This action supports physical and blended mobility of higher education students and staff from/to third countries not associated to Erasmus+. Students in all study fields and cycles can take part in a study period or traineeship abroad. Higher education teaching and administrative staff can take part in professional development activities abroad, as well as staff from the field of work in order to teach and train students or staff at higher education institutions.

Just like digital information processing has revolutionized 20th century technology, quantum information processing and the second quantum revolution are shaping the 21st century. Yet, while classical computing is long set in the path of binary information, the future is still open for quantum information processing, and it would be fatal to force it into the same restrictive paradigm. The goal of this project is to break out of this artificial two-dimensional structure and tap into the large unused potential of high-dimensional quantum information processing. I have extensive expertise in the field of quantum information processing. During my PhD in photonics, I realized the highest fidelity state preparation and measurement of qudits reported to date, and recently I developed a full mathematical and experimental framework for the characterization of quantum coherence in multilevel systems. Building on this expertise, I will develop the first universal qudit quantum processor, using four electronic levels of trapped Ca ions, which are one of the most advanced platforms for quantum information processing. The hosting group of Prof. Rainer Blatt in Innsbruck is a world leader in trapped ion quantum information processing and pioneered all the necessary groundwork, such as laser cooling, coherent control, and large scale entanglement of ions to make this project possible. I will apply the newly developed qudit quantum processor to the quantum simulation of lattice gauge theories of critical interest in high energy physics. The development of this new technology also unlocks a wide range of open questions from quantum simulation to quantum communication and computation, which I and the host institution will be in a unique position to address. This fellowship will give me protected time to realise the proposed research and establish myself as an independent researcher in Europe and an expert in the new paradigm of qudit quantum information processing.

Atmospheric turbulence exerts a dominant control on the exchange of heat, CO2, water vapor, pollutants and momentum between the surface and the atmosphere, and therefore drives phenomena as diverse as climate, storm systems, air pollution, and glacial melt. Existing turbulence theory was developed for horizontally homogenous flat terrain, and fails in more complex terrain. Thus, for the majority of our planetary surface no viable theory of turbulence is available, and approaches that are known to be inadequate are nevertheless applied. The time is ripe to close this fundamental knowledge gap and formulate a theory universally applicable in complex terrain. Unicorn addresses this using a synergy of measurements, numerical modelling and theory to create a novel framework extending the existing theory of near-surface turbulence to complex terrain. Based on the ground-breaking hypothesis that including the directionality of turbulent exchange (anisotropy) can encode the boundary conditions, Unicorn will identify the key physical processes that cause anisotropy in complex terrain to differ from that over flat terrain. Thus Unicorn will systematically explore the parameter space of different sources of complexity, such as topography, flow conditions and heterogeneity, using unprecedented analysis of over sixty measurement datasets over flat and complex terrain coupled with machine learning approaches, sensitivity studies using state-of-the-art high resolution numerical simulations, and reduced order theoretical derivations. This synergistic approach incorporating the effects of complex terrain into a framework based on turbulence anisotropy will bring a much-needed breakthrough for understanding turbulence in complex terrain. Findings will revolutionize near-surface turbulence representation in numerical models, leading to better predictive capability in numerous societally and scientifically relevant topics, such as climate, extreme weather and air pollution.

The project „Multi-level democracy and inter-parliamentary cooperation: Progressing towards cross-level parliamentarism” (MILDIPA) intends to turn the academic and public spotlight on the roles and functions of national parliaments and the European Parliament in EU policy-making. Against the background of the academic and public debate on the democratic foundations of the Union and the relations between the EU and its citizens, MILDIPA will look at the foundations, development and practice of inter-parliamentary cooperation in order to discuss prospects for its future. The project aims to attract a high level of student, academic and wider public feedback. It consists of four elements: (1.) traditional and innovative teaching modules for both undergraduate and graduate students covering the European Parliament and European elections, European parties and party politics in the EU, European policy-making in national parliaments, and inter-parliamentary cooperation between both levels of parliaments, (2.) a workshop and research seminar series on challenges, opportunity structures and new developments in inter-parliamentary cooperation, (3.) an inter-parliamentary congress, and (4.) a website giving access to the deliverables of the university lectures, workshops, seminars and the congress, as well as providing a unique portal on literature and documents on inter-parliamentary cooperation. These tools will provide means to foster interactive research, study and debate between students and political, academic and civil society actors, as well as the broader public. All results will be actively disseminated in a range of media: (1.) on the internet thanks to the continued maintenance and promotion of the information portal, (2.) in hard print form, through the Chair’s book on “Inter-parliamentary Europe” (with Palgrave Macmillan), and (3.) through edited volumes (with Innsbruck University Press) bringing together peer-reviewed papers of the workshop and seminars series.