News
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WGMS contributed to European State of the Climate report
The first edition of the European State of the Climate report has been published and presented to the European Parliament in Brussels. The World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) - located at the Department of Geography - contributed glacier data and analyses.
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Short break in the warming of the alpine permafrost
For the first time since 2009, the warming trend of alpine permafrost was temporarily interrupted in debris slopes and rock glaciers. This is shown by the latest results of the Swiss permafrost measurement network (PERMOS), in which the Department of Geography is an active partner.
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Geochronology Summer School
The next Geochronology Summer School will take place from September 2-7, 2018 in Klosters, Switzerland. Registration is possible till April 30, 2018.
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Was Landschaften leisten, wird nicht immer respektiert
Landschaften leisten einen wesentlichen Beitrag zum Wohlbefinden der Menschen, aber auch zur Standortattraktivität. Eine Studie des Geographischen Instituts der Universität Zürich beschreibt die Wirkung von Landschaften unter verschiedenen Aspekten.
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Interdisciplinary Master's thesis topics
Interested in doing an interdisciplinary Master's thesis at the Department of Geography?
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Wie ein Dübendorfer Experiment zur Internationalen Raumstation geflogen ist
Der Flugplatz Dübendorf soll zu einer europaweit einmaligen Basis für die Luft- und Raumfahrtforschung werden. Nun wird der Info-Pavillon des Innovationsparks eröffnet, doch Wissenschaft wird hier schon seit einiger Zeit betrieben.
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Summer school "Gender and Space"
This year’s Human Geography Summer School will be held on the topic «Gender and Space» from 10 to 14 September 2018 near Zurich in Switzerland.
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New Assistant Professorship in Earth System Science
Maria J. Santos has been appointed as Assistant Professor with tenure track for Earth System Science, effective per 1 February 2018. This professorship allows the University of Zurich to boost its research into human-induced global change.
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“The state functions according to its entirely own logic”
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When Olga from Poland takes care of grandpa
Their names are Olga or Maria and they come from Poland, Slovakia or Romania. They appear as angels in a difficult situation, when grandpa suffers from slight dementia and can no longer take care of himself. They are called 24-h-carers, because they move in with grandpa and care for him 24 hours a day. In a guest commentary for the newspaper Bote der Urschweiz Karin Schwiter explains her research on this new form of labour in private households (in German). Bote der Urschweiz
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“The army plays a double role”
More than 120 rebel groups cause instability in eastern Congo. A recent attack killing 15 UN Blue Helmets was blamed to Islamist militia. But is this true? Christoph Vogel was interviewed by the German news website Spiegel Online on this topic (in German). Spiegel Online
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Sara Fabrikant and former PhD Student Marco Salvini win Breheny Prize
Sara Fabrikant and her former PhD student Marco Salvini were awarded the Breheny Prize for the best paper published in 2016 in Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science for their paper "Spatialization of user-generated content to uncover the multirelational world city network". UZH news
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Second issue of the Global Glacier Change Bulletin series
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Volunteer work in Guarda
Yvonne Ehrensberger, a master student in human geography, was interviewed in the radio broadcast “Heroes of everyday life” by Radio SRF1 about her master thesis on volunteer work in Guarda (in German). Radio SRF1
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Digital pathfinders
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What Swiss landscapes need to be worth to us
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Nature protection in times of climate change and globalisation
Norman Backhaus and Annina Michel gave an interview – at the 6th congress for protected areas in Salzburg – in the Austrian Radio Ö1 and Deutschlandfunk about the reasons and difficulties of nature protection.
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Mapping Functional Diversity of Forests with Remote Sensing
Productivity and stability of forest ecosystems strongly depend on the functional diversity of plant communities. Our researchers from the Remote Sensing Laboratories have developed a new method to measure and map functional diversity of forests at different scales – from individual trees to whole communities – using remote sensing by aircraft. Their work paves the way for future airborne and satellite missions to monitor global plant functional diversity. UZH News
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Mysterious underground streams in the Ybrig mountains
Which underground pathways do the surface streams follow that disappear in the Ybrig mountains? And where do they reappear as springs?
