EIDGENOSSISCHE FORSCHUNGSANSTALT WSL

Their core work

WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research) is Switzerland's leading research center for terrestrial ecosystems, natural hazards, and landscape dynamics. They study how forests, glaciers, permafrost, and soils respond to climate change — from Alpine glacier melt modeling to Arctic tundra biodiversity monitoring. Their work spans forest genetic conservation, ecosystem service assessment, snow prediction systems, and long-term environmental observation infrastructure. They bridge environmental science with practical forest management, land-use planning, and climate adaptation strategies across Europe and High Mountain Asia.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2015–2018), WSL focused heavily on forest data harmonization, biodiversity monitoring from Earth observation, and soil-landscape policy interfaces — projects like DIABOLO, BACI, and INSPIRATION reflect a data infrastructure and inventory orientation. From 2019 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward climate change impacts, with projects on drought effects (DRYSOM), glacier dynamics (TEMPEST, RAVEN), Arctic systems (CHARTER, Arctic PASSION), and participatory forest genomics (MyGardenOfTrees). There is also a notable broadening into applied biomedical engineering (COATING) and AI-driven Earth observation (CENTURION), suggesting selective diversification beyond their traditional environmental core.

WSL is moving from cataloguing forest and ecosystem data toward actively modeling climate-driven change in glaciers, permafrost, and forests — making them an increasingly valuable partner for climate adaptation projects.

How they like to work

WSL balances leadership and partnership almost evenly — coordinating 9 of 25 projects (36%), typically the smaller, focused research grants (MSCA fellowships, targeted ERC-scale projects), while joining larger consortia as a specialist partner. With 268 unique partners across 43 countries, they operate as a well-connected hub rather than a closed circle, bringing deep environmental expertise to diverse European and global teams. Their coordinator projects tend to be investigator-driven science (EUR 100K–2.5M), while their participant roles are in large multi-partner infrastructure and innovation actions.

WSL has collaborated with 268 distinct partners across 43 countries, reflecting a truly global research network unusual for a mid-sized institute. Their geographic reach extends well beyond Europe into High Mountain Asia and the Arctic, driven by their glacier and permafrost research programs.

What sets them apart

WSL occupies a rare niche as one of Europe's few research institutes that can study environmental change from Alpine glaciers to Arctic tundra to tropical forests — all under one roof. Their combination of long-term monitoring infrastructure (eLTER network), forest genetics expertise (MyGardenOfTrees), and cryosphere modeling (RAVEN, TEMPEST) makes them a one-stop partner for projects needing field-validated climate impact data. As a Swiss federal institute, they bring institutional stability, world-class instrumentation, and direct policy connections that few academic groups can match.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Ecol of interactions
  Their largest single grant (EUR 2.5M ERC-scale), a coordinator-led project developing predictive ecology of plant-animal interactions across tropical and temperate systems — signals deep fundamental research capacity.
• RAVEN
  EUR 2M coordinated project on debris-covered glacier mass loss in High Mountain Asia — demonstrates ability to lead large-scale, field-intensive research in extreme environments.
• MyGardenOfTrees
  EUR 2M coordinated project combining participatory science with genomic prediction for forest tree adaptation — an ambitious range-wide transplant experiment with direct climate adaptation applications.