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Project acronym AgeConsolidate
Project The Missing Link of Episodic Memory Decline in Aging: The Role of Inefficient Systems Consolidation
Researcher (PI) Anders Martin FJELL
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Summary Which brain mechanisms are responsible for the faith of the memories we make with age, whether they wither or stay, and in what form? Episodic memory function does decline with age. While this decline can have multiple causes, research has focused almost entirely on encoding and retrieval processes, largely ignoring a third critical process– consolidation. The objective of AgeConsolidate is to provide this missing link, by combining novel experimental cognitive paradigms with neuroimaging in a longitudinal large-scale attempt to directly test how age-related changes in consolidation processes in the brain impact episodic memory decline. The ambitious aims of the present proposal are two-fold: (1) Use recent advances in memory consolidation theory to achieve an elaborate model of episodic memory deficits in aging (2) Use aging as a model to uncover how structural and functional brain changes affect episodic memory consolidation in general The novelty of the project lies in the synthesis of recent methodological advances and theoretical models for episodic memory consolidation to explain age-related decline, by employing a unique combination of a range of different techniques and approaches. This is ground-breaking, in that it aims at taking our understanding of the brain processes underlying episodic memory decline in aging to a new level, while at the same time advancing our theoretical understanding of how episodic memories are consolidated in the human brain. To obtain this outcome, I will test the main hypothesis of the project: Brain processes of episodic memory consolidation are less effective in older adults, and this can account for a significant portion of the episodic memory decline in aging. This will be answered by six secondary hypotheses, with 1-3 experiments or tasks designated to address each hypothesis, focusing on functional and structural MRI, positron emission tomography data and sleep experiments to target consolidation from different angles.
Which brain mechanisms are responsible for the faith of the memories we make with age, whether they wither or stay, and in what form? Episodic memory function does decline with age. While this decline can have multiple causes, research has focused almost entirely on encoding and retrieval processes, largely ignoring a third critical process– consolidation. The objective of AgeConsolidate is to provide this missing link, by combining novel experimental cognitive paradigms with neuroimaging in a longitudinal large-scale attempt to directly test how age-related changes in consolidation processes in the brain impact episodic memory decline. The ambitious aims of the present proposal are two-fold: (1) Use recent advances in memory consolidation theory to achieve an elaborate model of episodic memory deficits in aging (2) Use aging as a model to uncover how structural and functional brain changes affect episodic memory consolidation in general The novelty of the project lies in the synthesis of recent methodological advances and theoretical models for episodic memory consolidation to explain age-related decline, by employing a unique combination of a range of different techniques and approaches. This is ground-breaking, in that it aims at taking our understanding of the brain processes underlying episodic memory decline in aging to a new level, while at the same time advancing our theoretical understanding of how episodic memories are consolidated in the human brain. To obtain this outcome, I will test the main hypothesis of the project: Brain processes of episodic memory consolidation are less effective in older adults, and this can account for a significant portion of the episodic memory decline in aging. This will be answered by six secondary hypotheses, with 1-3 experiments or tasks designated to address each hypothesis, focusing on functional and structural MRI, positron emission tomography data and sleep experiments to target consolidation from different angles.
Project acronym BRAINMINT
Project Brains and minds in transition: The dark side of neuroplasticity during sensitive life phases
Researcher (PI) Lars T. WESTLYE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2018-STG
Summary The potential and boundaries of the human mind is determined by dynamic interactions between the environment and the individual genetic architecture. However, despite several breakthroughs, the genetic revolution has not provided a coherent account of the development of the mind and its disorders, and the missing heritability is large across human traits. One explanation of this impasse is the complexity of the gene-environment interactions. Current knowledge about the determinants of a healthy mind is largely based on studies whose modus operandi is to treat the environment as a static entity, neglecting to consider the crucial fact that environmental inputs and their genetic interactions vary dramatically between life phases. The objective of BRAINMINT is to provide this missing link by zeroing in on two major life transitions, namely adolescence and pregnancy. These phases are characterized by temporarily increased brain plasticity, offering windows for adaptation and growth, but also host the emergence of common mental disorders. I propose that a multi-level investigation with this dark side of brain plasticity as the axis mundi will add a mechanistic understanding of this link between growth and vulnerability. I will test the main hypothesis that mechanisms that boost neuroplasticity promote adaptation to a dynamic environment, but at the cost of increased risk of psychopathology if exposed to a combination of genetic and environmental triggers. To this end I will utilize cutting-edge longitudinal brain imaging, electrophysiology, rich cognitive and clinical data, immune markers, gene expression and genetics. I will leverage on massive imaging data (n>40,000) and novel tools to increase power and generalizability and improve brain- and gene-based predictions of complex traits. Aiming to help resolving one of the modern day enigmas, BRAINMINT is a pioneering and high risk/high gain effort to find mechanisms of brain plasticity that support and harm the brain.
The potential and boundaries of the human mind is determined by dynamic interactions between the environment and the individual genetic architecture. However, despite several breakthroughs, the genetic revolution has not provided a coherent account of the development of the mind and its disorders, and the missing heritability is large across human traits. One explanation of this impasse is the complexity of the gene-environment interactions. Current knowledge about the determinants of a healthy mind is largely based on studies whose modus operandi is to treat the environment as a static entity, neglecting to consider the crucial fact that environmental inputs and their genetic interactions vary dramatically between life phases. The objective of BRAINMINT is to provide this missing link by zeroing in on two major life transitions, namely adolescence and pregnancy. These phases are characterized by temporarily increased brain plasticity, offering windows for adaptation and growth, but also host the emergence of common mental disorders. I propose that a multi-level investigation with this dark side of brain plasticity as the axis mundi will add a mechanistic understanding of this link between growth and vulnerability. I will test the main hypothesis that mechanisms that boost neuroplasticity promote adaptation to a dynamic environment, but at the cost of increased risk of psychopathology if exposed to a combination of genetic and environmental triggers. To this end I will utilize cutting-edge longitudinal brain imaging, electrophysiology, rich cognitive and clinical data, immune markers, gene expression and genetics. I will leverage on massive imaging data (n>40,000) and novel tools to increase power and generalizability and improve brain- and gene-based predictions of complex traits. Aiming to help resolving one of the modern day enigmas, BRAINMINT is a pioneering and high risk/high gain effort to find mechanisms of brain plasticity that support and harm the brain.
Project acronym CIVICS
Project Criminality, Victimization and Social Interactions
Researcher (PI) Katrine Vellesen LOKEN
Host Institution (HI) NORGES HANDELSHOYSKOLE
Summary A large social science literature tries to describe and understand the causes and consequences of crime, usually focusing on individuals' criminal activity in isolation. The ambitious aim of this research project is to establish a broader perspective of crime that takes into account the social context in which it takes place. The findings will inform policymakers on how to better use funds both for crime prevention and the rehabilitation of incarcerated criminals. Criminal activity is often a group phenomenon, yet little is known about how criminal networks form and what can be done to break them up or prevent them from forming in the first place. Overlooking victims of crime and their relationships to criminals has led to an incomplete and distorted view of crime and its individual and social costs. While a better understanding of these social interactions is crucial for designing more effective anti-crime policy, existing research in criminology, sociology and economics has struggled to identify causal effects due to data limitations and difficult statistical identification issues. This project will push the research frontier by combining register datasets that have never been merged before, and by using several state-of-the-art statistical methods to estimate causal effects related to criminal peer groups and their victims. More specifically, we aim to do the following: -Use recent advances in network modelling to describe the structure and density of various criminal networks and study network dynamics following the arrest/incarceration or death of a central player in a network. -Obtain a more accurate measure of the societal costs of crime, including actual measures for lost earnings and physical and mental health problems, following victims and their offenders both before and after a crime takes place. -Conduct a randomized controlled trial within a prison system to better understand how current rehabilitation programs affect criminal and victim networks.
A large social science literature tries to describe and understand the causes and consequences of crime, usually focusing on individuals' criminal activity in isolation. The ambitious aim of this research project is to establish a broader perspective of crime that takes into account the social context in which it takes place. The findings will inform policymakers on how to better use funds both for crime prevention and the rehabilitation of incarcerated criminals. Criminal activity is often a group phenomenon, yet little is known about how criminal networks form and what can be done to break them up or prevent them from forming in the first place. Overlooking victims of crime and their relationships to criminals has led to an incomplete and distorted view of crime and its individual and social costs. While a better understanding of these social interactions is crucial for designing more effective anti-crime policy, existing research in criminology, sociology and economics has struggled to identify causal effects due to data limitations and difficult statistical identification issues. This project will push the research frontier by combining register datasets that have never been merged before, and by using several state-of-the-art statistical methods to estimate causal effects related to criminal peer groups and their victims. More specifically, we aim to do the following: -Use recent advances in network modelling to describe the structure and density of various criminal networks and study network dynamics following the arrest/incarceration or death of a central player in a network. -Obtain a more accurate measure of the societal costs of crime, including actual measures for lost earnings and physical and mental health problems, following victims and their offenders both before and after a crime takes place. -Conduct a randomized controlled trial within a prison system to better understand how current rehabilitation programs affect criminal and victim networks.
Project acronym CONSERVATION
Project The Economics and Politics of Conservation
Researcher (PI) Bård Gjul Harstad
Summary The UN's approach to climate policy is to focus on national emission caps for greenhouse gases. Most of the economic theory on environmental agreements is also studying such a demand-side approach, even though it is well known that such an approach has several flaws, including carbon leakage and the incentive to free ride. Recent theory has suggested that a better approach may be to focus on the supply-side of the equation, rather than the demand-side. While this recent theory is promising, it is only indicative and has several shortcomings that must be analysed. The goal of this project is to investigate in depth how to best use conservation as an environmental policy tool. The project aims at integrating the theory of emissions and pollution with a model of extraction and thus the supply of exhaustible resources in a coherent and dynamic game-theoretic framework. I will apply this framework to analyse negotiations, agreements, and contracts on extraction levels, and how such policies can interact, complement or substitute for agreements focusing on consumption/emissions. It will also be important to develop and apply the tools of political economics to investigate which (second-best) agreement one may expect to be feasible as equilibria of the game. For highly asymmetric settings, where the possessors of the resource are few (such as for tropical forests), side transfers are necessary and contract theory will be the natural analytical tool when searching for the best agreement. However, also standard contract theory needs to be developed further once one recognizes that the "agent" in the principal-agent relationship is an organization or a government, rather than an individual.
The UN's approach to climate policy is to focus on national emission caps for greenhouse gases. Most of the economic theory on environmental agreements is also studying such a demand-side approach, even though it is well known that such an approach has several flaws, including carbon leakage and the incentive to free ride. Recent theory has suggested that a better approach may be to focus on the supply-side of the equation, rather than the demand-side. While this recent theory is promising, it is only indicative and has several shortcomings that must be analysed. The goal of this project is to investigate in depth how to best use conservation as an environmental policy tool. The project aims at integrating the theory of emissions and pollution with a model of extraction and thus the supply of exhaustible resources in a coherent and dynamic game-theoretic framework. I will apply this framework to analyse negotiations, agreements, and contracts on extraction levels, and how such policies can interact, complement or substitute for agreements focusing on consumption/emissions. It will also be important to develop and apply the tools of political economics to investigate which (second-best) agreement one may expect to be feasible as equilibria of the game. For highly asymmetric settings, where the possessors of the resource are few (such as for tropical forests), side transfers are necessary and contract theory will be the natural analytical tool when searching for the best agreement. However, also standard contract theory needs to be developed further once one recognizes that the "agent" in the principal-agent relationship is an organization or a government, rather than an individual.
