Annual Report 2024
Research that seeks answers – and finds them.
With your support, the University of Bern is developing solutions to the great challenges of our time – from personalised medicine to adapting to climate change. The annual report shows how endowed professorships and funding open up new avenues and are already shaping the future today.
The following projects were realised last year with the help of our funding partners:
Stiftung für medizinische Weiterbehandlung, Rehabilitation und Prävention BRH – Professorship for Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation
Rethinking rehabilitation
As chronic diseases increase, so does the need for targeted health promotion and sustainable rehabilitation. The focus is on the individual rebuilding of physical and mental abilities. This is precisely where the BRH Professorship comes in – a pioneering collaboration between the University of Bern and the Insel Gruppe that researches interdisciplinary approaches to holistic rehabilitation.
Assistant Professorship in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science in Radiation Oncology UKRO
What can AI do for medicine?
Radiotherapy is one of the mainstays of cancer treatment. Artificial intelligence and data science can fundamentally transform radiation oncology by automating time-consuming procedures such as treatment planning and quality controls. In addition, the new digital technologies can help to combine all patient data – such as images, laboratory values, molecular information and clinical characteristics – in order to tailor treatment more precisely and individually and to improve therapy outcomes. To systematically develop these concepts of precision medicine in the field of radiation oncology and introduce them into clinical routine, the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Radiation Oncology (CAIRO) was founded in collaboration with the Insel Gruppe; it is headed by the endowed professorship.
Assistant Professorship in Tele-Emergency Medicine
Digital technologies save lives
Digital innovations are fundamentally changing emergency care. For these new approaches to be used reliably, they must be scientifically sound, effective and safe. The Department of Emergency Medicine (UKN) at Bern University Hospital has been conducting intensive research in this area since 2021 with the financial support of the TCS Touring Club Schweiz, and we are delighted that this commitment is being continued.
Bloom Foundation Professorship of Climate Law
Climate law on the move
The climate crisis raises complex legal questions – yet the interface between climate and law has so far been little explored. This is precisely where the endowed professorship of climate law comes in: through close collaboration between the Faculty of Law and the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, interdisciplinary expertise is pooled to develop well-founded answers to new challenges.
W. Inäbnit Endowed Lectureship – Laboratory for Molecular Quantum Materials
The future of energy-efficient electronics
How can rising energy demand be met without increasing costs and energy losses? At the Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences (DCBP) of the University of Bern, researchers are dedicated to developing energy-efficient electronics. The focus is on novel molecular quantum materials that have the potential to drastically reduce energy losses in electronic devices.
Ready for innovation.
The Innovation Office is the central point of contact for innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Bern. It supports researchers and students in turning their ideas into marketable products and start-ups – and actively positions the University within the Swiss innovation ecosystem.
Through the UniBE Venture Fellowship, the Innovation Office provides five early-career researchers each year with CHF 100,000 each to develop their scientific findings through to proof of concept.
- New cohort of innovative UniBE Venture Fellows: Fellows 2025 (in German)
Would you also like to support early-career researchers on their path to entrepreneurship? We look forward to hearing from you.
Quick questions. Smart answers.
With “Science Speed Dating”, the University of Bern engages in dialogue with the public. Researchers answer three precise questions about their projects – quickly, clearly and personally. In 2024, the topics ranged from gender medicine and the sustainable use of resources to space research. Fancy a flirt? Get inspired:
