Studying and Teaching
Outstanding achievements deserve special recognition: UZH recognizes exceptional work by students with a semester award. Discover how this work emerges, its didactic value, and the support provided by teaching staff.
Navassa is a tiny island that doesn’t even appear on most maps of the Caribbean. But in 1899, it was the location of an event that would change the relationship between the United States and its quasi-colonies on remote islands forever. During a violent rebellion by laborers who were digging up guano fertilizer on the island, a number of their overseers were killed. The rebellion on this remote island was the subject of widespread discussion among the American public at the time and this shed a spotlight on the social costs of mining.
Guano was a vital resource, a nutrient-rich fertilizer derived from the excrement of seabirds and bats. From the mid-19th century, this had resulted in a real rush to guano islands, a development that required hard physical graft by laborers.
There was good reason for the rebellion on Navassa, as Bachelor’s student Vivianne Rhyner discovered while conducting research for her term paper as part of her history degree, because the working conditions on the island were inhumane and dangerous to people’s health. “In the 19th and early 20th century, the demand for fertilizer really skyrocketed in Western countries,” explains Rhyner. Particularly large reserves were located on the islands in the Pacific and the Caribbean, including on Navassa. What historical, social and economic repercussions this great demand for fertilizer had was the research question that she wanted to answer in her term paper.
She first encountered the topic in the Mapping Pacific History seminar given by Jonas Rüegg, who is a senior teaching and research assistant in the Department of History. “Fertilizer obtained from guano is an important topic in the history of the Pacific because it represents one of the resources that led to processes of colonization, migration of labor and destruction of the environment in Oceania,” says Rüegg. “When Vivianne came across Navassa for her term paper, at first I myself didn’t actually know where this was, but the history of the island really helps to portray the picture of the guano rush in the Pacific. Vivianne came up with the topic for her paper herself and researched it in great depth. She independently analyzed both primary and secondary sources and adopted a critical stance in examining the use of fertilizer from an economic, social and ecological perspective.” Recognizing this particularly original and interdisciplinary work, Rüegg says that Vivianne Rhyner thoroughly deserved to receive the semester award.
When she was studying source materials, Vivianne Rhyner focused on the reports in the USA that chronicled what happened as it was viewed at the time. “I read a great deal and ultimately I chose to use the articles from newspapers as my primary sources,” says the history student. The texts describe how 130 laborers from Navassa Island were arrested after the rebellion and taken to the USA. But how was it that former slaves and other laborers on the Caribbean island, which did not actually form part of the territory of the USA, had to work on the island?
“The reason was the Guano Islands Act of 1856,” explains Rhyner. “This act permitted US citizens to take possession of islands in international waters if they contained guano deposits.” The team of lawyers representing the accused laborers back then contested the constitutionality of the Guano Islands Act. They argued that Navassa Island did not belong to the United States and the laborers therefore could not be tried under American law. However, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the act, which reinforced the USA’s territorial claim to the guano islands and confirmed the sentences handed down to the laborers.
“This point clearly illustrates the intertwining of the needs of the economy and law that drove the territorial expansion of the USA here and elsewhere,” says Rhyner. The articles also gave the student a sense of the inhumane conditions under which the laborers working on Navassa had to graft away.
The sources threw up lots of interesting questions. “In the end, however, you need to choose certain primary sources and follow the path you’ve set out on,” says Rhyner. She knew the rules that need to be followed when writing a history term paper: the length of the paper, citing sources correctly and showing a clear methodology. “I felt confident working with sources, literature and doing research, but the challenge was to find a suitable way to present the material in order to make it coherent and academically correct,” says Rhyner.
“From an educational point of view, we are very keen to give the students as much freedom as possible when they write their term papers,” explains Jonas Rüegg. The aim of a Bachelor’s study program is to learn how to work with sources on your own. “The study of sources is open-ended – so the students have to embark on an intellectual journey whose destination is unknown,” says Rüegg. You need to be able to contend with this openness. And at the same time, you must constantly think about which further steps will be beneficial, which aspects you want to delve deeper into, what you want to abandon and whether you need to tweak the original question you asked. “I encourage my students to draw a mind map because this visual depiction often helps provide fresh insight,” explains the senior teaching and research assistant in the Department of History. For example, Vivianne drew a map of the island, and this gave her a sense of its size and the local conditions on the ground. She also shared her insights with the other students in the course and discussed her work with them.