Project acronym CONSTRUCTIVEMEM
Project Emergence and decline of constructive memory – Life-span changes in a common brain network for imagination and episodic memory
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2011-StG_20101124
Summary The creation of personal, episodic memory from a previous experience is a remarkably complex process, which substantially differs from the processes leading to non-personal knowledge and memory about the world, so-called semantic memory. The act of remembering an episodic event is as much an act of creation as an act of reproduction. Modality-specific memory items are assembled through a re-construction process that allows us to re-experience the episode in rich details. Recent research has shown that recall of episodes and imagination of the future depends on a common core brain network. Early damage to this network will dramatically affect the development of personal memories, effectively preventing the creation of a vivid personal past, while leaving general cognitive development relatively intact. Still, no attempts have been made to study how development and subsequent aging of constructive memory, the arguably most relevant form of memory for daily life-function, is determined by structural and functional properties of the brain. I propose to study how characteristics of the brain determine the development of the ability to form episodic memories in childhood, and how the same factors contribute to the decline in episodic memory function experienced by most healthy elderly. The aim of the current proposal is to understand how maturation and aging of the brain networks for reconstructive memory impacts the ability to form and re-experience ones past. To address this aim, we will study children (4-10 years), adolescents (11-19 years), young adults (20-30 years) and elderly (60-80 years), 100 participants in each group, with repeated cognitive testing and brain scanning with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The children will be examined annually, yielding four examinations, while the other participants will be examined bi-annually, yielding to examinations within the project period.
The creation of personal, episodic memory from a previous experience is a remarkably complex process, which substantially differs from the processes leading to non-personal knowledge and memory about the world, so-called semantic memory. The act of remembering an episodic event is as much an act of creation as an act of reproduction. Modality-specific memory items are assembled through a re-construction process that allows us to re-experience the episode in rich details. Recent research has shown that recall of episodes and imagination of the future depends on a common core brain network. Early damage to this network will dramatically affect the development of personal memories, effectively preventing the creation of a vivid personal past, while leaving general cognitive development relatively intact. Still, no attempts have been made to study how development and subsequent aging of constructive memory, the arguably most relevant form of memory for daily life-function, is determined by structural and functional properties of the brain. I propose to study how characteristics of the brain determine the development of the ability to form episodic memories in childhood, and how the same factors contribute to the decline in episodic memory function experienced by most healthy elderly. The aim of the current proposal is to understand how maturation and aging of the brain networks for reconstructive memory impacts the ability to form and re-experience ones past. To address this aim, we will study children (4-10 years), adolescents (11-19 years), young adults (20-30 years) and elderly (60-80 years), 100 participants in each group, with repeated cognitive testing and brain scanning with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The children will be examined annually, yielding four examinations, while the other participants will be examined bi-annually, yielding to examinations within the project period.
Project acronym CREATIVE IPR
Project The History of Intellectual Property Rights in the Creative Industries
Researcher (PI) Veronique POUILLARD
Summary CREATIVE IPR aims to study the rise of intellectual property rights in the creative industries, from the international treaties of the late nineteenth century to the present day, with a focus on Europe in the global world. CREATIVE IPR examines the consequences of this development for the creators. What did intellectual property rights mean to a musician, or to a fashion designer in twentieth century Europe? Who captured economic value or failed to do so? In order to answer these questions, CREATIVE IPR proposes an original bottom-up approach, examining from the ground the macro and the micro aspects of the rise of intellectual property rights in the creative industries. CREATIVE IPR pursues the questions in three arenas. The first arena is the formation and impact of national and international institutions and organizations for intellectual property. The second and third arenas are the role of authors' rights societies in the music industries, and the management of creativity in the fashion industries. For each arena, cross-cutting themes are pursued: authorship and creativity, firms, technological change, legal frameworks, and the role of the commons – the public domain. In recent years, intellectual property rights have, due to technological and economic change, attracted significant scholarly interest. Yet attention has not been paid to their impact on creators in a historical perspective. By analyzing the micro histories of the creators who negotiated the growing legal regime in the light of a transnational context CREATIVE IPR will fill a significant knowledge gap, help refine our ideas about the impact of intellectual property rights on creators, and open paths for future research. Ultimately it will help us understand how societies can foster rich and diverse creative industries.
CREATIVE IPR aims to study the rise of intellectual property rights in the creative industries, from the international treaties of the late nineteenth century to the present day, with a focus on Europe in the global world. CREATIVE IPR examines the consequences of this development for the creators. What did intellectual property rights mean to a musician, or to a fashion designer in twentieth century Europe? Who captured economic value or failed to do so? In order to answer these questions, CREATIVE IPR proposes an original bottom-up approach, examining from the ground the macro and the micro aspects of the rise of intellectual property rights in the creative industries. CREATIVE IPR pursues the questions in three arenas. The first arena is the formation and impact of national and international institutions and organizations for intellectual property. The second and third arenas are the role of authors' rights societies in the music industries, and the management of creativity in the fashion industries. For each arena, cross-cutting themes are pursued: authorship and creativity, firms, technological change, legal frameworks, and the role of the commons – the public domain. In recent years, intellectual property rights have, due to technological and economic change, attracted significant scholarly interest. Yet attention has not been paid to their impact on creators in a historical perspective. By analyzing the micro histories of the creators who negotiated the growing legal regime in the light of a transnational context CREATIVE IPR will fill a significant knowledge gap, help refine our ideas about the impact of intellectual property rights on creators, and open paths for future research. Ultimately it will help us understand how societies can foster rich and diverse creative industries.
Project acronym DEChriM
Project Deconstructing Early Christian Metanarratives: Fourth-Century Egyptian Christianity in the Light of Material Evidence
Researcher (PI) Victor Corneliu Ghica
Host Institution (HI) MF VITENSKAPELIG HOYSKOLE
Summary A massive corpus of unedited archaeological sources collected over the last two decades from the deserts of Egypt, by far the richest available for the fourth century, sheds a radically new light on Christianity in Egypt. Building on this new dataset, DEChriM reassesses phenomena and developments that are defining for Egypt's Christianisation, such as the chronology and dynamics of the evangelisation, the role played in this process by imperial legislation and institutions, the balance between rural and urban Christian communities, the social and cultural profile of the conveyors of Christianity, strategies for negotiating Christian identity, etc. Grounded in the archaeological record, DEChriM addresses also key issues relating to material culture through, among others, producing a catalogue of fourth-century Christian archaeological material (monuments and artefacts), providing absolute dates and occupation sequences for the most significant monuments, systematising chrono-typologically fourth-century Christian architecture, producing a long overdue catalogue of the ceramic production of the fourth century in Egypt or drafting. As suggested already by the pre-treatment of the corpus, the picture of fourth-century Egyptian Christianity emerging from this mass of data shifts the paradigm with which operates the historiography of late antique Egypt. Whilst deconstructing the prevailing metanarratives on fourth-century Christian Egypt, the project aims for hypercontextualised regional micro-narratives valid for some regions of Egypt, but potentially relevant for or extrapolable to other provinces of the Late Roman Empire. An inter- and trans-disciplinary collective endeavour calling upon a variety of disciplines, methods and techniques, DEChriM constitutes the first in-depth regional study in fourth-century Christian archaeology.
A massive corpus of unedited archaeological sources collected over the last two decades from the deserts of Egypt, by far the richest available for the fourth century, sheds a radically new light on Christianity in Egypt. Building on this new dataset, DEChriM reassesses phenomena and developments that are defining for Egypt's Christianisation, such as the chronology and dynamics of the evangelisation, the role played in this process by imperial legislation and institutions, the balance between rural and urban Christian communities, the social and cultural profile of the conveyors of Christianity, strategies for negotiating Christian identity, etc. Grounded in the archaeological record, DEChriM addresses also key issues relating to material culture through, among others, producing a catalogue of fourth-century Christian archaeological material (monuments and artefacts), providing absolute dates and occupation sequences for the most significant monuments, systematising chrono-typologically fourth-century Christian architecture, producing a long overdue catalogue of the ceramic production of the fourth century in Egypt or drafting. As suggested already by the pre-treatment of the corpus, the picture of fourth-century Egyptian Christianity emerging from this mass of data shifts the paradigm with which operates the historiography of late antique Egypt. Whilst deconstructing the prevailing metanarratives on fourth-century Christian Egypt, the project aims for hypercontextualised regional micro-narratives valid for some regions of Egypt, but potentially relevant for or extrapolable to other provinces of the Late Roman Empire. An inter- and trans-disciplinary collective endeavour calling upon a variety of disciplines, methods and techniques, DEChriM constitutes the first in-depth regional study in fourth-century Christian archaeology.
Project acronym DISCRETION
Project Discretion and the child´s best interests in child protection
Researcher (PI) Marit Sissel Irene SKIVENES
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITETET I BERGEN
Summary DISCRETION aims to unlock the black box of discretionary decision-making in child protection cases by a comparative-empirical study of how discretionary decisions are made and justified in the best interests of the child. There are huge research gaps in this important area of the welfare state, with a great deal of uncertainty concerning how, when and why discretionary decisions about the child´s best interests are different between decision-makers within and between child protection systems. The main objectives for this project are to reveal the mechanisms for exercising discretion, and improve the understanding of the principle of the child´s best interests. These objectives will be reached by systematically examining the role of institutional, organisational and individual factors including regulations of best interest principles; professions involved; type of courts; type of child protection system; demographic factors and individual values; and the populations' view on children and paternalism. DISCRETION employs an innovative methodological approach, with multilevel and cross-country studies. DISCRETION will, by conducting the largest cross-national study on decision-making in child protection to date, lift our understanding of international differences in child protection to a new level. By conducting randomized survey experiments with both decision-makers in the system and the general population, DISCRETION generates unique data on the causal mechanisms explaining differences in discretionary decisions. The outcomes of DISCRETION are important because societies are at a crossroad when it comes to how children are treated and how their rights are respected, which creates tensions in the traditional relationship between the family and the state. DISCRETION will move beyond the field of child protection and provide important insights into the exercise of discretion in all areas where the public interest as well as national interest must be interpreted.
DISCRETION aims to unlock the black box of discretionary decision-making in child protection cases by a comparative-empirical study of how discretionary decisions are made and justified in the best interests of the child. There are huge research gaps in this important area of the welfare state, with a great deal of uncertainty concerning how, when and why discretionary decisions about the child´s best interests are different between decision-makers within and between child protection systems. The main objectives for this project are to reveal the mechanisms for exercising discretion, and improve the understanding of the principle of the child´s best interests. These objectives will be reached by systematically examining the role of institutional, organisational and individual factors including regulations of best interest principles; professions involved; type of courts; type of child protection system; demographic factors and individual values; and the populations' view on children and paternalism. DISCRETION employs an innovative methodological approach, with multilevel and cross-country studies. DISCRETION will, by conducting the largest cross-national study on decision-making in child protection to date, lift our understanding of international differences in child protection to a new level. By conducting randomized survey experiments with both decision-makers in the system and the general population, DISCRETION generates unique data on the causal mechanisms explaining differences in discretionary decisions. The outcomes of DISCRETION are important because societies are at a crossroad when it comes to how children are treated and how their rights are respected, which creates tensions in the traditional relationship between the family and the state. DISCRETION will move beyond the field of child protection and provide important insights into the exercise of discretion in all areas where the public interest as well as national interest must be interpreted.
