From cancer diagnosis to the Enlightenment: as part of the second Swiss contribution to selected EU member states, the SNSF is supporting 29 research projects through the MAPS (Multilateral Academic Projects) programme.
Mauricio Reyes from the University of Bern is developing an AI-based detection method for brain metastases in cancer patients. He is collaborating with Elitsa Encheva-Mitsova from the Medical University of Varna (Bulgaria), Jacek Kunicki from the National Research Institute of Oncology in Warsaw (Poland), and Claudiu Matei from the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (Romania).
This is one of 29 projects that the SNSF is supporting in collaboration with sister organisations in Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Romania and Hungary. A total of 29.1 million Swiss francs has been earmarked for this scheme over the next three to four years. The SNSF received 318 eligible proposals in response to the call for the MAPS (Multilateral Academic Projects) programme. At least one applicant must be based in Switzerland, and two to five others in two to five of the participating EU member states. Eight of the projects selected for funding are in the life sciences, eight in the humanities and social sciences, and 13 in the MINT disciplines (mathematics, informatics, natural sciences and technology).
From the Enlightenment to microplastics
Another project receiving funding is the research being conducted by Ralf Bader (University of Fribourg), Anna Tomaszewska (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland) and Tinca Prunea-Bretonnet (Romanian Academy). They are studying the ambivalent relationship between the Enlightenment and deception in late 18th-century religious and political thought. Meanwhile, Vera Slaveykova-Startcheva (University of Geneva), Simona Pinzaru (Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania), and Branko Glamuzina (University of Dubrovnik, Croatia) are investigating the accumulation of nano- and microplastics in the food chain, using marine organisms as an example.
EU: Second Swiss contribution
Under the auspices of the second Swiss contribution to selected EU member states, the MAPS programme aims to promote international research cooperation between Switzerland and Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Romania and Hungary. This enables Switzerland to strengthen and deepen its bilateral relations with partner countries and the European Union as a whole, thereby contributing to cohesion, stability and prosperity in Europe.
MAPS is one of three funding programmes run by the SNSF on behalf of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
This article was first published on 5 June by SNSF.
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