UNI NOVA – Research Magazine of the University of Basel

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  Dossier

  A founding myth: the Soviet Union’s Rütli

  Till Hein / In September 1915, Lenin, Trotsky, and around three dozen other left-wing politicians and activists from twelve European countries met at Zimmerwald near Bern. They dreamed of uniting the workers’ movement internationally and stopping the First World War. A hundred years later, Eastern European historians in Basel are shedding light on this secret meeting – and its strange afterlife in the memory cultures of East and West.

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  Dossier

  The Ukraine conflict and international law

  Yannik Sprecher / In March 2014, Moscow admitted Crimea to the Russian Federation, shortly after the peninsula had declared independence, having been occupied by Russian troops. Does this annexation contravene international law? In what ways can Crimea and eastern Ukraine exercise their right to self-determination? And what role did Russia play?

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  Opinion

  Joseph and the speculators

  Professor Heinz Zimmermann / Commodity futures trading is often the subject of public debate: To what extent can it be called enterprising commercial trade, and when does it become speculation?

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  Portrait

  From Biozentrum to Silicon Valley

  Matthias Geering / Nico Ghilhardi’s career has rocketed over the past 16 years – thanks to hard work and academic excellence.

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  Opinion

  “Big public data” as an opportunity

  Ulrich Matter / Is “Big public data” an opportunity or a danger to society? A debate on the future of the fundamental right to informational self-determination. An economist and a legal scholar take up positions.

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  Opinion

  “Big public data” as a danger

  Professor Markus Schefer / Is “Big public data” an opportunity or a danger to society? A debate on the future of the fundamental right to informational self-determination. An economist and a legal scholar take up positions.

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  In pictures

  In Darwin’s footsteps

  Christoph Dieffenbacher / Zoologists and evolutionary biologists of the University of Basel are diving for cichlids in the great lakes of Eastern Africa to examine them morphologically and genetically. (Images: Robert Huber, Adrian Indermaur)

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  Research

  Little appetite for study on an empty stomach

  David Herrmann / Malnutrition and worm infections negatively affect the performance of schoolchildren in South Africa. The effi cacy of simple countermeasures is now the subject of research.

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  Column

  Caterina is proud to be a cleaning lady and would like a Ferrari

  Professor Ueli Mäder / My book: Ueli Mäder, Professor of Sociology, recommends the report “Caterina” by Erwin Koch.