Project acronym EQOP
Project Socioeconomic gaps in language development and school achievement: Mechanisms of inequality and opportunity
Researcher (PI) Henrik ZACHRISSON
Summary As inequality increases in most developed countries, children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families are at exceptional risk for academic underachievement with lasting consequences for individuals, their communities, and society at large. Among policy makes, early childhood education and care (ECEC) is considered a key to remedy this risk. Yet the science on ECEC effectiveness at a national scale lags behind the excitement. Exploiting unique Norwegian data, we first seek to identify how and why socioeconomic disadvantage undermines children's language skills and school achievement. Second, we will investigate whether ECEC can improve opportunities for disadvantaged children to excel. Third, to clarify the policy relevance of these inquiries, we will estimate costs of socioeconomic achievement gaps and the economic benefits of ECEC at scale. We take an investigative approach that is unprecedented in scope—from population level trends down to nuanced assessments of individual children's growth. Throughout the 2000s, Norway's child poverty rates increased from about 4% to 10%, while the coverage of public ECEC for toddlers increased from 30% to 80%. Across this unique window of time, we have access to rich survey data on language skills and home environment for 100,000 children, and genetically informative data, linked with administrative records on community- and family level socioeconomic risks and opportunities, and on national achievement test scores. These data allow us powerful analytic opportunities, combining state-of-the-art statistical, econometric, psychometric, and genetic epidemiological methods. I am well positioned to lead this project, having qualified for a Professorship at the University of Oslo aged 36, and having considerable experience in (a) publishing in highly respected scientific journals, (b) working at the intersection of research and policy, (c) leading research projects, and (d) mentoring younger scholars.
As inequality increases in most developed countries, children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families are at exceptional risk for academic underachievement with lasting consequences for individuals, their communities, and society at large. Among policy makes, early childhood education and care (ECEC) is considered a key to remedy this risk. Yet the science on ECEC effectiveness at a national scale lags behind the excitement. Exploiting unique Norwegian data, we first seek to identify how and why socioeconomic disadvantage undermines children's language skills and school achievement. Second, we will investigate whether ECEC can improve opportunities for disadvantaged children to excel. Third, to clarify the policy relevance of these inquiries, we will estimate costs of socioeconomic achievement gaps and the economic benefits of ECEC at scale. We take an investigative approach that is unprecedented in scope—from population level trends down to nuanced assessments of individual children's growth. Throughout the 2000s, Norway's child poverty rates increased from about 4% to 10%, while the coverage of public ECEC for toddlers increased from 30% to 80%. Across this unique window of time, we have access to rich survey data on language skills and home environment for 100,000 children, and genetically informative data, linked with administrative records on community- and family level socioeconomic risks and opportunities, and on national achievement test scores. These data allow us powerful analytic opportunities, combining state-of-the-art statistical, econometric, psychometric, and genetic epidemiological methods. I am well positioned to lead this project, having qualified for a Professorship at the University of Oslo aged 36, and having considerable experience in (a) publishing in highly respected scientific journals, (b) working at the intersection of research and policy, (c) leading research projects, and (d) mentoring younger scholars.
Project acronym FAIR
Project Fairness and the Moral Mind
Researcher (PI) Bertil TUNGODDEN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH1, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary The project provides a comprehensive and groundbreaking approach to the analysis of the moral mind and inequality acceptance. The first part of the project will provide a novel study of how the moral ideals of personal responsibility and individual freedom, which are fundamental values in most liberal societies, shape inequality acceptance. It will also provide the first experimental study of how people draw the moral circle, which is at the heart of the most pressing policy challenges facing the world today and strongly related to the question of global fairness. The second part will study how social institutions shape inequality acceptance and how it develops in childhood and adolescence, by providing two unique international studies of inequality acceptance in 60 countries across the world. These studies will provide novel insights on the distributive behavior of nationally representative samples of adults and children and on the cultural transmission of moral preferences in society. The project is rooted in behavioral and experimental economics, but will also draw on insights from other social sciences and philosophy. It will develop novel experimental paradigms to study the moral mind and the nature of inequality acceptance, including incentivized experiments on nationally representative populations, and combine structural and non-parametric empirical analysis with theory development. Taken together, the project represents a unique study of inequality acceptance in the social sciences that will address an important knowledge gap in the literature on inequality.
The project provides a comprehensive and groundbreaking approach to the analysis of the moral mind and inequality acceptance. The first part of the project will provide a novel study of how the moral ideals of personal responsibility and individual freedom, which are fundamental values in most liberal societies, shape inequality acceptance. It will also provide the first experimental study of how people draw the moral circle, which is at the heart of the most pressing policy challenges facing the world today and strongly related to the question of global fairness. The second part will study how social institutions shape inequality acceptance and how it develops in childhood and adolescence, by providing two unique international studies of inequality acceptance in 60 countries across the world. These studies will provide novel insights on the distributive behavior of nationally representative samples of adults and children and on the cultural transmission of moral preferences in society. The project is rooted in behavioral and experimental economics, but will also draw on insights from other social sciences and philosophy. It will develop novel experimental paradigms to study the moral mind and the nature of inequality acceptance, including incentivized experiments on nationally representative populations, and combine structural and non-parametric empirical analysis with theory development. Taken together, the project represents a unique study of inequality acceptance in the social sciences that will address an important knowledge gap in the literature on inequality.
Project acronym FUMI
Project Future Migration as Present Fact
Researcher (PI) Jørgen Koren CARLING
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUTT FOR FREDSFORSKNING STIFTELSE
Summary The springboard for this project is a striking statistic: half of all young adults in West Africa wish to leave their own country and settle elsewhere. Yet, the vast majority never depart. This discrep-ancy raises a fundamental question: if migration is desired, but never materializes, what are the consequences? The project breaks with traditional approaches by shifting the object of study from observed migration in the present to imagined migration in the future. Although such future migration might never occur, it materializes in thoughts, feelings, communication, and behaviour at present. Young people's priorities are informed by the futures they imagine, and their lives can thus be formed by migration that is imagined but never achieved. Framing the issue in this way renews research on the precursors of migration and opens up a new chapter about the links be-tween migration and development. The project is guided by a bold central hypothesis: Migration that is imagined, yet never takes place, decisively shapes the lives of individuals and the devel-opment of societies. This hypothesis is addressed through a research design that weaves together three streams: theory development, ethnographic fieldwork, and sample surveys. Drawing upon the PI's proven qualifications in all three fields, the project aims for deep mixed-methods integra-tion. The project's empirical focus is West Africa. Migration desires are particularly widespread in this region, and internal socio-economic variation can be exploited for theoretical purposes. By investing in theoretical and methodological development, attuned to a poorly understood aspect of global migration challenges, the project holds the promise of sustained impacts on migration research. The project is set within interdisciplinary migration studies, anchored in human geogra-phy and supported by related disciplines including anthropology, economics, and sociology.
The springboard for this project is a striking statistic: half of all young adults in West Africa wish to leave their own country and settle elsewhere. Yet, the vast majority never depart. This discrep-ancy raises a fundamental question: if migration is desired, but never materializes, what are the consequences? The project breaks with traditional approaches by shifting the object of study from observed migration in the present to imagined migration in the future. Although such future migration might never occur, it materializes in thoughts, feelings, communication, and behaviour at present. Young people's priorities are informed by the futures they imagine, and their lives can thus be formed by migration that is imagined but never achieved. Framing the issue in this way renews research on the precursors of migration and opens up a new chapter about the links be-tween migration and development. The project is guided by a bold central hypothesis: Migration that is imagined, yet never takes place, decisively shapes the lives of individuals and the devel-opment of societies. This hypothesis is addressed through a research design that weaves together three streams: theory development, ethnographic fieldwork, and sample surveys. Drawing upon the PI's proven qualifications in all three fields, the project aims for deep mixed-methods integra-tion. The project's empirical focus is West Africa. Migration desires are particularly widespread in this region, and internal socio-economic variation can be exploited for theoretical purposes. By investing in theoretical and methodological development, attuned to a poorly understood aspect of global migration challenges, the project holds the promise of sustained impacts on migration research. The project is set within interdisciplinary migration studies, anchored in human geogra-phy and supported by related disciplines including anthropology, economics, and sociology.
Project acronym GEOCOG
Project Cognitive Geometry: Deciphering neural concept spaces and engineering knowledge to empower smart brains in a smart society
Researcher (PI) Christian Fritz Andreas DOELLER
Host Institution (HI) NORGES TEKNISK-NATURVITENSKAPELIGE UNIVERSITET NTNU
Summary Through smart technology, we are overwhelmed with new information. Does this unlimited access to knowledge make us smarter? One of the key challenges for modern societies is to understand how the brain assembles our rich inventory of knowledge. Here, I will test the hypothesis that newly acquired knowledge is represented in the hippocampal formation in neural concept spaces, which are based on the coding principles and representational structures of the neural machinery involved in spatial navigation. The key idea is that the brain's navigation system provides the building blocks of a neural metric for knowledge. In this groundbreaking cognitive neuroscience framework, I will bridge and integrate principles from Nobel Prize awarded neurophysiology and concepts from cognitive science and philosophy. Partly building on my ERC-StG project in which I discovered the core neural mechanisms underlying reconfiguration, integration and scaling of memory networks, the aim of my proposal is two-fold: 1. I seek to decipher neural concept spaces and unravel the neural codes of a cognitive geometry for knowledge and its deformations. 2. I will provide a proof-of-principle framework for next-generation neurocognitive technology and neural user models for cognitive enhancement to edit memories and engineer knowledge. Novel 'Wikipedia' learning tasks will be combined with state-of-the-art pattern analyses of space-resolved fMRI and time-resolved MEG to map and quantify representational structures. I will further develop AI-inspired analyses and closed loop brain-computer interfaces to perturb and edit neural concept space. The integrative mission of my program, from cells to systems-level involvement in cognition and to technology, opens up the exciting possibility to lay the ground for redefining cognitive neuroscience of knowledge by unravelling the fundamental neural principles of a cognitive topography and to make critical translations to empower smart brains in a smart society.
Through smart technology, we are overwhelmed with new information. Does this unlimited access to knowledge make us smarter? One of the key challenges for modern societies is to understand how the brain assembles our rich inventory of knowledge. Here, I will test the hypothesis that newly acquired knowledge is represented in the hippocampal formation in neural concept spaces, which are based on the coding principles and representational structures of the neural machinery involved in spatial navigation. The key idea is that the brain's navigation system provides the building blocks of a neural metric for knowledge. In this groundbreaking cognitive neuroscience framework, I will bridge and integrate principles from Nobel Prize awarded neurophysiology and concepts from cognitive science and philosophy. Partly building on my ERC-StG project in which I discovered the core neural mechanisms underlying reconfiguration, integration and scaling of memory networks, the aim of my proposal is two-fold: 1. I seek to decipher neural concept spaces and unravel the neural codes of a cognitive geometry for knowledge and its deformations. 2. I will provide a proof-of-principle framework for next-generation neurocognitive technology and neural user models for cognitive enhancement to edit memories and engineer knowledge. Novel 'Wikipedia' learning tasks will be combined with state-of-the-art pattern analyses of space-resolved fMRI and time-resolved MEG to map and quantify representational structures. I will further develop AI-inspired analyses and closed loop brain-computer interfaces to perturb and edit neural concept space. The integrative mission of my program, from cells to systems-level involvement in cognition and to technology, opens up the exciting possibility to lay the ground for redefining cognitive neuroscience of knowledge by unravelling the fundamental neural principles of a cognitive topography and to make critical translations to empower smart brains in a smart society.
Project acronym GINE
Project General Institutional Equilibrium - theory and policy implications
Researcher (PI) Bard Harstad
Summary Existing institutional theory, including political economics and contract theory, convincingly show that institutional details have large impacts on economic and policy outcomes. Once this is recognized, it follows that contracts should depend on the organisational design of the institution to which the contract is offered. Stage 1 of Project Gine aims at characterising optimal contracts as a function of this design. Stage 2 develops a framework for endogenising and characterising the optimal institutional design. At Stage 3, sets of institutions are endogenised at the same time, where the design of one is an optimal response to the designs of the others. This outcome is referred to as a general institutional equilibrium. Such a theory or methodological framework has several immensely important applications. Development aid contracts should carefully account for the political structure in the recipient country; otherwise the effect of aid may surprise and be counterproductive. The major application motivating this study, however, is environmental policy. Not only must the optimal environmental policy be conditioned on political economy forces; it must also be a function of institutional details, such as the political system. This can explain why the choice of instrument differs across political systems, and why politicians often prefer standards rather than economic instruments. Furthermore, we still do not have a good knowledge of how to design effective and implementable international environmental treaties. The optimal treaty design as well as the best choice of policy instrument must take into account that certain institutions (e.g., interest groups, firm structures, and perhaps even local governance) respond endogenously to these policies.
