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Research

University of Basel, Biocenter
Image: University of Basel, Biozentrum, Christian Flierl

The University of Basel combines a broad spectrum of skills and expertise in sustainability-related fields. One focus is sustainability and energy research, which is highlighted by various transfaculty and interdisciplinary projects. Other fields of research deal with issues concerning nature and the environment, changing societies, climate change and emissions trading, human migration and conflicts, health, social inequality, and gender equality.

Goals 2019 - 2021

Building on the 2018 database (see "Status 2018"), the University of Basel developed goals and actions for the 2019-2021 timeframe to further develop sustainability in research.

Goals
Actions
Responsible
Goals

Intensifying inter- and transdisciplinary research related to the Sustainable Development Goals

Actions
  • Organizing events and activities to promote an interdisciplinary exchange between scientists and external stakeholders.
Responsible

Grants Office
in collaboration with the Sustainability Office

Goals

Increasing the visibility of research on sustainable development at the University of Basel

Actions
  • Increasing communications surrounding existing sustainability-related research. Providing motivation for joint proposals and research projects.
Responsible

Grants Office
in collaboration with the Sustainability Office

Goals
Actions
  • Identifying (“tagging”) research projects that help meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), implementation within the framework of the new research portal.
Responsible

Vice President’s Office for Research in collaboration with the Sustainability Office

Goals

Promoting sustainability in everyday research practices

Actions
  • Improving transparency in relation to animal testing and promoting the implementation of the 3R approach (reduction, refinement, replacement)
Responsible

3R Coordination Office at the University of Basel

Status 2018

As a research institution of excellence, the University of Basel generates new knowledge in sustainability-related fields and conducts interdisciplinary research projects to help meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This expertise is used at the university in close collaboration with partners in industry and government, for example, to promote sustainable development in society.

Some insights into the research are provided below to highlight the breadth of sustainability-related issues that were part of research at the University of Basel in 2018.

 

Insights into energy and climate research

A major part of the research on energy and climate topics falls under the umbrella of a national Center of Excellence. The National Competence Center for Research in Energy, Society and Transition (SCCER CREST) is one of eight centers of excellence founded by the Swiss Confederation to address the topic of the renewable energy transition. The University of Basel is a leading house of the SCCER CREST and is headed by Prof. Dr. Frank Krysiak. Current research projects include economic and legal topics, such as the planning of electricity markets in the future, as well as social science and psychology-related topics, such as the effect of new mobility options (car sharing, self-driving cars) on people’s behavior and energy consumption.

Highlight

Horizon 2020 MSCA ITN: «Smart-BEEjS / Human-Centric Energy Districts: Smart Value Generation by Building Efficiency and Energy Justice for Sustainable Living»

Paul Burger, professor for sustainability research in the Department of Social Sciences, is a participant in this Horizon 2020 MSCA-ITN collaboration, which received around EUR 4 million in funding and aims to develop transformational strategies in the area of low-energy buildings while considering aspects of justice and fuel poverty. Fair access to energy is not only about reducing poverty. Rather, the consortium believes that it is a key factor in achieving energy-sustainable economies.

Insights into research on the topic of changing societies

Projects in this area address changing societies as a response to global challenges, such as resource scarcity or migration:

  • Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Paul Burger, the Sustainability Research Group conducts research on topics including «sufficiency to improve people’s daily lives» as well as «sustainabilization» of government administration, with the goal of finding solutions to sustainability problems. The Upper Rhine Cluster for Sustainability Research (URCforSR) is dedicated to cross-border, interdisciplinary research activities related to the governance of sustainable growth.
  • The research group led by Prof. Dr. Max Bergman (Department of Sociology) explores questions of social change and corporate social responsibility in a globalized world, taking into account the SDGs and UN Global Compact.
  • «Urban Green Religions?: Religion in Sustainability Transitions»: The project, which receives funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), studies the role of religion in ecological sustainability transitions through a comparative analysis of two European cities (Prof. Dr. Jens Köhrsen, Faculty of Theology & Center for Religion, Economics and Politics)
  • The «Knowledge for Peace» project explored ways for boosting synergies between research, policymaking and practical approaches, which are relevant to peace-building and sustainable development. (Prof. Dr. Laurent Goetschel, Division of Political Science and swisspeace Foundation)
  • The subject Changing Societies is a research focus in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Highlight

