CROSS will set the grounds for large-scale experiments searching for neutrinoless double beta decay with zero background at an exposure scale of ~1 tonne x year and with very high energy resolution – about 1.5‰ – in the region of interest. These features will enable searching for lepton number violation with unprecedented sensitivity, penetrating in prospect the direct-ordering region of the neutrino masses. CROSS will be based on arrays of TeO2 and Li2MoO4 bolometers enriched in the isotopes of interest 130Te and 100Mo, respectively. There are strong arguments in favor of these choices, such as the high double beta transition energy of these candidates, the easy crystallization processes of TeO2 and Li2MoO4, and the superior bolometric performance of these compounds in terms of energy resolution and intrinsic purity. The key idea in CROSS is to reject surface events (a dominant background source) by pulse-shape discrimination, obtained by exploiting solid-state-physics phenomena in superconductors. The surfaces of the crystals will be coated by an ultrapure superconductive aluminium film, which will act as a pulse-shape modifier by delaying the pulse development in case of shallow energy depositions, exploiting the long quasi-particle life-time in aluminium. This method will allow getting rid of the light detectors used up to now to discriminate surface alpha particles, simplifying a lot the bolometric structure and achieving the additional advantage to reject also beta surface events, which unfortunately persist as an ultimate background source if only alpha particles are tagged. The intrinsic modularity and the simplicity of the read-out will make CROSS easily expandable. The CROSS program is focused on an intermediate experiment with 90 crystals, installed underground in the Canfranc laboratory, which will be not only extremely competitive in the international context but also a decisive step to demonstrate the enormous potential of CROSS in terms of background.

Current scenarios predict an accelerated biodiversity erosion with climate change. However, uncertainties in predictions remain large because the multitude of climate change effects from genes to ecosystems and their interdependencies are still overlooked. This incomplete vision hampers the development of effective mitigation strategies to sustain biodiversity. Climate change can directly modify the phenotype and performance of individuals through phenotypic plasticity and evolution on contemporary time scales. The microevolution of keystone species can spread throughout the whole ecological network due to changes in species interactions and further translate into an altered ecosystem functioning. Conversely, direct impacts on communities and ecosystems can have ripple effects on the phenotypic distribution and evolution of all species of ecological networks. Climate-driven changes at individual and population levels can shape community composition and ecosystem functioning, and vice versa, altering eco-evolutionary feedbacks, namely the reciprocal interactions between ecological and evolutionary processes. Climate-driven ecological and evolutionary dynamics are yet often investigated separately. The role of eco-evolutionary feedbacks in climate change impacts on biological systems therefore hinges on little concrete empirical evidence contrasting with a profuse theoretical development. ECOFEED will investigate climate-dependent eco-evolutionary feedbacks using a 6 year-long realistic warming experiment reproducing natural conditions and thus allowing for both evolutionary and ecological dynamics to occur under a predicted climate change scenario. Complementary laboratory experiments will quantify reciprocal impacts of climate-dependent evolutionary and ecological changes on each other. ECOFEED will provide unprecedented insights on the eco-evolutionary feedbacks in a future climate and will ultimately help refine predictions on the future of biodiversity.

Activity-dependent plasticity of synaptic transmission together with refinement of neural circuits connectivity are amongst the core mechanisms underlying learning and memory. While there is already extensive knowledge on some of the mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, fundamental questions remain on the dynamics of the underlying molecular events and the functional roles of various forms of synaptic plasticity in information processing, learning and behavior. We previously uncovered basic features of glutamate receptor movements and their role in excitatory synaptic transmission. Our new ground-breaking objectives are: 1) to uncover, in a physiological context, the dynamic mechanisms through which synapses modulate their strength in response to neuronal activity by integrating on different space and time scales the properties of receptor traffic pathways and associated stabilization mechanisms, 2) to use our knowledge and innovative tools to interfere with these trafficking mechanisms in order to decipher the specific roles of different forms of synaptic plasticity in given brain functions and behavioral tasks. For this aim, I lead a team of neurobiologists, physicists and chemists with a collaborative record of accomplishment. We will combine imaging, cellular neurobiology, physiology and behavior to probe the mechanisms and roles of different forms of synaptic plasticity. New in tissue high-resolution imaging combined with innovative molecular reporters and electrophysiology will allow analysis of receptor traffic during short and long-term synaptic plasticity in physiological conditions. We will probe the interplay between activity-dependent changes in synaptic strength and circuit function with new photo-activable modifiers of receptor traffic with an unprecedented time and space resolution. Use of these tools in vivo will allow identifying the roles of synaptic plasticity in sensory information processing and the various phases of spatial memory formation.