Existing institutional theory, including political economics and contract theory, convincingly show that institutional details have large impacts on economic and policy outcomes. Once this is recognized, it follows that contracts should depend on the organisational design of the institution to which the contract is offered. Stage 1 of Project Gine aims at characterising optimal contracts as a function of this design. Stage 2 develops a framework for endogenising and characterising the optimal institutional design. At Stage 3, sets of institutions are endogenised at the same time, where the design of one is an optimal response to the designs of the others. This outcome is referred to as a general institutional equilibrium. Such a theory or methodological framework has several immensely important applications. Development aid contracts should carefully account for the political structure in the recipient country; otherwise the effect of aid may surprise and be counterproductive. The major application motivating this study, however, is environmental policy. Not only must the optimal environmental policy be conditioned on political economy forces; it must also be a function of institutional details, such as the political system. This can explain why the choice of instrument differs across political systems, and why politicians often prefer standards rather than economic instruments. Furthermore, we still do not have a good knowledge of how to design effective and implementable international environmental treaties. The optimal treaty design as well as the best choice of policy instrument must take into account that certain institutions (e.g., interest groups, firm structures, and perhaps even local governance) respond endogenously to these policies.
Project acronym GLOBALPROD
Project The Global and Local Organization of Production
Researcher (PI) Andreas MOXNES
Summary A defining feature of the global economy is the gradual fragmentation of production across firms and borders, a phenomenon that has been termed outsourcing or global value chains. State-of-the-art empirical economic analysis on value chains has mostly been limited to the study of aggregate data because there is limited data on actual firm-to-firm linkages in the global economy. Even less is currently known about which products are typically outsourced, and which workers are affected. This project will change that. I will bring together four unique firm-to-firm datasets on local and global value chains that will push the research frontier forward in two main directions: - Previous research has shown that economic integration encourages growth. Due to data limitations, however, we know little about the origins of growth, and to what extent the emergence of value chains can explain the growth response. New theory is needed, where firm-to-firm connections are endogenously formed in response to economic integration. I will confront theory with data and directly test whether integration facilitates new buyer-supplier relationships and growth. - Previous research has found that economic integration has large negative effects on wages for low-skill workers. But again, due to data limitations, it is unclear to what extent value chains are responsible for this. Simply put, the impact of outsourcing on wages will depend on which workers are displaced by outsourcing. Until now, researchers have not been able to observe which workers, along with their occupations and skills, that are employed in both the supplying and outsourcing firm. For the first time, this information will be available, allowing for a rich analysis of labor market effects for different skill groups. GLOBALPROD will inform policymakers about how wages for different types of skills change in response to globalization, but also how economic integration can promote efficiency and competitiveness.
A defining feature of the global economy is the gradual fragmentation of production across firms and borders, a phenomenon that has been termed outsourcing or global value chains. State-of-the-art empirical economic analysis on value chains has mostly been limited to the study of aggregate data because there is limited data on actual firm-to-firm linkages in the global economy. Even less is currently known about which products are typically outsourced, and which workers are affected. This project will change that. I will bring together four unique firm-to-firm datasets on local and global value chains that will push the research frontier forward in two main directions: - Previous research has shown that economic integration encourages growth. Due to data limitations, however, we know little about the origins of growth, and to what extent the emergence of value chains can explain the growth response. New theory is needed, where firm-to-firm connections are endogenously formed in response to economic integration. I will confront theory with data and directly test whether integration facilitates new buyer-supplier relationships and growth. - Previous research has found that economic integration has large negative effects on wages for low-skill workers. But again, due to data limitations, it is unclear to what extent value chains are responsible for this. Simply put, the impact of outsourcing on wages will depend on which workers are displaced by outsourcing. Until now, researchers have not been able to observe which workers, along with their occupations and skills, that are employed in both the supplying and outsourcing firm. For the first time, this information will be available, allowing for a rich analysis of labor market effects for different skill groups. GLOBALPROD will inform policymakers about how wages for different types of skills change in response to globalization, but also how economic integration can promote efficiency and competitiveness.
Project acronym Machine Vision
Project Machine Vision in Everyday Life: Playful Interactions with Visual Technologies in Digital Art, Games, Narratives and Social Media
Researcher (PI) Jill Walker RETTBERG
Summary In the last decade, machine vision has become part of the everyday life of ordinary people. Smartphones have advanced image manipulation capabilities, social media use image recognition algorithms to sort and filter visual content, and games, narratives and art increasingly represent and use machine vision techniques such as facial recognition algorithms, eye-tracking and virtual reality. The ubiquity of machine vision in ordinary peoples' lives marks a qualitative shift where once theoretical questions are now immediately relevant to the lived experience of ordinary people. MACHINE VISION will develop a theory of how everyday machine vision affects the way ordinary people understand themselves and their world through 1) analyses of digital art, games and narratives that use machine vision as theme or interface, and 2) ethnographic studies of users of consumer-grade machine vision apps in social media and personal communication. Three main research questions address 1) new kinds of agency and subjectivity; 2) visual data as malleable; 3) values and biases. MACHINE VISION fills a research gap on the cultural, aesthetic and ethical effects of machine vision. Current research on machine vision is skewed, with extensive computer science research and rapid development and adaptation of new technologies. Cultural research primarily focuses on systemic issues (e.g. surveillance) and professional use (e.g. scientific imaging). Aesthetic theories (e.g. in cinema theory) are valuable but mostly address 20th century technologies. Analyses of current technologies are fragmented and lack a cohesive theory or model. MACHINE VISION challenges existing research and develops new empirical analyses and a cohesive theory of everyday machine vision. This project is a needed leap in visual aesthetic research. MACHINE VISION will also impact technical R&D on machine vision, enabling the design of technologies that are ethical, just and democratic.
In the last decade, machine vision has become part of the everyday life of ordinary people. Smartphones have advanced image manipulation capabilities, social media use image recognition algorithms to sort and filter visual content, and games, narratives and art increasingly represent and use machine vision techniques such as facial recognition algorithms, eye-tracking and virtual reality. The ubiquity of machine vision in ordinary peoples' lives marks a qualitative shift where once theoretical questions are now immediately relevant to the lived experience of ordinary people. MACHINE VISION will develop a theory of how everyday machine vision affects the way ordinary people understand themselves and their world through 1) analyses of digital art, games and narratives that use machine vision as theme or interface, and 2) ethnographic studies of users of consumer-grade machine vision apps in social media and personal communication. Three main research questions address 1) new kinds of agency and subjectivity; 2) visual data as malleable; 3) values and biases. MACHINE VISION fills a research gap on the cultural, aesthetic and ethical effects of machine vision. Current research on machine vision is skewed, with extensive computer science research and rapid development and adaptation of new technologies. Cultural research primarily focuses on systemic issues (e.g. surveillance) and professional use (e.g. scientific imaging). Aesthetic theories (e.g. in cinema theory) are valuable but mostly address 20th century technologies. Analyses of current technologies are fragmented and lack a cohesive theory or model. MACHINE VISION challenges existing research and develops new empirical analyses and a cohesive theory of everyday machine vision. This project is a needed leap in visual aesthetic research. MACHINE VISION will also impact technical R&D on machine vision, enabling the design of technologies that are ethical, just and democratic.
Project acronym MACROINEQUALITY
Project The Macroeconomics of Inequality, Development and the Welfare State
Researcher (PI) Kjetil Storesletten
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH1, ERC-2012-ADG_20120411
Summary This project will develop macro models with heterogeneity across people and firms to understand the consequences of two profound macro trends: the economic transformation of China and the rising cross-sectional inequality in many countries. The ultimate aim is to help these models become everyday tools in macro, development/labor economics, and actual policy making. Inequality and human capital accumulation is an important theme. I will develop tractable models of the equity-efficiency tradeoffs under risk and imperfect financial markets. Due to novel general equilibrium effects, progressive taxation is particularly distortive for education choices. This calls for complementary policies. I also explore the nexus between inequality and aggregate risk, the interaction between inequality and the dynamics of political conflict, and the puzzling success of the Scandinavian welfare model. The project will provide sharper tools for policy analysis. A key aim is to integrate models of mistakes into structural macro models. While such models generally assume rationality, welfare programs are often geared to precisely address negative consequences of human errors. Assuming information is costly, I will quantify bounds on rationality to match observed behavior. The framework has a wide range of potential uses. I will use it to reevaluate government programs. A large part of the project focuses on China. The rapid economic transformation of emerging economies has raised many new questions for economic theory and policy. I will marshal the use of models with heterogeneity to address these issues. A key goal is to develop a quantitative structural model that can become the benchmark model of fiscal policy analysis and long-run forecasts in China. As an application, I will study cost and gains of various redistribution programs. The project also aims at examining the sources of growth and inflation in China and, ultimately, understanding the culprit of the Chinese growth miracle.
This project will develop macro models with heterogeneity across people and firms to understand the consequences of two profound macro trends: the economic transformation of China and the rising cross-sectional inequality in many countries. The ultimate aim is to help these models become everyday tools in macro, development/labor economics, and actual policy making. Inequality and human capital accumulation is an important theme. I will develop tractable models of the equity-efficiency tradeoffs under risk and imperfect financial markets. Due to novel general equilibrium effects, progressive taxation is particularly distortive for education choices. This calls for complementary policies. I also explore the nexus between inequality and aggregate risk, the interaction between inequality and the dynamics of political conflict, and the puzzling success of the Scandinavian welfare model. The project will provide sharper tools for policy analysis. A key aim is to integrate models of mistakes into structural macro models. While such models generally assume rationality, welfare programs are often geared to precisely address negative consequences of human errors. Assuming information is costly, I will quantify bounds on rationality to match observed behavior. The framework has a wide range of potential uses. I will use it to reevaluate government programs. A large part of the project focuses on China. The rapid economic transformation of emerging economies has raised many new questions for economic theory and policy. I will marshal the use of models with heterogeneity to address these issues. A key goal is to develop a quantitative structural model that can become the benchmark model of fiscal policy analysis and long-run forecasts in China. As an application, I will study cost and gains of various redistribution programs. The project also aims at examining the sources of growth and inflation in China and, ultimately, understanding the culprit of the Chinese growth miracle.
