Interdisciplinarity

The disciplines of Life Sciences and Facility Management link life-, product and production-cycles, and require interdisciplinary thinking and action. Due to the cooperation involved, innovations often occur at interfaces between and beyond the boundaries of the individual disciplines.

Networking between the Institutes at Waedenswil, together with the numerous interfaces between disciplines, leads to a variety of synergies. This means that questions related to life sciences and facility management can be resolved under the same roof.

A selection of interdisciplinary research and service projects

Consumer needs and nutrition studies are issues at the interface between the Institute of Food and Beverage Innovation and the Institute of Facility Management.

• National culture collection for biological material

IBT together with ICBC and IAS

The Culture Collection of Switzerland (CCOS) is the national culture collection. It compiles biological materials such as bacteria and yeast strains, and makes them publicly available by means of a catalogue of microbial life. It has taken on the demanding task of preserving the diversity of strains isolated from nature and gaining an overview of their functions.

The CCOS focuses on collecting bacterial isolates with a Swiss background. The aim is to collect the largest possible number of biotechnologically relevant and well-characterised strains of micro-organisms, and make them available for research and application. They are used for diagnostics, biocatalysis and the manufacture of drugs.

The CCOS is a spin-off of the ZHAW and is making a name for itself as a platform for professional storage and for the global distribution of biological material.

• Study of the everyday eating habits and daily routines of senior citizens

IFM and ILGI together with ACW (Agroscope Changins-Waedenswil) and Pro Senectute

Diet plays a signifi cant role in individual health and well-being, and contributes to subjective satisfaction in old age. The Swiss-Agile study is a qualitative case study focussing on the nutritional situation of elderly people in German-speaking Switzerland.

The aim was fi rstly to study the most usual methods of consumption and obtaining nutrients, and secondly to investigate the activities and routines of everyday eating in various life situations. The ZHAW studied dietary habits and sensory perception changes, as well as the situation in retirement homes regarding maintenance of independence and the provision of corresponding services.

• Therapy and theme garden at the RehaClinic Zurzach

IUNR together with the ZHAW School of Social Work and the HSR (University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil)

Gardens influence people’s physical and psychological states in positive ways. The main goal of this project was to develop and implement standardised garden therapy programmes for pain and stroke patients in rehabilitation, and to demonstrate the effectiveness of these programmes.

An interdisciplinary team from different universities and the RehaClinic Zurzach created the therapy and theme garden, which became a successful pilot project. Specially trained physio- and occupational therapists work with the patients in a specially designed garden and greenhouse.