1.6 million Swiss francs for international research on crises and health

Dealing with artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the greatest challenges of our age. Markus Christen from the University of Zurich, together with researchers from Poland, Romania and Austria, is investigating language-based communication between humans and AI models. Working at the intersection of ethics, psychology, linguistics and computer science, the researchers are exploring the question of what conditions must be fulfilled for AI models to communicate credibly and for people to engage with them. The aim of the project, led by Markus Kneer from the University of Graz, is to formulate principles for the responsible design and use of AI language models. The researchers will apply these to the generative AI technology used by the Swiss news portal "Polaris News", which assists laypeople in writing balanced news.

HERA: 12 million for ten projects

This AI project is being realised thanks to the support of the SNSF. It is being funded as part of a joint call by the HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) and CHANSE (Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe) programmes. This call was aimed at international, interdisciplinary research teams that examine current and past crises and challenges from an original, primarily humanities-based perspective. Teams with researchers from at least four and no more than six of the 22 participating European countries were eligible to apply. Of the 36 shortlisted projects, ten will now receive almost 11.9 million euros in funding. Markus Christen's AI project is the only one with Swiss involvement. The SNSF is providing some 350,000 Swiss francs in funding for it.

NORFACE: four Swiss projects

The NORFACE (New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Cooperation in Europe) network also launched a call for proposals in collaboration with CHANSE. Entitled “Enhancing Well-being for the Future”, the call was aimed at researchers exploring ways of improving well-being in the future. Crises, mental health and well-being across the economy and politics are to be studied specifically from a social science perspective. Like the HERA call, it was open to multidisciplinary teams with researchers from at least four and no more than six of the 18 participating European countries. Thirty-six projects were selected for closer scrutiny. Now ten of them will receive funding of around 14.3 million euros. Researchers from Switzerland are involved in four of the projects. The SNSF is supporting them with almost 1.25 million Swiss francs. Just like the HERA project with Swiss participation, these projects are highly relevant to society. They include the following:

• Children with language development disorders or a migration background exhibit poor mental health more frequently than their peers. However, hardly any studies have examined the relationship between language and the corresponding capacity for social interaction and children's mental health. Emily Cross (ETH Zurich) is investigating this relationship in conjunction with researchers from Germany, Sweden and the UK. She is using a new tool – social robots – to measure the well-being and mental health of children in school. Impaired and displaced children are a focal area of her work. The study aims to help develop measures to improve children’s mental health.
• Our mental health is determined by a combination of our individual resources and external factors. Working with researchers from Germany, Lithuania and Spain, Martin Debbané from the University of Geneva is studying parents and their eight to ten-year-old children with varying degrees of risk of poor mental health. During the study, they will receive various prevention aids, as will teachers of classes where there is a risk of bullying or a negative atmosphere. The study is intended to demonstrate the crucial importance of psychological regulation mechanisms for positive well-being, and the extent to which prevention programmes can help avert mental health problems. By training social workers and teachers in prevention methods, the project aims to achieve a long-term, cost-effective impact.

The two calls are the only two European calls in the social sciences and humanities.

HERA member countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK

NORFACE member countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK