TOWARDS CONVIVIAL SCIENCES - the new book by Critical Scientists Switzerland
BEYOND THE FIX - the podcast by Critical Scientists Switzerland
About us
Category: About us
Office
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Office
Ephraim Pörtner, PhD
Executive Director
Project Management (Critical Science Project, Beyond the Fix Podcast)
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Tamara Lebrecht
Executive Director
Project Management (IntegraL)
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Chair
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The CSS chair consists of a minimum of one and a maximum of three board members. The chair is elected by the General Assembly for three years and can be re-elected for a second term. The chair operates on a voluntary basis. Angelika Hilbeck & Stefan Wolf are co-chairs since 2025.
Dr. Angelika Hilbeck
Agroecologist, Leading Scientists and Lecturer, Institute for Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich (emerita); board member of the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibilities (ENSSER)
Angelika Hilbeck's work focuses on the environmental biosafety of genetically modified plants in ecosystems. Through her international work with the UN, governmental and non-governmental organisations, Hilbeck has become increasingly involved in broader issues of technology development (GE and digitialization) towards a democratically legitimated, sustainable global future and actively contributes to the debate on biosafety, international agriculture, hunger and poverty alleviation.
Selected recent publications:
- Antoniou, M. N., Robinson, C., Castro, I., & Hilbeck, A. (2023). Agricultural GMOs and their associated pesticides: Misinformation, science, and evidence. Environmental Sciences Europe, 35(1), 76. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-023-00787-4
- Chapela, I., & Hilbeck, A. (2023). GMOs and Human and Environmental Safety. In E. Valdés & J. A. Lecaros (Eds), Handbook of Bioethical Decisions. Volume I: Decisions at the Bench (pp. 737–761). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29451-8_39
- Defarge, N., Otto, M., & Hilbeck, A. (2023). A Roundup herbicide causes high mortality and impairs development of Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). Science of The Total Environment, 865, 161158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161158
- Hilbeck, A. (2024). Die eindimensionale Welt der Gentechnik – des Kaisers Kleider. Kultur Und Politik, 1, 4–9.
- Hilbeck, A., Tisselli, E., Sibuga, K. P., Constantine, J., Shitindi, M. J., Kilasara, M., Churi, A. J., Sanga, C., Kihoma, L., Brush, G., Stambuli, F., Mjunguli, R., Burnier, B., Maro, J., Hamza, S., & Ndee, A. (2025). Synthesis of a 5-year agroecology research project in Tanzania. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 0(0), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2025.2544849
- Seralini, G.-E., Jungers, G., Andersen, A., Antoniou, M., Aschner, M., Bacon, M.-H., Bertrand, M., Bohn, T., Bonfleur, M. L., Bücking, E., Defarge, N., Djemil, R., Domingo, J. L., Douzelet, J., Fagan, J., Fournier, T., Garcia, J. L. Y., Gil, S., Hervé-Gruyer, P., … Zhang, X. (2025). Scientists’ warning: We must change paradigm for a revolution in toxicology and world food supply. Environmental Sciences Europe, 37(1), 182. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-025-01217-3
Prof. Dr. Stefan Wolf
Quantum Information Scientist, Professor for informatics, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) in Lugano
Stefan Wolf is a professor for Informatics at USI since 2011. He received a Dipl. Math. ETH, followed by a PhD in Computer Science from ETH Zurich. After a postdoc at McGill University, Montreal, he was Assistant Professor at University of Waterloo, Ontario, and Université de Montréal, Quebec. From 2005 to 2011, he was an SNF Professor for Quantum Information at ETH Zürich. His research domain lies in the fields of cryptography, information theory, and quantum information processing. In particular, he is interested in an efficient realization of provably secure cryptographic and other information-processing functionalities based on weak classical or quantum-physical primitives, as well as in the second law of thermodynamics and its meanings. Active in scientific taskforce against Swiss E-ID and for digital integrity. Co-host of Critical Natural Philosophy events at the facoltà indipendente di gandria.
Selected recent publications:
- Baumeler, Ä., Rieger, C., & Wolf, S. (2022). Thermodynamics as Combinatorics: A Toy Theory. 2022 IEEE Information Theory Workshop (ITW), 362–367. https://doi.org/10.1109/ITW54588.2022.9965927
- Baumeler, Ä., & Wolf, S. (2025). Flow of dynamical causal structures with an application to correlations. Physical Review Research, 7(3), 033278. https://doi.org/10.1103/jsmm-tq72
- Bédard, C. A., Berthelette, S., Coiteux-Roy, X., & Wolf, S. (2025). Temperature as joules per bit. American Journal of Physics, 93(5), 390–395. https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0198820
- Boschini, C., Hansen, A., & Wolf, S. (2022). Discrete Mathematics (1. Auflage). vdf Hochschulverlag. https://doi.org/10.3218/4110-1
- Coiteux-Roy, X., & Wolf, S. (2022). Unconditional Proofs-of-Work and Other Possibilities of Thermodynamic Cryptography. 2022 IEEE Information Theory Workshop (ITW), 452–457. https://doi.org/10.1109/ITW54588.2022.9965816
- Wolf, S., Eckstein, M., & Hartmann, M. J. (2025). Variational Time Evolution Compression for Solving Impurity Models on Quantum Hardware (No. arXiv:2508.10526). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.10526
Board
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The CSS board consists of a minimum of five and a maximum of seven members and constitutes itself. The aim is to create a balanced board with regard to gender, age, scientific expertise, and language. The board is elected by the General Assembly for a renewable period of three years. Board members operate on a voluntary basis.
