Bridging Science and Policy – Two systematized overviews on training opportunities and science-policy interaction formats

A new report titled On Science for Policy and Diplomacy Education in Switzerland and Beyond: A Brief Overview has just been released, offering timely insights into the growing field at the intersection of science, policy, and diplomacy. Published by the Swiss Young Network for Science Policy and Diplomacy (SYNESPOD) of the Swiss Young Academy, in collaboration with the Geneva Science-Policy Interface (GSPI) and the Franxini Project of Reatch, the report maps educational opportunities for early-career researchers and professionals in Switzerland, Europe, and globally.

A new report titled “Systematizing science-policy interactions: A description of formats from Switzerland and Finland” has been released as part of the ETH Joint Initiative Engage. It contains a framework to systematically capture formats for science-policy interactions and contextualizes them in the larger science-policy ecosystem. Based on expert interviews and case studies from Switzerland and Finland, 10 exchange formats are described and analyzed in detail.

Celebrating Innovation: Recognizing One of the Top 30 Young Scientists Tackling Climate Solutions

Response Doctoral Program

We are thrilled to congratulate Katrin Sievert on being selected as one of the top 30 young scientists addressing climate change and earning the prestigious Inflection PhD Award.

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Epigenetics and Plant Breeding: Can Epigenetic Variation be used for Crop Improvement?

Response Doctoral Program

Plant breeding has been remarkably successful in developing high-yielding crop cultivars that have helped to sustain global food production over the last century. For instance, in the United States, the yield of the hybrid corn was increased 3 times, from 4 tons per hectare in the 1960s to 12 tons per hectare in 2017. By selecting and crossing plants with desirable traits, breeders have created crops that are more productive and adapted to intensive agriculture. However, this success has come with a trade-off: breeding has relied on genetic variation within a very limited primary gene pool, which has been shrinking due to genetic bottlenecks caused by domestication and intensive selection. As a result, today’s crops have lost much of their natural genetic diversity, making further improvement increasingly difficult.

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How Alpine Plants use Chemicals for Communication and Why this can be relevant for Conservation

Response Doctoral Program

Most insects that interact with plants have preferences for certain chemical components in the material they consume. In the case of insect herbivores and pollinators, both groups often need specific nutrients, or the avoidance of compounds that are toxic for them. As a consequence, they have evolved preferences or aversions to specific plant compounds, which guide their foraging for food sources.

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Next-Generation Semiconductor Materials for Sustainable Energy Transition

Response Doctoral Program

Background

The unprecedented pace of technological progress is transforming our society, but is also driving an ever-growing demand for electrical energy. Meanwhile, The UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 pushes toward a future where everyone, everywhere, has access to clean, affordable, and reliable energy. This calls for cleaner production and conscious use of sustainable energy. Addressing this challenge of a sustainable energy transition is vital for the future of our society. A key factor in this regard is the efficiency of electrical networks. An efficient network, with minimal losses, enables innovations such as smart grids and the integration of renewable energy sources.

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Cross-border Cooperation on Carbon Capture and Storage: Why Public Opinion Matters?

Response Doctoral Program

As the need for climate change mitigation intensifies, a crucial challenge emerges: how do we tackle the menace of carbon dioxide emissions? One promising solution is Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), a technology by which carbon dioxide emissions are captured and stored deep underground in rock formations or depleted oil wells. While CCS holds significant potential for curbing industrial contributions to climate change, it demands suitable underground storage space for the captured carbon dioxide, which is accompanied by two major hurdles. First, identifying these locations is challenging because storing carbon dioxide requires special geological conditions underground. Second, this may give rise to “Not-In-My-Backyard” protests in communities that host carbon dioxide storage projects due to public misperceptions of carbon dioxide as toxic for individuals.

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From the Himalayas to Global Fields: Preserving Wheat Diversity to Combat Yellow Rust

Response Doctoral Program

Since the domestication of wheat about 7,500 years ago, this important crop has undergone significant changes (de Sousa et al. 2021). Through targeted breeding, high-yielding wheat varieties have been developed to feed the growing global population, but this comes at the cost of reduced genetic diversity (Balfourier et al. 2019).

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