Being a forum of dialogue between the sciences, Collegium Helveticum was founded by the ETH Zurich in 1997, with the objective of promoting a more in-depth discourse of natural and technical sciences with humanities and social sciences.
Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary dialogue, and exchange of ideas between natural and technical sciences with humanities, art and medical science are still core and vision of the Collegium.
The Collegium Helveticum perceives transdisciplinarity as an indispensable element of its research projects. These projects are carried out with cooperation of the University of Zurich and the ETH Zurich as well as other academies, research institutes and industry partners, under the direction of Collegium Helveticum.
Within the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research Collegium pursues a pragmatic approach based on cooperation, communication and coordination. Disciplinary competence has thereby always been a pre-requisite.
Collegium Helveticum as a research institute is committed to a bottom-up-approach. Together with interested scientists (fellows) and invited institutions that are endowed with complex questions that are in need of interdisciplinary approaches, one or several joint research projects are designed combining several fields. At the moment, a group of experts from the fields of Transport Planning, Law, Pathobiochemistry/Biology, Veterinary Pathology, Psychiatry, Radio Pharmacy and Mathematics, deals with the current research topic entitled «Reproduzierbarkeit, Vorhersage, Relevanz».
Collegium Helveticum is not an introversive institution. It initiates and organizes symposiums, lectures, workshops and other events which are all interdisciplinary and public. In this manner, Collegium tries to bring together diverse subgroups in order to promote the interchange of ideas between students, scientists and representatives from economics, cultural fields and the public, and it acts as a catalyst in relevant questions of the present and the future.