Swiss research university excelling in evolutionary biology, immunology, and metabolic disease, with exceptional ERC and MSCA grant density.
The University of Lausanne is a major Swiss research university with deep strength in life sciences, evolutionary biology, and biomedical research. Their H2020 portfolio reveals concentrated expertise in microbial ecology, genomics, immunology, and metabolic disease — particularly diabetes and cancer biology. They attract top individual researchers through ERC and Marie Curie fellowships, functioning as a magnet for frontier science talent in fundamental biology. Beyond life sciences, they maintain active research lines in political science, institutional economics, and cybersecurity.
Multiple ERC-funded projects including MicroBeeOme (bee gut microbiome evolution), EVOMICROCOMM (microbial community interactions), CAMERA (ancient DNA and migration), and EvolAge (experimental evolution of aging).
Projects spanning innate immunity (STRAVIR on IL-33 in anti-viral immunity), vaccine development (EHVA, TBVAC2020, OptiMalVax), and immune-mediated cross-priming in cancer (PROCROP).
Sustained involvement via INNODIA (type 1 diabetes translational research), RHAPSODY (type 2 diabetes risk/progression, as coordinator), and INTEGRATE (metabolic health, EUR 2.5M ERC grant).
CELLFUSION (cell-cell fusion mechanisms, EUR 2M), NEUROPHAGY (autophagy in synaptic plasticity), plus recent keywords indicating work on progeria, mitophagy, and neurodegeneration.
POLICIES_FOR_PEACE (economics of lasting peace, EUR 1M), IKID (knowledge-intensive development in South-East Asia), and ARTIVISM (art and political activism, EUR 2M).
Keywords on ESR dating, luminescence dating, quaternary geomorphology, and atmospheric dynamics suggest growing activity in climate and geological dating methods.
In the early period (2015-2018), UNIL's H2020 work centered on translational health — clinical trial design, diabetes prevention, HIV vaccine platforms, and cloud security for health data. The later period (2019-2022) shows a decisive shift toward fundamental biology: evolutionary genomics, bioinformatics, innate immunity mechanisms, and cellular processes like autophagy and inflammation. This evolution reflects a move from applied clinical consortia toward investigator-driven basic science, consistent with their growing dominance in ERC and MSCA individual grants.
UNIL is deepening its position as a fundamental biology powerhouse, with increasing focus on evolutionary mechanisms, genomics, and the molecular basis of immunity and aging — positioning it for next-generation biomedical breakthroughs.
UNIL overwhelmingly leads its projects: 64 of 102 grants are coordinated, driven by the dominance of individual ERC and MSCA fellowships where the host institution is automatically the coordinator. When joining collaborative projects (35 as participant), they tend to enter large health-oriented consortia like INNODIA, EHVA, and TRANSVAC2. With 416 unique partners across 47 countries, they operate as a broad European hub rather than relying on a tight cluster of repeat collaborators.
UNIL has collaborated with 416 distinct organizations across 47 countries, making it one of the most broadly connected Swiss universities in H2020. Their network spans all of Europe with particularly strong links to health research consortia and life science institutions.
UNIL stands out for its exceptional density of individual excellence grants (ERC and MSCA), which signals that it attracts and retains top-tier principal investigators rather than simply joining large consortia for funding. As a Swiss institution, it brings non-EU associated country perspective while maintaining full H2020 integration. Its rare combination of deep evolutionary biology, immunology, and metabolic disease expertise makes it a distinctive partner for projects bridging fundamental mechanisms with biomedical applications.