However, a term paper should not just be planned in a quiet little room, says Rüegg. The senior teaching and research assistant is also keen for the students to engage with one another – just as Vivianne Rhyner did. “This helps them to reflect on their own work and overcome any barriers in their imagination.”
In writing her term paper, Vivianne Rhyner learned how to handle freedom and uncertainty. As soon as she finished writing the paper, she began an internship at the Swiss Consulate in New York. “One of my first tasks was to write a speech for the ambassador, and I had hardly any pointers to follow. The experience I’d gained from writing my term paper really helped me: I’ve learned how to set my own priorities and build a strong argument,” she says. She is now highly motivated as she works on her Master’s degree in International Relations at the Geneva Graduate Institute.
“What motivated me during my Master’s thesis and what got me through the tough times was the opportunity to contribute to the latest research on equine surgery,” says Natalie Miller-Collmann with a beaming smile as she rolls down the sleeves of her pale blue scrubs. The semester award winner has just come from the stables at the University Animal Hospital. Her two supervisors – Anton Fürst, professor of equine surgery, and Stefanie Ohlerth, professor of diagnostic imaging – are also taking part in the interview. Both attest to the excellence of Natalie Miller-Collmann’s scholarly work. Her research was also met with interest by the veterinary community, and she had the opportunity to present her findings on equine cervical vertebrae at a specialist conference.
One of the reasons for the great response was the fact that the subject of the thesis is a hot topic at the moment. Many experts hold the view that if the last two equine cervical vertebrae C6 and C7 deviate from the norm, they should be classified as pathological and described as a malformation. Meanwhile, others see the anatomical variation in the two vertebrae as natural variability. They argue that there are many genetic and environmental factors that can influence equine vertebral anatomy, and that slight variations are not necessarily abnormal.
“The basic question of whether the variation in cervical vertebrae is anatomical or pathological affects everyday clinical practice as pathologically deformed vertebrae require treatment,” says Anton Fürst. And there’s an economic aspect too, as the prices of jumpers, riders and stud horses can easily exceed CHF 100,000. If the cervical vertebrae are considered deformed, the animal’s economic value diminishes.
When approving topics for Master’s theses, Anton Fürst is careful to ensure that the subject is technically relevant, but also that there is time to cover it properly in a Master’s thesis. “Because we conduct applied research, the topics aren’t usually abstract, but affect issues that students are directly confronted with in their everyday clinical work.” Miller-Collmann says that this was hugely motivating for her: “For me, it’s ultimately about the animals. It was a powerful incentive for me to be able to play a part in improving animal welfare through my Mather’s thesis.”
Anton Fürst advised his student to start by preparing a short presentation outlining her approach. “This enables me to intervene in time if I feel that one of my Master’s students hasn’t thought a subject through properly.” Students’ expectations of their supervisor vary a great deal. While some ask a lot of questions and are uncertain, others try to do everything on their own. “I try to strike the right balance between encouraging autonomy and providing methodological support,” says Fürst. One of the goals is to boost students’ self-confidence and problem-solving skills. “Regular feedback and open, trust-based communication are important to allow students to ask questions and discuss challenges, while encouraging them to find their own solutions.”
Natalie Miller-Collmann showed a particularly high level of autonomy. Of her own accord, she questioned the current received opinion on equine vertebral anatomy. “I did a lot of research and reading, and I saw that while there are already lots of publications on cervical vertebrae C6 and C7, they tended to endorse the deformity theory. Over time I realized that all these studies were one-sided in a specific respect: they only studied sick horses. That’s what gave me the idea to statistically analyze the vertebral anatomy of healthy horses as well.” It takes courage to pursue a new and independent path, but she received encouragement from her fellow students and supervisors, she says.
With the support of Anton Fürst, Natalie Miller-Collmann contacted veterinarians all over Switzerland who carry out health checks on racehorses, jumpers and stud horses when they are put up for sale. These routine pre-sale examinations also include x-rays of the cervical vertebrae. The veterinarians therefore provided Miller-Collmann with anonymized data for her thesis: she received x-ray images of 324 horses’ necks showing the anatomy of C6 and C7.
To answer her research question, she was able to use the imaging equipment at the Vetsuisse Faculty. “That’s when I started to drill down into the detail,” she says. This involved interpreting the images effectively. To this end, she developed a model against which she could compare the vertebrae. “I looked at the x-ray images again and again,” recalls Miller-Collmann. You need to work very precisely to classify the variations accurately, contextualize them and statistically analyze them. “Over time she became something of an expert,” lauds Stefanie Ohlerth.
