The Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is located in the Department of Informatics of the University of Zurich.

The goal of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is to foster intelligence in all its facets by promoting excellence in basic research, education, and society at large. With the ai lab’s activities the researcher hope to contribute – in small ways – to making the world a better place in the 21st century.

Swiss artists-in-labs 2010
Artist: Oliver Wolf

Swiss artists-in-labs 2007
Artist: Pablo Ventura

The Brain Mind Institute is located in the School of Life Sciences of the Ecole Polytechniques fédérales de Lausanne (EPFL).

The mission of the Brain Mind Institute is to understand the fundamental principles of brain function in health and disease, by using and developing unique experimental, theoretical, technological and computational approaches. The scientific challenge addressed by the BMI consists in connecting different levels of analysis of brain activity, such that cognitive functions can be understood as a manifestation of specific brain processes; specific brain processes as emerging from the collective activity of thousands of cells and synapses; synaptic and neuronal activity in turn as emerging properties of the biophysical and molecular mechanisms of cellular compartments.

Understanding information processing in the brain and its higher emerging properties is arguably one of the major challenges in the life sciences. Research at the BMI focuses on three main areas:

• Molecular neurobiology and mechanisms of neurodegeneration;
• Molecular and cellular mechanisms of synapse and microcircuit function up to the behavioural level and including metabolic aspects;
• Sensory perception and cognition in humans. In all areas, the BMI strives to integrate knowledge gained by multidisciplinary approaches and across different disciplines and research laboratories.

EPFL is one of the two Ecoles Polytechniques fédérales in Switzerland. Like its sister institution, ETHZ, it has three missions: education, research and technology transfer at the highest international level. Associated with several specialised research institutes, the two EPFs form the EPF domain, which is directly dependent on the Federal Department of Home Affairs.

Swiss artists-in-labs 2010
Artist: Nicole Ottiger

Swiss artists-in-labs 2009
Artist: Luca Forcucci

The Centre for Integrative Genomics (CIG) is the newest department of the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the University of Lausanne (UNIL).

Its establishment was made possible as a result of the program “Sciences, Vie, Société”, a tri-institutional program linking the Universities of Geneva and Lausanne and the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), which aimed to develop the life sciences as well as the humanities and social sciences in the Lémanic region.

The CIG has three main missions:

• The pursuit of a first rate research program in the biological sciences
• The development of an outstanding teaching program
• The development and support of core facilities offering cutting-edge technologies to the Lémanic research community and beyond.

The research at the CIG centers on genome structure and function in a number of different experimental systems and relies on a large number of different techniques. It is performed by an international community of scientists, yet the character of the CIG is one of an integrated research center, where interactions among groups are numerous both in formal and informal settings.

Swiss artists-in-labs 2010
Artist: Sandra-Jo Huber

Swiss artists-in-labs 2008
Artist: Sylvia Hostettler

Chengdu Institute of Biology (CIB), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), was founded in 1958, and was chosen in 1999 as one of the experimental institutes for implementing the Knowledge Innovation Programme of the CAS, which aims at promoting the innovative capacity of its affiliated research institutes through key input in human resources and research funds. Now, CIB has a staff of 316 people, including 1 academician and more than 100 senior researchers.

With southwestern China as its focal working area, CIB aims primarily at sustainable development and utilization, and effective conservation of biological resources. While continuously rising its institutional capacity of innovation, CIB integrates the important state needs in the fields of human health, restoration ecology and sustainable agriculture with the world frontiers of modern sciences to carry out basic and applied researches, as well as high-tech research of natural medicine, ecological restoration and rehabilitation, biodiversity conservation, pollution control, modern agriculture and food security,so as to provide knowledge bases, technical supports and policy-making sugges tions for sustainable socio-economic development of the country.

Sino/Swiss Residency Exchange 2009/2010
Artist: Alexandre Joly

CSEM, Centre Suisse d’ Electronique et de Microtechnique (Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology), founded in 1984, is a private research and development center specializing in microtechnology, nanotechnology, microelectronics, system engineering and communications technologies. It offers its customers and industry partners custom-made innovative solutions based on its knowledge of the market and technological expertise derived from applied research. Having founded several start-ups, it contributes to developing Switzerland as an industrial location. To date, a total of 29 such enterprises, with more than 500 employees, have been launched by CSEM. In addition, CSEM has acquired an international dimension by establishing a presence in the Arab Emirates in 2005, and in Brazil in 2007, in order to speed up and encourage the transfer of knowledge and new technologies beneficial to the local economy of these countries.

Approximately 400 highly qualified and specialized employees from various scientific and technical disciplines work for CSEM in Neuchâtel, Zurich, Basel, Alpnach and Landquart. They represent more than 30 nationalities and constitute the basis of the company’s creativity, dynamism and potential for innovation.

Swiss artists-in-labs 2007
Artist: Pe Lang

Die Eawag ist ein Wasserforschungsinstitut und Teil des ETH-Bereichs. Dieser umfasst die Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschulen ETH Zürich und EPF Lausanne sowie vier Forschungsanstalten. Die Eawag hat zwölf Forschungsabteilungen, in welchen Natur-, Ingenieur- und Sozialwissenschaftler innovative und qualitativ hochstehende Forschung betreiben. Die Kombination der verschiedenen wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen erlaubt eine ganzheitliche Erforschung des Wassers und der Gewässer. Forschungsschwerpunkte der Eawag sind Aquatische Ökosysteme, Urbane Wassersysteme sowie Chemikalien und Effekte.