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Online course on water in Switzerland
A new public online course of the Department of Geography teaches in German how the element water shapes the daily life in Switzerland. Join in! UZH News (in German)
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Machine-Vision Drones Monitor Animals in the African Savanna
To avoid overgrazing, land managers of the Kalahari must ensure that the number of grazers is matched to the availability of food.
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Warning of rockslides due to research
The societal relevance of high mountain research becomes evident when rocks fall in inhabited areas. Andreas Vieli and the project xsense2 in SRF Rundschau (in German)
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The rockslide of Bondo and the global warming
Natural hazards in high mountain areas have become more predictable through intense research. Our Geographers have been consulted in the news coverage of the rockfall of Bondo.
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The Oberaarglacier's bleak future
The source of the river Aare could be completely uncovered from ice within fifty years from now. The natural hazards that might result from the global warming are uncertain to prospect.
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New Assistant Professorship in Remote Sensing of Water Systems
Alexander Damm has been appointed by the University of Zurich as Assistant Professor tenure track for remote sensing of water systems, effective per 1 August 2017. The joint professorship between University of Zurich and Eawag allows the University of Zurich to broaden its competence in this interdisciplinary and relevant research field.
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Deglaciation in Switzerland
He observes the melting of glaciers worldwide and knows that the resources of ice an snow in the Alps continue to decrease rapidly. Michael Zemp was interviewed in Pro Natura Magazin (in German)
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Identification of forest vegetation
Fabian Schneider and Felix Morsdorf determine the structure of the vegetation and the reflection of light in the woods of Lägern and Borneo with airborne data from laserscanning and spectrometer.
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The five most beautiful projects for hobby researchers
Crowdscience: when lay people collect data for researchers. The Project Crowdwater is considered as one of the most beautiful Citizen Science projects in the field of natural science. TA (in German)
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Michael Schaepman named Vice President
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Alumna Andrea Scheller profiled
The UZH Journal profiled Andrea Scheller, Director of the Statistical Office of the Principality of Liechtenstein, former Director of the Statistical Office at the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in Luxembourg and graduate of our Department.
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Mapping for remote places
On May 8th a Mapathon took place at Irchel campus for the first time ever. Missing Maps is an open, collaborative project in which the participants can help to map areas where humanitarian organizations are trying to meet the needs of vulnerable people.
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Asian glaciers - water source for millions of people
Glacier melt of the Himalayas is a key water source for agriculture during dry periods in central and south Asia. Most major rivers originating in high-mountain Asia pass through different countries.
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How language shapes our sense of place
How do people describe landscapes and express their sense of place in words? Flurina Wartmann investigates the cultural values people assign to landscape through the prism of language.
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Climate data for countries of the global south
Decisions concerning strategies on global climate change must be founded on high-quality and long-term information. However, developing and emerging countries often lack the basis to systematically gather climate-relevant data.
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Medical tourism: Critically ill africans undergo medical treatment in India
Many of the international patients that travel to India for medical treatment, come from poor countries. They often don't have a choice, says Heidi Kaspar in Jeune Afrique (in French).
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Lack of snow in winter season 2016/2017
Many people use to go skiing during the spring break. This year this might be a problem. In some ski regions, the seaon has already finished due to acute lack of snow. Isabelle Gärtner-Roer in ZDF (in German)
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No more lonely cowboys
Male body awareness, men in "female" professions, and the return of traditional male rolemodels – these were the topics of a panel on men's studies with Karin Schwiter. UZH News (in German)
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Distinguished dissertation
Irene Garonna won one of the three prestigious Mercator Awards for her thesis on the use of satellite records for plant phenological research.
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The underrated engagement of teaching staff
Good education at universities highly depends on the motivation of the teaching staff. A big part of the teaching is undertaken by non-professorial academic staff.
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A tipping point for Greenland and its ice caps
Before 1997 the ice caps of Greenland remained stable. After 1997 this situation changed dramatically. Mass loss in the interior no longer compensated mass loss at the margins.
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Bacteria, deadwood and climate change
An international group of researchers under the lead of Markus Egli investigated to what extent the forest floor serves as a carbon sink and how bacteria and fungi interact in this context.
