Mirko
Winkel

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Mirko Winkel is the coordinator of the mLAB. The artist and curator teaches at the University of Bern and other places with the aim of synthesizing art with scientific research and socio-political concerns.

Susan
Thieme

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Susan Thieme is professor of Critical Sustainability Studies at the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern. She brought the Global Science Film Festival to Bern and co-developed the Social Learning Video Method. She is co-founder of the mLAB.  MORE

Carolin
Schurr

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Carolin Schurr is professor of Social and Cultural Geography at the University of Bern. As a feminist geographer, she has developed and experimented with affectual and visual methods to grasp the emotional effects of globalization processes on our intimate lives. She is co-founder of the mLAB.  MORE

Alexander
Vorbrugg

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Alexander Vorbrugg is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in Critical Sustainability Studies at the University of Bern. His research interests include visual forms of research and science communication. He is part of the coordination group of the mLAB. MORE

Laura
Perler

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Laura Perler is a postdoctoral researcher in Social and Cultural Geography at the University of Bern. In her research she investigates inequalities in relation to reproductive technologies and the Swiss asylum system. In her projects she uses audiovisual approaches and collaborates with artists. Together with Mirko Winkel, she is currently organizing a traveling exhibition on egg donation. She is part of the coordination group of the mLAB. MORE

Adrien
Mestrot

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Adrien Mestrot is a professor in Soil Science at the University of Bern. Part of his research topics is analyzing the biogeochemistry of soils under global change to improve environmental health and food production.  MORE

Stefan
Brönnimann

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Stefan Brönnimann is a professor in Climatology at the University of Bern. His research focuses on weather and climate reconstruction, climate models, climate dynamics, effects of volcanic eruptions on climate and climate and society interactions. MORE

Sinje
Grenzdörffer

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Sinje Grenzdörffer (she/her) is a Postdoc researcher in Economic Geography and Transformation Studies at the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern. Her research explores the transformative potentials of economic practices and structures in the light of liveable presents and futures. Her focus is on transdisciplinary and transformative methods and formats of knowledge creation and scientific communication.

Prisca
Pfammatter

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Prisca Pfammatter (she/her) is a PhD student in Critical Sustainability Studies at the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern. Her research explores the experiences of queer farmworkers in Switzerland, using dance-based methodologies to examine the intersections of gender, sex, sexuality, and social sustainability in agriculture.

Sarah
Hartmann

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Sarah Hartmann is a Postdoc student in Critical Sustainability Studies at the University of Bern. Her research looks at issues around work, transnational mobilities and future transformations in healthcare from a critical sustainability perspective. MORE

Luca
Tschiderer

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Luca Tschiderer is a PhD student in Critical Sustainability Studies at the University of Bern. His research focuses on alternative practices of work in health- and care related contexts. As part of his PhD project he uses social learning videos as a participatory method towards workers inquiry. MORE

Johanna
Paschen

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Johanna Paschen is a PhD student in Critical Sustainability Studies at the University of Bern. Her research interests include social and environmental justice, transdisciplinarity and artistic research. In cooperation with the Academy of the Arts Bern, she is involved with the research project EcoArtLab. MORE

Elisabeth
Militz

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Elisabeth Militz is an Assistant Professor for Social and Digital Geographies at the University of Innsbruck. As a feminist political and cultural geographer, her focus lies on global/intimate relations and digital transformations. She experiments with affectual and feminist digital methodologies for human geographies. MORE

Nora
Komposch

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Nora Komposch is a PhD student and assistant in Social and Cultural Geography at the University of Bern. Her research interests are geographies of the body, care and reproduction, migration and labor, and politics of the global intimate. MORE

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System Relevant!

2026
Cartography
Carolin Schurr
Mirko Winkel
art-science-collabaration
Participation
future of work

System Relevant! is now online. Developed from interviews with 37 essential workers in Zurich and Lausanne, this interactive digital tool gives voice to people whose labour kept cities running during the COVID-19 pandemic while often remaining overlooked: workers in retail, childcare, cleaning, and public transport. Through the fictional but research-based characters Sarah, Peter, Ivana, and Silvina, users can explore everyday experiences of work, care, mobility, housing, and precarity in urban space.

Created as part of the NFP80 project Urban Essential Workers at ETH Zurich under the overall direction of David Kaufmann, System Relevant! was developed in close collaboration with the mLAB at the Institute of Geography, University of Bern. Based on research and texts by Carole Ammann, the tool was shaped through the joint work of Mirko Winkel, who led the idea and implementation from the mLAB side, and Carolin Schurr, who contributed conceptual guidance. In collaboration with designers Christophe Merkle and Leon Thau, the team translated the research material into an interactive, map-based narrative format that connects interviews, urban spaces, and everyday routines. The result is a public-facing tool that makes visible the lived realities of essential workers beyond the healthcare sector.

Explore the website here:
https://system-relevant.ch