This MSCA research project ‘Countering News Avoidance with Personalized News Formats (NAPNF)’ uses an interdisciplinary approach combining sociology and (media) psychology to ask: How does personalized content relate to news avoidance behaviors, and what steps can be taken to counteract their negative influence on news consumption? Despite news avoidance’s prominence in scholarly discussions on how to increase trust in media and other institutions, there is still a dissensus on how to both fundamentally conceptualize news avoidance and understand this audience behavior. NAPNF addresses this gap. To answer this question, this project will first determine the specific profiles of news avoiders via a qualitative approach which will lead to a more multifaceted comprehension of the different rationales of these avoiders. Second, I will conduct a panel survey on how these specific profiles relate to the level of knowledge of contested (e.g., migration) and uncontested issues (e.g., festivities). To date, research has insufficiently addressed to what extent news avoiders actually stay informed on societal issues. Third, personalized news formats based on these contested and uncontested issues will be used in experiments to evaluate whether these formats might stimulate or obstruct news avoidance. NAPNF combines the expertise at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) and the Digital Democracy Centre (DDC) on media trust and literacy with my six years’ experience as a quantitative and qualitative scholar in journalism, AI, and newsroom innovation. The project will link academic research to practical recommendations which can contribute to the development of strategies that attract news avoiders in the European society, improve audience reach, and potentially generate societal benefits for the news industry.

Single-photon sources are crucial for many quantum information technologies, including quantum communications, computation, sensing and metrology. Typical stand-alone quantum emitters (QEs), such as quantum dots and defects in diamonds, feature low emission rates, nondirectional emissions, and poorly defined polarization properties, which prevents QEs from being directly used as single-photon sources in practical applications. Various micro/nano structures have been developed in recent years to enhance QE emission rates by making use of the Purcell effect via engineering their immediate dielectric environment, but the control of polarization, direction, and wavefront of the emitted photons has still been rarely addressed. The main objective of the project is to develop a general design approach for high-performance single-photon sources and demonstrate its use by designing and fabricating a series of advanced single-photon nanodevices with different functionalities. First, the underlying physics of QE coupling to surface nanostructures will be thoroughly investigated. We will then develop a novel holography implementation, vectorial scattering (computer-generated) holography, generating directly profiles of hybrid plasmon-QE coupled metasurfaces. Finally, based on the developed design approach, a series of nanodevices will be demonstrated, on-chip realizing photon emission with desirable polarization and phase profiles, including those of vector vortex beams. This project will enable the realization of single-photon sources with radiation channels that have distinct directional and polarization characteristics, extending thereby possibilities for designing complex photonic systems for quantum information processing. Furthermore, this project will facilitate knowledge exchange via dissemination activities along with researcher training in transferable skills, being fully committed to open science principles and chronicling the whole project in an open online logbook.

A topological quantum field theory (TQFT) is a model of quantum field theory which computes topological invariants. Although TQFTs were invented by physicists, they are also of mathematical interest because of their relation to quantum topology. Particularly interesting examples of 3d TQFTs arise from Chern-Simons (CS) theory with non-compact gauge groups. A connected component of the phase space of PSL(2,R) CS theory is identified with Teichmüller space, and its quantum theory corresponds to a specic class of unitary mapping class group representations in infinite dimensional Hilbert spaces. By using quantum Teichmüller Theory (qTT), Andersen and Kashaev construct a one parameter family of TQFT's dened on certain shaped triangulated pseudo 3-manifolds. On the other hand, Teichmüller theory has an interesting generalization originating from the deformation theory of super Riemann surfaces which initially was motivated by super string perturbation theory. In the super generalized case, the gauge groups is replaced by the super group OSP(1|2). Recently, qTT of super Riemann surfaces has been constructed by using coordinates associated to the ideal triangulations of super Riemann surfaces. To this date, we lack mathematical understanding of TQFT's with non-compact super gauge groups. This proposal aims to construct and study TQFT's based on super qTT as follows: Construction of the tetrahedral partition functions from the mapping class groupiod representations of super qTT using a version of charging, establish tetrahedral symmetries and prove well-denedness and topological invariance for a certain class of triangulated shaped pseudo 3-manifolds and finally make calculations for different examples. These results are expected to build a bridge between very different areas of mathematics, thus possibly opening new research gates completely inspired by physics.

The MSCA project "Revitalizing Regions: Assessing Agricultural and Industrial Strategies in Southern Italy" (REVITAL-IT) investigates the long-term impact of place-based measures on economic growth and structural transformation, focusing on Southern Italy's post-WWII Extraordinary Intervention for the Mezzogiorno (EIM). Managed by the state agency "Cassa per il Mezzogiorno," the EIM was a significant development strategy involving substantial investments in agricultural and industrial policies over four decades. REVITAL-IT aims to assess which public sector measures - agricultural productivity enhancements or industrial policies - more effectively foster economic advancement in disadvantaged regions. The project will use advanced econometric methods to analyze the impacts of these interventions, examining both direct effects and spillover impacts on neighboring areas. The project has two main objectives: (O1) to evaluate the impact of agricultural aid on long-term growth and structural transformation, and (O2) to determine the effectiveness of specific industrial policies, distinguishing among different types of interventions. REVITAL-IT will provide novel insights by analyzing the historical context of the EIM, contributing to the design of future policies aimed at reducing regional disparities and promoting economic convergence. This research is highly relevant to the EU's Cohesion Policy, which seeks to promote social cohesion and reduce inequalities through targeted interventions in disadvantaged areas. By examining historical interventions in Southern Italy, REVITAL-IT will inform contemporary policy-making, offering invaluable lessons for addressing growth and structural change in similar contexts.