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EU funding for a GIUZ research project
As one of five UZH researchers Sara Fabrikant has received a grant of the European Research Council worth 2.5 Mio. euros. The project GeoViSense examines the parameters, which influence the decision making, the cognition of space and the spatial behavior while navigating with mobile devices. UZH press release (in German)
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Just being like everybody else
Unaccompanied minor refugees long for normality. PhD candidate Barbara Bitzi has regularly visited young immigrants in a cantonal center for minor refugees over a period of three years.
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“Our object of interest is about to melt away”
The World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) is looking back at more than a century of collecting data of glacier fluctuation worldwide in a new short film
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Migration in Val Müstair
Within the Bachelor’s seminar in Human Geography, our students interviewed local residents and immigrants in the Val Müstair on their perception of migration and integration in the Engadin valley.
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Alumna Maria Lezzi profiled
The UZH Journal profiled Maria Lezzi, Director of the Federal Office for Spatial Development and Alumna of our Department. UZH Journal 2017/1, S.13
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Precipitation radar in the Peruvian Andes
For a better understanding of the impact of rain or snow on the Peruvian glaciers and water resources, an international team has installed a precipitation radar in the highlands of Peru.
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Glacier change data as climate indicators
Changes in glaciers provide some of the clearest evidence of climate change. The latest global mass balance data indicate continued strong ice losses. Isabelle Gärtner-Roer explains the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), hosted at our Department, in a blog post of the World Data System (WDS).
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Alpine permafrost continues to warm up
The trend of the warming alpine permafrost is unbroken. This is shown by the latest results of the Swiss Permafrost Measurement Network (PERMOS), of which our Department is a partner.
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Make the invisible visible
Spectral analysis of satellite images is used e.g. in urban planning, forestry or water observation. Devis Tuia has proposed an algorithm that automatically finds the most optimal hyperspectral setting and combination of filters.
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Trupchun Valley on the cover of the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution
An article on imaging spectroscopy in the Swiss National Park by Anna Schweiger, Mathias Kneubühler, Michael Schaepman and others makes it to the cover of the scientific journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution. MNF news article
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Innovative teaching concepts approved
The UZH has created the "Teaching Fund", a new instrument to support innovative teaching projects. In the first call, 16 out of 41 project proposals were approved. Among them “Calibrated Peer Reviewing” and “Decision Lab” submitted by Sara Fabrikant, Martin Müller and Yvonne Scheidegger Jung.
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Global center for biodiversity research
The International Project Office of bioDISCOVERY supports global research projects on biodiversity and aims to progress global policy in the field of biodiversity.
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Lost talents
Swiss scholars have very good skills in maths, as the current PISA-study shows. Nevertheless the study shines light on a well known problem: Maths, physics and chemistry are male domains.
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The night’s liquid gold
Sara Landolt spoke at the NIGHTS 2016 - STADT NACH ACHT conference in Berlin about the manifold meanings of alcohol at young people’s nights out.
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Nature conversation in flux
Norman Backhaus was invited to a discussion about nature conversation concepts broadcasted by Radio SRF. Radio SRF 2 Kultur, 24.11.2016 (in German)
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Why microinsurances don't work as a private market
Private microinsurances are meant to protect peasants from crop shortfall and decrease farmers vulnerability to extreme weather. Unfortunately these insurances didn’t fulfill the expectations, as Leigh Johnson showed in her research at the UZH. Much effort is needed to explain the product to the peasants and the insurance premiums are high and will be rising as the effects of climate change become more severe for agriculture.
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Glacier stories from Grindelwald
The development of the glaciers of Grindelwald has been very well documented over hundreds of years. A shortly released book gives insights into the challenges glaciers are facing globally by the example of Grindelwald by means of current and historic pictures and statistic illustrations.
Samuel Nussbaumer and Hanspeter Holzhauser are two of the four editors and authors of this book, and Horst Machgut belongs to the authors.
Infosperber (German)
Berner Zeitung (German)
Bergliteratur.ch (German)
Haupt Verlag (German)
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The virtual butler
Digital assistants make life easier, but some human capacities get lost. The sense of direction of those who constantly rely on their navigation devices gets worse, says Sara Fabrikant in Sonntagszeitung (german).
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When passer-by search for traces
The CrowdWater project of Barbara Strobl and Simon Etter invites any passer-by to fill in a form a on the waterlevel and humiditiy of some spots at Irchel Campus and Sihlwald. The Limmattaler Newspaper highlights to research projects, which are based on Citizen Science.