Project acronym MEDPLAG
Project The medieval plagues: ecology, transmission modalities and routes of the infections
Researcher (PI) Barbara Bramanti
Summary The history of late medieval and early modern Europe was deeply affected by epidemics of plague that repeatedly broke out until 1750 AD and caused devastation and death with severe social, political and economic consequences. For decades, historians and scientists have been interested in the ancient pestilences and disputed their origin and epidemiology. One century ago, Yersinia pestis was identified as the causative agent of the current-day pandemic. Only some months ago the MedPlag team conclusively established (Haensch et al. 2010) that this bacterium was responsible for the Black Death (1346-1353 AD) and that two distinct variants of Y. pestis were simultaneously circulating through Europe during this pandemic. These results raise questions concerning the historic Y. pestis strains, their geographical origin, and whether they might have re-circulated in Europe over four centuries or were constantly reintroduced from elsewhere. Other open questions concern the routes of transmission of the medieval plagues and the role played by trade and pilgrimages in their dissemination, the mechanisms of transmission and the implication of wild and anthropochorous fauna, and the interplay between climatic conditions and plague dynamics. In addition, whether the reason for the disappearance of plague from Europe 250 years ago was due to improved hygiene or to genetic or environmental change remains unknown. Finally, while historians and scientists have speculated on the microbe responsible for the Justinian plague (541-542 AD) molecular evidence is still lacking. In this proposal, I outline the methodology by which I will answer these major questions with an inter-domain investigation involving ancient DNA, climatology, ecology, and history. The results of this work will not only settle century-old controversies by giving us valuable information about the past, but also furnish a paradigm for understanding the modality of serious epidemics in Europe; past, present, and future
The history of late medieval and early modern Europe was deeply affected by epidemics of plague that repeatedly broke out until 1750 AD and caused devastation and death with severe social, political and economic consequences. For decades, historians and scientists have been interested in the ancient pestilences and disputed their origin and epidemiology. One century ago, Yersinia pestis was identified as the causative agent of the current-day pandemic. Only some months ago the MedPlag team conclusively established (Haensch et al. 2010) that this bacterium was responsible for the Black Death (1346-1353 AD) and that two distinct variants of Y. pestis were simultaneously circulating through Europe during this pandemic. These results raise questions concerning the historic Y. pestis strains, their geographical origin, and whether they might have re-circulated in Europe over four centuries or were constantly reintroduced from elsewhere. Other open questions concern the routes of transmission of the medieval plagues and the role played by trade and pilgrimages in their dissemination, the mechanisms of transmission and the implication of wild and anthropochorous fauna, and the interplay between climatic conditions and plague dynamics. In addition, whether the reason for the disappearance of plague from Europe 250 years ago was due to improved hygiene or to genetic or environmental change remains unknown. Finally, while historians and scientists have speculated on the microbe responsible for the Justinian plague (541-542 AD) molecular evidence is still lacking. In this proposal, I outline the methodology by which I will answer these major questions with an inter-domain investigation involving ancient DNA, climatology, ecology, and history. The results of this work will not only settle century-old controversies by giving us valuable information about the past, but also furnish a paradigm for understanding the modality of serious epidemics in Europe; past, present, and future
Project acronym NeuroCogPlasticity
Project Neurocognitive Plasticity – Lifespan Mechanisms of Change
Researcher (PI) Kristine Beate Walhovd
Summary Human brains and cognitive functioning are in a constant flux of change throughout life. The question is: can you decide to what extent your brain and cognition will change, and how? This has enormous implications - it is a question of by which mechanisms humans can adapt to their changing environments with changing minds. And it is a question of how to handle the frequent cognitive problems experienced by especially elderly adults. Research has yielded astonishingly different perspectives on cognitive and brain changes through life. On the one hand, studies point to brain development and aging being under genetic control. On the other hand, there are associations between intellectual and physical experiences and cognitive function across the lifespan, and recent studies show that brain and cognition are improved by targeted cognitive interventions. However, the time course, stability, generalizability and restrictions to training effects on brain and cognition are largely unknown. The aim of this proposal is to uncover mechanisms governing neurocognitive plasticity - its potential, restrictions and time course - in young and old age, and reconcile the apparent contradiction between genetic control and environmental impact. I will study the effects of memory training with repeated Magnetic Resonance Imaging and cognitive tests in a new experimental time-series cross-over design with 200 young (20-30 yrs of age) and 200 elderly (70-80 yrs of age) adults. Neurocognitive changes in controls not training are compared to those in participants undergoing alternate repeated periods of memory training and rest (A-B-A-B) for one year, with a three-year follow up. This will allow me to identify 1) distinct modulators of plastic changes in terms of age, neural integrity, and genotype, 2) the time course of plastic changes in brain and cognition, their stability across short and long time, and 3) the extent of transfer of memory training effects to other cognitive functions.
Human brains and cognitive functioning are in a constant flux of change throughout life. The question is: can you decide to what extent your brain and cognition will change, and how? This has enormous implications - it is a question of by which mechanisms humans can adapt to their changing environments with changing minds. And it is a question of how to handle the frequent cognitive problems experienced by especially elderly adults. Research has yielded astonishingly different perspectives on cognitive and brain changes through life. On the one hand, studies point to brain development and aging being under genetic control. On the other hand, there are associations between intellectual and physical experiences and cognitive function across the lifespan, and recent studies show that brain and cognition are improved by targeted cognitive interventions. However, the time course, stability, generalizability and restrictions to training effects on brain and cognition are largely unknown. The aim of this proposal is to uncover mechanisms governing neurocognitive plasticity - its potential, restrictions and time course - in young and old age, and reconcile the apparent contradiction between genetic control and environmental impact. I will study the effects of memory training with repeated Magnetic Resonance Imaging and cognitive tests in a new experimental time-series cross-over design with 200 young (20-30 yrs of age) and 200 elderly (70-80 yrs of age) adults. Neurocognitive changes in controls not training are compared to those in participants undergoing alternate repeated periods of memory training and rest (A-B-A-B) for one year, with a three-year follow up. This will allow me to identify 1) distinct modulators of plastic changes in terms of age, neural integrity, and genotype, 2) the time course of plastic changes in brain and cognition, their stability across short and long time, and 3) the extent of transfer of memory training effects to other cognitive functions.
Project acronym NEWCONT
Project New Contexts for Old Texts: Unorthodox Texts and Monastic Manuscript Culture in Fourth- and Fifth-Century Egypt
Researcher (PI) Hugo Lundhaug
Summary "Using recently accessible Coptic monastic texts, new philology, and cognitive theories of literature and memory, this project aims to shed important new light on the production and use of some of the most enigmatic manuscripts discovered during the last century, namely the Nag Hammadi codices, together with the highly similar Berlin, Bruce, Askew, and Tchacos codices. This will be done by interpreting the contents of the codices as they are preserved to us in their Coptic versions primarily within the context of fourth- and fifth-century Egyptian monasticism and contemporary Coptic texts. This approach constitutes a decisive shift away from interpretations of the hypothetical Greek originals of this material within hypothetical first, second, or third century contexts all over the Mediterranean world, to a focus on the context of the production and use of the texts as they have been preserved in actual manuscripts. The project will approach the material from a New Philology perspective on manuscript culture, implying a focus on the users and producers of the extant manuscripts, and on textual variants, rewriting, and paratextual features as important clues. From this point of view, the project will also employ cognitive theories of literature and memory in order to illuminate early monastic attitudes towards books, canonicity, and doctrinal diversity in the context of monastic literary practices of copying, writing, memorization, and recitation, and the interfaces between orality and literacy. The project will thus combine new and traditional methodologies within a multi-disciplinary theoretical framework, thus bringing fresh theoretical and historico-philosophical approaches to bear on a traditionally methodologically conservative field of study, and has the potential to radically alter our picture of early Christian monasticism, manuscript culture, and doctrinal diversity."
"Using recently accessible Coptic monastic texts, new philology, and cognitive theories of literature and memory, this project aims to shed important new light on the production and use of some of the most enigmatic manuscripts discovered during the last century, namely the Nag Hammadi codices, together with the highly similar Berlin, Bruce, Askew, and Tchacos codices. This will be done by interpreting the contents of the codices as they are preserved to us in their Coptic versions primarily within the context of fourth- and fifth-century Egyptian monasticism and contemporary Coptic texts. This approach constitutes a decisive shift away from interpretations of the hypothetical Greek originals of this material within hypothetical first, second, or third century contexts all over the Mediterranean world, to a focus on the context of the production and use of the texts as they have been preserved in actual manuscripts. The project will approach the material from a New Philology perspective on manuscript culture, implying a focus on the users and producers of the extant manuscripts, and on textual variants, rewriting, and paratextual features as important clues. From this point of view, the project will also employ cognitive theories of literature and memory in order to illuminate early monastic attitudes towards books, canonicity, and doctrinal diversity in the context of monastic literary practices of copying, writing, memorization, and recitation, and the interfaces between orality and literacy. The project will thus combine new and traditional methodologies within a multi-disciplinary theoretical framework, thus bringing fresh theoretical and historico-philosophical approaches to bear on a traditionally methodologically conservative field of study, and has the potential to radically alter our picture of early Christian monasticism, manuscript culture, and doctrinal diversity."
Project acronym ONOFF
Project Perception of voices that do not exist: Tracking the temporal signatures of auditory hallucinations
Researcher (PI) Jan Kenneth Hugdahl
Summary "One of the most perplexing phenomena of the human mind is the conviction of perceiving a ""voice"" in the absence of an external auditory source. This is called an auditory hallucination (AH), and is the most characteristic symptom of the most severe mental disorder, schizophrenia. Understanding the phenomenology, cognitive, and neurobiological underpinnings of AHs will not only provide new insights for explaining schizophrenia, but will also provide new insights into the ""complexities of the mind"". In my previous research, I have uncovered the neurocognitive markers of the initiation of an AH, focusing on what causes the onset of a hallucinatory episode. The current proposal further narrows the focus, asking a single question; why do AHs spontaneously come-and-go over time, or stated otherwise, why are they not permanently present once initiated? If we believe that the onset of an episode has neurocognitive markers, which all evidence supports, then we must also acknowledge that the offset must have corresponding markers. This question has to my knowledge never been addressed, although it is vital for the understanding of the underlying mechanisms, and for new treatment strategies. I will track the fluctuations of AH episodes in real-time with iPhone app technology, going beyond interview questionnaires. I will track how cognition modulates the onset and offset with an experimental dichotic listening paradigm, going beyond standard tests. I will track what happens in the brain the few seconds before the onset and, in particular the offset of an episode, using component-based fMRI analysis, going beyond ""blobology"". I will track with MR spectroscopy the interaction of excitatory and inhibitory transmitters that are hypothesized to mediate episode onsets and offsets, respectively, going beyond systems imaging. Thus, I will track AH episodes from the clinical to the receptor level, working vertically through a "levels of explanation" model, from higher to lower levels"
"One of the most perplexing phenomena of the human mind is the conviction of perceiving a ""voice"" in the absence of an external auditory source. This is called an auditory hallucination (AH), and is the most characteristic symptom of the most severe mental disorder, schizophrenia. Understanding the phenomenology, cognitive, and neurobiological underpinnings of AHs will not only provide new insights for explaining schizophrenia, but will also provide new insights into the ""complexities of the mind"". In my previous research, I have uncovered the neurocognitive markers of the initiation of an AH, focusing on what causes the onset of a hallucinatory episode. The current proposal further narrows the focus, asking a single question; why do AHs spontaneously come-and-go over time, or stated otherwise, why are they not permanently present once initiated? If we believe that the onset of an episode has neurocognitive markers, which all evidence supports, then we must also acknowledge that the offset must have corresponding markers. This question has to my knowledge never been addressed, although it is vital for the understanding of the underlying mechanisms, and for new treatment strategies. I will track the fluctuations of AH episodes in real-time with iPhone app technology, going beyond interview questionnaires. I will track how cognition modulates the onset and offset with an experimental dichotic listening paradigm, going beyond standard tests. I will track what happens in the brain the few seconds before the onset and, in particular the offset of an episode, using component-based fMRI analysis, going beyond ""blobology"". I will track with MR spectroscopy the interaction of excitatory and inhibitory transmitters that are hypothesized to mediate episode onsets and offsets, respectively, going beyond systems imaging. Thus, I will track AH episodes from the clinical to the receptor level, working vertically through a "levels of explanation" model, from higher to lower levels"
Project acronym OPENFLUX
Project Societal openness, normative flux, and the social modification of heritability
Researcher (PI) Torkild Hovde Lyngstad
Summary In this project, we will use social modifications of heritability as measurement devices for assessing how social conditions shape opportunity structures, and how human potential is either constrained or enabled. Major themes in family demography and social stratification such as equality of opportunity in the age of mass education, changing family structures in the 20th century, development of life courses and careers, and intergenerational transmission processes all motivate an important role for human genetics. Up to recently, little of these efforts have directly engaged with genetic research. A common criticism of genetic methods is that they are silent on social context and environmental interactions. We turn these criticisms into tools, by assessing how genetic effects vary across contexts and environments. First, we study social change across cohorts, as influential theory suggests heritable dispositions will increase in importance when opportunity structures expand or social norms are in flux. We will test these ideas on the recent decades of family and fertility changes, and the expanding opportunity structures in education and labor markets. Second, we ask whether genetic and environmental influences on social stratification and family demographic outcomes change over the life course as the consequences of individual choice and social structures accumulate. Third, we will examine the similarity in outcomes of parents and their offspring from a genetically informed standpoint. A synergy combining state-of-the-art techniques from molecular and behavior genetics with high-quality population register data and strong theorization and measurement of socio-environmental factors from the social sciences is highly innovative cross-fertilization of research that will yield major new insights.
In this project, we will use social modifications of heritability as measurement devices for assessing how social conditions shape opportunity structures, and how human potential is either constrained or enabled. Major themes in family demography and social stratification such as equality of opportunity in the age of mass education, changing family structures in the 20th century, development of life courses and careers, and intergenerational transmission processes all motivate an important role for human genetics. Up to recently, little of these efforts have directly engaged with genetic research. A common criticism of genetic methods is that they are silent on social context and environmental interactions. We turn these criticisms into tools, by assessing how genetic effects vary across contexts and environments. First, we study social change across cohorts, as influential theory suggests heritable dispositions will increase in importance when opportunity structures expand or social norms are in flux. We will test these ideas on the recent decades of family and fertility changes, and the expanding opportunity structures in education and labor markets. Second, we ask whether genetic and environmental influences on social stratification and family demographic outcomes change over the life course as the consequences of individual choice and social structures accumulate. Third, we will examine the similarity in outcomes of parents and their offspring from a genetically informed standpoint. A synergy combining state-of-the-art techniques from molecular and behavior genetics with high-quality population register data and strong theorization and measurement of socio-environmental factors from the social sciences is highly innovative cross-fertilization of research that will yield major new insights.
Project acronym OPIOIDREWARD
Project How distress alters opioid drug effects and abuse liability
Researcher (PI) Siri LEKNES
Summary As the opioid epidemic escalates, we must ask: why are opioids so addictive? Non-human animal research links addiction with the powerful relief opioids can offer to animals in distress. In humans, epidemiological and clinical studies converge upon social stressors and a poor social support network as key risk factors for addiction. Despite this, it is currently unknown how pre-drug distress might alter opioid drug effects. Tremendous resources are dedicated to charting how people feel after taking a drug, sidestepping the potentially profound influence of how people feel before they take the drug. Here, I will turn the current approach on its head. Using acute social distress induction before morphine administration in healthy humans, I will create a human model to determine the psychological, physiological and brain underpinnings of how social stressors increase opioids' abuse liability. First, I will test the hypothesis that pre-drug distress enhances drug wanting (self-administration) but not drug liking (self-report) compared to drug effects in a control condition. Second, I will use opioid blockade to confirm or falsify the hypothesis that opioid drugs 'hijack' brain mechanisms underpinning social support. Third, I will determine to what extent opioid drug effects are dopamine-dependent by blocking dopamine before morphine administration. I will also apply computational modelling and functional imaging to elucidate the underlying brain mechanisms. Thus, the proposal offers a powerful new methodology for resolving hotly debated questions on the independent contributions of opioids and dopamine for reward and abuse liability. In sum, the project aims to achieve a breakthrough in our understanding of how a pre-drug social distress state can alter opioid drug mechanisms. The mechanistic understanding arising from this project could have profound implications for science, as well as for clinical care and new policies designed to contain the opioid epidemic.
As the opioid epidemic escalates, we must ask: why are opioids so addictive? Non-human animal research links addiction with the powerful relief opioids can offer to animals in distress. In humans, epidemiological and clinical studies converge upon social stressors and a poor social support network as key risk factors for addiction. Despite this, it is currently unknown how pre-drug distress might alter opioid drug effects. Tremendous resources are dedicated to charting how people feel after taking a drug, sidestepping the potentially profound influence of how people feel before they take the drug. Here, I will turn the current approach on its head. Using acute social distress induction before morphine administration in healthy humans, I will create a human model to determine the psychological, physiological and brain underpinnings of how social stressors increase opioids' abuse liability. First, I will test the hypothesis that pre-drug distress enhances drug wanting (self-administration) but not drug liking (self-report) compared to drug effects in a control condition. Second, I will use opioid blockade to confirm or falsify the hypothesis that opioid drugs 'hijack' brain mechanisms underpinning social support. Third, I will determine to what extent opioid drug effects are dopamine-dependent by blocking dopamine before morphine administration. I will also apply computational modelling and functional imaging to elucidate the underlying brain mechanisms. Thus, the proposal offers a powerful new methodology for resolving hotly debated questions on the independent contributions of opioids and dopamine for reward and abuse liability. In sum, the project aims to achieve a breakthrough in our understanding of how a pre-drug social distress state can alter opioid drug mechanisms. The mechanistic understanding arising from this project could have profound implications for science, as well as for clinical care and new policies designed to contain the opioid epidemic.
Project acronym OVERHEATING
Project The three crises of globalisation: An anthropological history of the early 21st century
Researcher (PI) Geir Thomas Hylland Eriksen
Summary The research literature on various dimensions of globalisation is enormous, yet this project constitutes the first major attempt to weave disparate empirical strands together within a shared conceptual framework, namely that of crises resulting from the acceleration and intensification of global processes. Three major crises of globalisation are to be explored and analysed. In the realm of environmental issues/climate change, the quest for transnational legal arrangements ensuring sustainability is counteracted by continued growth in the factors leading to environmental crises. In the financial and economic realm, the vulnerability of the global system became apparent during the recent financial crisis, which continues to send ripples through economies worldwide. In the area of culture contact and cultural sustainability, tensions and frictions with strong elements of identity politics intensify owing to increased interaction and resource competition, at the same time as calls for cosmopolitan values and universalisation of human rights constitute attempts to overcome conflicts. A key term is sustainability in the sense of reproductive capability, and the main research question is to what extent contemporary world society is sustainable in relation to the three crises and their internal dialectics. The project will entail in-depth ethnographic studies, global surveys (drawing chiefly on extant research literature) and comparison. It will result in two Ph D dissertations, academic articles (written by postdoctoral fellows) and a major monograph, as well as an edited volume, academic articles and a book for a general audience, all written by the PI. This interdisciplinary and comparative project, based mainly on anthropological approaches, aims to build theory and analyse empirical processes shedding light on, and creating a fuller understanding of, the transitions characterising the present world. The intellectual and societal relevance is potentially huge.
The research literature on various dimensions of globalisation is enormous, yet this project constitutes the first major attempt to weave disparate empirical strands together within a shared conceptual framework, namely that of crises resulting from the acceleration and intensification of global processes. Three major crises of globalisation are to be explored and analysed. In the realm of environmental issues/climate change, the quest for transnational legal arrangements ensuring sustainability is counteracted by continued growth in the factors leading to environmental crises. In the financial and economic realm, the vulnerability of the global system became apparent during the recent financial crisis, which continues to send ripples through economies worldwide. In the area of culture contact and cultural sustainability, tensions and frictions with strong elements of identity politics intensify owing to increased interaction and resource competition, at the same time as calls for cosmopolitan values and universalisation of human rights constitute attempts to overcome conflicts. A key term is sustainability in the sense of reproductive capability, and the main research question is to what extent contemporary world society is sustainable in relation to the three crises and their internal dialectics. The project will entail in-depth ethnographic studies, global surveys (drawing chiefly on extant research literature) and comparison. It will result in two Ph D dissertations, academic articles (written by postdoctoral fellows) and a major monograph, as well as an edited volume, academic articles and a book for a general audience, all written by the PI. This interdisciplinary and comparative project, based mainly on anthropological approaches, aims to build theory and analyse empirical processes shedding light on, and creating a fuller understanding of, the transitions characterising the present world. The intellectual and societal relevance is potentially huge.
Project acronym PPP
Project Plurals, Predicates, and Paradox: Towards a Type-Free Account
Researcher (PI) Øystein Linnebo
Summary This project aims to transform our understanding of the logical paradoxes, their solution and significance for mathematics, philosophy and semantics. It seeks to show that some of the key inferences in the paradoxes should not uncritically be blocked, as is customary, but rather be tamed and put to valuable mathematical, philosophical and semantic use. By adopting a richer logical framework than usual, the paradoxes can be transformed from threats to valuable sources of insight. When discovered at the turn of the previous century, the paradoxes caused a foundational crisis in mathematics. Many logicians and philosophers now believe the crisis has been resolved. This project denies that an acceptable resolution has been found and aims to do better. A strong push remains towards paradox. This push arises from the widespread use of (and need for) higher-order logics (HOL), which allow quantification into the positions of predicates or plural noun phrases. Phase I seeks to reveal greater similarities between HOL and set theory than generally appreciated. Phase II explores four arguments that HOL collapses to first-order logic, i.e. that every higher-order entity defines a corresponding first-order entity. These arguments are generally ignored as they threaten to reintroduce the paradoxes. But we show that a properly circumscribed form of collapse is a valuable source of mathematical and semantic insight. Phase III examines controlled forms of collapse using notions of modality and groundedness. This enables us to motivate ZF set theory and valuable semantic theories, explain the nature of cognition about sets and properties, and show that mathematics cannot be fully extensionalized. Phase IV applies these insights to solve the paradoxes and criticize influential uses of HOL.
This project aims to transform our understanding of the logical paradoxes, their solution and significance for mathematics, philosophy and semantics. It seeks to show that some of the key inferences in the paradoxes should not uncritically be blocked, as is customary, but rather be tamed and put to valuable mathematical, philosophical and semantic use. By adopting a richer logical framework than usual, the paradoxes can be transformed from threats to valuable sources of insight. When discovered at the turn of the previous century, the paradoxes caused a foundational crisis in mathematics. Many logicians and philosophers now believe the crisis has been resolved. This project denies that an acceptable resolution has been found and aims to do better. A strong push remains towards paradox. This push arises from the widespread use of (and need for) higher-order logics (HOL), which allow quantification into the positions of predicates or plural noun phrases. Phase I seeks to reveal greater similarities between HOL and set theory than generally appreciated. Phase II explores four arguments that HOL collapses to first-order logic, i.e. that every higher-order entity defines a corresponding first-order entity. These arguments are generally ignored as they threaten to reintroduce the paradoxes. But we show that a properly circumscribed form of collapse is a valuable source of mathematical and semantic insight. Phase III examines controlled forms of collapse using notions of modality and groundedness. This enables us to motivate ZF set theory and valuable semantic theories, explain the nature of cognition about sets and properties, and show that mathematics cannot be fully extensionalized. Phase IV applies these insights to solve the paradoxes and criticize influential uses of HOL.
Project acronym Set-to-change
Project Set to change: early life factors restricting and promoting neurocognitive plasticity through life
Researcher (PI) Kristine WALHOVD
Summary Cognitive function in old age can be predicted from how you functioned when you were young. This is remarkable, as there are substantial cognitive age changes. Are we neurodevelopmentally set to change through life in certain ways? The objective of Set-to-change is to test whether and how early life environmental factors and genetic makeup interact to regulate neurocognitive plasticity through the lifespan. Neurocognitive plasticity; i.e. changes in brain and cognition in response to environmental demands over time, shows huge individual variability, for unknown reasons. Neurodevelopmental origins of functional variation through the lifespan are acknowledged, but the pathways need to be identified. As individual constitution and environment are intrinsically correlated, to make progress beyond state of the art, this can only be tested in an experimental setting. The novelty and ground-breaking nature of the project lies in the synthesis of a targeted experimental approach testing differences in neurocognitive plasticity by training of younger and older adult mono- (MZ) and dizygotic twins (total n = 400 individuals), with varying degrees of prenatal environmental variance, as indexed by their extent of discordance in birth weight (BW). BW discordance in MZ twins enables me to disentangle early environmental and genetic influences on neurocognitive plasticity. I will employ a novel ecologically valid memory intervention utilizing navigation with true locomotion and prospective memory in virtual reality. Twins will be assessed with brain MRI, cognitive, health and epigenetic measures at multiple time points spread across 2.5 years pre- and post- 3 months intervention in a AB/BA crossover design, to investigate neurocognitive plasticity and age change longitudinally, as well as possible lifestyle and epigenetic mediators. I hypothesize that early life environmental influences will interact with genetic makeup in determining neurocognitive plasticity in adulthood.
Cognitive function in old age can be predicted from how you functioned when you were young. This is remarkable, as there are substantial cognitive age changes. Are we neurodevelopmentally set to change through life in certain ways? The objective of Set-to-change is to test whether and how early life environmental factors and genetic makeup interact to regulate neurocognitive plasticity through the lifespan. Neurocognitive plasticity; i.e. changes in brain and cognition in response to environmental demands over time, shows huge individual variability, for unknown reasons. Neurodevelopmental origins of functional variation through the lifespan are acknowledged, but the pathways need to be identified. As individual constitution and environment are intrinsically correlated, to make progress beyond state of the art, this can only be tested in an experimental setting. The novelty and ground-breaking nature of the project lies in the synthesis of a targeted experimental approach testing differences in neurocognitive plasticity by training of younger and older adult mono- (MZ) and dizygotic twins (total n = 400 individuals), with varying degrees of prenatal environmental variance, as indexed by their extent of discordance in birth weight (BW). BW discordance in MZ twins enables me to disentangle early environmental and genetic influences on neurocognitive plasticity. I will employ a novel ecologically valid memory intervention utilizing navigation with true locomotion and prospective memory in virtual reality. Twins will be assessed with brain MRI, cognitive, health and epigenetic measures at multiple time points spread across 2.5 years pre- and post- 3 months intervention in a AB/BA crossover design, to investigate neurocognitive plasticity and age change longitudinally, as well as possible lifestyle and epigenetic mediators. I hypothesize that early life environmental influences will interact with genetic makeup in determining neurocognitive plasticity in adulthood.
Project acronym TerrACE
Project Terrace Archaeology and Culture in Europe
Researcher (PI) Antony BROWN
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITETET I TROMSOE - NORGES ARKTISKE UNIVERSITET
Summary Large areas of agricultural terracing have been abandoned and are being destroyed in Europe. TerrACE will develop a transferrable methodology of archaeological protocols for understanding the creation, maintenance and use of terraces over the longue durée, thereby informing strategies for the sustainable management of these environmental-fragility hotspots. Terraces and lynchets are hallmarks of complex Prehistoric to Post-Medieval societies and were critical for the sustainability of many European societies (including the Greeks & Romans). However, we typically know less about them than any other archaeological site type, although they were one of the first transformations of natural into cultural landscapes, which in many cases persisted to the 20th century. Key archaeological questions are: how old are terrace systems, how were they used, did they reduce soil erosion and are they carbon sinks? The answers to these questions have high relevance in Europe today as terraces can combine high yields with decreased erosion and fire risk, whilst increasing social resilience and food security in the face of environmental change. TerrACE will be a step-change in our archaeological approach by integrating a raft of new and innovative scientific techniques through an exemplary study of the creation, operation and abandonment of terraced landscapes on a N-S climatic transect of well-known/excavated terraces across Europe. TerrACE has 5 objectives; 1) improving terrace-landscape mapping, 2) multiple dating typical terrace systems, 3) determining history of use and management, 4) understanding the role of terraces in carbon storage, and 5) outreach to promote terraces as part of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Landscapes (UNESCO GIAHS). TerrACE is only now feasible due to the development of techniques including LiDAR, direct sediment dating, palaeoenvironmental proxies, soil carbon modelling and the innovatory use of ancient DNA on terrace palaeosols.
Large areas of agricultural terracing have been abandoned and are being destroyed in Europe. TerrACE will develop a transferrable methodology of archaeological protocols for understanding the creation, maintenance and use of terraces over the longue durée, thereby informing strategies for the sustainable management of these environmental-fragility hotspots. Terraces and lynchets are hallmarks of complex Prehistoric to Post-Medieval societies and were critical for the sustainability of many European societies (including the Greeks & Romans). However, we typically know less about them than any other archaeological site type, although they were one of the first transformations of natural into cultural landscapes, which in many cases persisted to the 20th century. Key archaeological questions are: how old are terrace systems, how were they used, did they reduce soil erosion and are they carbon sinks? The answers to these questions have high relevance in Europe today as terraces can combine high yields with decreased erosion and fire risk, whilst increasing social resilience and food security in the face of environmental change. TerrACE will be a step-change in our archaeological approach by integrating a raft of new and innovative scientific techniques through an exemplary study of the creation, operation and abandonment of terraced landscapes on a N-S climatic transect of well-known/excavated terraces across Europe. TerrACE has 5 objectives; 1) improving terrace-landscape mapping, 2) multiple dating typical terrace systems, 3) determining history of use and management, 4) understanding the role of terraces in carbon storage, and 5) outreach to promote terraces as part of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Landscapes (UNESCO GIAHS). TerrACE is only now feasible due to the development of techniques including LiDAR, direct sediment dating, palaeoenvironmental proxies, soil carbon modelling and the innovatory use of ancient DNA on terrace palaeosols.
Project acronym TRACSYMBOLS
Project Tracing the evolution of symbolically mediated behaviours within variable environments in Europe and southern Africa
Researcher (PI) Christopher Stuart Henshilwood
Summary The aim of TRACSYMBOLS is to examine how key behavioural innovations emerged among Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis in southern Africa and Europe respectively, and explore whether and how environmental variability influenced this development between 180 25 ka [Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 6 31. To achieve this goal the PI will develop a new research team that for the first time will combine archaeological results, original multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental data, and state-of-the-art climatic simulations for two continents. A dedicated biocomputational algorithm will be applied to this body of data to test the hypothesis that key cultural developments and discontinuities associated with early H. sapiens and Neanderthals were affected by climate. To achieve this goal we will: " Conduct new archaeological excavations at two MSA sites in De Hoop Nature Reserve, southern Cape located in an area associated with the earliest development of H. sapiens behaviour and in the promising >100 ka MSA levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa; " Apply innovative methods to the analysis of early symbolic and complex material culture of H. sapiens and Neanderthals, including abstract engravings, pigments, personal ornaments and stylised bone tools; " Reconstruct climate, vegetation, and fire regime changes in Europe and southern Africa for each species by combining the analysis of multiple proxies from marine and terrestrial archives with high resolution palaeoclimatic simulations; " Incorporate archaeological and palaeoclimatic data into a novel bio-computational architecture (Genetic Algorithm for Rule Set Prediction: GARP) that allows for the reconstruction, quantification and comparison of the ecological niches exploited by human populations within each climatic phase.
The aim of TRACSYMBOLS is to examine how key behavioural innovations emerged among Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis in southern Africa and Europe respectively, and explore whether and how environmental variability influenced this development between 180 25 ka [Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 6 31. To achieve this goal the PI will develop a new research team that for the first time will combine archaeological results, original multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental data, and state-of-the-art climatic simulations for two continents. A dedicated biocomputational algorithm will be applied to this body of data to test the hypothesis that key cultural developments and discontinuities associated with early H. sapiens and Neanderthals were affected by climate. To achieve this goal we will: " Conduct new archaeological excavations at two MSA sites in De Hoop Nature Reserve, southern Cape located in an area associated with the earliest development of H. sapiens behaviour and in the promising >100 ka MSA levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa; " Apply innovative methods to the analysis of early symbolic and complex material culture of H. sapiens and Neanderthals, including abstract engravings, pigments, personal ornaments and stylised bone tools; " Reconstruct climate, vegetation, and fire regime changes in Europe and southern Africa for each species by combining the analysis of multiple proxies from marine and terrestrial archives with high resolution palaeoclimatic simulations; " Incorporate archaeological and palaeoclimatic data into a novel bio-computational architecture (Genetic Algorithm for Rule Set Prediction: GARP) that allows for the reconstruction, quantification and comparison of the ecological niches exploited by human populations within each climatic phase.
Project acronym TransOcean
Project Transoceanic Fishers: Multiple mobilities in and out of the South China Sea
Researcher (PI) Edyta Roszko
Host Institution (HI) CHR MICHELSENS INSTITUTT FOR VIDENSKAP OG ANDSFRIHET STIFTELSE
Summary In recent years, China's and Vietnam's militarized and subsidized fishing fleets have begun to shift their radical marine harvesting techniques, and accompanying trade, from the South China Sea to Africa and Oceania. Scholarly analysis has largely assumed that fishers are instruments of their states' geopolitical agendas, responding to regulations and incentives. This both obscures the actual motivations and modalities of fishers' expansion of their fishing grounds and downplays the transoceanic networks connecting different fishers beyond state territories and localized fishing grounds in past and present. Charting this spike in maritime trespass, TransOcean will analyze and theorize how individuals and groups of fishers move in and out of legal and illegal, state and non-state categories of fisher, poacher, trader and smuggler, and how the emergent mobilities of Asian fishers interact and collide with those of Pacific and African fishers. Deploying the innovative concept of relational and shifting multiple mobilities and employing thalassographic analysis, TransOcean develops a novel theoretical and methodological framework of fishers as mobile maritime actors who exploit their multiple occupations, incomes and networks to pursue transoceanic expansion. TransOcean studies, for the first time, diverse groups of interconnected fishers outside of territorially bounded fisheries and area studies, by analyzing mobilities beyond sea-borne migration or diasporic settlement. Though multi-scalar and globally oriented TransOcean remains firmly rooted in fine-grained ethnography, with a focus on Vietnamese and Chinese and African and Pacific fishers in specific on-shore nodal points, connected by the growing Sino-Vietnamese demand for illicit seafood. Thus, TransOcean breaks new methodological and theoretical ground for tackling intractable marine problems of significant scientific and policy value.
In recent years, China's and Vietnam's militarized and subsidized fishing fleets have begun to shift their radical marine harvesting techniques, and accompanying trade, from the South China Sea to Africa and Oceania. Scholarly analysis has largely assumed that fishers are instruments of their states' geopolitical agendas, responding to regulations and incentives. This both obscures the actual motivations and modalities of fishers' expansion of their fishing grounds and downplays the transoceanic networks connecting different fishers beyond state territories and localized fishing grounds in past and present. Charting this spike in maritime trespass, TransOcean will analyze and theorize how individuals and groups of fishers move in and out of legal and illegal, state and non-state categories of fisher, poacher, trader and smuggler, and how the emergent mobilities of Asian fishers interact and collide with those of Pacific and African fishers. Deploying the innovative concept of relational and shifting multiple mobilities and employing thalassographic analysis, TransOcean develops a novel theoretical and methodological framework of fishers as mobile maritime actors who exploit their multiple occupations, incomes and networks to pursue transoceanic expansion. TransOcean studies, for the first time, diverse groups of interconnected fishers outside of territorially bounded fisheries and area studies, by analyzing mobilities beyond sea-borne migration or diasporic settlement. Though multi-scalar and globally oriented TransOcean remains firmly rooted in fine-grained ethnography, with a focus on Vietnamese and Chinese and African and Pacific fishers in specific on-shore nodal points, connected by the growing Sino-Vietnamese demand for illicit seafood. Thus, TransOcean breaks new methodological and theoretical ground for tackling intractable marine problems of significant scientific and policy value.
