Institute of History

Research Projects at the Institute of History

The Institute is not committed to any particular methodology (historical or otherwise), but remains open to critically received innovation in the field of history and to employ them in new research projects. The Institute focuses on the history of Europe in global contexts. Non-European areas are taken into account - in varying degrees - in all of the departments of the institute.

Ongoing Research Projects

SNSF Project

The Forgotten Fates of Soviet Prisoners of War and Forced Labourers in Switzerland

Escape from Extreme Violence to Swiss Internment and Repatriation to the Soviet Union

The research project (2026–2030) systematically examines for the first time the history of the internment of around 12,000 Soviet prisoners of war and forced laborers who fled from Nazi Germany to Switzerland during the Second World War. The focus is on border regimes, admission procedures, everyday life in internment, and the (forced) repatriation to the Stalinist Soviet Union.

SNSF Project

At the Crossroads of Commodity Frontiers: Food, Agriculture, and the Environment in Switzerland in the Age of Global Capitalism, 1870s-1930s

The project explores how global commodity frontiers shaped Swiss agriculture, food, and environment from the 1870s to 1930s. It examines Switzerland’s deep integration into global capitalism and its effects on production, consumption, and ecology. Three key frontiers are studied: dairy/cheese, grain, and livestock/meat economies.

SNSF Ambizione Project

Restricted walking. History of pedestrian mobility in the automotive age (Switzerland, 1920-2020)

This historical project explores the evolution of walking at a time of increasing motorization through the analysis of public discourses on pedestrians, of pedestrian activism and of the development of pedestrian infrastructure.

SNSF Project

Epicentre of Territorial Revisionism

Carpatho-Ukraine under Multiple Border and State Changes, 1914–1946 (2023–2027).
The project examines the history of Carpatho-Ukraine and its polyethnic population, whose lives were shaped by multiple changes of borders and state rule.

SNF Eccellenza Project

Republican Secrets

The project examines how early modern republics dealt with secrets and organized political secrecy. It analyzes regimes of secrecy in the Swiss Confederation and other republics, as well as their influence on political culture and democratic institutions.

International Research Project

Turning Land into Capital

The project «Turning Land into Capital» aims to understand the role of land as a means of (re)producing wealth in Latin America and the Caribbean. It focuses particularly on the two historical periods from the 1860s to the Great Depression of 1929 and from the 1980s to the 2020s.

SERI funded ERC Starting Grant project

Volcanic Impacts on Climate, Environment and Society

This interdisciplinary project (2022–2027) investigates the climatic and societal effects of past volcanic eruptions, from the late medieval times to the modern era.

Digital History Projekt

Repertorium Academicum

The research examines the premodern knowledge society and addresses current questions of equal opportunity, social mobility, and professionalisation. It analyses the circulation of knowledge, networks, and careers in both regional and European contexts.

SNF Ambizione Project

The Concept of the Paradox and Its Impact in the Third Century CE

The project aims to examine the role of the wondrous and the paradoxical within the concept of nature in the third century CE and to analyse how this understanding of nature influenced intellectual developments and fostered innovation.

SNSF Ambizione Project

Reservoirs, resettlement processes and resource conflicts in the Alps after 1918

The project examines the social impact of reservoir construction in the Alps, which led to the resettlement of peripheral valley communities and villages after the First World War.

Long Term Project

Euro-Climhist – Ways to Weather Hindcasting

Euro-Climhist makes weather and climate history data accessible with a user-friendly search, daily weather data as well as extreme events and long-term climate trends.