How many Australian babies have resulted from the Swiss–Australian collaboration in forensic science?

 Perhaps not the typical way to measure an academic partnership—but it’s a testament to the depth of a collaboration that has thrived for over 30 years.

The event on June 3rd at IDHEAP, UNIL, celebrated this long-standing relationship and its significant contributions to the field of forensic science, including the Polilight, the Sydney Declaration, and more recently, advances in forensic intelligence and multidisciplinary, trace-centred workflows. UNIL has been a pioneer in developing these cross-disciplinary approaches, and collaboration with Australia has enriched this work—bringing in both the breadth and depth of Australian casework, and often a more direct path to market than typically seen with more conservative European or Swiss partners, thanks to the trust built over decades.

While the technical collaboration was certainly a focus of the evening, the dominant feeling was one of community. At ASAIN, we hope to help spark and nurture future connections—both academic and personal—of the same strength and warmth as those celebrated at this event.

We would leave the final word to a participant survey “As an Australian who came to Switzerland to complete my PhD in Chemistry at the University of Lausanne, I ended up staying in Switzerland and pursuing my career here. Consolidating multiple research projects with Australian academic institutes such as the University of Adelaide, Monash University, RMIT, and multiple CSIRO projects, has been a fantastic journey, resulting in innovative research outcomes! Today’s event was a brilliant reaffirmation of how these joint Swiss-Australian collaborations bring about innovative breakthroughs! I wish ASAIN existed 30 years ago :)! Congratulations to our Australian Ambassador and team!”