Three UZH Researchers Awarded SNSF Consolidator Grants

SNSF Consolidator Grants are aimed at advanced researchers who carry out projects in Switzerland and wish to consolidate their scientific independence. In the 2023 call, the SNSF awarded a total of 19 Consolidator Grants, three of which were awarded to researchers at UZH. The total amount of the three grants awarded is over CHF 6 million.

The standard empirical approach to decompose aggregate growth, growth accounting, yields that the lion’s share of growth is not accounted for by accumulation of physical and human capital. It is therefore left as a residual (or measure of our ignorance).  Timo Boppart, professor of macroeconomics and political economy at the Department of Economics, sheds new light on this residual by leveraging detailed and comprehensive firm-level micro data of advanced economies. A big emphasis is put on theory and measurement. Using these micro data, which include information on firm-level price deflators, Boppart plans to calculate a firm’s revenue and physical productivity and to decompose growth into quality improvements vs. increasing quantity.

His project aims to obtain systematic measures for firms active in all sectors, including services. Further, detailed measure of quantities and prices of energy used in goods production is used to estimate markups across firms and to make statement about the allocative efficiency of the economy.  Finally, the evidence will be combined with economic theory to speak to the drivers of improvements of product quality and process efficiency and ultimately inform policy.
Project: The nature of aggregate economic growth: evidence based on firm-level micro data

Political scientist Enzo Nussio aims to answer a critical question: how do societies move from persistent violence to sustainable peace? Despite a global decline in violence over centuries, many regions, particularly in Latin America, remain plagued by persistently high levels of violence entrenched in local social structures.

Nussio proposes a novel theory of alignment between state and societal institutions as a mechanism to overcome persistent violence. His research team will combine historical analysis, quantitative data and qualitative interviews to examine the influence of institutional change on violence trajectories over decades. By focusing on local cases of violence reduction in otherwise violent countries, the project seeks to contribute to strategies that promote sustainable peace.
Project: Decades of Peace. Aligning State and Society to Overcome Persistent Violence

Professor Aiman S. Saab, leading the Neurohomeostasis and Axon-Glia Research Group at the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, focuses on uncovering the cellular and molecular mechanisms that sustain axonal function throughout life. His research examines axons sheathed by myelin-forming oligodendrocytes, which are essential for the rapid and efficient transmission of electrical signals between distant neurons, enabling swift information processing and critical functions within the nervous system. In diseases like leukodystrophies and multiple sclerosis, damage to these myelinated axons disrupts information flow, leading to neural dysfunction and ultimately neuronal loss.

This project aims to understand how oligodendrocytes interact with axons, particularly in controlling the local microenvironment, signaling and cellular metabolism within white matter tracts. The team will use advanced techniques such as quantitative biosensor imaging and cell-specific multiomics to investigate these interactions. Ultimately, they seek to identify the pathomechanisms in oligodendrocytes that contribute to axonal damage in white matter diseases and discover pathways to support axonal health.
Project: Unraveling the Mechanisms of Axonal Health Illuminating white matter cellular dynamics and energy metabolism