Of all the technical and scientific developments that made possible the early modern maritime expansion, the nautical chart is perhaps the least studied and understood. This fact is very surprising as it was through those charts that the newly discovered world was first shown to the amazed eyes of the European nations. Although the History of Cartography is a well-established academic discipline and old charts have been examined for many years, their detailed technical study is still in its infancy. What is the origin of the pre-Mercator nautical chart, how charts evolved technically over time and how they were used at sea are all critical questions that remain to be answered. I intend to approach these challenges in a truly interdisciplinary way, by using innovative and powerful tools as a complement to the traditional methods of historical research: analytical cartometric methods, numerical modelling and the examination of the manuscripts through special lighting. By applying these tools to a large sample of charts of various periods and origins, I aim to unveil hidden graphic content related to their construction and use, to characterize their main geometric features, to establish meaningful connections with contemporary navigational methods and exploration missions, and to numerically simulate their construction by taking into account the explanations given in the textual sources. The effectiveness of those techniques has already been demonstrated in my previous studies, such as in the solution of an historical enigma which had been alive for more than a century: the construction of the Mercator projection, in 1569. Now, I propose to handle a broader and more complex set of questions, which has eluded the historians of cartography for even a longer period. The clarification of these issues will have a ground-breaking impact, not only in the strict field of the History of Cartography, but also in the context of the intellectual history at large.

FIERCE aims at providing the long-needed step forward to tackle the challenges of stellar activity on the search for Exoearths. The detection and characterisation of other Earths, planets with the physical conditions to hold liquid water and thus potential life-sustaining environments, is a bold objective of present day astrophysics. This goal continuously pushes the development of new ground- and space-based instrumentation. However, the quest for other Earths is severely limited by astrophysical ``noise'' from the host stars, whose signatures distort the spectra that are used to detect and characterise them. Existing methods usually circumvent the problem without a detailed understanding of the individual sources of variability. This is insufficient to reach the required precision levels. To enable the full scientific success of major exoplanet research facilities a new approach is clearly needed. With FIERCE, the PI will employ his competitive team, together with the strong participation in cutting-edge ESO and ESA projects and missions, to break through in this obstacle. The ultimate goal is to i) develop novel approaches to identify, model, and correct stellar spurious signals in radial velocity measurements down to 10 cm/s, and ii) obtain a comprehensive understanding of the impact of stellar granulation and activity on the detection of exoplanet atmospheres. To this end, FIERCE will approach the problem of stellar ``noise'' from a whole new angle, building a dedicated facility, the Paranal solar Espresso Telescope (PoET). PoET will connect to the recently commissioned ESPRESSO spectrograph and, using the Sun as a proxy, allow to unambiguously identify and understand the sources of relevant variability in solar-type stars. Ambitious, timely, and feasible, this project will provide crucial information for the success of present and future major efforts aiming at detecting and characterising other Earths.

Critical raw materials (CRMs) are fundamental to the EU industrial value chains and strategic sectors, particularly with regard to the green energy transition. Currently, the EU domestic supply of primary CRMs is below 3% for many important commodities. To obtain an improved understanding of the EU?s critical raw materials potential, discover new ore deposits and thereby increase the internal sourcing of CRMs and secure its raw materials autonomy, the EU aims to boost the exploration and production of CRMs. Orthomagmatic mineral systems host important green transition (critical) raw materials (GTRM) including Ni, Cu, Co, V, Ti, Cr and platinum-group elements (PGE). There are currently only 2 mines in operation producing these metals in the EU, though there is potential for additional mines in several EU countries. This project is designed to develop socially and environmentally sustainable means of exploration for orthomagmatic CRMs. We will apply, for the first time in the EU, the Mineral Systems Approach to guide exploration for orthomagmatic CRMs. We will thereby generate improved ore models for orthomagmatic mineral deposits which will be translated to mappable exploration criteria to delineate areas of high exploration potential, from regional scale to local scale. Through collaboration between geosciences and social sciences the project will also develop methods to promote social awareness of the importance of responsible exploration and mining. Further, we will map the exploration and production potential of CRM in the EU and key CRM supplier countries. Our research will be conducted at five reference sites in Finland, Portugal, Poland and the Czech Republic representing different geological, social and environmental conditions. The ultimate goal is to promote responsible sourcing of CRMs in the EU and diversify the supply from third countries, thereby securing the continued supply of CRMs for EU industries.

Existing measurements of equipment and building energy use paint a bleak image: real-life energy consumption often exceeds design predictions by more than 100%. As a result, reducing the gap between designed and measured energy use has become central in current efforts to increase energy efficiency. After the successful introduction of building energy performance certificates, the market is now ready for an assessment of real-life energy use that includes all energy consuming equipment in a given building. With this evolution comes the possibility of optimizing energy performance of the whole building and its energy consuming equipment. The SATO project tackles this challenge by (1) Creating a new energy self-assessment and optimization SATO platform that integrates all energy consuming equipment and devices in the building; (2) Developing and integrating into the SATO platform a self-assessment framework (SAF) that uses data analysis and machine learning to report energy performance, building behaviour, occupancy and equipment faults. This framework is aligned with the structure of the smart readiness indicator (SRI); (3) Developing a BIM-based interface for aggregated and disaggregated analysis and visualization of the assessments in the various applicable scales and defining locations and specifications of energy consuming equipment, sensors and actuators into a BIM building model; (4) Develop and demonstrate energy management services that use the SATO platform and show how the self-assessment and optimization contributes to lower energy consumption, increased energy flexibility, efficiency and user satisfaction.

HARIA re-defines the nature of physical human-robot interaction (HRI), laying the foundations of a new research field, i.e., human sensorimotor augmentation, whose constitutive elements are: i) AI-powered wearable and grounded supernumerary robotic limbs and wearable sensorimotor interfaces; ii) methods for augmentation enabling users to directly control and feel the extra limbs exploiting the redundancy of the human sensorimotor system through wearable interfaces; iii) clear target populations, i.e., chronic stroke and spinal cord injured individuals, and real-world application scenarios to demonstrate the extraordinary value of the paradigm shift that HARIA represents in HRI and the great impact on the motivation to re-use the paretic arm(s), with consequent improvement of the quality of life. Supernumerary limbs will be partially controlled by artificial intelligence, and partially under the direct control of the human who gains the agency of some motion parameters of the supernumerary limbs. From the control point of view, it is fundamental to find the right trade-off between motion task parameters that are controlled by the user, and the level of robot autonomy. This interplay is enabled by the wearable sensorimotor interface that establishes a connection between the human sensorimotor system and the system of actuators and sensors of the robot, allowing reciprocal awareness, trustworthiness and mutual understanding. HARIA finds its natural application in assisting people with uni- or bi-lateral upper limbs chronic motor disabilities. Technology and methodology developments will follow a user-centered design approach, as only patients with disabilities are fully aware of their real (still unmet) needs in real life activities. This project will also go beyond the application to health, starting a new era of intuitive and seamless human-robot augmentation by wearable sensorimotor interfaces and supernumerary limbs.