When listening to speech sounds, for example during a conversation, our brain first tries to isolate the attended speech from other sound sources, and to track its dynamics. This is not an easy task, as the rhythms of speech are multiple and intricately linked (e.g. the rate of phonemes, syllables or words in an utterance). How do we successfully track and comprehend speech in naturalistic situations? The current hypothesis is that the human brain entrains to slow temporal modulations of speech running at about 3-4 Hz (cycles per second). However, this approach is not sufficient to capture the dynamics of spontaneous speech, as speech rhythms are highly irregular due silences, breaks and restarts, and highly variable across speakers, speaking styles and language characteristics. The overarching research hypothesis of this proposal is that speech rhythm perception by the human brain is far from a one-to-one association between particular modulation frequency in the speech signal and linguistic units: the rhythmic patterns that give rise to the perception of a sequence of phonemes, syllables or words show in fact a very large variability across stimuli (lack of invariance problem). Hence, in this project we challenge the assumption that there exists a special rhythm within a narrow frequency range for entraining to spoken human languages, and propose instead a novel theoretical and experimental framework to capture: 1) the mechanisms by which slow temporal modulations in speech change at an individual participant level; 2) the effect of language-specific temporal characteristics on speech dynamics, using French as an example of syllable-timed language, and German as an example of stress-timed language; 3) how the human brain tracks and encodes such dynamics, including interruptions. The project's three main lines of research feed into one another, and provide a cohesive and timed workflow. At the border between speech signal processing, psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics, the output of the DRhyaDS project has the potential to profoundly change both the theoretical tenets of speech perception, and the best practices in spontaneous speech analysis. For this to be possible, the high complementarity of expertise within the Franco-German consortium - cutting-edge psychophysics from the French side and novel neural data analyses from the German side -, as well as the possibility of directly testing native speakers of both French and German languages at each stage of the project, are of the essence.

The proposed project “Readiness of ICOS for Necessities of integrated Global Observations” (RINGO) aims to further development of ICOS RI and ICOS ERIC and foster its sustainability. The challenges are to further develop the readiness of ICOS RI along five principal objectives: 1. Scientific readiness. To support the further consolidation of the observational networks and enhance their quality. This objective is mainly science-guided and will increase the readiness of ICOS RI to be the European pillar in a global observation system on greenhouse gases. 2. Geographical readiness. To enhance ICOS membership and sustainability by supporting interested countries to build a national consortium, to promote ICOS towards the national stakeholders, to receive consultancy e.g. on possibilities to use EU structural fund to build the infrastructure for ICOS observations and also to receive training to improve the readiness of the scientists to work inside ICOS. 3. Technological readiness. To further develop and standardize technologies for greenhouse gas observations necessary to foster new knowledge demands and to account for and contribute to technological advances. 4. Data readiness. To improve data streams towards different user groups, adapting to the developing and dynamic (web) standards. 5. Political and administrative readiness. To deepen the global cooperation of observational infrastructures and with that the common societal impact. Impact is expected on the further development and sustainability of ICOS via scientific, technical and managerial progress and by deepening the integration into global observation and data integration systems.

Dandelion will promote the work done by inclusive, innovative and reflective societies’ projects on a local, regional and European level by developing and implementing a series of innovative and exciting communications activities aiming to inform, educate and entertain a wide cross section of the European population, policy makers, academics and media. By placing European economic and financial reform, the problems young people face in Europe, cultural heritage, European values and diversities, the EU's role as a global actor and the new forms of public sector innovation at the heart of these activities, by involving established science educators, by creating clear lines of communication between projects and named mass media and by utilising novel communications, Dandelion will ensure that inclusive, innovative and reflective societies’ ambitious philosophy is given the highest profile. By giving tools and guidelines to the dissemination managers towards general public, policy makers, academia and media Dandelion will guarantee an improved access to research projects’ data in the future.