The unprecedented amount of photometric, spectroscopic, and astrometric data for billion stars provided by ongoing and future surveys and instruments (Gaia, APOGEE, WEAVE, MOONS, 4MOST, LSST, ELT, JWST) are allowing and will allow the detailed exploration of the Galactic history. These data will include kinematic and chemical information for stellar populations in all Galactic structures, such as the Galactic centre, globular clusters (GCs), their streams and escapees. Therefore, it is extremely timely to build a large library of models to exploit the data using star clusters as fossil records of past satellite accretion events. This motivates my work at GEPI, where I will link the large-scale dynamical evolution of Milky Way-like disc galaxies to that of their pc-scale elementary bricks as globular and nuclear star clusters (NSCs). By means of detailed N-body simulations, I will model the merger history of the Galaxy and follow the evolution of the GC system formed in the Milky Way and accreted from satellite galaxies. I will also make significant steps in advancing the understanding of NSCs, their formation and evolution and their link to the evolution of GCs and bulge/disc stellar populations. This project will greatly benefit from the knowledge and research done in the "Equipe Physique Stellaire et Galactique” of the GEPI laboratory at the Paris Observatory. This group has leading experts in the field of Galactic dynamics and stellar populations, chemical abundances of individual GCs, and is also strongly involved in the Gaia mission, and follow-up surveys (WEAVE, MOONS). Therefore, this environment is ideally suited for me to conduct my research. At the same time, I will bring in my expertise on the dynamical evolution of dense stellar systems, along with my international collaborations. The training provided at GEPI and Paris Observatory will be crucial to strengthen my skills and my professional profile, opening significant career development opportunities.

Seemingly unrelated experiments such as electrolyte transport through nanotubes, nano-scale electrochemistry, NMR relaxometry and Surface Force Balance measurements, all probe electrical fluctuations: of the electric current, the charge and polarization, the field gradient (for quadrupolar nuclei) and the coupled mass/charge densities. If only we had the theoretical tools to interpret this “electrical noise”, we would open complementary windows on ionic systems. Such insight is needed, as recent experiments uncovered unexpected behaviour of ionic systems (electrolytes, ionic liquids), which question our understanding of these “simple” fluids and call for a fresh theoretical perspective. This project aims at providing an integrated understanding of fluctuations in bulk, interfacial and confined ionic systems. For modelling, the key challenge is to quantitatively predict the phenomena underlying the various sources of noise: coupled diffusion, long-range electrostatic interactions & hydrodynamic flows, short-range ion-specific effects (solvation, ad/desorption). Using molecular and mesoscopic simulations, I will provide a unified theoretical framework enabling experimentalists to decipher the microscopic properties encoded in the measured electrical noise. I will achieve this by addressing four interlinked questions corresponding to the above-mentioned experiments: 1) What is the microscopic origin of the “coloured” noise of electric current through single nanopores/tubes? 2) What do the charge fluctuations of an electrode tell us about the properties of the interfacial electrolyte? 3) What information can NMR relaxometry provide on the multiscale dynamics of individual ions? 4) Could collective fluctuations in concentrated electrolytes explain long-range forces between surfaces? Each question is in itself an exciting challenge, but addressing them simultaneously is the key to a global understanding of these liquids which play a crucial role in biology and technology.