By working with Swissnex, we were able to build a network of researchers and NGOs that are active at the interface between biology and environmental protection. This might have been possible without Swissnex, but not on this scale. The opportunity to exhibit 'Triggered by Motion' at Science Gallery Bengaluru only came about through the recommendation and active support of Swissnex India, following which other science museums around the globe have contacted us about a possible collaboration.
Katharina Weikl Head of Art X Science, University of ZurichAcademic Engagement
What We Do
The academic engagement team at Swissnex in India connects Swiss academic and research stakeholders with India to foster more vibrant Indo-Swiss collaborations.
Think of us as a team positioned in the centre of a web with far-reaching tentacles tethered to academic institutions, research organisations, research and development wings of multinational corporations, government agencies that support education, private and public funding agencies and non-profit organisations. In being connected with different players in India, we are well-positioned to support Swiss academia and research stakeholders in pursuing collaborations within their fields and beyond, particularly (but not limited to) in health, sustainability and digital transformation.
We are here to partner with you to help you expand on your work by closely collaborating with you and helping you find the right partners in India. We work with Swiss researchers, students and the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector by paying attention to your needs and creating a plan with you to achieve your goals. Our aim is to help you build lasting and meaningful partnerships and help you grow collaborations to a point where you no longer need us. What we do, in a nutshell, is that we think and work with you.
Why India?
India is an incredibly diverse country with plenty of talent, creativity and appetite for progress. Premier Indian universities [such as the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) colleges and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) colleges] stand for research excellence in natural sciences, engineering and business. A growing number of high-level private universities complements these long-standing public academic institutions. While Indian research is traditionally known for its international research collaborations in physics, chemistry, spacetech and engineering, they also drive skill development and knowledge building at the individual and organisational levels in the areas of climate research, biodiversity, health-tech and digital transformation, contributing to addressing global challenges.
Research from Indian academia has led to groundbreaking contributions on the international stage. Indian astronomers played a crucial role in the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which captured the first-ever image of a black hole. India’s expertise in particle physics was evident when Indian scientists contributed to experiments at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), where the discovery of the Higgs boson was announced. Indian scientists are also actively studying the impacts of climate change on various ecosystems and contributing to strategies for adaptation and mitigation. The parallels between the effect of climate change on the Himalayas—including loss of biodiversity, melting and shrinking of glaciers, and extreme weather conditions—and the Swiss Alps cannot be ignored.
Moreover, India’s growing importance in shaping and defining our collective future compels us to engage with the country at a deeper level.
How We Do It
Our activities traverse a wide range of approaches in a variety of areas, including health, sustainability and digital transformation. While they are all unique in their own ways, we’ve grouped them into a few broad categories that will hopefully make it easy for you to comprehend the scope of our work:
- Reporting on trends and developments in India’s education, research and innovation ecosystem
- Researching and advising on specific topics in health, sustainability and digital transformation
- Identifying and connecting with collaborators
- Conceptualising and executing sabbaticals and study tours
- Facilitating conversations and organising meetings
- Small grants and scholarship programmes
Here are some specific examples of how we execute what we offer. Please note the activities listed below are just a sample, and we are open and eager to work with you beyond them.
Opportunities
Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)-Swissnex Staff Mobility Program
The Staff Mobility Program with ZHAW is a professional development programme that offers university staff members (excluding students) the opportunity to work in India for anywhere between two weeks to two months on any topic they like. Applicants can work on research- or project-based undertakings, peer learning-based projects or long-term projects. We support the participants with access to our network and help them connect with the right people in India to advance their work, develop research and professional expertise, exchange knowledge, immerse themselves in the local research ecosystem and potentially deliver a research product to both Swissnex and ZHAW.
Vocational Education and Training (VET) NextSteps Programme
This is an internship opportunity for VET graduates in any field from the cantons of Vaud and Zurich to work at Indian host companies in and around Bengaluru for anywhere between three to six months. Students are selected and matched with ten Indian host organisations, ranging from small businesses and startups to medium and large corporations. In the past, we’ve had a watchmaker, a stage technician and a cook among other professions working in India to gain international experience.
