ERC Starting Grants: Four Winning Projects Led by the University Paris-Saclay Community

Since their launch in 2007, Starting Grants have supported early-career European researchers who obtained their PhD between two and seven years ago, providing up to €1.5 million over a maximum period of five years to fund exploratory research projects. In 2026, 421 projects were selected, receiving a total of €705 million in funding.

Université Paris-Saclay is proud of its community, which this year is home to four successful projects:

Louis Lalanne and his UNION project 

Louis Lalanne is a CNRS researcher at the Laboratoire de physique des 2 infinis Irène Joliot-Curie  (IJCLab - Université Paris-Saclay/CNRS/Université Paris Cité), where he studies the structure of the atomic nucleus.

After completing his PhD in nuclear structure at Université Paris-Saclay in 2021, he moved to CERN for a postdoctoral position, followed by a research fellowship, where he trained in laser spectroscopy techniques, which use lasers to analyse the light absorbed or emitted by matter. He joined the CNRS in 2024.

Understanding how nuclear structure emerges from fundamental interactions, and how it evolves across the nuclear chart, is one of the major open questions in nuclear physics. Changes in nuclear size according to the number of protons and neutrons play a key role in this quest, but remain poorly understood and difficult to describe using current theoretical models.

His successful UNION project, Understanding the size of the nucleus, aims to gain a better understanding of how the size of the atomic nucleus changes by focusing on specific isotopes, thereby linking variations in nuclear radius to microscopic mechanisms related to nuclear interactions or the organisation of nucleons. To achieve this, UNION will employ high-resolution laser spectroscopy methods at the new DESIR experimental hall at the Grand Accélérateur National d'Ions Lourds (GANIL) in Caen, using the LASAGN experimental setup (Laser Spectroscopy At GaNil). By combining innovative experimental methods with cutting-edge theoretical approaches, UNION will provide new insights into the microscopic mechanisms governing the evolution of nuclear structure.

Fatoumata Sylla and her CARE-Cut project 

Fatoumata Sylla is an epidemiologist and Inserm researcher at the Centre de recherche en épidémiologie et santé des populations (Cesp - Université Paris-Saclay/UVSQ/Inserm). Her research focuses on gynaecological and reproductive health, particularly uterine fibroids and female genital mutilation, in France, in the context of migration in Europe, and internationally.

In 2023, she completed a PhD in public health and epidemiology at Université Paris-Saclay, focusing on the consequences of female genital mutilation for maternal and perinatal health.

With the support of United Nations agencies (UNFPA, UNICEF), the European Commission and government bodies, she has contributed to coordinating national and international research projects (MSF-PREVAL, GENDER NET-Plus), as well as several initiatives aimed at reducing health inequalities and improving care for women affected by female genital mutilation.

In 2025, she was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship through the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale’s Aides Individuelles programme. She is also leading a project exploring the link between nutritional exposures and uterine fibroids in the French NutriNet-Santé cohort.

Working closely with communities and collaborating with several associations, she places particular emphasis on understanding the specific health needs of populations that are often overlooked. She takes a multidisciplinary approach, incorporating participatory methods and developing culturally appropriate training tools for healthcare professionals and the patients they care for.

Her successful CARE-Cut project, Advancing Clinical Assessment and REsearch for the diagnosis and management of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, aims in particular to address a major gap in research on women’s health and gender-based inequalities worldwide: improving the diagnosis and care pathways of women affected by female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). While more than 230 million people are affected worldwide, efforts have focused primarily on the prevention and prevalence of FGM/C, leaving many women facing fragmented and inadequate care, particularly in the context of migration in Europe.

CARE-Cut therefore seeks to redefine the clinical management of FGM/C by integrating anatomical, functional, psychological and social dimensions. Conducted in France, which has both the infrastructure and expertise required in this field, the project will pursue four main objectives: developing multidimensional diagnostic tools, assessing obstetric and surgical care, studying the epidemiology of postpartum consequences, and strengthening care pathways and healthcare professional training.

Through multicentre studies and a participatory, multidisciplinary approach, CARE-Cut will develop an innovative, safe, person-centred model of care that is culturally appropriate and sensitive to the intersectional realities experienced by affected women. The project will generate unprecedented longitudinal data, from the diagnosis of FGM/C through to the postpartum period. It will contribute to advancing clinical practices and international standards towards coordinated, ethical and evidence-based care.

Carlo Heissenberg and his UREikA project 

Carlo Heissenberg is a permanent CEA researcher at the Institut de physique théorique - DRF (IPhT – Université Paris-Saclay/CEA/CNRS). His research focuses primarily on quantum field theory, scattering amplitudes and gravitational waves.

Before joining the High-Energy Physics, Gravity and Cosmology team at IPhT in 2024, Carlo Heissenberg held postdoctoral positions at Uppsala University and the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics (Nordita) in Stockholm, before being awarded a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) fellowship at Queen Mary University of London.

More information to come

Clément Ghiazza and his AZTEK project 

Clément Ghiazza is a CNRS researcher at the Institut Lavoisier de Versailles (ILV – UVSQ/CNRS) and coordinator of the “Ring-extension strategy” team.

After completing his PhD at Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 in 2019, under the supervision of Thierry Billard and Anis Tlili, where his research focused on developing innovative methodologies for incorporating fluoroalkylselenyl chains into organic substrates, Clément Ghiazza joined Josep Cornellà’s research team at the Max Planck Institute für Kohlenforschung in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany, in 2020 as an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral researcher. His work focused on developing new deamination strategies for the late-stage functionalisation of complex bioactive molecules, as well as strain-release approaches for the synthesis of fluorinated PFAS-free hybrid isosteres.

Since October 2022, Clément Ghiazza has been a permanent researcher at CNRS, based at the ILV. His current research focuses on molecular editing, and more specifically on developing innovative synthetic methodologies to access new heterocyclic structures from abundant and readily available starting materials. Throughout his career, Clément Ghiazza has received several distinctions for his research, including the Dina Surdin Prize for his PhD in 2020, the Marc Julia Prize for Young Researchers in 2025, and the Thieme Chemistry Journals Prize in 2026.

His successful AZTEK project, Zines/AZoles Transformations: Enantioselectivity and fundamental Knowledge, is set within the current context of molecular editing, and more specifically skeletal editing, an emerging approach aimed at simplifying and accelerating the discovery of new molecules with bioactive potential. Precise modifications are frequently introduced into compounds in order to enhance their activity and/or eliminate undesirable effects. Molecular editing has recently revolutionised the way we think about organic synthesis, thanks to innovative synthetic methods that enable the precise modification of the core structures of molecules of interest. These methods make it possible to insert, remove or exchange atoms within complex molecular systems, thereby rapidly generating new analogues while preserving critical resources and reducing waste production.

Despite these major advances, this research field remains largely limited to a few transformations involving carbon and nitrogen atoms. Likewise, the synthesis of chiral molecules through molecular editing remains underdeveloped, with only a limited number of examples, many of which present significant limitations.

The aim of AZTEK is therefore to overcome these technological bottlenecks by developing new research avenues that will expand this synthetic toolbox. In particular, the project will explore the synthesis of chiral molecules, the electrochemical and sustainable removal of atoms, and the synthesis of phosphorus-containing heterocycles that are otherwise difficult to access. By pursuing these interconnected research directions, AZTEK seeks to establish a groundbreaking research programme with the ambition of redefining the paradigms of organic synthesis.