Three ERC Starting Grants for researchers at the University of Bern
Three outstanding research projects: of a total of 3,928 project proposals submitted to this year's call for Starting Grants from the European Research Council (ERC), three projects from Bern will receive funding. The total funding amount for the Bernese researchers is around 5,1 million Swiss francs.
As part of the Horizon Europe program, the European Research Council (ERC) supports groundbreaking projects by outstanding young researchers with ERC Starting Grants. In fall 2024, researchers from Switzerland were able to apply again for the highly competitive ERC research funding, from which they had been excluded since 2021. This was made possible by progress in the negotiations between Switzerland and the EU. By the end of the year, Switzerland's association to Horizon Europe is set to be formalized.
Good conditions for cutting-edge research
In this year's call for proposals for ERC Starting Grants, over 3,928 applications were submitted, of which 478 projects will receive funding of around 761 million Euros. These grants are intended for researchers who wish to carry out an independent research project with their own team.
"It is extremely satisfying that ERC grants are once again being awarded to researchers from Swiss institutions, and that three are going to the University of Bern”, says Hugues Abriel, Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation of the University of Bern. “The opportunity to apply for ERC grants is also important for the University of Bern's attractiveness in the European competition for young researchers," Abriel adds.
The three award-winning projects deal with politico-legal aspects of climate protests in Europe, predatory bacteria as ‘living antibiotics’ and marine climate tipping points.
Detailed descriptions of the projects and short biographies of the researchers:
Legal Governmentality: Governing Climate Activism Through Criminal Law and Human Rights in Europe (LeGo)Project leader:Jevgeniy Bluwstein, SNSF Ambizione Fellow, Unit of Social Anthropology, University of Bern Project description:Public authorities across Europe are increasingly responding to climate civil disobedience with criminalization and repression. The LeGo project examines how climate protests are both criminalized and defended against criminalization on the basis of human rights. Through this focus, the project aims to show how criminalization and human rights-ization shape the legal awareness and actions of activists. By analyzing the interplay between criminal law and human rights-based defense, the project advances our understanding of a legal governmentality - a new type of environmental governance of activism which is based on the use of law and rights. About Jevgeniy BluwsteinJevgeniy Bluwstein is a Senior Researcher at the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, University of Bern, Switzerland. Currently he leads the Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione project on climate activism, civil disobedience and litigation in Switzerland. He draws on political ecology, legal anthropology, and critical geography to study the processes and effects of juridification and judicialization of climate politics through criminal trials against climate activists and climate lawsuits against states and corporations. His research interest in climate activism, climate civil disobedience, and climate litigation is part of his broader focus on climate politics in the age of the climate crisis. Contact:Dr. Jevgeniy Bluwstein, SNSF Ambizione Fellow, Unit of Social Anthropology, University of Bern |
Unravelling bacterial immunity against predatory bacteria: the last line of defenceProject leader:Simona Huwiler, Institute for Infectious Diseases (IFIK), University of Bern; (currently SNSF Ambizione Fellow, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zurich) Project description:Increasing numbers of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections call for new treatment strategies. One possibility would be to use natural predatory bacteria which kill other bacteria as prey. Certain predatory bacteria invade other bacteria and destroy them from within. Bacteria have different immune systems to fight viruses of bacteria named bacteriophages (e.g. with CRISPR-Cas). This project aims to clarify whether bacteria also have immune systems against these predatory bacteria as a last line of defence. This will contribute to the development of future treatment options with predatory bacteria. About Simona HuwilerSimona Huwiler currently leads a research group at the Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of Zurich supported by an Ambizione grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation. She is researching predatory bacteria, which are widespread natural enemies of bacteria and can combat multi-resistant bacterial pathogens as potential ‘living antibiotics’. She uses systematic, evolutionary and genetic research approaches to investigate how predatory bacteria kill and disintegrate other bacteria. Further, video microscopy allows her to observe this killing process in real time. Her research findings contribute to a better understanding of predatory bacteria and as well as the further development of their molecular ‘weapons’, with the aim to use these to combat multidrug-resistant pathogens. Contact:Dr. Simona Huwiler, SNSF Ambizione Fellow, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zurich |
Unraveling tipping dynamics of marine biogeochemistry from past climate transitionsProject leader:Frerk Pöppelmeier, Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern Project description:Climate change threatens to push the Earth system across so-called tipping points, i.e. critical thresholds that lead to irreversible changes. To better understand future climate risks, the project examines how past climate and ocean tipping points affected the marine carbon cycle. By combining marine sediment data of past abrupt climate events with advanced Earth system modelling, the project investigates how disruptions in ocean circulation and biogeochemistry influence the ocean’s CO₂ uptake. These insights will help assess the potential impact of tipping points on the carbon cycle under future climate scenarios. About Frerk PöppelmeierFrerk Pöppelmeier is Assistant Professor of Climate and Environmental Physics and heads the Global Biogeochemical Modeling research group at the Physics Institute of the University of Bern. His work focuses on the climate and carbon cycle of the past. His focus is on reconstructing the interactions between biogeochemical cycles, ocean circulation, and climate change during past ice ages. To this end, he uses geochemical data from marine sediments and combines it with numerical models of the Earth system. The goal of his research group is to learn from past climate changes how our climate will change in the future. Contact:Prof. Dr. Frerk Pöppelmeier, Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern |
2025/09/05
