ZHAW Impact the magazine on applied sciences: zhaw-impact

1/2026

Interdisciplinary collaboration: diversity in the toolbox

«If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail», observed the American psychologist Abraham Maslow. We are inclined to tackle challenges using methods we are already familiar with.

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- Interview
- Main Topic
Openness and new funding instruments

Working together to achieve more by pooling knowledge makes perfect sense. But how does the research community need to rethink its approach to accomplish this? Two ZHAW researchers with extensive experience in interdisciplinary collaboration share their perspectives.
Interview: Sara Blaser
02.06.2026

1/2026
- Main Topic
The future of AI takes off in Winterthur

Autonomous systems are developing at a rapid pace. However, a lack of operational experience is delaying their use in practice. The LINA project aims to remedy the situation.
Sara Blaser
02.06.2026
- Main Topic
Innovation through exchange

In neurological rehabilitation, therapists are required to make decisions on an ongoing basis. ZHAW researchers are developing an AI system intended to support clinical decision-making in the future.
Tobias Hänni
02.06.2026
- Main Topic
Practice-oriented learning in the global classroom

In international interdisciplinary projects, business students acquire key practical skills, including how to think in an agile way and how to deal with uncertainty.
Eveline Rutz
02.06.2026
- People
«Without media freedom, there is no democracy»

Guido Keel, Head of the ZHAW Institute of Applied Media Studies, spent a year as an advisor on media freedom at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna.
Seraina Sattler
02.06.2026
- Opinion
Planetary Health Episode 10: Nutrition as a Service: Health begins at the dinner table

What if health didn't begin at the bedside, but at the dinner table? “Nutrition as a Service” (NaaS) is more than a technological concept.
Gisela Hühn and Tilo Hühn
01.06.2026
- Main Topic
AI and the great rethink

What does studying actually mean when AI can now deliver answers to every conceivable question? One thing is clear: learning objectives and examination formats will have to change.
Tamara Ritter
08.12.2025
- Main Topic
Endolysins: a new weapon against superbugs?

Antibiotic resistance is putting our health at risk. Researchers are therefore looking for alternatives – and are also turning to some unusual allies: enzymes from viruses that specifically destroy (...)
Susanne Wenger
08.12.2025
- Study
Reaching for the stars

As part of the Academic Space Initiative Switzerland (ARIS), students from several Swiss universities are independently developing systems for scientific space flight. A visit to the hangar.
Sara Blaser
08.12.2025
- Main Topic
Turning old into new

More than 500,000 tonnes of flat glass are discarded in Switzerland every year – even though glass is an ideal material for recycling. A pilot project is now aiming to prove that flat glass can be (...)
Sara Blaser
08.12.2025
- Main Topic
Lentils and beans instead of forage maize

Our traditional diet is putting pressure on the climate, water and soil. ZHAW researchers are investigating how more plant-based foods can be grown on Swiss fields.
Andrea Söldi
08.12.2025
- Opinion
Planetary Health Episode 9: Regulated metasynthesis – How the law can shape disruption

The legal system faces the challenge of guaranteeing stability while enabling profound transformations. In the face of disruptive innovations such as alternative proteins, artificial intelligence, and (...)
Gisela and Tilo Hühn
01.12.2025
- Panorama
“Not all students have to launch a start-up”

Regula Jöhl has been President of the ZHAW since February 2025. In this interview, she talks about her first couple of months in office, an open university culture and what she thinks of the new (...)
Interview: Sara Blaser
06.06.2025
- Interview
“I don't want to hug a robot”

Can artificial intelligence comfort us or develop a will of its own? Information scientist Elke Brucker-Kley, humanities scholar Volker Kiel, and robot researcher Yulia Sandamirskaya discuss these (...)
Interview: Sara Blaser
06.06.2025
- Main Topic
An unexpectedly long life

Plastic in the environment is a major problem. One potential solution is the selective replacement of plastic with biodegradable materials. However, degradability is influenced by many factors.
Sibylle Veigl
06.06.2025