UNIVERSITAT LUZERN

Their core work

Universität Luzern is a Swiss university with research activity concentrated in two distinct fields: legal studies focused on trade law and the digital economy, and clinical health research around survivorship care for childhood cancer survivors. Their most substantial EU-funded work — an ERC Consolidator Grant — examines how international trade law must adapt to data-driven business models, a topic at the intersection of digital regulation, international law, and economic policy. In health, they contributed to a multi-country consortium developing evidence-based, patient-centred follow-up care guidelines for adult survivors of childhood cancer. These two tracks share almost no overlap, reflecting a broad-faculty university rather than a focused research institute.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

UNILU's two H2020 projects point in fundamentally different directions. Their first engagement (2019) was in health research — specifically survivorship and long-term care quality for cancer patients — where they joined an international consortium as a participant. Their subsequent and larger project (2021) pivoted entirely to legal and economic research on data-driven trade, secured as a solo ERC Consolidator Grant. Whether this reflects a deliberate institutional strategy or two unconnected faculty members winning EU funding independently is unclear from the data alone.

The dominant trajectory — by funding weight — is toward legal and regulatory research on digital trade, suggesting UNILU is building capacity as a law and policy research partner for digital economy projects.

How they like to work

UNILU has played both roles: a participant embedded in a large multi-country health consortium (PanCareFollowUp, 15 partners across 9 countries), and a solo coordinator of a prestigious individual ERC grant. The ERC grant suggests at least one high-profile researcher operating largely independently, while the health consortium participation reflects willingness to integrate into larger collaborative structures. Partners considering UNILU should clarify which faculty group they are engaging, as the two tracks operate very differently.

Their consortium network spans 15 unique partners across 9 countries, built primarily through the PanCareFollowUp health consortium. The ERC grant does not contribute external partners, so their collaborative network is narrow relative to the number of countries reached.

What sets them apart

UNILU is one of very few Swiss universities combining active EU-funded research in both health sciences and international trade law within the same institution. Their ERC Consolidator Grant in trade law for the data economy is a marker of recognised individual research excellence — a credential that carries weight in legal and policy-focused consortia. For partners building projects on digital regulation, data governance, or cross-border data trade, UNILU offers rare legal depth within a Swiss academic context.

Highlights from their portfolio

• TRADE LAW 4.0
  An ERC Consolidator Grant (€1.6M) — one of the EU's most competitive individual research awards — focused on the legal architecture needed for trade in a data-driven economy, with UNILU as coordinator.
• PanCareFollowUp
  A pan-European RIA consortium addressing a neglected clinical gap: long-term, person-centred care for the growing population of adult survivors of childhood cancer.