Die Mitarbeitenden treffen an der Eawag auf ein internationales wissenschaftliches Umfeld. Es erlaubt Forschenden, Fachpersonen und Studierenden Fragestellungen nachzugehen, welche neue wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse bringen und fundamentale gesellschaftliche Bedürfnisse abdecken. Ein besonderes Augenmerk wird auf innovative transdisziplinäre Projekte gerichtet.

Damit neue Erkenntnisse und Konzepte aus der Forschung möglichst rasch in die Praxis einfliessen, pflegt die Eawag rege Beziehungen zu Fachleuten aus Industrie, Verwaltung und Verbänden.

Eawag is an aquatic research institute within the ETH Domain, which comprises the Federal Institutes of Technology ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne and four research institutes. Eawag has twelve research departments, where innovative and high-quality research is conducted by natural and social scientists and engineers. The combination of various scientific disciplines permits an integrated approach to research on water and water bodies. Eawag’s research focuses on Aquatic Ecosystems, Urban Water Systems and Chemicals and Effects.

Staff at Eawag benefit from an international scientific environment, allowing researchers, specialists and students to pursue questions that yield new scientific insights and meet fundamental societal needs. Particular attention is paid to innovative trans disciplinary projects.

To ensure that new findings and approaches can be translated into practice as rapidly as possible, Eawag maintains close contacts with experts from industry, government and professional associations.

Indo-Swiss Residency Exchange 2011/2012 | pilot project
Artists: Surekha Anil Kumar

Sino/Swiss Residency Exchange 2009/2010
Artist: Aniu (Qing Jun Chen)

Swiss artists-in-labs 2008
Artist: Ping Qiu

Taken together, the Geneva Neuroscience Center (Centre Interfacultaire de Neurosciences, CIN) and the Interfaculty Centre for Affective Sciences (ICAS) of the University of Geneva pool resources from over 60 workgroups from the University of Geneva and from all 6 faculties of the University which dedicate their research to the understanding of the human brain and behaviour, ranging from molecular and neuronal research to social, psychological, philosophical and artistic research.

Geneva Neuroscience Center (Centre Interfacultaire de Neurosciences, CIN)

Reflecting the multidisciplinarity of Neuroscience, the Geneva Neuroscience Center regroups research groups affiliated to several departments and faculties within Geneva University. Members of the Center conduct cutting-edge research in various areas of Neuroscience, in relation to both health and disease, for human beings (adults and children) as well as for animals. Questions such as: How does the nervous system generate complex behaviours and mental processes such as thoughts or emotions? What are the mechanisms of neurological and psychiatric diseases? How does the activity of neurons coordinate to provide us with sensation and volition? are among some of the fundamental questions that researchers in the Center try to answer. Researchers in the CIN are also participating to the the National Center for Competence in Research (NCCR) on Synaptic bases on mental disorders.

Swiss Center for Affective Sciences (SCAS)

The CSAS hosts the National Center for Competence in Research (NCCR) Affective Sciences, financed by the Swiss federal government and administered by the Swiss National Science Foundation. It is the first research centre in the world dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of emotions and their effects on human behaviour and society.

The NCCR in Affective Sciences brings together disciplines which study the biological, psychological, and social dimensions of affect. The different scientific projects aim to provide a better understanding of affective phenomena (e.g., emotions, motivations, moods, stress, well-being) from various research perspectives and multiple levels of analysis. With its scientists stemming from various backgrounds such as psychology, philosophy, economics, political science, law, criminology, psychiatry, neuroscience, education, sociology, literature, history, and religious and social anthropology, the NCCR places a particular emphasis on the interdisciplinary and integrative collaboration between these different domains of research.

The Geneva Neuroscience Center and the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences jointly coordinate the Brain and Behaviour Laboratory (BBL). The BBL brings together a wide range of cutting-edge techniques from neuroscience and psychophysiology to measure brain activity, as well as peripheral body changes and complex motor or social behaviour, in experimentally controlled conditions. It is the first laboratory of its kind to combine an extraordinarily large diversity of methodologies and disciplines allowing scientists to carry out research into cognition, emotion, consciousness, sleep and dreams, both in health and in diseases.

The different laboratories of the BBL include one functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging unit, two electroencephalography labs equipped with peripheral physiological recording devices, a virtual reality lab and video cameras to record naturally occurring behaviour in dyadic and group interactions, an acoustic lab and a sleep research room equipped for sleep and vigilance monitoring.

Swiss artists-in-labs 2011
Artist: Jeremie Gindre

picture credit: Sophie Jarlier, University of Geneva

The Institute of Integrative Biology belongs to the Department of Environmental Sciences and consist of nine professorships and several associated units.The interactions among organisms, including those between host and parasite, pollinator and plant, or invasive and native species, determine the properties and functions of biological systems. These interactions are best characterized using a systems approach that integrates all aspects of the biology, ecology, and evolutionary history of the interacting organisms. The main research objectives of the Institute of Integrative Biology Zurich are to further the understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes that affect interactions between organisms and biological systems and to develop new approaches to address key questions related to infectious diseases. IBZ teaches students the necessary concepts and methods of ecology, population and evolutionary biology to contribute to human health and the sustainable use of biological diversity in a changing environment.

Swiss artists-in-labs 2007
Artists: Hina&Mätti