Building a solid and healthy house requires numerous trades capable of working together, but each specialized in its own field, such as masonry, electricity, waterproofing or even carpentry. Science, to build theoretical and practical knowledge applicable in the field, does the same through what we call interdisciplinarity, or cooperation between several disciplines. The Valais network of Universities of applied sciences in the fields of management, engineering, health, social work or the arts has a true culture of interdisciplinarity thanks, in particular, to the establishment over the past 10 years of thematic axes, such as ‘Health Axis. This organization brings together people from each university who interact and work on common research projects combining several scientific disciplines. Michael Schumacherhead of the Health Axis within the HES-SO Valais-Wallis, tells us more about this innovative initiative.
Get out of your comfort zone and speak the same language
“As a researcher, it is good to stay in your ivory tower, but innovation happens at the crossroads of disciplines. », here is in a few words how Michael Schumacher summarizes his work of animation and mediation within the Health Axis. He perceives interdisciplinarity as part of the DNA of specialized universities whose mission is to teach in a professional manner and to carry out research projects oriented towards practice and applicability. So, bringing people from different disciplines, from the humanities and formal sciences, around a table is not an easy thing. However, over the years, the members of the Health axis have organized regular thematic meetings and put in place financing tools which have facilitated dialogue on the one hand, and the emergence of ideas on the other. of research projects. The advantage of the network of cantonal universities is that it brings together schools which are linked to health sciences, human sciences and technical sciences; it is thus possible to implement applied research and development projects while having a strong social impact. Michael Schumacher, researcher at the IT institute, cites, for example, the InnoSuisse Flagship SwissNeuroRehab project which focuses on the way in which people who have suffered neurological lesions are followed from the hospital to the outpatient clinic, via a rehabilitation clinic. Knowledge about patient care comes from therapists and the tools developed are the fruit of the work of IT research teams. These interdisciplinary projects can change the lives of people affected by the disease and concretely help the medical profession on a daily basis. But to achieve such a result, the road is often long. Imagine a dialogue between a German-speaking person who speaks a Swiss-German dialect and a French-speaking individual who responds in local patois! Well, that’s what can happen when two scientists working in different fields of research talk to each other. One of the challenges of the Health Axis was to facilitate this dialogue, by matching lexicons, methodologies and even imaginations. Received ideas about the infinite possibilities of technology can very quickly come up against societal reality, whether legal or ethical, and the sometimes techno-solutionist vision is undermined by the human complexity described by the social sciences. Interdisciplinarity is extremely valuable as a tool for reflection and dialogue, since it makes it possible to add a little human sciences to technologies and vice versa.
Collaborate, innovate and move forward together towards concrete solutions
The Health Axis is the oldest axis of the HES-SO Valais-Wallis and it has contributed for ten years to bringing together researchers around events and projects. Concretely, lunches called “Health Tech Lunch” were organized, allowing people to attend a thematic conference given by specialists and to network. In addition, innovation vouchers financed the first discussions around research projects which then obtained external funding. “This axis has been the most durable in the history of axes, and its main objective was to create a reflex of collaborative work and to build bridges between disciplines. », says Michael Schumacher. In order to respond to the mission entrusted by the General Management of the HES-SO Valais-Wallis which consisted of promoting interdisciplinary research, the Health Axis was organized into seven strategic actions:
- Strengthening the internal culture of interdisciplinarity : Workshops and internal meetings.
- Development of research team skills : Training in open science, open data, statistics, events for setting up projects, and vouchers for Swiss Ethics accreditation training.
- Identification of financing opportunities : Common monitoring, importance of the “Health Tech Lunch” for in-person exchanges and sharing of experiences.
- Thematic opportunities : Internal innovation checks for 4 years, allowing concrete work between institutes.
- Strategic partnership : Support for institutional innovations, collaborations with local institutions, SUVA, Valais Hospital, SMART confluence, and insurance companies.
- Communication and networking : Organization of events such as the “Point of Care Diagnostics”, the “Digital Health Connect”, and the “AI Valais/Wallis Days”.
- Promoting interdisciplinary teaching : Implementation of interdisciplinary Bachelor’s work.
From these actions have of course emerged concrete achievements, such as the birth of the Data Acquisition Unit, a service offered by the HES-SO Valais Wallis to support research teams in their projects to design, adapt and implement surveys. and questionnaires. Let us also mention the Living Lab of Disability, a co-creation and innovation network connecting people with disabilities, scientists, companies interested in collaborating in the field of disability and the co-creation of new innovative solutions. Finally, let’s talk about the Applied Ethics Service of the HES-SO Valais-Wallis which was created under the impetus of the members of the Health Axis. Certain events have also been imagined within this axis, such as the essential Digital Health Connect which brings together each year the health professions as well as the academic and economic world around questions relating to health and digital technology. Finally, interdisciplinary projects to improve the lives of patients have emerged thanks to the support of the Health Axis. This is the case of the project carried out jointly by Professor Antoine Widmer from the IT Institute and Professor Sarah Dini from the Institute of Social Work which aimed to help young people suffering from an autism spectrum disorder to develop social skills. and overcome their anxiety using virtual and mixed reality. This great project is also integrated into the start-up DiversSity SA which was awarded the Creator Prize from the Banque Cantonale du Valais.
The DNA of the HES-SO Valais/Wallis is based on this valuable ability to make research teams from various fields work together, favored by axes such as the Health Axis. This interdisciplinarity is valued not only in terms of research, but also in terms of teaching, particularly with interdisciplinary Bachelor’s work. Thus, the HES-SO Valais-Wallis trains students capable of responding to the challenges that await our societies thanks to their skills in the field of innovation, whether social or technological.
Meet the members of the Health Axis during an exceptional event which will take place on November 27, 2024 at the Aula of the Energypolis campus in Sion.
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