Imaging techniques such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), x-ray, scintigraphy and CT (computed tomography) are available at the University Animal Hospital, including for large animals. They play a key role in veterinary medical research as they allow a precise diagnosis and the detailed examination of anatomical structures and of pathological changes in animals, says Ohlerth. “This is a good opportunity for Master’s students in veterinary medicine to familiarize themselves with the latest diagnostic methods. They can learn how imaging techniques are used, interpreted and integrated into research.” These skills are not only important for students’ academic careers, but also for practical application in clinical settings, says Ohlerth.
In her thesis, Natalie Miller-Collmann convincingly argues that slight variations in equine cervical vertebrae are not necessarily pathological. On the basis of her findings, she proposed a new nomenclature for cervical vertebrae variations that moves away from the explicit pathological view. The new term Equine cervico-thoracic variation (ECTV) classifies the variants in the C7 and C6 as variation and not as explicitly pathological. ECTV could be the result of selective breeding. A follow-up study involving a population of original breeds with shorter necks could show whether this assumption is correct.
Natalie Miller-Collmann always wanted to be a vet. She says that her studies have empowered her to be able to acquire knowledge independently and on that basis, to make responsible decisions. At the end of the interview, she slips back into her blue scrubs and makes her way to the stables, where a horse needs an expert examination.
Geography student Rocco Bagutti is interested in sustainable mobility systems – in particular, minimizing the negative environmental impact of travel. In the spring of 2020, he therefore joined the Air Miles Group, which critically examines the flights taken by the Department of Geography in order to reduce them as much as possible. After all, staff are well aware of harmful emissions, their impact on climate change and, not least, the consequences of melting glaciers, which are the subject of intense research in this very department.
The young student from Ticino met with committed members of staff, from professors to teaching and research assistants as well as administrative employees – all of whom pulled together to get involved. The Air Miles Group took on a pioneering role at UZH with this cause. It later received the Team Effort Award at the UZH Dies academicus for dedicating countless hours of voluntary work to gathering and publishing the flight data of staff and guests every year since 2017.
Rocco Bagutti saw the air travel data as a hidden treasure trove that could be scientifically evaluated to provide the department with in-depth information. He therefore proposed to analyze this data using statistical methods in his Master’s thesis. He also wanted to answer certain questions: what were the reasons for flying? Under what conditions were the employees of the Department of Geography prepared to forgo flying? And what alternatives did they use?
The group responded to Bagutti’s proposal with great approval. Peter Ranacher, senior teaching and research assistant and member of the Air Miles Group, offered his academic support for the Master’s thesis. The topic was also accepted by geography professor Michael Zemp. “I was hugely motivated to do something of interest for the Department of Geography,” says Bagutti.
Rocco Bagutti proceeded to plan his thesis step by step. He first conducted a statistical analysis of the flight data collected from the department. Using a geographical information system (GIS), he visualized the flows of flights in the form of charts, constructed temporal and spatial mobility patterns, and then combined the flight data with the results of an online questionnaire in which all members of academic staff at the department took part.
A single methodical approach was not sufficient to determine the potential of different reduction measures. For this reason, Bagutti followed a multi-method approach that was particularly challenging, as supervisor Peter Ranacher emphasizes. Bagutti acquired the technical and data science skills independently; here he also sought and found support outside the Department of Geography. Ariane Wenger, an environmental scientist at ETH Zurich, tackled reducing academic flights in her dissertation as part of ETH Zurich’s air travel project. Bagutti was able to benefit from Wenger’s expertise.
Using statistical methods, Bagutti gained a precise picture of how often flights are taken and to which destinations. He also conducted a staff survey to find out the opinions held by researchers at the Department of Geography on reducing air travel. In response, he received deep insights into the dynamics of academic careers and recognized just how important international relations are in the academic world. “Travel is not only necessary to carry out research projects but also, for example, for networking at conferences,” he notes. For instance, he was able to show in which cases virtual communications are preferred, and in which cases on-site are necessary.
“For his Master’s thesis, Rocco Bagutti conducted an academic study that meets very high standards and also provides great practical value in the long term,” says supervisor Peter Ranacher. “Anyone who plans their Master’s thesis as carefully, conducts it as precisely and analyzes it as professionally as he has done undoubtedly deserves a semester award.”