ThinkSwiss Research Scholarships
ThinkSwiss Scholarships offer students from India, Singapore and Australia fully-funded research stints in a Swiss laboratory of their choosing. In India, we encourage projects in biodiversity, climate and AMR. The duration of the scholarship is for a minimum of two months and up to three months so that scholars have a chance to experience the Swiss research ecosystem first-hand. All they need is an acceptance letter from a Swiss host professor admitting them for a research stay in their group/lab along with their application.
Examples of Activities
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
After a chat about antimicrobial resistance (AMR) between Prof. Markus Seeger at the University of Zurich and Swissnex in India’s Dr. Lena Robra, Markus suggested that a good way to build more knowledge on AMR would be for Swiss researchers to interact with Indian researchers working on AMR. The University of Geneva also expressed interest in the topic. Following these conversations, we organised the Indo-Swiss AMR Innovation Dialogue, where 50 Swiss and Indian experts gathered in Bengaluru to discuss roadblocks in AMR innovation, progress on research, the gaps that need to be filled, the skills needed to fill these gaps, innovative approaches that could be used to confront the AMR crisis and collaborations that could facilitate the process. We invited participants from various fields in the health sector, including clinicians, doctors, pharma companies, startups and investors, so that all the required skills could be found in one room. As a result of the AMR Dialogue, today there are at least five new partnerships. Indian students are spending time in Swiss research labs, an Indian researcher is testing a molecule for a Swiss company that he met at the AMR Dialogue, and a future dialogue in Switzerland is in the works. Our aim is to not just connect people but to facilitate meaningful and lasting partnerships and relationships of trust that lead to innovative solutions.
Planetary Health
Another significant outcome of the AMR Dialogue is our participation in the Trialogue Days, a three-day gathering hosting participants from India, Switzerland and Uganda at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru on planetary health. Trialogue Days is an extension of Dialogue Days, a 10-year partnership on infectious diseases and One Health between Makerere University and the University of Zurich. At the AMR Dialogue, Prof. Jan Fehr at the University of Zurich and Prof. Utpal Tatu at IISc—who had collaborated and decided to host the Trialogue Days at the IISc—took note of how we had selected and connected different stakeholders and Jan invited us to be part of it. Fifty experts from the three countries will come together in December of 2024 to talk about the impacts of heat, air quality, water and flooding; the risks attached to zoonotic diseases (diseases spread between humans and animals), AMR, global mobility and migration; and the opportunities offered through resilient health systems, mitigation and adaptation, better education and new technologies. The theme of the Trialogue Days is ‘Planetary Health from Different Perspectives – Mind the Gap’, and the idea is to highlight the need to increase transdisciplinary knowledge and exchange experiences to be able to counter the pressing challenges of planetary health.
Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we partnered with Movetia, Switzerland’s national agency responsible for promoting exchange and mobility within the Swiss education system, where we identified gaps and roadblocks in digital skills in higher education in Switzerland and wrote a report delving into the issues. Building on this partnership with Movetia and involving other international facilitators, we co-developed an online course that would enhance teaching through global collaboration and intercultural learning—Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). The intent was two-fold: first to enhance digital teaching skills and second to increase access to internationalisation at home. We actively support COILs and help co-develop them for organisations and institutions.
Knowledge2Action
We help in bridging the gap between Switzerland and India’s innovation, education and research collaborations. One of the programmes offered by the Clusters of Cooperation in the Global South (CLOC) and sponsored by swissuniversities Development and Cooperation Network (SUDAC) is the Knowledge2Action programme, which promotes the real-world application of research findings in South Asia and Switzerland and focuses on environmental sustainability and social well-being goals. We oversee the implementation of the K2A projects, facilitate sharing of research findings and knowledge exchange via workshops and conferences. Under the K2A, there are several funding instruments available including the K2A Small Grants, K2A Mobility Subsidies and the K2A Online Academy. The idea is to make knowledge and research from Swiss and South Asian institutions accessible to a wide variety of stakeholders that promote the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. These actors include but are not limited to policymakers, educators, activists and others who can put knowledge to action.
