After more than 1,000 projects, ETH Zurich is handing over the lead for Asia

Pioneering work for Switzerland’s international research partnerships

When the Swiss government was looking for a university to take on a pilot project to support research partnerships with China in 2003, ETH took over the mandate as “Leading House”. At first, the focus was on workshops and symposia for small “stepping stone” projects. These led to the first research partnerships with China, which also included short-term grants for Chinese doctoral students.

In 2008, the Swiss government officially launched bilateral programmes to strengthen research and innovation partnerships with countries with high potential for scientific and technical development, leading to the expansion of the mandate to Japan and South Korea. Institutional contracts with research funding agencies in both those countries facilitated doctoral student exchanges and joint workshops with researchers from the participating countries. Numerous researchers have also benefited from research visits, which have provided access to specific infrastructure and expertise, among other things.

In addition to the “Leading House” mandate, SERI also introduced its “Joint Research Projects” for more extensive collaborative research projects. Roger Gassert, Professor of Rehabilitation Engineering at ETH, participated in one of the first calls in 2012. His group, in collaboration with Professor Jumpei Arata’s team at Kyushu University in Japan, developed a robotic prosthetic hand activated by brain signals to support patients both during therapy and in daily life.

Gassert emphasises that the value of such collaborations reaches far beyond the individual projects: “Over the years, various other students and young researchers have benefited from the collaboration with our colleagues from Japan.” Being able to conduct research in another country not only shapes an academic career. “Experiences we have in a different culture broaden our horizons in general,” Gassert is convinced.

Expansion of partnerships

Following a series of pilot projects that ran from 2013 to 2016, Leading House Asia’s portfolio was expanded further, with collaborations between other Southeast Asian countries and Swiss universities. “During this time, we were grappling intensively with the needs of all the stakeholders,” recalls Anders Hagström, who has supported the mandate through its entire duration at ETH in his staff role with International Affairs. Targeted start-up support was subsequently introduced for projects with research partners in the ASEAN region.

This led to greater diversity in the kinds of institutions applying for funding through Leading House Asia. Cantonal universities, universities of applied sciences, and universities of teacher education increasingly submitted project proposals. As a result, the spectrum of topics also expanded – from biochemistry and physics to interaction design, literature, history and architecture.

Innovative funding tools

In the 2017–2020 funding phase, Leading House Asia expanded its collaborations with partners outside of academia with the help of innovative tools inspired by Swiss formats such as the Innosuisse Projects, which bring researchers into collaboration with industry stakeholders.

The pandemic had a major impact on this period. “When the effects of COVID-19 on international research partnerships became clear to us, we wanted to respond quickly,” says Elise Nardin, Director of the Leading House programme since 2018. ETH advised SERI to use its existing budget to create a special call for COVID-19 projects, in order to respond to the societal, ecological and psychological effects of the pandemic.

Within a matter of weeks, they received 36 proposals and approved 15 of them. Topics of funded projects included health promotion in schools, fake news recognition, and the dynamics of community-building during the lockdown – submitted by institutions such as the University of Geneva, the Schwyz University of Teacher Education, the Valais University of Applied Sciences HES-SO, and University of Applied Sciences for Italian-speaking Switzerland, SUPSI.

In the past four years, Leading House Asia has continued to focus on diversifying its project partners in Switzerland and ASEAN countries, with a particular emphasis on funding young academics, who suffered disproportionate effects from the pandemic.

The final report for the 2021–2024 mandate period brings ETH’s role as Leading House Asia to an end. ETH will continue to oversee current projects until their completion. The University of Zurich has now taken over the mandate for the next period.