Multilateral Research Takes Shape Across the Asia-Pacific

The first funding instrument launched under UZH’s Leading House Asia Pacific mandate attracted strong interest across Switzerland. The LHAP Funding Call 2025 invited researchers at Swiss higher education institutions to build new collaborations with partners in the Asia-Pacific region – from joint research networks and policy engagement to PhD mobility and innovation partnerships. More than 200 proposals were submitted, underlining the growing importance of the region for Swiss research.

One of the call’s key innovations was its emphasis on multilateral collaboration. In the Research Network Grant strand, projects were required to involve partners in at least two eligible Asia-Pacific countries. The aim was to support not only bilateral links, but broader regional networks connecting Switzerland with East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The selected projects now show the breadth of this first call. Forty interdisciplinary projects will receive support, including 33 multilateral projects. The UZH-led initiatives presented below offer a glimpse of this range – from climate communication and ecosystem restoration to machine learning, travel medicine, culturally grounded AI and digital mental health.

Many companies now publicly commit to net-zero targets. But such promises only have an impact if they are credible and help keep the public and policymakers engaged in the climate transition. Nadine Strauß from the Department of Communication and Media Research is leading a trilateral research network with partners in Hong Kong and Australia to examine how companies in Switzerland, Hong Kong and Australia communicate their net-zero ambitions.

The project combines comparative analysis, public perception research and creative co-design. Together with the University of Technology Sydney and Hong Kong Baptist University, the researchers aim to develop practical tools that support more credible corporate climate communication and help prevent greenwashing. The project also includes an annual summer school for PhD students, strengthening training in sustainability communication across continents.

Economic models are increasingly used to understand complex systems, from climate policy to global trade. But many of today’s challenges are difficult to analyze with conventional computational tools alone. Yucheng Yang from the Department of Finance is building an international research and training network that links UZH with partner hubs in Hong Kong, Japan and China, including the University of Hong Kong, the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Japan and Peking University.

The project brings together expertise in economics, finance, computer science and policy. It will explore how machine learning methods such as reinforcement learning and Bayesian optimization can be combined with economic theory in ways that remain interpretable, reproducible and useful for decision-making.

Climate change is altering infectious disease risks around the world. For travel medicine, this creates a growing challenge: environmental risks are changing quickly, while the advice given to travelers must remain clear, timely and practical. Andrea Farnham from the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute is leading ClimAtlas, a Swiss–Asia-Pacific network with consortium partners in Australia, Thailand and Japan, including the University of Queensland, Mahidol University and Waseda University.

The project combines epidemiology, digital health systems, travel medicine, and linguistic and intercultural communication. Drawing on meteorological data, remote sensing and infectious disease surveillance, ClimAtlas aims to create a shared framework for travel health advice that can be used across clinical and digital platforms and is meaningful for both clinicians and travelers.

In many parts of the Asia-Pacific, mangroves have long served as natural coastal protection, but these ecosystems are under pressure from advancing seas and expanding aquaculture. Leon Hauser from the Department of Geography is building a trilateral research network with partners in Vietnam and Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) to study mangrove restoration in the densely populated Vietnamese Mekong Delta.

The project connects UZH with the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City and National Taiwan Normal University. By combining remote sensing, mangrove ecology, nature-based solutions and local restoration practice, the network aims to support more resilient coastal development – while learning with the communities and practitioners directly involved in protecting these landscapes.

In Vietnam, common mental health conditions often go unrecognized, partly because screening and monitoring are not widely available in primary care. Clare Killikelly is leading a project that explores how digital tools could help primary care providers identify mental health difficulties earlier and respond more effectively. The project works with partners in Vietnam and China, including Vietnam National University – International University, VinUniversity and NYU Shanghai.

The team will pilot an easy-to-use, app-based toolkit that screens for mental health difficulties before appointments and monitors daily changes in mood, sleep, energy and social interactions. The aim is not to replace personal care, but to test whether culturally responsive digital tools can support earlier detection, timely intervention and more equitable access to mental health services in Vietnam.

AI systems are increasingly used to process images, texts and museum collections. But many foundation models are trained mainly on Western data, which limits their usefulness for museums and archives working with culturally specific collections. Darío Negueruela Del Castillo from the Center for Digital Visual Studies is establishing a Swiss–Asia-Pacific network on culturally grounded AI in museums and heritage.

The project connects researchers in Switzerland with partners in South Korea and Japan, including the upcoming Centre Pompidou Hanwha Seoul, MMCA Korea and the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka. Together, the partners will develop evaluation frameworks for AI systems working with Asian modern and contemporary art collections. Through workshops, research visits, PhD mobility and a curatorial “living lab,” the project asks how AI can assist curatorial reasoning without replacing the expertise of museum professionals.