SNSF awards five Starting Grants to researchers at the University of Basel
How can we age more healthily? And how can supply chains for coffee, cocoa and palm oil become more sustainable? Researchers at the University of Basel are addressing these and other questions with the support of an “SNSF Starting Grant” from the Swiss National Science Foundation.
15 November 2024
The Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF awards Starting Grants to outstanding young researchers in Switzerland. The funding allows them to lead their own research project with their own team. For researchers who do not yet hold a professorship, the grant is linked to an appointment as assistant professor.
With the “SNSF Starting Grants”, the Swiss National Science Foundation is closing a gap in research funding on behalf of the federal government: in recent years, researchers in Switzerland have not been eligible to apply for Grants from the European Research Council, which is part of the European research program “Horizon Europe”. However, a transitional arrangement allows them to submit applications to the European Research Council again for the 2025 calls for proposals.
In this year's call, the SNSF received 499 applications and awarded a total of 61 Starting Grants. Five of the successful researchers plan to carry out their projects at the University of Basel. The SNSF will provide them with an average of CHF 1.7 million over a period of five years.
- Dr. Mariana Borsa's research interests focus on the question of how healthy ageing is possible and aims to dissect the reciprocal relationship connecting ageing and the immune system. More specifically, she investigates cellular processes that can control T cell metabolism, function and fate. With her research team at the Department of Biomedicine, Mariana Borsa wants to discover how to modulate T cell differentiation by targeting metabolic organelles. The results could be used to develop strategies to promote T cell rejuvenation and healthier ageing. The Borsa Lab is set to open at the University of Basel in the summer of 2025.
- Prof. Dr. Janina Grabs investigates the impact of sustainability legislation in the coffee, cocoa and palm oil supply chains. What expectations do these laws create between regulators and companies trading in these commodities? And how do these expectations, in turn, influence the shift toward more sustainable agriculture? Janina Grabs and her team at the Department of Social Sciences will be investigating these questions from January 2025. The results should help policymakers to pursue more effective sustainability policies.
- Dr. Matthias Leanza examines the emergence of modernization theory in the United States in the 1950s. After World War II, the former colonial powers lost influence over their colonies, which sought independence. This "crisis of empires" gave rise to modernization theory, which saw this development in the light of a transition from "tradition" to "modernity" and saw independent nation-states as a replacement for colonial empires. Starting in January 2025, Matthias Leanza and his team at the Department of Social Sciences will examine the impact of this theory on the position of former colonies and how it has contributed to shaping the global order of the past 70 years.
- Dr. Luregn Lenggenhager's project "Curated Escapes and Derelict Landscapes in Times of Climate Change” investigates where the wealthy are retreating from the consequences of the climate crisis. Far-reaching environmental changes caused by climate change are leading to land degradation. Some areas are becoming increasingly uninhabitable. At the same time, the elite are creating exclusive escapes for themselves, from private islands and wildlife sanctuaries to virtual worlds. Starting September 1, 2025, Lenggenhager and his team at the Department of Social Sciences will analyze the colonial historical and racial-ideological origins of such escapes. The researchers want to explore the significance of such places for social inequality and the political consequences of climate change.
- Prof. Dr. Yuping Li studies the interactions between bacteria and so-called jumbophages. These are a particularly large type of phage, i.e. viruses that exclusively infect bacteria. Together with her team at the Biozentrum, Yuping Li is investigating how bacteria protect themselves against jumbophages and how the viruses and their host bacteria have evolved together. The results could point to new ways of containing antibiotic-resistant bacteria. (Further information in the Biozentrum news.)