Swiss Network of International Studies: «Infrastructure Space and the Future of Migration Management: The EU Hotspots in the Mediterranean Borderscape»

In this project, which received CHF 265,000 in funding, Bilgin Ayata, Assistant Professor of Political Sociology, and Kenny Cupers, Professor of Urban Studies, are studying the role of infrastructure in the European Union’s migration management. They are focusing on the tense situation in the Mediterranean region, which has led to new migration policies in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Libya and Tunisia. The subject of the study is the infrastructure of the EU’s “hotspot approach” and the resultant socio-political transformation processes at the local, national and regional level. Originally intended as a temporary approach to migration management, the hotspot approach has now become an integral part of European migration policy, the long term effects of which are being studied in this interdisciplinary project.

Insights into research activities in the environmental sciences

Projects in this area examine problems in the environmental sciences as they relate to the impact of human activity on nature as well as possibilities for protecting it:

Highlight

Sinergia project: «African contributions to global health: Circulating knowledge and Innovation»

The project, which received CHF 2.2 million in SNSF funding, is a collaboration between Julia Tischler, professor of African history, the Swiss TPH and EPFL, to study African contributions to global health. Discussions about innovation are often based on the underlying assumption that new scientific and technical achievements are initiated in «The West», while countries in the global South are viewed as its patrons. This project questions this one-sided model.

Insights into research on the topic of human health in a healthy environment

Projects in this area deal, among other things, with illnesses and fighting them, interactions between people and animals, as well as the influence of natural factors on human health:

  • The medical research in the Department of Biomedicine, clinical research and public health at the University of Basel is making an important contribution to «healthy people in a healthy environment».
  • Prof. Dr. Urs Peter Frey (Faculty of Medicine, Pediatrics) studies the impact of harmful environmental factors like air pollution on child development.
  • Various research projects at the Swiss TPH[1] focus on communicable diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.
  • Based on the One Health concept (working together for human and animal health), the group led by Prof. Dr. Jakob Zinsstag (Swiss TPH) studies the interaction between humans and animals in Africa and Asia, for example, while laying important groundwork for public health in the Global South.
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Sustainability in everyday research practices

Research is an integral part of what goes on at the University of Basel. For this reason, efforts here require particularly sustainable planning and are essential to building a sustainable university. This includes a meticulous selection of laboratory, sample materials and energy-efficient equipment, as well as enabling the research institution to adapt flexibly to changing research conditions.

 

Best practices - sciCORE: Today, computer-aided methods play a key role in modern research, from the storage and organization of large quantities of data to the statistical analysis of data and simulation of complex systems. As a result, information technologies are having a greater impact on the environment due to energy consumption and the hardware disposal. As a Center of Excellence for scientific computing at the University of Basel, sciCORE provides the central infrastructure and services for the university’s researchers for the purposes of scientific computing. In the case of high-performance computing and storage, the shared use of a central infrastructure makes the most of available hardware capacities and ensures proper recycling of obsolete hardware. Combining resources facilitates a high overall level of efficiency. At the same time, it creates powerful cluster systems that deliver high peak performance for complex scientific tasks. One of the most important factors affecting energy efficiency in the area of high-performance computing is the use of efficient algorithms. For this reason, sciCORE is supporting researchers by offering courses and training in software development and best practices. Efficient algorithms are not only good for the environment; they also deliver faster results for researchers – a win-win situation.

Footnotes
Footnotes

[1] The integration of associated institutes at the university has already been reorganized. The Swiss TPH, the Friedrich Miescher Institute and the swisspeace foundation work closely with various research groups and faculties at the university based on performance agreements and shared benefit.

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