The Sense
The Sense is an academic center dedicated to innovation, research, and education on sensory systems. This initiative is the result of a joint venture between three Swiss academic partners: The University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland Valais-Wallis Valais-Wallis, The University of Lausanne, and The Lausanne University Hospital.
The University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland Valais-Wallis
When you study at HES-SO Valais-Wallis, you live and study in the heart of the Swiss Alps and benefit from modern and efficient infrastructures. You get the opportunity to participate in multilingual courses enhanced by the inspiring natural, economic, industrial, social and cultural environment of the canton of Valais.
You get the opportunity to train on the Team Academy programme, which is unique in Switzerland, and benefit from the interdisciplinary learning provided by the close proximity of the various schools and the different degree programmes. You get to contribute to applied research and development.
The University of Lausanne
The University of Lausanne comprises more than 190 research units working in fields as diverse as genomics, aesthetics of cinema, environmental law and criminalistics.
In institutes, laboratories and libraries, about 3,000 researchers, including 580 professors, work every day on projects of national and international significance, thereby increasing the institution’s research capital. The UNIL seeks in particular to encourage a cross-disciplinary approach to research.
The Lausanne University Hospital
The Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) is one of the top 5 university hospitals in Switzerland and one of the best in the world according to Newsweek magazine’s 2022 ranking. Thanks to its collaboration with the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the University of Lausanne, the CHUV plays a leading role of European scope in the fields of medical care, medical research and education.
Message from the Directors
The Sense Innovation and Research Center was founded in 2021 by the University of Lausanne (UNIL), The Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), and the University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland Valais-Wallis (HES-SO Valais-Wallis).
This inter-institutional initiative aims to pool knowledge and resources in order to develop research, innovation and training projects in the field of sensory sciences around a concerted scientific strategy.
Why focus on the senses? Our senses are how we interact with our environment, one another, and ourselves throughout our lifespan and despite dysfunction or disease. While the central role of the brain in supporting perception, cognition, and behaviour is undisputed, we continue to have only a rudimentary comprehension of precisely how sensory processes undergird these functions and contribute to their dysfunction in disease.
The Sense is comprised of dedicated principal investigators and their teams, who know how to observe, to think, and to solve. The Sense’s research units are in turn arranged along three unifying axes: Perception & Cognition, Action & Repair, and Devices & Data.
The Sense benefits not only from the guidance of its Scientific Advisory Board, but also from two additional external boards; one focusing on societal impact and the other on innovation and technology transfer. This constellation of local and international advisors not only helps to ensure the relevance of The Sense’s activities, but also their practical implementation and application.
Our complementary backgrounds ensure The Sense can attain its ambitions. Prof. Murray has more than 25 years’ experience in basic and clinical academic research in neuroscience as well as brain imaging/mapping methods development. This is paralleled by Prof. Lorentz’s more than 30 years’ experience in innovation and business development in academic and industrial contexts. Our collective experiences have impressed upon us the need for conjoining the local strengths in applied, basic, and clinical research and the opportunities in so doing for addressing societal needs.
We are profoundly grateful for the unwavering support of our founding institutions, for the tireless work of everyone affiliated to The Sense, and for the active engagement of our advisors. We look forward to continuing to share our discoveries with you and to show that The Sense is where innovation comes to life.
Our missions
The Sense Innovation and Research Center creates and disseminates knowledge about the senses and human behaviour for the benefit of society. The Sense federates applied, basic and clinical research with the aim of improving the performance or clinical outcomes of sensory functions. Sense est de développer des solutions aux différents troubles sensoriels pour le bien-être de l’humanité.
To this end, The Sense aims to :
- Federate converging and complementary expertise and knowledge for the development of research and innovation projects dedicated in particular to neurosensory processes in humans;
- Promote staff exchanges between the founding institutions;
- Promote student exchanges and ensure their training in a coordinated manner between the institutions.
History
2015
Professors Micah Murray and Olivier Lorentz ideate The Sense.
2018
The Faculty of Biology and Medicine (CHUV-UNIL) provide a formal mandate to Prof. Micah Murray to map the forces present in the field of sensory neuroscience and to propose a structuring of its activities.
2020
A letter of intent signed by the founding members for the creation of The Sense Innovation and Research Center.
2021
Signature of the consortium agreement by the founding institutions: the University of Lausanne (UNIL), the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and the University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland Valais-Wallis.
2022
Public launch of The Sense.
Organization
Our team 
Active research units
Principal investigators
Affiliated individuals
%
Women
Research fields
Le Sense s’inscrit dans la volonté de partager des partenaires et de développer et promouvoir la recherche et l’innovation autour des neurosciences sensorielles. Les activités du réseau du Sense couvrent toutes les étapes du processus d’innovation, de la recherche fondamentale sur le fonctionnement de nos sens à la recherche appliquée sur des solutions prometteuses, en passant par le développement et l’expérimentation de solutions viables.
The innovation, research, and education activities of The Sense are organized around three main axes, corresponding to three major questions: