Excellent Science

About

Browse

The Excellent Science pillar aims to increase the EU’s global scientific competitiveness. It supports frontier research projects defined and driven by top researchers themselves through the European Research Council, funds fellowships for experienced researchers, doctoral training networks and exchanges for researchers through Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, and invests in world-class research infrastructures

Research Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Delineating the contours of citizen science: Development of the ECSA characteristics of citizen science

Authors: Dilek FRAISL, Muki Haklay, Gerid Hager, Uta Wehn, Linda See, Susanne Hecker, Bastian Greshake Tzovaras, Margaret Gold, Luigi Ceccaroni, Barbara Kieslinger, Sasha Woods, Christian Nold, Bálint Balázs, Marzia Mazzonetto, Simone Rüfenacht, Lea A. Shanley, Alice Motion, Andrea Sforzi, Daniel Dörler, Florian Heigl, Katrin Vohland, Katherin Wagenknecht, Teresa Schaefer, Dorte Riemenschneider, Ariel B. Lindner, Maike Weißpflug, Monika Mačiulienė

Funders: European Research Council (ERC), Excellent Science, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe

Peer reviewers: Dolores Mumelaš, Isabelle Bonhoure, Petteri LAIHONEN, Shane Orchard

Published: April 24, 2026
Method Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Encouraging reusability of computational research through Data-to-Knowledge Packages - A hydrological use case

Authors: Markus Konkol, Astra Labuce, Sami Domisch, Merret Buurman, Vanessa Bremerich

Funders: Excellent Science, Horizon Europe

Peer reviewers: David Tarboton, Miguel Colom, lushv1@aston.ac.uk Victoria Lush

Published: September 22, 2025
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Pathways for pragmatic decolonisation in research

Authors: Monique Kwachou

Funders: European Research Council (ERC), Excellent Science, Horizon 2020

Peer reviewers: Pitshou MOLEKA, Wadzanai Faith Mkwananzi

Published: April 17, 2025
Research Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Screening Actinomycetes extracts for antimicrobial compounds against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and helper-compounds against aminoglycoside-resistant E. coli

Authors: Dina Al Nahhas, Sandra Marina Wellner, Margherita Sosio, Sonia I Maffioli, Salvatore Pisanu, Sergio Uzzau, Daniela Pagnozzi, Stefano Donadio, John Elmerdahl Olsen

Funders: Excellent Science, Horizon 2020, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Peer reviewers: Galal Yahya, Jonathan Parra, SUNISH SACHITH

Published: August 11, 2025
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Preliminary characterisation of titanium nitride kinetic inductance travelling-wave parametric amplifiers

Authors: Joseph Longden, Christine Chaumont, Nikita Klimovich, Samuel Wood, Faouzi Boussaha, Boon-Kok Tan

Funders: European Research Council (ERC), Excellent Science, Horizon 2020

Peer reviewers: Logan Howe, Luca Fasolo

Published: April 17, 2025
Data Note

Awaiting peer review

Shotgun metagenomics data from faecal samples of 47 patients with mild cognitive impairment: Insights from the memoir study

Authors: Marina Mora-Ortiz, Fernando Abollo-Jiménez, Esther Porras-Pérez, José Lopez-Miranda, Antonio Camargo, Pablo Perez-Martinez

Funders: Excellent Science, Horizon 2020, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Peer reviewers: No information provided

Published: April 14, 2025
Research Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Elastically induced phase-shift and birefringence in optical fibers

Authors: Elisabeth Steininger, Thomas Mieling, Piotr T. Chruściel

Funders: European Research Council (ERC), Excellent Science, Horizon Europe

Peer reviewers: Matthew Maitra, Murugan Senthil Mani Rajan, xiaohui li

Published: August 13, 2025
Review

Peer review process completed

The measurement of text quality: current methods and open challenges

Authors: Zuzana Toth

Funders: Excellent Science, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), Horizon Europe

Peer reviewers: Haticetül Kübra ER, Heqiao Wang, Jennifer Balade

Published: April 7, 2025
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Assessing the validity of a calcifying oral biofilm model as a suitable proxy for dental calculus

Authors: Bjørn Peare Bartholdy, Irina M. Velsko, Shira Gur-Arieh, Zandra Fagernäs, Christina Warinner, Amanda G. Henry

Funders: European Research Council (ERC), Excellent Science, Horizon 2020

Peer reviewers: Claudio Ottoni, Sterling Wright

Published: April 4, 2025
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Recent earthquakes in Svalbard sourced from transform-parallel thrust systems: implications for linear earthquake swarms and earthquake risk

Authors: Jean-Baptiste P. Koehl, Jesús Galindo-Zaldivar, María T. Pedrosa-González, Gemma Ercilla, Gillian R. Foulger

Funders: Excellent Science, Horizon 2020, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Peer reviewers: Rita de Nardis, Wolfram Geissler, Yanghui Zhao

Published: March 26, 2025
Research Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Dimensions, stability, and deformability of DOPC-cholesterol giant unilamellar vesicles formed by droplet transfer

Authors: Elisa Roberti, Elisa Linda Petrocelli, Dario Cecchi, Stefano Palagi

Funders: European Research Council (ERC), Excellent Science, Horizon 2020

Peer reviewers: David Everett, Josep Julve, Martin Eduardo Villanueva, Nikoleta Ivanova

Published: October 7, 2025
Research Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Machine learning-based identification of key biotic and abiotic drivers of mineral weathering rate in a complex enhanced weathering experiment

Authors: Iris Janssens, Thomas Servotte, Tullia Calogiuri, Steven Mortier, Harun Niron, Thomas Corbett, Reinaldy P. Poetra, Lukas Rieder, Michiel Van Tendeloo, Abhijeet Singh, Steven Latré, Siegfried E. Vlaeminck, Jens Hartmann, Jan Willem van Groenigen, Anna Neubeck, Alix Vidal, Ivan A. Janssens, Mathilde Hagens, Sara Vicca, Tim Verdonck

Funders: Excellent Science, Horizon 2020

Peer reviewers: David Manning, Nathaniel Looker, Xiying Sun

Published: September 11, 2025
Brief Report
Revised
Peer review process completed

Evaluation of Mediterranean sponges as natural samplers for environmental DNA (eDNA)

Authors: Nicolas Garcia-Seyda, Marielle Garcia, Dorian Guillemain, Aurélie Bonin

Funders: Excellent Science, Horizon 2020, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Peer reviewers: Dannise Ruiz Ramos, Rachael Chidugu-Ogborigbo, Ramon Gallego, Rosalie Dowell, Soo-Je Park, mykle hoban

Published: March 10, 2026
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Moral articulations of economic life in returns to Ecuador and Cuba

Authors: Valerio Simoni, Jérémie Voirol

Funders: European Research Council (ERC), Excellent Science, Horizon 2020

Peer reviewers: Remus Gabriel Anghel, maurizio ambrosini

Published: March 17, 2025
Research Article

Peer review process completed

The relationship between interindividual differences and global/local processing

Authors: Alberto De Luca, Stephan Verschoor, Bernhard Hommel

Funders: European Research Council (ERC), Excellent Science, Horizon 2020

Peer reviewers: Chiara Saracini

Published: March 6, 2025
Research Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Global truffle market: Theoretical aspects and empirical evidence

Authors: PABLO PODADERA-RIVERA, FRANCISCO J. CALDERÓN-VÁZQUEZ

Funders: Excellent Science, Horizon 2020, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Peer reviewers: Jesus Perez Moreno, Patrick Hatzenbuehler, Sakhr Alhuthali

Published: April 17, 2025
Research Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Enacting semi-periphery: conditions of post-accession migration from Poland to the UK

Authors: Viktoryia Vaitovich

Funders: Excellent Science, Horizon 2020, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Peer reviewers: Shaddin Almasri, Tomasz Komornicki, kate golebiowska

