This MSCA research project ‘Empathy and International Security' (EIS) uses an interdisciplinary approach combining international relations theory, history, and political psychology to ask: How can a more nuanced understanding of empathy inform more human-centric approaches to security? Despite growing awareness of the importance of empathy in international relations, no research has yet examined the tensions inherent in the concept, or how it can be used to both alleviate and transform, or perpetuate or entrench, insecurity. EIS addresses this gap. To answer this question, I examine the multifaceted nature of empathy through four distinct case studies. I use two interconnected episodes from the Cold War (Modernization and Vietnam war) to reveal that empathy is not a novel concept, but one whose meaning and application has changed over time. I will then turn to the case of recent refugee flows into Europe and the response to the global pandemic to analyze empathy's significance to contemporary security challenges and political leadership. Using a qualitative research methodology that draws on archival materials, discourse analysis and elite interviews, I compare and contrast these cases to demonstrate how empathy connects with ideas of power, interests, politics, security and gender as part of an original conceptual framework and typology. EIS combines the expertise at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) and the Centre for War Studies (CWS) on human-centric approaches to international security, with my experience as a qualitative scholar on empathy in IR, and my fifteen years experience in international security policy and politics. It will combine academic research and theory development, with an applied and policy-relevant approach to make an innovative contribution to growing debates about the importance of empathy in creating more sustainable solutions to contemporary security challenges, in line with the priorities of Horizon 2020.

Decades of research in computing led to high-level programming languages that can turn a programmer's ideas into executable software. For applications that run in isolation, we have a solid toolbox. We can write code with abstract concepts like functions and objects, and then a compiler tool can automatically produce working implementations. This significantly increases productivity, facilitates program analysis, and reduces the risk of bugs. Today, society increasingly relies on distributed systems for work, services, social participation, and so forth. Here the key high-level concept is that of communication: a message exchange between independent programs. Yet it is nowhere to be found in the syntax of modern programming languages. Instead, we manually write lower-level instructions for sending and receiving messages in separate programs, hoping that they match each other during execution and produce the wished communications. This is infamously hard, leaving us with code that is difficult to write or trust. This situation is not due to lack of trying. Choreographic programming is a recent attempt at a programming paradigm with high-level abstractions for communications and their composition in programs called choreographies. Unfortunately, compiling choreographies is technically challenging, which resulted in excessive simplification. Current theories make unrealistic assumptions -- remaining confined to toy scenarios -- and reasoning methods for choreographies are underdeveloped. This project will break new ground by developing (a) new linguistic constructs for choreographies that can deal with realistic scenarios, (b) logics for verifying properties about choreographies and understanding what they mean for the compiled code, and (c) a toolchain for compiling, testing, and deploying software based on our choreographies. These actions have the potential to significantly impact how we will model and program distributed applications in the future.

Large scale synthesis of efficient, durable, and environmentally friendly electrocatalysts is key for commercialization of proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE), which is a vital route for renewable H2 production. State-of-the-art PEMWE is limited by the high price of the electrocatalysts which are composed of Ir, Pt and Ru (40% of fabrication costs of PEMWE). Against this background, the project ABLE OER aims to develop, characterize, and electrochemically evaluate low-cost, and up-scale supported electrocatalysts from commercial and recycled precursors using microwave continuous flow synthesis (MWCFS). The specific objectives of ABLE OER are to provide proof-of-concepts on i) synthesis of active and robust supported-OER catalyst, which reduces Ir loading by 80% at equivalent activity; ii) incorporation of abundant nano ceramics (as support material) and secondary PGMs for OER catalyst to reduce material cost by 70%; iii) an up-scalable continuous OER catalyst synthesis process, which lowers the production cost by 50%. The novel catalyst structure and the associated synthesis process will accelerate technological advancement and societal adoption of the PEMWE technology. My experience in inorganic materials and electrochemistry combined with the expertise of the host group in electrocatalysis for water splitting and recycling will synergistically contribute to achieving the ambitious aims of this project, which will be implemented at the University of Southern Denmark. I will learn new techniques in up-scale production of catalysts, mature my skills as an independent researcher, and increase my network to nurture international collaborations. The results of this project have the potential to greatly reduce the cost of H2 generated from renewable sources and thus transform the European and global energy sector.

This MSCA research project ‘Countering News Avoidance with Personalized News Formats (NAPNF)’ uses an interdisciplinary approach combining sociology and (media) psychology to ask: How does personalized content relate to news avoidance behaviors, and what steps can be taken to counteract their negative influence on news consumption? Despite news avoidance’s prominence in scholarly discussions on how to increase trust in media and other institutions, there is still a dissensus on how to both fundamentally conceptualize news avoidance and understand this audience behavior. NAPNF addresses this gap. To answer this question, this project will first determine the specific profiles of news avoiders via a qualitative approach which will lead to a more multifaceted comprehension of the different rationales of these avoiders. Second, I will conduct a panel survey on how these specific profiles relate to the level of knowledge of contested (e.g., migration) and uncontested issues (e.g., festivities). To date, research has insufficiently addressed to what extent news avoiders actually stay informed on societal issues. Third, personalized news formats based on these contested and uncontested issues will be used in experiments to evaluate whether these formats might stimulate or obstruct news avoidance. NAPNF combines the expertise at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) and the Digital Democracy Centre (DDC) on media trust and literacy with my six years’ experience as a quantitative and qualitative scholar in journalism, AI, and newsroom innovation. The project will link academic research to practical recommendations which can contribute to the development of strategies that attract news avoiders in the European society, improve audience reach, and potentially generate societal benefits for the news industry.

Marine sediments serve as Earth's primary repository for organic matter, playing a pivotal role in the global carbon and oxygen cycles. Sediment oxygen consumption (SOC) is a key metric for assessing the degradation and preservation of sedimentary organic matter and for gauging the activity levels of benthic communities. However, current methods for measuring SOC face limitations, notably their reliance on specialized, costly instrumentation and their lack of applicability in geological contexts. Here, we propose a novel, lipid-based approach for quantifying SOC using branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs). These bacterial membrane lipids have been extensively used in paleoclimate reconstructions. Recent advances highlight the widespread production of brGDGTs by benthic marine bacteria and the significant role of oxygen in brGDGT production and distribution. Our preliminary data indicate strong correlations between brGDGTs and SOC, hinting at a potential tool for assessing SOC in both modern and paleo marine sediments. To thoroughly address the scientific question, "How can brGDGTs be used to assess modern and paleo SOC?" this proposal sets forth to: 1) establish a robust, quantitative proxy for SOC by rigorously investigating the linkage between brGDGTs and SOC, utilizing multidisciplinary methodologies encompassing biomarker lipids, oxygen microprofiles, microbial communities, and geochemical analyses in geographically diverse sediments; 2) evaluate the proxy’s effectiveness and limitations through laboratory incubations; and 3) assess the proxy’s applicability for paleo SOC reconstructions. This research will broaden our knowledge of the ecophysiological behaviours of marine brGDGT-producing bacteria, enhance the precision of brGDGT applications in paleoclimate reconstructions, and pioneer an innovative molecular proxy for SOC quantification across diverse spatiotemporal scales.