University of Lausanne launches centre to promote interdisciplinary research on mountains

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The Interdisciplinary Centre for Mountain Research (ICMR) was launched by the University of Lausanne (UNIL) as a four-year pilot project to contribute to the sustainable development of mountain regions. It does so by enhancing the synergies between 70 researchers from five UNIL faculties and nine research and dissemination institutions mostly from the Alpine region. Among these associated entities is the Mountain Research Initiative, supporting international outreach and connection.


ICMR Inauguration 2 Nov 2018 Leïla Kebir 768x576Inaugurated on 2 November 2018, the ICMR aims at deepening our knowledge about the challenges faced by mountain regions by using a wide range of methods from the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities. Research will concentrate on a set of themes identified through discussions with UNIL experts on mountains during the centre’s design phase: time and sustainability, change and transitions, natural hazards and risks, mountain society, natural resources, ecosystem services, innovation, food labels, and tourism and health.

But the integration of diverse research methods and themes is not enough. Tackling the complexity of societal challenges in the face of climate and other global environmental changes also requires the integration of non-academic actors. Indeed, a priority for the ICMR is to anchor its research to the changing needs of mountain societies. Representatives of decision-makers and civil society sit together with researchers in the ICMR’s council, which makes the centre’s strategic decisions. Strengthening the societal relevance of the ICMR will require the consolidation of such a transdisciplinary arrangement.

While the ICMR is interested in mountain ranges across the world, its activities will concentrate on a portion of the Alps situated between the Swiss cantons of Vaud and Valais. Such territories offer a complex interface between mountains and plains, as well as between rural and urban areas, in high-mountain and mid-altitude contexts, while including famous Alpine symbols such as the Matterhorn.

One of the central pillars of the ICMR is the funding of interdisciplinary research projects through internal calls, to which inter-faculty teams of researchers can apply. 2019 will see the kick off of four seed-funding projects and four post-doctoral projects.

Seed-funding projects will mobilize a wide variety of disciplines and methods to develop pilot studies and prototypes leading to larger research projects. The team of Marie-Elodie Perga, Associate Professor at the Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, UNIL, will study the feasibility of developing a role-play game about the adaptation of an imaginary Alpine landscape to climate change. Created in collaboration with stakeholders and fed with data from several researchers, the role-play game aims at raising public awareness about the consequences of current choices regarding the management of landscapes and their adaptation to climate change. Meanwhile, a better understanding of how climate change affects glacial erosion in the Alps is the goal of the project led by Frédéric Herman, Associate Professor at the Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, UNIL. His team is going to measure several parameters in the Gorner Glacier in order to refine the glacial erosion rule describing the complex relationships between glacial speed and erosion. This knowledge is crucial to understand the interaction between glaciers and their surroundings in a changing climate.

aletsch glacier 2591631 640A project led by Michiel de Vaan, Privatdozent in the Department of English of the Faculty of Arts, UNIL, will explore the distribution of place names in the municipality of Ormont-Dessus (Vaud Alps) and their relationship with the geography of the mountains. Comparing these results with those from a municipality in the plain, the project wants to understand how the specific features of mountains influence the density and diversity of place names. This integration between linguistics and statistics will materialize in an online atlas of place names.

Finally, the team led by Christophe Clivaz, Associate Professor at the Institute of Geography and Sustainability, UNIL, will analyse how recreation practices in high mountains change with climate change, using alpine huts as observatories of such a transition. For this, the researchers will involve the huts’ staff in the design of surveys, that will be tested among the guests of five pilot huts.

Postdoctoral projects will also improve our knowledge of key aspects of Alpine regions with innovative approaches: Christine Moos will assess how the protective role of forests against rockfall may change with climate change and other perturbations; Janine Rüegg will research the ecology of the transition zones between alpine rivers and lakes, which so far remain disconnected areas of inquiry; Günther Prasicek wants to better understand the link between ice flow and erosion in glaciers, working in close connection with one of the seed-funding projects; and Alexandre Elsig will explore the history of industrial pollution and how different social actors worked to uncover or hide its evidence.

Another central pillar of ICMR is the organization of scientific and dissemination events, including a program of seminars and a decentralized series of conferences organized in collaboration with local partners.


Connect with ICMR

The international mountain community is most welcome to follow and become involved in the activities of the ICMR!

  • Visit our website.
  • Join the mailing list Friends of ICMR to receive our newsletter. Just write to Iago Otero: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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