UNI NOVA – Research Magazine of the University of Basel

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  Opinion

  Can Switzerland beat COVID-19, Sarah Lein?

  Text: Sarah Lein / Assessing the country’s handling of the pandemic so far – from an epidemiologic and an economic perspective.

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  In pictures

  The papyri code.

  Text: Angelika Jacobs / Using digital methods, Isabelle Marthot-Santaniello and her team are trying to reassemble fragments of ancient papyri.

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  Portrait

  Standing the test.

  Text: Irène Dietschi / Immunologist Georg Holländer is a researcher through and through; he is considered a visionary and an inspiration. Professor Holländer is Director of the Botnar Research Centre for Child Health in Basel. It was not always certain that he would be able to take on this role.

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  Opinion

  Crisis and capacity.

  Text: Gunnar Hindrichs / In times of crisis, the incompleteness of the world becomes manifest. When reality is in flux, we need to get involved.

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  Research

  Kitsch speaks straight to the soul.

  Text: Christoph Dieffenbacher / Superficial, saccharine and sentimental — people are usually being disparaging when they describe a piece of music as “kitsch.” This hackneyed term has been in use for some 150 years and is the subject of research by a Basel musicologist, who has made some surprising discoveries.

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  Research

  Therapy straight from the chicken coop and the pigpen.

  Text: Yvonne Vahlensieck / At a Basel-based clinic for rehabilitation, sheep, chickens and other animals help patients return to normal life. The clinic also conducts practical research on animal-assisted therapy. Our visit to the animal experts of this cutting-edge field.

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  Research

  Emotions as key to the Middle East conflict.

  Text: Stephanie Kirchmayr / Many consider the conflict between Israel and Palestine as intractable. Political scientist and social psychologist Oliver Fink investigates the role of emotions such as humiliation and empathy in this seemingly irreconcilable struggle. To undertake his project, Fink lived and worked in Jerusalem for three years.

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  Alumni

  A historian in the age of the data deluge.

  Interview: Bettina Volz-Tobler / Historian Franziska Bühler of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office is responsible for coordinating the exchange of population data between the Swiss residents’ registers and Federal Statistical Office. Bühler serves as Section Head of sedex and Register Development, and she and her team play a key role in Switzerland’s federal data management.

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  Alumni

  On being human in Africa.

  Text: Divine Fuh / Divine Fuh completed his doctorate at the University of Basel from 2005 until 2009 at the Institute of Social Anthropology and Center for African Studies. Today, he is director of the Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA) at the University of Cape Town.