Project acronym UNIVERSAL HEALTH
Project Engaged Universals: Ethnographic explorations of 'Universal Health Coverage' and the public good in Africa
Researcher (PI) Ruth Jane Prince
Summary UNIVERSAL HEALTH is an anthropological study that follows how a new global policy, Universal Health Coverage (UHC), travels and is engaged by policy-makers, bureaucrats and citizens in three African countries. Defined by the WHO as ensuring that all people can use the health services they need without financial hardship, UHC is a powerful concept that approaches public health as a matter of justice and obligation and is included in the Sustainable Development Goals. UHC is particularly important in Africa, where structural-adjustment policies undermined state capacity, promoted privatization and pushed the burden of payment onto the poor. Recent global health initiatives have done little to address the neglect of national health-care systems and citizens' lack of trust in them. In these contexts UHC is interesting because it reinserts questions of state responsibility and the public good into health-care. Historically however, African states have only partially pursued the public good, while in practice UHC is surrounding by conflicting interests. UHC is thus not a universal model but a contested field, making it an intriguing site for anthropological research. With a focus on actors and institutions at global, national and local levels in each country, the project will explore how moves towards UHC engage relations between states and citizens and universal concepts such as the public good; how UHC intersects with formal systems of social protection; and how it influences informal social networks that support health, thus situating UHC in national histories and social practices. Tracking the frictions surrounding UHC at the levels of policy-making, implementation, among beneficiaries, and in public debate, the project will use ethnographic methodology in innovative ways through fieldwork that is multi-sited and multi-level. The project's focus on a global policy and the public good opens new research directions and will produce knowledge of relevance beyond Africa.
UNIVERSAL HEALTH is an anthropological study that follows how a new global policy, Universal Health Coverage (UHC), travels and is engaged by policy-makers, bureaucrats and citizens in three African countries. Defined by the WHO as ensuring that all people can use the health services they need without financial hardship, UHC is a powerful concept that approaches public health as a matter of justice and obligation and is included in the Sustainable Development Goals. UHC is particularly important in Africa, where structural-adjustment policies undermined state capacity, promoted privatization and pushed the burden of payment onto the poor. Recent global health initiatives have done little to address the neglect of national health-care systems and citizens' lack of trust in them. In these contexts UHC is interesting because it reinserts questions of state responsibility and the public good into health-care. Historically however, African states have only partially pursued the public good, while in practice UHC is surrounding by conflicting interests. UHC is thus not a universal model but a contested field, making it an intriguing site for anthropological research. With a focus on actors and institutions at global, national and local levels in each country, the project will explore how moves towards UHC engage relations between states and citizens and universal concepts such as the public good; how UHC intersects with formal systems of social protection; and how it influences informal social networks that support health, thus situating UHC in national histories and social practices. Tracking the frictions surrounding UHC at the levels of policy-making, implementation, among beneficiaries, and in public debate, the project will use ethnographic methodology in innovative ways through fieldwork that is multi-sited and multi-level. The project's focus on a global policy and the public good opens new research directions and will produce knowledge of relevance beyond Africa.
Project acronym VALURED
Project Value Judgments and Redistribution Policies
Researcher (PI) Paolo Giovanni PIACQUADIO
Summary Heterogeneity and diversity are a pervasive aspect of modern societies. Differences in individuals' preferences, needs, skills, and information are key to explain variation in individuals' behavior and to anticipate individuals' responses to policy changes. There is no consensus, however, about how to take these differences into account when evaluating policies. Project VALURED will reexamine this ethical challenge by characterizing the mapping between value judgments—i.e. principles of distributive justice—and redistribution policies. This mapping is tremendously important for welfare analysis and policy design. First, it associates the most desirable policy to each set of value judgments, providing an "ethical menu" to policy design. Second, it gives an ethical identity of each policy proposal, that is, it identifies the value judgments a policymaker endorses when proposing a specific policy. The main objectives of VALURED are to: 1) identify transparent and compelling value judgments that accommodate heterogeneity and diversity; 2) show the implications of these value judgments for the evaluation and design of redistribution policies; 3) characterize welfare criteria that respect individuals' preferences and account for individuals' differences in needs, skills, and information; 4) provide new insights for the design of income, capital, and inheritance taxation; 5) develop simple formulas that express optimal policies as a function of observable heterogeneity and ethical parameters. Project VALURED combines welfare economics with public economics. The first part deals with income taxation and addresses the ethical challenges related to individuals' heterogeneity in preferences, needs, and skills. The second part focuses on capital taxation and addresses individuals' differences in risk preferences and information. The third part analyses the design of inheritance taxation and addresses the social concerns for intergenerational and intragenerational equity.
Heterogeneity and diversity are a pervasive aspect of modern societies. Differences in individuals' preferences, needs, skills, and information are key to explain variation in individuals' behavior and to anticipate individuals' responses to policy changes. There is no consensus, however, about how to take these differences into account when evaluating policies. Project VALURED will reexamine this ethical challenge by characterizing the mapping between value judgments—i.e. principles of distributive justice—and redistribution policies. This mapping is tremendously important for welfare analysis and policy design. First, it associates the most desirable policy to each set of value judgments, providing an "ethical menu" to policy design. Second, it gives an ethical identity of each policy proposal, that is, it identifies the value judgments a policymaker endorses when proposing a specific policy. The main objectives of VALURED are to: 1) identify transparent and compelling value judgments that accommodate heterogeneity and diversity; 2) show the implications of these value judgments for the evaluation and design of redistribution policies; 3) characterize welfare criteria that respect individuals' preferences and account for individuals' differences in needs, skills, and information; 4) provide new insights for the design of income, capital, and inheritance taxation; 5) develop simple formulas that express optimal policies as a function of observable heterogeneity and ethical parameters. Project VALURED combines welfare economics with public economics. The first part deals with income taxation and addresses the ethical challenges related to individuals' heterogeneity in preferences, needs, and skills. The second part focuses on capital taxation and addresses individuals' differences in risk preferences and information. The third part analyses the design of inheritance taxation and addresses the social concerns for intergenerational and intragenerational equity.
Project acronym VOICE
Project """Hearing voices"" - From cognition to brain systems"
Researcher (PI) Kenneth Hugdahl
Summary The experience of "hearing voices", i. e. auditory hallucinations in the absence of an external acoustic input is a perplexing phenomenon. In addition to being a defining characteristic of schizophrenia, experiences of "hearing voices" may be more common in the general population than what we normally think, which poses a theoretical challenge from a neuropsychological point of view. The overall goal is to track auditory hallucinations from the cognitive (phenomenological) to the neuronal (brain systems and synaptic) levels of explanation, by drawing on my previous research on hemispheric asymmetry and attention-modulation of dichotic listening and functional neuroimaging. I now suggest a new model for explaining "hearing voices" in patients and in healthy individuals. From the phenomenology of what patients and healthy individuals "hearing voices" actually report led me to question current models and theories that auditory hallucinations are "inner speech" or "traumatic memories". Since both patients and healthy individuals "hearing voices" subjectively report experiencing someone "speaking to them" it seems that a perceptual model would better fit the actual phenomenology. A perceptual model can however not explain why patients and healthy individuals differ in the way they cope with and interpret the "voice". An expanded model is therefore advanced that sees auditory hallucinations as a break-down of the dynamic interplay between bottom-up (perceptual) and top-down (inhibitory control) cognitive processes. It is suggested that while both groups show deficient perceptual processing, the patients in addition have impaired inhibitory control functions which prevents them from interpreting the "voices" as coming from inner thought processes. A series of experiments are proposed to test the model.
The experience of "hearing voices", i. e. auditory hallucinations in the absence of an external acoustic input is a perplexing phenomenon. In addition to being a defining characteristic of schizophrenia, experiences of "hearing voices" may be more common in the general population than what we normally think, which poses a theoretical challenge from a neuropsychological point of view. The overall goal is to track auditory hallucinations from the cognitive (phenomenological) to the neuronal (brain systems and synaptic) levels of explanation, by drawing on my previous research on hemispheric asymmetry and attention-modulation of dichotic listening and functional neuroimaging. I now suggest a new model for explaining "hearing voices" in patients and in healthy individuals. From the phenomenology of what patients and healthy individuals "hearing voices" actually report led me to question current models and theories that auditory hallucinations are "inner speech" or "traumatic memories". Since both patients and healthy individuals "hearing voices" subjectively report experiencing someone "speaking to them" it seems that a perceptual model would better fit the actual phenomenology. A perceptual model can however not explain why patients and healthy individuals differ in the way they cope with and interpret the "voice". An expanded model is therefore advanced that sees auditory hallucinations as a break-down of the dynamic interplay between bottom-up (perceptual) and top-down (inhibitory control) cognitive processes. It is suggested that while both groups show deficient perceptual processing, the patients in addition have impaired inhibitory control functions which prevents them from interpreting the "voices" as coming from inner thought processes. A series of experiments are proposed to test the model.
Project acronym WhoP
Project Whales of Power: Aquatic Mammals, Devotional Practices, and Environmental Change in Maritime East Asia
Researcher (PI) Aike Peter ROTS
Summary In various parts of East Asia, aquatic mammals are associated with divine power, and serve as objects of devotion. In south and central Vietnam, cetaceans are worshipped as life-saving deities. In some Japanese coastal areas, the spirits of whales are venerated during ritual ceremonies. In China, Cambodia and the Ryukyu Islands, aquatic mammals have all been associated with water deities. These animals continue to carry significant symbolic capital today – if no longer as gods, at least as local "heritage" and symbols of nature conservation, acquiring new meanings in the context of secularisation, (forced) displacement, and environmental degradation. Whales of Power is concerned with the comparative study of human-cetacean relations in maritime East Asia, as expressed in popular worship practices and beliefs. We will examine several of these traditions in different parts of the region, through a combination of historical and ethnographic research. Our main hypothesis is that changes in local worship traditions reflect changes in human-nature relations, which are caused by wider social, economic and environmental developments. Thus, marine mammals and associated worship practices serve as a prism, through which we approach human responses to socio-economic and environmental change in Asian coastal communities. The innovative character of Whales of Power lies in the ways in which it combines state-of-the-art theoretical approaches from different disciplinary backgrounds in order to reach new understandings of the ways in which human-nature-god relations reflect social and environmental changes. It has three important theoretical objectives: 1) apply recent theoretical developments associated with "environmental humanities" to the comparative study of popular religion; 2) reconsider the role of local worship traditions in the Asian Secular Age, examining the new meanings attributed to ritual practices; and 3) establish a new comparative paradigm in Asian studies.
In various parts of East Asia, aquatic mammals are associated with divine power, and serve as objects of devotion. In south and central Vietnam, cetaceans are worshipped as life-saving deities. In some Japanese coastal areas, the spirits of whales are venerated during ritual ceremonies. In China, Cambodia and the Ryukyu Islands, aquatic mammals have all been associated with water deities. These animals continue to carry significant symbolic capital today – if no longer as gods, at least as local "heritage" and symbols of nature conservation, acquiring new meanings in the context of secularisation, (forced) displacement, and environmental degradation. Whales of Power is concerned with the comparative study of human-cetacean relations in maritime East Asia, as expressed in popular worship practices and beliefs. We will examine several of these traditions in different parts of the region, through a combination of historical and ethnographic research. Our main hypothesis is that changes in local worship traditions reflect changes in human-nature relations, which are caused by wider social, economic and environmental developments. Thus, marine mammals and associated worship practices serve as a prism, through which we approach human responses to socio-economic and environmental change in Asian coastal communities. The innovative character of Whales of Power lies in the ways in which it combines state-of-the-art theoretical approaches from different disciplinary backgrounds in order to reach new understandings of the ways in which human-nature-god relations reflect social and environmental changes. It has three important theoretical objectives: 1) apply recent theoretical developments associated with "environmental humanities" to the comparative study of popular religion; 2) reconsider the role of local worship traditions in the Asian Secular Age, examining the new meanings attributed to ritual practices; and 3) establish a new comparative paradigm in Asian studies.