brake noises in transports. The existence, stability, observability and acoustic characteristics of these regimes can depend sensitively on the design and control parameters of the system. Although frictional systems are very common, and frequently encountered in various industrial contexts, the prediction of their oscillatory dynamics remains a major challenge. This project relies on an interdisciplinary approach, at the crossroad of engineering sciences and applied mathematics, to investigate friction-induced sound and vibration production. It aims at accessing an exhaustive, global cartography of the oscillation regimes in the space of design and control parameters of frictional systems. In particular, advanced numerical methods will be adapted to perform a complete bifurcation analysis of physical models written in the form of piecewise smooth differential equations. In parallel, an experimental continuation procedure will be developed to perform the first model-free (and therefore approximation-free) bifurcation analysis of a self-oscillating system. This dual approach will unveil new information that remain inaccessible with existing techniques, and which will provide an in-depth understanding of the nonlinear mechanisms involved in sound production. Overall, this will allow to improve the physical models of sound production, in order to go towards the accurate prediction of the qualitative and quantitative oscillating dynamics. This will pave the way to virtual prototyping of frictional systems (with applications, for example, in the automotive industry) and to the optimisation of their dynamics, for example to suppress a particular sound regime.

The rarefaction of certain wood species traditionally used in the manufacture of musical instruments forces makers to change their practices. This problem now affects species such as spruce, which is the wood most often used to make the soundboards of cordophones. In view of this situation, the MAeStrAFone project proposes new strategies to meet both the ecological and technological challenges: making soundboards differently while guaranteeing equivalence for the musician. The aim of the project is to propose new structures for the soundboards of cordophones, made of an architectural material that encapsulates all of the structural and acoustic functions achieved by the traditional structure. The project also aims at developing a virtual prototyping method to optimize these new structures, by integrating the tonal characteristics of the finalized instrument into the process. To achieve these objectives, the project is structured in three tasks. The first task concerns the design of multi-layered architectural materials, adopting a multi-scale approach from the elementary cell to a structure composed of a spatial arrangement of cells. The experimental validation of these new materials and structures is based on broadband characterization methods. A second task is to develop a virtual prototyping method that allows the developer or maker to hear the sounds produced by the instrument, or to access sound descriptors, before it is built. This task includes perceptual tests to validate the virtual prototyping approach, but also to provide criteria to optimize the proposed new structures. The third task is devoted to technology transfer to the instrument making community.