Three ERC Synergy grants for Groningen researchers

Description

The European Research Council has awarded three Synergy Grants to researchers at the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE). Prof. Dr. Dirk Slotboom receives a grant of EUR 2.1 million for the project 'GRAIL'. Prof. Dr. Sijbren Otto receives a grant of EUR 3.4 million for the project 'MINILIFE'. Prof. Elisabetta Chicca receives a grant of EUR 2.7 million for the 'SWIMS' project.

The ERC Synergy Grants enable interdisciplinary collaboration at the fundamental scientific level between multiple top researchers. They are the European Research Council's largest and most competitive grants.

Prof. Dirk Slotboom ( Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute ) | project: GRAIL - Time-resolved imaging of membrane transporter dynamics under physiological ionic gradients

Prof. Sijbren Otto ( Stratingh Institute for Chemistry ) | project: MINILIFE - Making life as we don't know it yet

 

Prof. Elisabetta Chicca ( Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials) | project: SWIMS - Transforming IoT Sensory Systems for a Sustainable Future

SWIMS is revolutionizing the landscape of smart wireless multimodal sensory systems. By embracing bio-inspired design principles, SWIMS is reshaping hardware to achieve exceptional energy efficiency, particularly in event detection and communication. This project is pivotal for the sustainable deployment of billions of Internet of Things (IoT) nodes, promoting smart economy and societal growth with minimal environmental impact and energy consumption. The collaborative effort of four leading researchers, UG professor Elisabetta Chicca in collaboration with profs. Fettweis (TU Dresden), Flandre (UC Louvain), and Ionescu (EPFL), has given rise to an innovative end-to-end stochastic analog spiking* neuromorphic concept for SWIMS nodes. It addresses challenges in sensor spiking signal generation, processing, and communication, drawing inspiration from nature. The project SWIMS will be funded with 13.5 million EUR in total under the Synergy program.