The ZHAW was once again represented with a delegation at this year’s important UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26). Regina Betz, Head of the Center for Energy and the Environment (CEE), also had the opportunity to present results from two current CEE research projects at a Conference side event. In the following article, she describes her personal impressions and assesses the results of the Conference from a professional standpoint.

Due to the delayed start to Horizon Europe and the initially unclear status of Switzerland, ZHAW researchers have not yet participated in this new European research and innovation programme to the same extent as in recent years. The number of proposals submitted so far for Horizon Europe roughly corresponds to the volume seen in the first year of Horizon 2020, the start of which was associated with comparable difficulties for researchers in Switzerland. After some uncertainty at the outset, however, researchers from Switzerland have been able to establish themselves as associated partners in many Horizon 2020 consortia. This status also applies for the time being to the calls for 2022. Contact for further information: Dr Patrik Ettinger

ZHAW researchers enjoyed great success during the first call for proposals for the new Innosuisse Flagship Initiative. The ZHAW is represented in eight out of the fifteen approved large-scale projects with systematic innovation, assuming the position of lead for two of them as the host institution: in the area of healthcare with “SHIFT”, led by Prof. Alfred Angerer, and in the area of sustainability with “SMART-UMH”, led by Prof. Maike Scherrer. An overview of all eight projects will be available soon on our website.

The new “Innolink” application portal was activated on 25 October 2021 and is the successor to the existing “Analytics” portal, which it will gradually replace. The new portal can now be used to submit applications for innovation projects, with other programmes to follow in stages. While nothing fundamental has changed in terms of the structure and content of the applications, the new portal provides clearer user guidance, greater flexibility as regards the length of the individual sections and an integrated text editor for collaborative writing on the application directly on the platform.
The new tool was also presented to 20 researchers from all Schools on 27 October: as part of the “Basics of Innosuisse innovation projects” training course, Dr Florian Berner and Prof. Beat Ruhstaller (Innosuisse expert, lecturer ZHAW, CEO Fluxim AG) explained the principles and success factors that need to be considered when submitting applications in the key Swiss funding instrument for collaborations between innovative companies and universities.

The ZHAW digital team is happy that 9 new fellows will be funded via the DIZH fellowship program. The DIZH Fellowships are awarded to outstanding ZHAW researchers who would like to work in a research cluster on cross-university and interdisciplinary digital transformation projects.

After a successful pilot phase, the tool REDCap is now highly popular and used intensively. ZHAW Services Research Data has established a service that allows all members of the ZHAW, including students, to use the tool free of charge for research purposes at https://redcap.zhaw.ch - thanks to secure two-factor authentication, this is easily possible via Switch EduID.
Thanks to comprehensive features such as a fine-grained user rights management and audit trail, REDCap enables data collection in the context of research on human subjects to be carried out in compliance with the law. An introductory training consisting of two one-hour modules, which can be held separately or in a block, is offered on request.
In addition, the service center provides individualized technical support, which can be accessed via researchdata@zhaw.ch or the Self-Service Portal. Examples of individual support include:
•Advice on the implementation of complex data collection instruments
•Arranging for advice on legal aspects
•Support with data exports (manually and via APIs)

In the coming year, the service office would like to strengthen the REDCap community at ZHAW and is planning activities such as user meetings to increase exchange between researchers.

Contact: Vanessa Klaas, researchdata@zhaw.ch

Below you will find our full training program for 2021. If you have any questions, please contact Gabriele Biller (bilr@zhaw.ch) or Manuel Bamert (bamr@zhaw.ch).

You can find the entire training program of the ZHAW here (internal only).

HERE you will find further current research news at the ZHAW.

...and you can find calls for proposals, events and information about developments in research funding on our Blog (in German).