Blog

What happens when rocks, rivers and frogs are taken seriously as subjects? Since 2021, the transdisciplinary Unruly Natures project has explored this question through field trips, workshops and publications. In this conversation, five of its members, Flurina Gradin, Federico Luisetti, Rony Emmenegger, Emiliano Guaraldo and Christoph Miler, reflect on how decolonial thought, artistic research and embodied fieldwork have reshaped their own work.

Rosi Braidotti (University of Utrecht), a philosopher and a leading thinker in post-humanism, as well as being the co-organiser of the infoclio.ch 2026 conference, presents an 'ABC' series comprising 26 short videos that explore concepts and ideas frequently featured in her philosophical work. The videos were recorded in 2026 and first shared on her Instagram account.

Posthumanism brings together knowledge-production practices from the arts and science. In this article, Cristina Urchueguía (University of Bern) presents the ‘Studies in the Arts’ (SINTA) programme, a practice-oriented doctoral programme co-run by the University of Bern and the Bern University of the Arts, which brings together the disciplines of the humanities, cultural studies and social sciences with the arts.

Anne Volvey, Professor of Geography at the University of Artois, outlines the implications of a ‘relational aesthetic turn’ in the humanities and social sciences today. She explains how sensibility and emotions are playing an increasingly central role in the production of knowledge across many disciplines, opening up new horizons in both scientific and political terms.

The exhibition ‘Was sich als Natur zeigt’ by the artist Luzia Hürzeler at the Kunstmuseum Solothurn examines the presence of animals in scientific collections. By highlighting the power relationships and technical processes inherent in the creation of these representations, the artworks reveal what lies behind the scenes of ‘naturalist’ depictions of nature. In his review, Enrico Natale explores the parallels between the artistic approach and historical method, and the potential collaborations between the arts and sciences.

Gregor Brändli’s documentary film ‘Elephants & Squirrels’ chronicles the return of human remains held in the collections of the Museum der Kulturen in Basel to their community of origin, the Adivasis of Sri Lanka. In her review, Caroline Montebello (UniDistance Switzerland & University of Basel) reflects on the film’s specific contributions, notably its ability to give a voice to activists and communities of origin – who are often rendered invisible in historical archives – and to offer a comprehensive overview of a restitution process.

Dans ce billet, Cristina, Grisot (Dariah-CH / Clarin-CH) présente l'association « Swiss Social Sciences & Humanities Open Cluster SSHOC-CH » et les raisons qui ont conduit à sa création. Elle détaille les différents objectifs que SSHOC-CH s'est fixés pour améliorer la visibilité et la coordination des infrastructures en SHS, et présente le plan de travail 2026 de l'association.  

Joachim Schöpfel, Ulrich Herb und Niels-Oliver Walkowski stellen in diesem Beitrag die Aufzeichnungen der von ihnen organisierten Vortragsreihe «Open Divide – Critical Studies on Open Access» zur Verfügung, die die Grundlage für eine neue Ausgabe des Sammelbands «Open Divide: Critical Studies on Open Access» bildet, der 2026 erscheint.

In implementing Open Science, libraries, data centers, and other research institutions offer support in the form of services and infrastructure. In his contribution, Gero Schreier (Universitätsbibliothek Bern) presents the research data management support services offered by Bern University Library and explains the role of Data Stewards in this process.

Diamond Open Access is considered the ideal solution for guaranteeing free access to online journals. However, this model is developing only slowly in Switzerland. In his contribution, Beat Immenhauser (SAGW) explains the challenges involved in taking the ‘diamond route’ and how a viable funding model for Diamond Open Access journals could be developed.