- Dr. Angelika Hilbeck
Agroecologist, Senior Scientists and Lecturer, Institute for Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich (emerita); board member of the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibilities (ENSSER)
Angelika Hilbeck's work focuses on the environmental biosafety of genetically modified plants in ecosystems. Through her international work with the UN, governmental and non-governmental organisations, Hilbeck has become increasingly involved in broader issues of technology development (GE and digitialization) towards a democratically legitimated, sustainable global future and actively contributes to the debate on biosafety, international agriculture, hunger and poverty alleviation. CSS co-chair since 2025.
- Prof. Dr. Stefan Wolf
Quantum Information Scientist, Università della Svizzera italiana
Stefan Wolf is a professor for Informatics at USI since 2011. He received a Dipl. Math. ETH, followed by a PhD in Computer Science from ETH Zurich. After a postdoc at McGill University, Montreal, he was Assistant Professor at University of Waterloo, Ontario, and Université de Montréal, Quebec. From 2005 to 2011, he was an SNF Professor for Quantum Information at ETH Zürich. His research domain lies in the fields of cryptography, information theory, and quantum information processing. In particular, he is interested in an efficient realization of provably secure cryptographic and other information-processing functionalities based on weak classical or quantum-physical primitives, as well as in the second law of thermodynamics and its meanings. CSS co-chair since 2025.
- Dr. Marianna Fenzi
Lecturer and Senior Social Sciences Researcher, Institute of Geography and Sustainability, University of Lausanne
Marianna Fenzi studied geography and environmental science before moving into agriculture, where she completed a PhD in the history of science. Her research focuses on the practices, debates, and narratives around agricultural modernization. Combining archival research and sociohistorical analysis with field investigation, her goal is to identify how competing scientific programs became dominant or marginalized, and to study their impact on farming systems and food systems.
- Prof. Dr. Sergio Rasmann
Biologist, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel
Sergio Rasmann studied biology at the University of Neuchâtel, where he obtained his PhD in chemical ecology in 2006. After several years in the USA, he is now Professor back in Neuchâtel, where he studies and teaches about biodiversity, effect of global change on species interactions, biological control of insect pests, and conservation of endangered species. CSS chair from 2019-2025.
- Dr. Silva Lieberherr
Agricultural scientist, HEKS
Silva Lieberherr studied agricultural sciences at the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland. She then did a PhD in Geography at the University of Zurich and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai on the agrarian crisis and farmers' resistance in Central India. After her PhD, Silva changed her focus to activist research and joined the organisation Bread for all, where she works mostly on land rights, but also other agriculture related issues. She is an affiliated researcher at the Centre for African Studies at the University of Basel. CSS treasurer since 2019.
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Editor
Critical Scientists Switzerland
Mattenhofstrasse 5
3007 Bern
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Webpublishing
Christoph Burkhard
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Portrait
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Who we are
Critical Scientists Switzerland (CSS) is a Swiss association according to article 60 et seqq. in the Swiss Civil Code that promotes independent science and research as well as alternative research approaches and agendas in order to help our society during the unavoidable transformation towards a socio-ecological way of life. CSS was founded on March 16, 2015 and is based in Bern (since 2021).
Our principles
CSS believes that:
- Scientific research has to be conducted with ethical and moral principles, for the public good and aim at providing sustainable solutions and tools for current and future social and environmental problems.
- Public research agendas have to be transparent and independent from economic and political influence.
- New scientific discoveries and technological developments have to be assessed for their benefit to society. Thereby public and environmental safety always have priority over private interests.
What we want to achieve
CSS aims to build a strong network of independent scientists that can collaborate and assist each other in order to provide high quality scientific information for experts and a lay audience that:
- Promotes critical thinking and discourse.
- Identifies remaining important knowledge gaps about our unsustainable way of life and associated dangers and about possible alternative solutions related to environmental and social sustainability.
- Analyses the ecological, health and socioeconomic aspects of new technological developments.
- Facilitates multifaceted reporting in the media.
- Contributes to the development of a science which concentrates on sustainable methods and applications to repair past damages for the benefit of society and the environment.
Our aims
CSS aims to:
- Promote long-term environmental sustainability and social equity.
- Promote new forms of discourse, interaction and communication within the scientific community and between science and society.
- Contribute to the termination of damage done with existing technologies.
- Promote independent science and research to improve the quality of basic science as well as regulatory science used in the risk analysis of existing and emerging technologies and their products..
- Promote the application of the precautionary principle where lack of knowledge and scientific uncertainties might critically or irrevocably endanger the environment, biodiversity, social integrity and/or human health.
- Elaborate scientific, ethical and legal criteria with respect to the development and application of science and technology, by integrating transparency, accountability, social equity, public information, public participation and access to justice.
- Support early-warning scientists and whistleblowers and promote their protection from discrimination.
How we work
To reach these goals, CSS follows an interdisciplinary approach bringing together independent scientific expertise from different fields and uses innovative means such as the arts and participatory approaches to research. Specifically CSS works by:
- Exchanging research ideas, concepts and results within the association.
- Analysing the current scientific landscape.
- Providing independent expertise and information to the public.
- Collaborating with national and international organisations.
- Cooperating with citizens’ movements.
- Increasing public visibility of CSS and the goals it pursues by means of Internet presence, public presentations and media work.
- Challenging scientists, politicians, media and the industry if they produce misleading or inaccurate information.
- Informing the public about what is known as scientific facts and where there are still major uncertainties within the scientific community.
- Exposing major knowledge gaps and/or biased (including one-sided) scientific information.
- Promoting a critical discourse of the current major societal challenges related to scientific advancements by organising topic-related conferences.
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