The projects cover a wide range of topics – from health, education and social participation to biodiversity.
In the 4th project call, the DIZH is funding 16 projects that are characterised by their innovative strength, social relevance and strong practical relevance. The projects are realised by interdisciplinary teams that combine research and practice. Various technologies and methodological approaches such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and citizen science are utilised. This creates new approaches to medical care, personalised rehabilitation and participatory research.
One striking example of cross-university collaboration is the “ChirpScan” project: the four universities are jointly developing a mobile app that identifies grasshoppers based on their songs. The project combines AI with citizen science, enables efficient monitoring of biodiversity and is aimed at experts, citizen scientists and non-experts.
Social participation and barrier-free communication
“DigInCiteS” investigates how people with cognitive impairments can actively participate in digital citizen science projects. The project evaluates digital tools and develops best-practice approaches for inclusive research. The aim is to sustainably promote scientific participation for people with disabilities.
“Simplify!” is designing an AI-supported tool that translates complex welfaredocuments into plain language. The project will validate the effectiveness of the tool, design real-world implementations and evaluate the impact on benefit uptake through field experiments.
Health and medical care
“SonNEEM” improves monitoring in intensive care units through the audible visualisation of EEG data. With the help of machine learning, user-centred data sonification and auditory display design, complex patterns are to be better recognised and clinical decisions supported in a targeted manner.
“COPE-D” is developing a digital platform for cognitive health data that supports both healthcare professionals and patients: Test results can be efficiently recorded and analysed, while patients have direct access to their data. Additional patient education material is personalized and adapted to their cognitive deficit, promoting understanding and engagement in rehabilitation.
AI-supported medical diagnostics and research
“RADICAL” is developing an AI-supported tool for radiology that supports clinical decision-making by efficiently processing unstructured data. By streamlining workflows with natural language queries, radiological diagnoses are accelerated and made more precise.
The increasing amount of medical research makes the implementation of evidence-based medicine more difficult. “MedLitGrasp” uses large language models to automatically synthesise biomarker data on multiple sclerosis, stroke and delirium, thereby improving clinical care.
“CogniDIP” improves the Rey Figure Test, a neuropsychological test of visual memory, through the use of smart pens and mobile brain imaging. The figures are automatically analysed while pen movements and imaging techniques are used to increase test accuracy and identify new markers of cognitive performance.
Rehabilitation and innovative therapeutic approaches
The “HoloTeach” project is developing a VR-based rehabilitation system to improve trunk control after stroke. Adaptive algorithms, real-time motion data and advanced communication are combined to create a user-friendly, scalable system that is developed with clinicians and patients and optimizes rehabilitation outcomes.
Freezing of Gait is a frequent conidition in Parkinson’s Disease, for which there is no proven therapeutic approach. The “AntiFreeze” project uses VR to assess, evaluate, and train strategies to avoid Freezing. Automated software agents and a recommender system enable clinicians to adapt interventions quickly and in a personalised manner.
Education: Digital tools to support learners and teachers
“MATHiL“ is an intelligent tutoring for students with learning difficulties in maths. By combining instructional psychology, subject-specific didactics and state-of-the-art technology, a personalised learning environment is created that contributes to equal opportunities in the education system.
The “EnablEd” project analyses how school staff can actively shape the digital transformation. It identifies success factors for staff development and develops an empowerment model that support school leaders in promoting digital skills.
“REACT” is designing a smartphone app that uses Just-In-Time Adaptive Interventions to enhance the teachers’ well-being by activating resources. A user-centred and evidence-based design ensures that the app meets the needs of teachers.
Data analysis
The project “New digital tools for media monitoring and discourse analysis” is developing an innovative tool for the automated analysis of media reporting. It examines how different journalistic perspectives are interlinked and is intended to support both the strategic communication of organisations and journalistic research within media companies.
The project “Digitalizing the fight against superbugs” uses mining to analyse text and image data from international surveys in order to gain new insights into the spread of antibiotic resistance among travellers. It improves the monitoring of resistance in animals and food and contributes to global health security.
Financial support for these projects is provided via the DIZH special credit, which includes funding contributions of CHF 100,000 to 300,000 per project. In addition, the universities participate equally in the financing through matching funds. The duration of the projects is between one and three years.
