Department of Public Health

New plant breeding technologies (NBTs) such as genome editing enable more efficient and flexible innovations in agriculture and food production than conventional breeding methods. Therefore, they can potentially contribute to global food security and improve public health and environmental sustainability. However, NBTs are currently covered by the Swiss moratorium on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The regulation of NBTs is difficult due to the low societal and political acceptance of GMOs and their ethical and social impacts. These issues need to be addressed to overcome polarization and enable a conscious public and political debate. This project aims to provide an ethical assessment of the social and societal impacts of NBTs. We will combine ethical analysis with empirical analysis of public debates and stakeholder perceptions, with a focus on the social acceptance of NBTs in Switzerland. The results of the research project will help to analyze the nature and possible reasons for the low societal acceptance of GMOs in Switzerland and its implications for the regulation of NBTs in Switzerland and the European Union.

EQUIMED investigates sex and gender inequalities in implantable medical devices. Through interviews and multidisciplinary research, it aims to improve equity in medical technology.

Despite technological advancements, medical devices do not function the same way for men and women, with women experiencing more adverse effects. Implantable devices are particularly affected by sex and gender biases. EQUIMED studies this issue in Switzerland, the UK, and Germany by analyzing data, interviewing experts and patients, and evaluating ethical policies. Its goal is to make these devices safer and more effective for everyone.

EQUIMED seeks to understand and reduce these inequalities by exploring why women and gender minorities face higher risks and what factors contribute to these disparities. Its research will support the development of fairer solutions for implantable medical devices, such as pacemakers and neural implants, while also setting new ethical standards in medical technology.

By addressing biases in research, design, and regulation, EQUIMED aims to improve the safety of medical devices for all. The project will provide evidence-based recommendations to help policymakers, manufacturers, and healthcare professionals create more inclusive technologies. Collaboration between regulators, industry, and healthcare providers is essential to ensuring safer and fairer medical devices for everyone.

Background and rationale for project

Frailty is a major public health challenge. Frailty is a multidimensional syndrome in which a person accumulates impairments in multiple life domains due to ageing. Examples include physical impairments (e.g. reduced mobility), social status (e.g. social isolation) and cognition impairment. Frailty predisposes a person to negative health outcomes and is associated with long-term disability, a lower quality of life, and high costs. As impairments accumulate, persons are less able to participate in society, interact with their direct environment, and become socially isolated. Social isolation contributes to social frailty and physical frailty. Both frailty and social isolation can therefore be considered key outcomes for novel public health solutions.

Overall objective and specific aims

The overall objective is to develop a program theory for engaging older persons in a program that combines physical and social activities to prevent frailty and reduces social isolation, operationalize this program for adoption and implementation in the community setting, and evaluate the effectiveness and implementation in two Swiss Cantons. The ENGAGE project will achieve this through the following aims:

1. To investigate current practice regarding screening and management of older persons’ frailty risk and social isolation in primary and community care, and identify determinants for improving these outcomes in this setting.
2. To investigate experiences and perceptions of older persons concerning their participation in a community program that focusses on physical activity and social engagement, and identify determinants for their participation.
3. To develop a program theory for frailty prevention and reduction of social isolation and to operationalise this in a program that combines physical and social activities that is adopted and implemented in the community setting.
4. To implement the program in two Swiss cantons and test the acceptability and feasibility, and to evaluate its impact on reducing frailty and social isolation in older persons living in the community, and to identify determinants for and costs of implementation.

Methods

A multi-phased mixed methods project methodology will be used, in collaboration with a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) group. First, a mixed methods study will be performed using QUAN – QUAL explanatory sequential design, including a survey and interviews with healthcare professionals and community stakeholders (Objective 1). Second, a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with older persons will be conducted, followed by group discussions using a World Café methodology (objective 2). Third, Intervention Mapping will be used to develop a program theory for preventing frailty and reducing social isolation, and will be operationalized in a program in the community that combines physical and social activities (objective 4). Fourth, a pragmatic effectiveness–implementation hybrid type-1 trial will be conducted to evaluate the impact of the program, including its effects on frailty and social isolation. A pilot study will be embedded to evaluate study burden, acceptability and feasibility. A process -and economic evaluation are included to investigate the implementation and inform scale-up strategies and costs.

Expected results

The first program theory for frailty prevention in the community will be developed. This will be the first experimental study combining physical and social activities for frailty prevention and reduction of social isolation. This will be the first project studying implementation of frailty prevention in the community, informing scale-up.

The goal of the ESTIMATE project is to improve the quality of work disability evaluations used in disability benefit decisions. This will be achieved by building a large, representative database of residual work capacity ratings and developing a Bayesian hierarchical model to produce more accurate and reliable estimates. A dataset published in 2021 is currently being re-analyzed using Bayesian methods to demonstrate the advantages of Bayesian hierarchical modeling. This approach allows for quantification of uncertainty in residual work capacity estimates and applies shrinkage toward a common mean by enabling groups to share information through hyperpriors.