“Rocco’s study was very useful for reducing air travel at UZH,” Ranacher concludes. The study provided a foundation for documenting the reasons for air travel at the Department of Geography, and it helped UZH find solutions for reducing air travel without adversely affecting research projects and academic careers. Thanks to its publication, the study also made a valuable contribution to academic literature. Air travel at the Department of Geography and the resulting emissions have decreased substantially in recent years, as can be seen in the annual reports. For instance, members of the department flew 30% less in 2023 than they did in the reference period from 2017 to 2019.
Rocco Bagutti was a member of the Sustainability Task Force at the Department of Geography until 2024. He has now completed his studies and works at the Federal Roads Office.
Children with a congenital immune deficiency cannot properly defend themselves against pathogens. In some children, the effects are so severe that they suffer from serious infections within their first months of life. Physicians often have difficulty recognizing these congenital immune deficiencies, as the symptoms often resemble regular infections. To complicate matters further, there are many different types of genetic immune deficiency, with a wide range of clinical symptoms of varying severity.
Medical student Marlene Münger is familiar with this problem. During her studies, she developed a keen interest in the human immune system. “I was amazed by how complex it is and how sensitive it is to genetic errors,” she says. The interactions between immune cells, and why the immune system incorrectly attacks the body’s own cells in the case of defects, is yet to be precisely researched, she noted. “That’s why I wanted to dedicate my Master’s thesis to this topic,” she explains.
Marlene Münger found a suitable supervisor in Jana Pachlopnik Schmid, professor of pediatric immunology at UZH. Her research aims, among other things, to make diagnosing congenital immune deficiencies easier. When Münger contacted Pachlopnik and asked her to supervise her Master’s thesis, her suggestion was well received.
“I want to encourage my students to be curious, to develop new ideas, and to find solutions independently. Creating a supportive environment is very important to me,” says Pachlopnik. Münger adds, “Thanks to Jana, I felt like a fully-fledged researcher. I completely forgot I’m still a student.”
During her research at the Children’s Hospital, Marlene Münger got to know the immunology team, while also learning about everyday clinical practice and working with sick children. “These experiences have motivated me a lot,” she says. “I was part of a team that worked every day to help sick children.”
She conducted comprehensive literature research for her Master’s thesis. From more than 1,500 scientific studies, she selected those that describe disease symptoms and identify congenital immune deficiencies. She then grouped the disease symptoms and assigned them to genetic defects.
In order to review some 1,500 scientific articles on immune deficiencies, Marlene Münger organized a small team of five medical students who were still at the beginning of their studies to support her research. The Master’s student had a special responsibility. She had to introduce her assistants to the work, while also ensuring that the scientific articles were correctly understood and evaluated. “I remember that during summer we sat in a hot room in the Children’s Hospital, discussing the results for several weeks,” says Münger.
As the person in charge, she supervised the medical students and also had to independently decide which publications were relevant, and which were not. When in doubt, she could always rely on her professor’s expertise. In the end, they chose 700 publications to focus on. “We analyzed these and applied the double verification principle,” reports Münger. The research took about nine months to complete. Thanks to an already established web application, she could then systematically compile the insights gained.
The analysis of the data yielded new insights: children with symptoms such as recurrent infections, skin rashes and autoimmune reactions were found to have genetic defects in the ARPC1B and WAS genes. Meanwhile, in cases of recurring fever and arthritis, mutations in the NOD2 gene are responsible. In her Master’s thesis, the student documented several other examples in which a cluster of symptoms was caused by defects in different, sometimes even functionally unrelated genes.
These findings could make it easier for doctors to reach a targeted diagnosis more quickly in the future, and to identify suitable treatment options, says Jana Pachlopnik. Marlene Münger approached her Master’s thesis with great care and exceptional organizational talent, which earned her a well-deserved semester award. The planned publication of her findings in a scientific journal will bring Münger further recognition for her work.
Marlene Münger wants to remain in academia and in the immunology team at the Children’s Hospital. She would like to continue her work and has already started her PhD in order to deepen the findings of her Master’s thesis. “Research into congenital immune deficiencies is an ongoing process that still requires a lot of research,” says Münger. But with continuously improving diagnoses, she believes there is now more hope than ever for the children affected.
