Maintenance of calcium homeostasis and control of oxidative stress in the cytosol and organelles are important for cellular function and survival. Persistent metabolic stress caused by unhealthy lifestyle deteriorates cellular and organellar functions, in particular in individuals with genetic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes. This disease affects 380 million people worldwide and is steadily increasing in the wake of the obesity epidemic. Accumulating evidence suggests pathophysiological implication of mitochondria and ER leading to irreversible loss of normal cell function. However, despite recent progress, the molecular mechanisms underlying organellar stress leading to metabolic diseases and aging remain elusive. Our project focuses on the delineation of mitochondrial stress and ER stress related to calcium overload and oxidative injury. The elucidation of these mechanisms should provide clues on therapeutic intervention to arrest disease progression. Our proposal aims to strengthen long-term close collaboration between eminent scientists with established expertise in the field with documented past collaborations. In addition to scientific advance, both universities should benefit from education of students and postdocs.

With the theme, “Main Challenges for Christian Theology Today,” for the collaborative research project of UNIGE-Yonsei Seed Funding, we present a 3-year-long proposal. With this project, we seek to create a theological partnership between our two Theological Faculties (University of Geneva, Yonsei University). We envision a three-year program as follows: “Religious Pluralism or Religious Multiple Belonging? Comparative Approaches.” In an age of the so-called migration of Christianity to the East and the South, religious identity is in flux. What is the impact of our societies’ religious pluralism for theology? The second year’s theme, “Humanity Enhanced or Trans-Humanized: Ethical and Theological Reflections,” will deal with the future of humanity theologically and ethically. The theme of the third year, “Eco-Theology and the Call for Justice” will address the question of eco-theology in its relation to the issue of justice broadly conceived. This Theological Consultation between theologians and ethicists from Yonsei University and the University of Geneva will foster a dialogue across cultures (including theological cultures) in order to learn from one another about the current challenges theological and ethical inquiry is facing today: which challenges may be called common challenges? Which ones are specific to each context? Among the common and the specific challenges, what may we learn from one another? In the process of these three consultations, we may discover many similarities, as well as dissimilarities, in our ways of doing theology and of addressing current challenges which confront us all.

The Project intended as a “Tier 1 seed grant” builds on previous research and expertise of both Geneva and South Korea based teams on the insertion of emerging economies in the global economy and their role within the current institutional framework. The seed proposal would lead to a wider project to be submitted to funding agencies such as the Swiss Network of International Studies (SNIS) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF). The project will analyse the causes for emerging and middle powers to create new groupings and institutional settings, integrating into existing ones and at the role of transgovernmental cooperation for establishing new institutions and/or reinforcing existing ones. The grant will strengthen cooperation between the UNIGE based team (composed by Prof. Sandra Lavenex, Dr. Omar Serrano and their research assistant Wang Lei) and the Yonsei team (composed by Prof. Jongryn Mo and a research assistant Hyun Jung Hee). The Geneva team has looked at the challenge that the ascent of large fast-growing emerging economies poses to the EU's and US' continued ability (separately or even jointly) to shape the international order. The Seoul-based team has looked at new governance groups among emerging countries such as the BRICS and the MIKTA. Emerging countries are increasingly attempting to organize themselves and this raises the question on whether their efforts are working and if not, what lessons they can draw from history and IR theory as well as from the mechanisms the EU and US have used to extend their regulatory reach.