Institute of History

Research Projects

Research in the Department of Economic, Social and Environmental History

Ongoing research projects

Ongoing Research Projects

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.

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.

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.

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.

Annotated Online Edition

The Einsiedeln monastery’s diary of Father Joseph Dietrich, 1670–1704

The online edition project aims to transcribe, critically edit, code and annotate the official Einsiedeln monastery’s diary for the years 1670–1704, comprising over 12,000 handwritten pages in 18 folio volumes, making it searchable by full text and keywords for researchers from a wide range of disciplines.

PhD Project

Protection forests in Switzerland since 1876. A multi-scale approach

The aim of this dissertation is to examine the history of Swiss protection forests since 1876 using new methodological approaches. It analyses national debates on forestry policy and science in connection with protection forest concepts from the mid-19th century onwards.