The Roman Catholic Church is facing criticism. Many consider the institution to be too traditional, too male-dominated and too hierarchical. For some time now, Catholic women in the Maria 2.0 movement have been calling for comprehensive reform, especially regarding equality of women in the Church.
The Maria 1.0 initiative stands against this movement under the motto “Mary doesn’t need an update”. It was founded by Catholic women in 2019 in response to Maria 2.0; they advocate a return to traditional values and uphold a conventional view of the Virgin Mary. For instance, its members call for greater emphasis on motherhood and domestic life, and are against opening up the priesthood to women. When Alexandra Probst learned of Maria 1.0 through the media, the initiative’s rejection of the zeitgeist caught her interest.
Googling Maria 1.0 leads to a modern, professionally designed website available in multiple languages. “The initiative has around 4,000 members and is active in both Germany and Switzerland. It is aimed at and run by young women,” says Alexandra Probst.
When she attended Professor Rafael Walthert’s seminar on discourse, practice and religious studies in spring 2023, she decided to write her term paper on Maria 1.0. She wanted to connect this initiative with the concept of agency examined in the seminar, which contextualizes the actions of individuals within a structured social and religious framework – while also allowing for their capacity to influence and change it.
Specifically, Probst investigated the question of whether and how women who feel connected to the traditional world of the Catholic Church have agency. Her aim was to apply a broadened understanding of independent action within repressive or authoritarian structures and to force open the dichotomy between anti-authoritarian criticism and submissive, affirmative behavior in order to do justice to the nuances between them.
In consultation with Rafael Walthert, she decided to conduct qualitative interviews with two women within the Maria 1.0 initiative to determine what motivates them, how they see themselves as Catholic women and what they consider their role to be in the Roman Catholic Church.
“When Alexandra suggested the topic to me, we realized that there were no publications on the Maria 1.0 initiative,” recalls Rafael Walthert. Alexandra Probst adds, “It took a little courage to pick a topic on which there was not yet any literature. It was a challenge that spurred me on.” Probst carried out pioneering work, Walthert says.
“For me, agency theory was a tool that allowed me to evaluate the statements made during the interviews with the two women,” Probst explains. By coding the conversations, she was able to develop categories such as relationship to the Church, division of roles between men and women, and regulating everyday life. Probst found that both women wish to initiate change, even though they follow a traditional system.
“Both are deeply religious, and this core belief gives them the strength and legitimacy to call for change,” observes Probst. Although they live their lives according to certain codes and practices, they also express criticism, especially of the current episcopal interpretation of Church rules. In this way, they contradict the common perception that women who live according to religious tradition are as a rule conformist and obedient in every respect.
Conducting the interviews openly and attempting to understand the world of her interviewees, without identifying with them or passing judgment, took a great deal of self-reflection, says Probst. “I was confronted with a world and convictions that were unfamiliar to me. At the same time, I was fascinated by exploring this profound religiosity.”
Walthert highlights the great achievement of characterizing a subjective world of religious experience into scientific categories. He notes that Probst succeeded brilliantly in applying a subtle interview technique and familiarizing herself with a complex sociological theoretical approach.
When assessing academic papers, it is important to Walthert that the work is conducted properly, is based upon a well-thought-out theory, and is completed to a standard that would allow it to be published in an academic journal. Walthert meets with students regularly to help them write their papers. “My students are comfortable approaching me as they know me from proseminars, and the modest size of the Faculty of Theology and the Study of Religion ensures a certain familiarity.”
Alexandra Probst now works as an assistant at the Department of Religious Studies and is pleased to be able to pass on her knowledge and experience to students.
Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court issues between 10,000 and 15,000 rulings each year. Law student Leander Etter compared around 100,000 of these rulings and the national language in which they were written. In doing this, he highlighted aspects of legal practice at the federal level that were not previously known with such clarity. He focused on the question of which language the judgements and the literature cited in the Federal Supreme Court rulings are written in. Citations are an important part of the reasoning for any judgement and serve to support the legal arguments, take account of legal precedents and place the judgment in the context of the existing case law and literature. His thesis supervisor was Tilmann Altwicker, who holds the Chair of Legal Data Science and Public Law at the Faculty of Law. “Leander Etter worked meticulously like a detective. With analytical precision, he shed light on correlations that hadn’t previously been documented in this way,” says Altwicker.