Published: June 25, 2025
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Asking the experts: A focus group and review on eyewitness memory in the multicultural context of South Africa

Authors: Laura Anne Weiss, Eva A. J. van Rosmalen, Annelies Vredeveldt

Funders: European Research Council (ERC), Excellent Science, Horizon 2020

Peer reviewers: Alyssa Jones, Nkansah Anakwah, Richard Kemp

Published: February 24, 2025
Research Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Micromegas with GEM preamplification for enhanced energy threshold in low-background gaseous time projection chambers

Authors: Juan Francisco Castel Pablo, Susana Cebrián Guajardo, Theopisti Dafni, David Díez Ibáñez, Javier Galán Lacarra, Juan Antonio García Pascual, Álvaro Ezquerro Sastre, Igor García Irastorza, Gloria Luzón Marco, Cristina Margalejo Blasco, Héctor Mirallas Sánchez, Luis Obis Aparicio, Alfonso Ortiz de Solórzano, Óscar Pérez Lázaro, Jorge Porrón Lafuente, María Jiménez Puyuelo

Funders: European Research Council (ERC), Excellent Science, Horizon 2020, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Peer reviewers: David Attié, Ignacio Lázaro Roche, Ludovic MATHIEU

Published: March 18, 2025
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Gender discrimination in the Tarim Basin: A preliminary examination of the Kharoṣṭhī documents from the Niya site

Authors: Raminder Kaur

Funders: Excellent Science, Horizon 2020, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Peer reviewers: Rachel Pope, Tomas Larsen Høisæter

Published: February 13, 2025
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Methods of terms formation in nuclear medicine

Authors: Nigar Sadigova, Salmi Aliyeva

Funders: Excellent Science, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), Horizon Europe

Peer reviewers: Azer SADIGOV, Dorina Macovei

Published: February 10, 2025
Open Letter
Revised
Peer review process completed

Freshwater monitoring across the globe: the role of citizen science within the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and opportunities to incentivize the collaboration with environmental regulators

Authors: Bruna Gumiero, Leonardo Veronesi, Luisa Galgani, Riccardo Gaetano Cirrone, Alessio Corsi, Andrea Tafi, Steven Arthur Loiselle

Funders: Excellent Science, Horizon 2020, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), Horizon Europe

Peer reviewers: Ahmet Erkan KIDEYS, Laura Verbrugge, Rajaram Prajapati

Published: August 20, 2025
Study Protocol
Revised
Peer review process completed

Pre-protocol of the Virtual Spatial Configuration Task (VSCT): A Novel Virtual Reality-Based Tool for Assessing Cognitive Map Formation Abilities

Authors: Alberto Massimiliano Umiltà, Giorgio Li Pira, Ford Burles, Giovanni Ottoboni, Alessia Tessari

Funders: Excellent Science, Horizon 2020

Peer reviewers: Alastair Smith, David Uttal, Jozsef Katona, Julian Keil, Laura Miola, Marta Matamala Gomez, Meytal Wilf, Simon Lhuillier

Published: October 31, 2025
Research Article
Revised
Peer review process completed

Insights into climate variability of the meteorological records from a background monitoring station: the Giordan lighthouse, Gozo

Authors: James Ciarlo`, Ryan Vella, Martin Saliba, Raymond Ellul, Alfred Micallef, Erika Coppola, Aaron Micallef, David Mifsud

Funders: Excellent Science, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), Horizon Europe

Peer reviewers: Paolo Cristofanelli, Pavlos Kalabokas, Sultan Hameed, giandomenico pace

Published: July 15, 2025
Research Article

Peer review process completed

Do mental health professionals react to verbal aggressiveness differently if it is gender-related? An experimental study employing case-vignettes

Authors: Francisco José Eiroa-Orosa, Cecilia Sanchez-Moscona

Funders: Excellent Science, Horizon 2020, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Peer reviewers: Emmanuel Biracyaza, Johannes Fuss

Published: February 3, 2025