Bern (ots) - The Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM) made its first investment in Nepal, a focus country of Switzerland's development cooperation.SIFEM supports NMB Bank Limited with a loan of USD 12 million that will be used for lending to local businesses.This investment will give micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) access to finance and will ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - Projects taking part in the National Research Programme "Covid-19" (NRP 78) of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) are pursuing highly promising approaches in a drive to develop new vaccines. Three research groups have adopted interesting approaches to the highly topical issue of vaccines. The team led by Steve Pascolo is investigating ways of improving functionality and stability of mRNA vaccines, ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - Society stigmatises homosexuals. Individuals who internalise this stigma are more critical of their partners when under stress, according to a study funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Couples handle stressful episodes better when partners support and listen to each other. Homosexual couples are no exception. But in contrast to other couples, homosexuals also face the enduring stigma of ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - Therapy and reporting to the judiciary - psychiatric professionals in prison have a conflict of loyalties. How do they deal with it? The treatment of people for whom a therapeutic measure has been ordered by the court creates a conflict of loyalties for medical professionals. A study(*) supported by the SNSF reveals how they deal with this in practice. Approximately one thousand people in Switzerland are ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - At the women's session, taking place this week in Bern, research funding will be a topic of debate. A motion proposes to link third-party research funding to gender equality standards. Women are still significantly underrepresented in research: the share of women professors is currently 24 per cent; in research projects funded by the SNSF, women hold a 39 per cent share, spread across different career stages. ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern, 14.10.2021 (ots) - The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) strives consistently and continuously to improve the quality of research. A ban on animal and human experiments would massively restrict the opportunity to gain knowledge and adversely affect Switzerland as a research hub. On 13 February 2022, the Swiss electorate will vote on the initiative to ban animal and human experiments. Acceptance of the ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - Geochemist Denise Mitrano has found a way to track how micro- and nanoplastic particles spread through the environment. For this work, she is receiving this year's Marie Heim-Vögtlin Prize from the Swiss National Science Foundation. Man-made plastic pollutes the environment. When broken down into micro- and nanoparticles, it poses an increasing problem not only for the oceans and their inhabitants, but also ...
New Study: "Autonomy Through Agroecology" UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), United Nations, New York, 23 September 2021. Women Farmers’ Rights And Autonomy Critical For Global Food Security, says Swiss Study Berne |New York, 21 September 2021 - The report "Autonomy Through Agroecology" with case studies of six ...
Bern, Switzerland (ots) - At an international meeting in Switzerland, victims' groups from all over Europe launched the large-scale "Justice Initiative". With this political initiative, abuse of children, especially in state and church institutions, is to be comprehensively dealt with for the first time in all European countries. A motion to bring the processing of ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - A very aggressive type of cancer has provided a team of researchers supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation with an answer to the question of which tumour cells are at risk of spreading. Cancer treatment is sometimes complicated by the heterogeneity of the cells that form the tumour mass. The problem is how to identify the few cells that are capable of triggering metastases. Thanks to work carried ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - The Swiss National Science Foundation has been funding clinical studies on under-researched topics in medicine since 2016. In a first, it successfully involved representatives of patients and the public in evaluating applications. The aim of the SNSF's Investigator Initiated Clinical Trials (IICT) programme is to answer medical questions that are important to society but not a priority for industry. This ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - A study on predatory ants, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, explains how small differences between individuals can change the collective organisation of the colony. The colonies of social insects are complex systems that are entirely self-organised. Scientists who looked at the demographic, genetic and morphological structure of ant colonies were able to show how this self-organisation ...
Bern, Switzerland (ots) - The exhibition and meeting space "Habitat" of the Wyss Academy for Nature in Bern will newly present the work "Morphologies", which explores the moment of wonder towards nature that is common to art and science. At the same time, the Wyss Academy is addressing a pressing issue in the field of sustainable development: Engaging with people from research, politics, business, and agriculture on four ...
Bern (ots) - In 2020, the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM) committed a total of USD 85.6 million to ten new investments and concluded the year with a negative operating result of CHF -28.6 million, amid the global COVID-19 crisis. More than ever, SIFEM has been able to play its counter-cyclical ...