In Switzerland, rulings by the Federal Supreme Court are generally written in one of the four national languages: French, German, Italian or Romansh. The choice of language depends on which region of Switzerland the case is tried in, or in which language the parties made their submissions. Roughly two-thirds of all rulings from the Swiss Federal Supreme Court are written in German because the proceedings originate from the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Rulings in French and Italian originate from the corresponding language regions. Rulings written in Romansh are rare and are only issued in very specific cases.
Leander Etter grew up in an area in which Romansh is spoken and speaks the language himself. He says that this heightened his awareness of linguistic issues. “After I graduated from high school, I was initially unsure what degree I should study; it was a choice between law and informatics and ultimately I chose law because I was also interested in language.” In the end, his Master’s thesis in legal data science combined all his different interests – in law, informatics and language. The impact of a specific national language on case law had rarely been comprehensively analyzed before now. “I found this topic particularly fascinating and was delighted that Professor Altwicker supported it,” recounts Etter. He suggested the topic and question to explore in his thesis himself. “Leander Etter came up with an original research question, but also displayed a fine aptitude in realizing what you can actually do in the time you have to complete a Master’s thesis,” says Altwicker.
Legal data science research aims to use quantitative methods to find structures or patterns in the legal data and identify new correlations. “My students are developing automated methods for classifying or comparing court rulings or even making predictions on the likelihood of judgments,” explains Altwicker. Etter devised the data analysis methods he needed himself. “This is one of the reasons why this thesis is worthy of an award,” says the law professor.
Federal Supreme Court rulings are between 10 and 40 pages long, and they’ve only been digitized since 2000. When Etter conducted his analysis, he was able to make use of a dataset compiled by the former doctoral candidate Florian Geering comprising roughly 100,000 Federal Supreme Court rulings.
Etter classified the rulings of the Federal Supreme Court by their language and analyzed the citations using data science and statistical methods. “The outcome is controversial,” says Altwicker. “The thesis sheds a critical light on the practice adopted by the Federal Supreme Court because it shows that language barriers are rarely crossed in providing the reasons for a judgement. By sticking to individual language areas in the reasons for the judgement it reaches, the Federal Supreme Court is diminishing the basis for its arguments. It would be better for the quality of the legal practice for the Federal Supreme Court to ensure greater penetrability between the linguistic regions.”
Even before Leander Etter wrote his Master’s thesis, he worked as a student assistant at Altwicker’s chair. He was part of a team of lawyers, computer scientists and statisticians and received a great deal of support from everyone involved. “It’s this cooperation between disciplines that makes legal data science so thrilling,” he says. Brief meetings with Tilmann Altwicker to discuss the progress of his work also gave him the assurance he needed that he was following the right approach.
“When the first results emerged, I was motivated by the prospect of being able to present my thesis and make a genuine contribution to the legal discourse,” says Etter. He has also learned how to combine legal questions with modern data analysis techniques. This will be a good foundation for the PhD thesis that he’s planning to write after his bar examination. In the last few years, digitization and the increasing availability of large volumes of data has had a significant impact on the legal sciences, according to Etter. “This is opening up lots of new research questions and I’d very much like to play my part in helping to clarify these questions in the future.”
Let’s go back to the fall of 2022: a market is taking place at the Department of Informatics. It’s a special kind of market because this is where instructors are presenting potential topics for their students’ Master’s projects. Informatics Master’s projects are aimed at specific applications and are generally completed by a team of two to five students within one year. “In software development, everything is based on teamwork. There’s empirical evidence showing that projects are more likely to fail because of communication problems rather than technical challenges. That’s why it’s so important to work on a Master’s project as a team,” says professor of informatics Lorenz Hilty. “The aim is for students to learn how to deal with the typical challenges that they’ll also encounter in practice in the real world: communication problems, difficult project management, complex links between different stakeholders.”
Back to the market: the students get to choose their own topic. The instructors give a brief pitch to present the assignment. Ann-Kathrin Kübler and Hannah Rohe – both studying for a Master’s degree – are looking for a topic for their project thesis. They only know each other fleetingly, but they sense that they might work well together. Ann-Kathrin already has a Bachelor’s degree in economics; her main area of focus in her informatics degree is data science. Hannah’s domain is software systems. The pair are looking for a topic whose content will challenge them and contribute to sustainable development.
