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, Devices & Data, and Action & Repair.

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.