The National Research Programmes ( NRPs ) fund research projects that contribute to addressing societal challenges. The Federal Council decides on the thematic focus and budget of the new NRPs, each lasting two to five years, and mandates the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) to manage the calls. To date, 84 NRPs have been launched. Compared to a typical project, NRP projects are practice-oriented. They focus on developing solutions for the issues defined in the calls for proposals. In this respect, cooperation and knowledge exchange with practitioners are of great importance.
NRP 81 on Baukultur is for research projects developing strategies, best practices and techniques to improve the quality of built and unbuilt spaces over the long term and for society at large. All projects must include a module to implement research findings e.g. via living labs, demonstrators. NRP 83 "Gender Medicine and Health" is intended to create a knowledge base for the inclusion of sex and gender aspects in medical research, medicine and healthcare in Switzerland. The findings from this NRP will be reflected in guidelines for stakeholders such as physicians or nursing staff. NRP 84 "Plant Breeding Innovation" is intended to link innovations in plant breeding with socioeconomic and policy developments. Research will also provide a scientific basis for the further development of new socially and economically viable breeding methods.
The NRPs were launched at the end of last year. For NRP 81, 81 projects were submitted ( 13 of which were approved ); for NRP 83, the SNSF received 140 projects (19 of which were approved); and for NRP 84, 17 projects were delivered (11 of which were approved).
Among the approved NRP 81 are three USI projects. The first project, titled "Reload. Rethinking procedures and architectural practices for a silent transition", is supervised by Prof. Franz Graf, Full Professor at the USI Academy of Architecture, who will collaborate with Prof. Giulia Marino (Université de Louvain, LAB Institute - Brussels and EPFL). The partners for the practical part of the
The second Muck Petzet , Associate Professor at the USI Academy of Architecture. It is titled "From "Baukultur" to "Umbaukultur" / From a culture of demolition and replacement to a culture of care and repair". Prof. Barbara Antonioli Mantegazzini, Adjunct Professor of USI Faculty of Economics, Prof. Andrea-Emilio Rizzoli , Adjunct Professor of USI Faculty of Informatics, Andrea Roscetti , Researcher of USI Academy of Architecture, Professor Marc Andrew Brightman and Professor Daniele Senzani, both from the University of Bologna, will also take part in the project. The partners for the practical part of
The third project is titled " QUALISCAPES - Assessing tipping points in Baukultur qualities" , proposed by Professor Adrienne Grêt-Regamey (ETHZ), with Professor Emmanuel Reynard (UNIL) and Prof. Frédéric Bonnet, Adjunct Professor at USI Academy of Architecture and member of the Steering Committee of the Institute of Urban and Landscape Studies (ISUP) as co-applicants. The partners for the practical part of
Among the approved NRP 83 is the USI Suzanne Suggs, Full Professor at the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society at USI, is participating as co-applicant with Sabine Rohrmann (UZH).
Professor Julia Dratva (ZHAW) is responsible for the project.
Lastly, there is also a USI proposal in NRP 84. Prof. Ilaria Espa , Associate Professor at USI Faculty of Economics, is responsible for Professor Bernice Elger (UniBasel) will also take part as co-applicant.
In total, USI received funding of just over CHF 1,500,000.