They pause in front of the “stall” of Lorenz Hilty. They know the professor of informatics from lectures. Also present is Matthias Huss, an economist at UZH who researches food systems and has spent many years working with Lorenz Hilty on sustainability. A number of years previously, Huss teamed up with his colleague Michael Brander to initiate a research program investigating crop losses in sub-Saharan Africa.
Hilty and Huss explain the topic to the students: the content focuses on questions of nutrition and harvest crises in Africa. The task for the students is to develop a tool that can be used to simulate communication paths. The UZH researchers worked with researchers from the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania to collect the required data. Hannah and Ann-Kathrin are all ears.
In the case of maize, for example, crop losses in sub-Saharan Africa amount to around 30 percent. They’re generally caused by insect infestation and mold. This is why the farmers sell as much maize as they can as soon as it’s harvested because they know that the insects will destroy all the grain in storage if they get the chance. As a consequence, there are frequently food shortages before the next harvest because there’s no more maize available. “There’s a simple way to reduce the losses to almost zero percent,” Huss explains to the students. “We've found that airtight harvest sacks work really well.” The sacks weighing a hundred kilos can be sealed so that the maize is protected from any insect infestation or mold. The exclusion of air causes the insects to die.
Huss shows the students a harvest sack to give them a demonstration. These sacks are sold in Tanzania for the equivalent of around two dollars. But so far, just three percent of small-scale farmers are using the sacks, even though the price is fair. “We discovered that the sacks can reduce severe food insecurity by 40 percent,” says Huss. The question is just how best to reach the local people to spread the word about how the sacks can benefit them.
“And this is where we come back to the informatics project,” explains Hilty to the two students. It’s all about using the data collected in the project as the basis for modeling how training and communication are linked. The students get data about the distribution of the sacks and the harvest yields in individual regions from Tanzania. They also receive information about the forms of communication that are normally used on site.
Word-of-mouth, community discussions, influential village elders or instructors who are sent to the villages to explain how the sacks work – they all play a role. The model that the students will develop aims to simulate how information is communicated within this system and calculate which interventions have the most impact in each area under consideration.
Hannah and Ann-Kathrin are excited at the idea of being able to undertake a Master’s project to make a contribution to improving food security. Informatics student Joël Inglin subsequently joins the group, turning the duo into a trio.
Two years later and in the 2024 fall semester, we meet the three students – who’ve now been presented with the semester award – at the Knowledge Center for Sustainable Development* in Zurich. “The working atmosphere here is excellent, there’s plenty of space and the infrastructure is perfect for project theses,” says Joël. “I can recall that we met each other here regularly and spent a lot of time planning things before we programmed the simulation model,” recounts Hannah. “Thanks to the precise timetable and the carefully considered way we split up the work, we didn’t lose focus and kept our eyes on the ultimate objective.”
Lorenz Hilty, retired professor by now, recommended that, as the basis for developing their simulation model, the students should use software that had been developed by a previous Master’s student. “The first thing we had to do was understand this code,” recalls Joël.
“The three students received the semester award because they got to grips with a very complex situation and worked together as a team to come up with very well thought-out and innovative solutions,” says Hilty. To be able to develop the previous model in an expedient way, they had to analyze its strengths and weaknesses in great detail. At the same time, they needed to find out which requirements need to be met to enable the researchers in Tanzania to actually use the model. In practice, complex situations like this are very much the norm, according to Hilty. “In software projects, you always have to weigh up carefully what is desirable, technically possible and feasible with the resources available. To allow the students to practice this, I think it’s very important for them to work independently.”
One example of the multifarious challenges that students will face is coordination within a team. “The more independently the students work within a joint project and the greater their scope to be creative, the better they need to communicate with each other,” says Hilty.
And how did the students find working in a team? “The exciting nature of the assignment meant we were highly motivated and very keen to work,” summarizes Ann-Kathrin Kübler. It's important to take the time to have discussions within the group and find a good way of handling different ways of working. Hannah Rohe says that the practical knowledge of Matthias Huss helped them, adding: “Matthias Huss knows the situation on the ground really well, and this provided our modeling with the detailed real-life connection that it needed.” Matthias Huss himself is also satisfied: his colleagues at the university in Tanzania now work with the tool and Huss hopes that there will soon be more harvest sacks circulating within the local population.
*At the Knowledge Center for Sustainable Development, the four universities in the canton of Zurich (UZH, PH, ZHDK and ZHAW) work together across various disciplines in the area of sustainability.