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Taking stock of charcoal in the world's soil
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Internally displaced persons in Eastern Congo
There are 40 million people fleeing from violent regimes within their own country. Stephan Hochleithner examines the phenomena of internally displaced people in Eastern Congo.
UZH Magazin 9/2016 (German)
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The voice of the dark sides of the Olympic Games
A very frequently quoted critic of the Olympic Summer Games in Rio, Brazil, 2016 was Christopher Gaffney. Before he joined our Department, he lived in Rio for six years to study the impact of the World Cup 2014 and the Olympic Games on the urban center and its population.
Please find here a selection of the more than 80 interviews he gave:
Global Construction Review, 13.09.2016
Blick, 04.08.2016 (German)
BBC Video, 31.07.2016
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The ways cartographers create the illusion of depth on maps
The Swiss cartographers are historically the masters of terrain representation. They know that the human brain is easily fooled into confusing ridges and valleys on maps and satellite images unless the illumination comes from the northwest. The reason remains mysterious.
In a study published earlier this year, GIUZ Alumnus Julien Biland and Arzu Çöltekin showed terrain images with differing angles of illumination to 27 volunteers and came up with a remarkably precise estimate of the optimal angle for reducing this optical illusion: 337.5 degrees, just a bit to the north of the 315 degree northwest lighting cartographers have traditionally used.
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UZH launches Digital Society Initiative
The research initiative is aimed at pooling on UZH’s expertise for digitization of society and science. Consequently, UZH is assuming a pioneering international role and looking to develop new research fields in the next few years.
As examples serve research projects of founding member Sara Fabrikant and her GIVA group, which use 3D simulations to study how people under stress navigate around a space with a digital assistant.
The UZH Digital Society Initiative was launched on September 14, 2016 by President of the Federal Council Johann Schneider-Ammann und member of the governing council Silvia Steiner.
Press Release UZH, 14.09.2016
Video GIVA (in German)UZH Journal4/2016, page 5 (in German)
Tagesanzeiger, 14.09.2016 (in German) -
Medically disenfranchised people find hope in India
Private hospitals offer medical treatment of good quality at low prices. But the main clientele are not price-conscious Western Europeans or Americans. 80% of the patients come from the global south, from countries that lack medical facilities. For these patients India is the only affordable treatment and their last hope.
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Care Migration - A part of the family?
Is care migration a win-win-situation for the carer and the person in need of care? Interview with Karin Schwiter in Migros-Zeitung, 05.09.2016 (german)
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Prix Média for research on sponsoring at universities
The current Prix Média of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences goes to our Alumnus Timo Grossenbacher and the Datateam of the SRF (Swiss Radio and TV) for their media dossier on connections of Universities and professors with private companies.
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WGMS Jubilee
What the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is for the weather, is the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) for glaciers. Today, the WGMS looks back at 30 years of achievements and future challenges at the University of Zurich with a public Symposium.
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Animated graph shows rise of temperature
NASA vividly depicts how the global temperature is annually rising since 1880. Creator of the animated graph is Joshua Stevens, former fellow of our GIVA-group.
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Indigenous peasant organizations in Latin America
As part of the project on contested rural development, the study by GIUZ Alumna Monika Hess and Sabino Ruiz Flores on the interplay between the grassroots, indigenous peasant organizations and the state in Bolivia has now been published in spanish.
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War waste in greenland
Climate change could remobilize abandoned hazardous Cold War-era waste believed to be buried forever beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet.
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For smaller Olympic Games
Candidate cities for Olymic Games should negociate harder with the IOC and claim for smaller Games, Martin Müller in his Comment in the NZZ (in German)
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Max Maisch interviewed in the Glattaler journal
In the framework of the International Year of Geography, the journal Glattaler chose to interview local Geographers during the summer. One of them was our Professor Max Maisch, Glattaler, 22.07.2016 (in German)
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Rock glaciers crawl slowly down the slope
At the International Conference on Permafrost in Potsdam, Isabelle Gärtner-Roer explained the PERMASENSE network. Boeholes in rock glaciers allow to collect data on the temperature of the entire bore and therefore to explain the downward motion of the glacier.