Responding to the accelerated social changes in the world, the University of Basel, Switzerland's oldest university, has founded a new research centre and platform for interdisciplinary dialogue: the Forum Basiliense. The forum aims to foster exchange and collaboration between scholars of the humanities and social sciences, life sciences and the natural sciences. The question of “anthropocene” is at the centre of the initial phase of our forum and the intellectual focus for our first group of international fellows in 2025.

In the last two decades, the concept of Anthropocene was discussed intensively in the Sciences and the Humanities. It was established to address the challenges caused by human, societal and industrial interventions and transformations on planet Earth. For the first time, humanity is facing a recent geological period that is essentially determined by the traces and costs of human activities. Concerning issues of sustainability, of climate change, of balancing economical and ecological demands, the skills and potentials of academia are addressed from the broadest interdisciplinary perspective.

For the upcoming year 2026, the focus will be on "Conflict and Cooperation". It outlines a problem area of eminent urgency that is more dependent on trans- and interdisciplinary exchange and opportunities for collaboration than almost any other in the current scientific landscape.