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 is an independent, private, non-profit Swiss company for applied research, including technology, strategy and innovation consulting, focused on generating value for a sustainable world.

Swiss artists-in-labs 2007
Artist: Pe Lang

Eawag is a world-leading aquatic research institute. Its research, which is driven by the needs of society, provides the basis for innovative approaches and technologies in the water sector. Through close collaboration with experts from industry, government and professional associations, Eawag plays an important bridging role between theory and practice, allowing new scientific insights to be rapidly implemented.

Der ETH-Bereich umfasst die Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschulen ETH Zürich und EPF Lausanne sowie die vier Forschungs-Institutionen PSI, WSL, Empa und Eawag. Der ETH-Bereich wird vom ETH-Rat geführt und ist dem Eidgenössischen Departement des Innern (EDI) zugeordnet.

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

Swiss artists-in-labs 2008
Artist: Ping Qiu

The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL focusses on the use and protection of landscapes and habitats. The particular function of the research institute is to act as a bridge between pure theoretical science and the practical implementation of scientific findings. [..]

The Department of Psychology has the distinction of being the youngest of the University of Basle’s seven faculties.

It was founded in 2003, 25 years after the creation of an Institute of Psychology in Basle on 1 January 1978. This young faculty has quickly developed into a thriving hub for psychological research. Its research program, emanating from nine labs, focuses on human development and mental health, social cognition and decision-making, and neuroscience.

Cognitive Psychology examines cognitive performance in perception, memory, thinking and decision making, in human speech and comprehension as well as questions on emotion, motivation and action control. The objective is to develop systematic descriptions and models of structures and processes characterising the adult human in terms of general psychological laws. Abstraction from individual characteristics as well as from interindividual differences is therefore needed.

Swiss artists-in-labs Programm 2008
Artist: Monika Codourey Wisniewska