Bern (ots) - swissuniversities has concluded a new Read&Publish agreement with John Wiley & Sons. It will provide students and researchers from over 40 Swiss higher education and research institutions access to the Wiley Online Library with over 1'450 journals. At the same time, this agreement enables authors affiliated to these institutions to make their scientific ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - The winners of the 2021 SNSF Scientific Image Competition offer a fresh look at cutting-edge research, from COVID-19 to the study of volcanoes, from churches to alpine geography. The public have also chosen their favourites among the images submitted over the last five years. The works singled out by the jury of the 2021 SNSF Scientific Image Competition show both the variety of top-flight research being conducted in Switzerland and its aesthetic aspects, from ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - In 2020, researchers submitted 8200 grant applications to the SNSF. 3300 of them were selected for funding in a competitive process. At short notice, the SNSF funded 73 projects on COVID-19. Thousands of SNSF-funded teams explore nature, technology and society. This generates knowledge that is a key driver of progress. In 2020, the SNSF invested 937 million francs in 3300 new projects, selected from 8200 ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - In analysing rodent fossils, scientists funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation have come up with a novel hypothesis: hibernation was a survival strategy 34 million years ago. Until very recently, the ability to hibernate was thought to have appeared during the Quaternary ice age 2.6 million years ago. Now, a study funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) suggests that the process may ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - Most antibiotics need to penetrate their target bacteria. But Darobactin, a newly discovered compound, is much too large to do so. Nonetheless, it kills many antibiotic-resistant pathogens - by exploiting a tiny weak spot on their surface. Basel researchers have now revealed the amazing mechanism at play and thereby opened the door to developing completely new medicines. An increasing number of bacterial ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - By adopting a few simple measures, farmers can drastically reduce the use of antibiotics and improve the well-being of their animals without economic disadvantages. This was confirmed in a field trial- the first of its kind in Switzerland - carried out by researchers of the University of Bern based on the specially developed "outdoor veal calf" method. Large amounts of antibiotics are used in the veal ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - The implementation of research results is of central importance for the economy and society. The SNSF and Innosuisse have signed an agreement to further strengthen the interaction between science and innovation. Through this agreement, the SNSF and Innosuisse are reiterating their shared understanding of the fact that the innovation chain - from basic ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - The Swiss National Science Foundation is inviting the public to choose their favourite scientific image or video until 31 March 2021. Microscopic observations, unusual environments, researchers at work... More than 2000 images have been submitted to the SNSF Scientific Image Competition since its launch in 2017. To celebrate the fifth edition, the SNSF is inviting the public to share their vision of science ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - Bacteria can survive antibiotic treatment even without antibiotic resistance by slowing down their metabolism and going into a type of deep sleep. A research team funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation reveals the changes bacteria undergo to reach this "persister" state. Resistant bacteria evade the effects of antibiotics by becoming less susceptible, for example by breaking the drugs down. But some ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - Gender equality is a prime concern of the Swiss National Science Foundation. To offer additional visibilty to women in academia, it is introducing gender quotas in its evaluation bodies with immediate effect. Political equality between men and women was achieved 50 years ago when women won the right to vote. But the underrepresentation of women in academic leadership roles continues: only 23 per cent of ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - Researchers funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation conducted a large-scale study of discrimination on an online recruitment platform. The findings showed that, depending on the occupation, both men and women suffer from discrimination, and that discrimination against foreigners depends, among other things, on the time of day. Discrimination in hiring is a major societal problem. A new analysis of ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - A study funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation shows that goats like to earn a reward by 'working' for it, even if they can get the same reward without making any effort. This finding could benefit humane husbandry. Goats respond positively to challenges rather than just turning away. In a project funded jointly by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the German Research Foundation (DFG), two breeding lines - dairy goats and dwarf goats - ...
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds / Fonds national suisse
Bern (ots) - Share the beauty of your research! The Swiss National Science Foundation invites researchers to submit their photographs, images and videos to the SNSF Scientific Image Competition. This year, in addition to the official jury, the public will be able to choose their favourite works from among those submitted since 2017. The fifth edition of the SNSF Scientific Image Competition is now open. Once again this ...