Portrait Interfaculty Research Cooperations (IRC)

Interfakultäre Forschungskooperationen (IFK)

Since 2018, the Interfaculty Research Cooperations (IRC) have been funding networking projects from various fields to intensify interconnected and interdisciplinary research.

Each of these networking projects involves 9 to 13 research groups from at least two different faculties. They are each led by two people from different faculties.

The three IRCs launched in 2018 were approved by the Executive Board of the University of Bern in a competitive process. They are oriented around the five strategic priority topics of the University of Bern (Sustainability, Health and Medicine, Matter and Universe, Intercultural Knowledge, Politics and Administration).

Maximum funding of CHF 1.5 million per year per IRC is provided. After the interim evaluation in 2020, the Executive Board decided to continue all three IRCs for two more years until the end of the four-year duration.

The ongoing projects deal with the health of environment, animals and humans, with religious conflicts and with sleep.

One Health: Cascading and Microbiome-Dependent Effects on Multitrophic Health

One Health is examining how environmental changes are influencing microbial communities and consequently the health of soil, plants, animals and humans. © Institute of Plant Sciences IPS, University of Bern

The IRC One Health investigates how environmental chemicals affect the health of soils, plants animals and humans. In an integrated effort, 9 research groups from the Faculties of Science, Veterinary Medicine and Medicine quantify the impact of pesticides, heavy metals and plant toxins on microbial communities at the interfaces between soils, plants, animals and humans. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the collaboration aims at a better understanding of the impact of environmental change on the health of food chains. 

The IRC One Health combines the priority topics "Sustainability" and "Health and Medicine" at the University of Bern by fostering interdisciplinary research on a relevant topic and current frontier in Life Sciences.


Participating faculties

Faculty of ​Science, Faculty of ​Medicine and Vetsuisse Faculty

Participating groups

9 research groups with expertise in microbiology, environmental sciences, plant and animal health, human medicine and bioinformatics

Religious Conflicts and Coping Strategies

Die «Kappeler Milchsuppe» ist in der Schweiz zum Symbol für die friedliche Lösung eines Religionskonflikts geworden. Es ist chronikalisch überliefert, dass im Jahr 1529 Angehörige der verfeindeten reformierten und katholischen Heere während der politischen Verhandlungen bei Kappel an der Grenze zur Innerschweiz gemeinsam gegessen haben. Text und Illustration in Heinrich Thomanns Abschrift von Heinrich Bullingers Reformationschronik aus dem Jahr 1605. © Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Ms. B 316, fol. 418v.
The "Kappeler Milk soup" has become a symbol of peacefully settling a religious conflict in Switzerland. Legend has it that in 1529, catholic and protestant mercenaries were eating together on the fought over border strip during the political negotiations. Transcript of Heinrich Bullingers Reformationschronik of 1605 by Heinrich Thomann. © Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Ms. B 316, fol. 418v.

Despite the fact that conflicts with religious dimensions shape the past and the present, the significance of religion in social and political conflicts so far has not been conclusively identified or explained. The research cooperation strives for a context-sensitive understanding of the ambivalent role of religions in conflicts to be able to develop suitable coping strategies. The main objective of the project is to create analytical models which examine the different economic, social, psychological, cultural and political factors that contribute to conflicts, describing their relation to religious beliefs, religious rhetoric, religious motivations and actors. For this purpose, the 12 groups are researching past and current religious conflicts and coping strategies. 

The content and the methodology of this IFK should make a significant contribution to two strategic areas of focus of the University of Bern: intercultural knowledge and sustainability.


Participating faculties

Faculty of ​Theology, Faculty of ​Law, Faculty of ​Human Sciences, Faculty of Business, Economics ​and Social Sciences, Faculty of ​Humanities and Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies

Participating groups

12 interdisciplinary research groups from theology, law, science of religion, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, political science, history, sociology, psychology, media and communication studies, literature and philosophy

Decoding Sleep: From Neurons to Health & Mind

The project "Decoding Sleep: From Neurons to Health & Mind" aims at a better understanding of the mechanisms of sleep, consciousness and cognition. © Tanja Läser / Insel Gruppe AG.

Sleep has remained almost unchanged in the course of evolution, which indicates its fundamental importance for survival. The research cooperation wishes to achieve a better understanding of the mechanisms of sleep, consciousness and cognition with the three areas of "Brain – Mind – Body". Finally, sleep-wake disorders could be the first signs of illnesses such as Parkinson’s and dementia or depression. For this purpose, molecular and neurophysiological processes of sleep and sleep disorders and their link to brain damage, pain and infections is examined. In addition to this, with the aid of sleep, new insights should be gained into cognitive and neuroplastic processes. In this way, the importance of sleep for mental health, brain functions and physical performance in healthy and sick conditions are examined in animals and humans. New model calculations of sleep phases should be developed from the "big data" of individual project groups - with the aim of identifying new biomarkers for sleep and sleep disorders. 

For this, the IRC can rely on the university center of excellence "Center for Cognition, Learning and Memory (CCLM)", the nationally operating "Bern Network for Epilepsy, Sleep and Consciousness (BENESCO)", internationally established networks and highly specialized infrastructures such as the "Sleep-Wake Epilepsy Center Bern", the "Center for Experimental Neurology" or the "Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine (sitem-insel AG)". Thanks to its focus on personalized medicine and biomedical technology, it contributes to the reinforcement of Bern as a medical center.


Participating faculties

Faculty of ​Medicine, Faculty of ​Human Sciences and Faculty of ​Science

Participating groups

13 research groups from neurology, psychology, physiology, psychiatry and psychotherapy, pneumology, infectiology and informatics