Building Student Experience
We also organise study tours in India for Swiss students to provide them with a global experience so that they learn to look at things from a different perspective in a different country. An example of how we carried this out began in 2022, when selected students who had submitted their projects and ideas as part of the University of Lausanne’s course on social development and the environment, were given the opportunity to visit India. We developed a programme for them—that included site visits and stakeholder engagements in the water sector—that made a lasting impression on them and offered them the impetus to do something impactful.
Testimonials and Success Stories
The Swiss National Agency Movetia values the collaboration with Swissnex in India and its active participation in the global exchange of knowledge and talent. Swissnex's commitment to the global promotion and networking of players of our Swiss education system goes hand in hand with Movetia's vision of student and staff exchange and international cooperation in education. We are shaping the future of our education system together and strengthening it's standing in the global communities.
Amanda Crameri Head of Division Higher Education, MovetiaSwissnex in India has been an excellent partner for the Basel Sustainability Forum 2024. They have tapped into their considerable network to identify relevant speakers and helped coordinate their participation in the online lecture series. This is just the beginning and we are looking forward to working with them more intensely next year on Indo-Swiss research and education projects.
Manfred Max Bergman Chair, Social Transitions Research Group, University of BaselWe successfully organised the Indo-Swiss AMR Innovation Dialogue in Bengaluru in 2023. We relied on the outstanding network of Swissnex in India to compile the delegation of key opinion leaders in the field - around 60% of the Indian delegation and 20% of the Swiss delegation came through that. Swissnex's contacts included key opinion leaders from the Indian Government (or officials of individual states of India), Startups/SMEs, NGOs, large funding bodies as well as academics from Indian universities. They handled all organisational matters including visas, travelling, transportation, accommodation, conference logistics and rooms, booklet design and name tags down to the finest detail, and were a key part in shaping the final programme of the meeting. The collaboration was very professional, efficient and friendly. I would certainly (and likely will) collaborate with Swissnex in India again in the future.
Markus Seeger Professor of Medicinal Microbiology, University of ZurichNextStep is a global internship programme run by the cantons of Vaud and Zurich for graduates of the Swiss Federal Vocational Baccalaureate. We promote excellence in vocational education through internationalisation. The young talents we support today will be the economic backbone of tomorrow. Swissnex in India has enabled us to build a sustainable network with innovative host companies, provide logistical support for participants and ensure operational quality on site. With Swissnex as a dedicated partner, we look forward to a future in which the Swiss vocational education system is elevated even further through dynamic interaction with a vibrant region.
Dr. Ramon Leeman Deputy Head of the Exchange and Mobility Department, Canton of ZurichA huge thanks to Swissnex for successfully engineering serendipity and bringing together a diverse group of experts from various fields to discuss AMR at the Indo-Swiss AMR Innovation Dialogue in Bengaluru in 2023. This was one of the most unique and impactful meetings on AMR that I’ve attended.
Kenneth Bradley Global Head, Infectious Disease Discovery, RocheMy Swissnex sabbatical in India in 2023 was an amazing experience. I had the opportunity to visit both Bangalore and Delhi to discuss the current state and trends of Indian Open Science movements with various stakeholders. Swissnex India provided excellent support. The team assisted me with scheduling my stay, finding accommodation, providing a workspace, and connecting me with academics and policymakers to exchange views on the topics of our professional interest. As a result, I could make the most of every single day of my stay while also enjoying my free time.
Dr. Simon van Rekum Research Data Specialist at Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)Team Members
Dr. Lena Robra
Prajwala Ravikrishna
Dr. Siddharth Bharath
Emma Ossola