Two new ERC Starting Grants approved

ERC Starting Grants were awarded to: Jerome Beetz and Jacqueline Degen. (Image: Robert Emmerich / Thomas Hovestadt)

Jerome Beetz and Jacqueline Degen at the Chair of Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology have each been awarded Starting Grants worth €1.5 million from the European Research Council for their projects.

Talented young researchers who have a promising track record and an excellent new research idea can apply for Starting Grants from the European Research Council (ERC). These prestigious grants are worth €1.5 million each.

• Dr Jerome Beetz, Neuroscience, is investigating the brain functions that enable insects to navigate flexibly in the field.

• Dr Jacqueline Degen, Zoology, is investigating the effects of light pollution on nocturnal insects.

The JMU Research Advancement Centre (RAC) actively supported the researchers from the university in submitting their applications.

The New ERC Projects

Neural representation of space: From individual to social place learning in bees (BeeSpace)

Dr Jerome Beetz, head of an Emmy Noether junior research group at the Biocentre: Humans navigate their environment with ease every day. This is thanks to the cognitive maps of their surroundings that their brains have created. How insects memorise their environment is the subject of Jerome Beetz's planned research. He recently developed techniques for recording the brain activity of freely navigating insects and identified navigation-relevant nerve cells that are very similar to those described in vertebrates. Based on this, he wants to investigate the neural basis of insect navigation in more detail in his ERC project BeeSpace. ‘If we understand how insects navigate their home terrain with relatively simple neural circuits, we can also identify innovative ways to develop autonomously navigating vehicles,’ says the researcher.

From streetlight to starlight: How light pollution disrupts insect orientation and alters habitat connectivity (LIGHTSTAR)

Dr Jacqueline Degen, group leader at the Biocentre: Moths are ecologically important insects because they pollinate many plants and serve as a food source for other animals. However, like other nocturnal organisms, they are threatened by light pollution: illuminated settlements and streets brighten the night and disrupt the moths' ability to navigate. Jacqueline Degen is investigating these relationships in her ERC project LIGHTSTAR. This is because science does not yet understand well enough how moths navigate and react to light. The researcher will develop a drone-based 3D tracking system to record the behaviour of insects in large-scale field experiments with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. The data obtained and incorporated into advanced simulation tools, will fundamentally broaden the knowledge of the effects of light pollution. Among other things, the new findings can help to develop insect-friendly lighting solutions.