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LIVES Centre's history

2023

Merger of the LINES (life courses and inequalities) and LIVES (life courses and vulnerability) centres at the University of Lausanne.

2022

Appointment of a new co-direction for the LIVES Centre from 2023. Daniel Oesch and Clémentine Rossier will replace Dario Spini (UNIL) and Eric Widmer (UNIGE) and ensure the continuity of the Centre. LIVES Celebrations

An intense programme of activities and popularisation measures, the LIVES Celebrations, are being organised to popularise and widely disseminate the results of these first 12 years of research. 

2019

In order to ensure the continuity of the NCCR LIVES research activities and projects, the LIVES Centre is institutionalised within UNIL and UNIGE, ensuring the continuation of life course research beyond the end of SNSF funding. 

A new visual identity is being defined and gradually implemented, culminating in 2020 with the launch of the new website. 

PRN - Centre

Evolution des IP du PRN LIVES

 

2018

Funding obtained for the 3rd phase of the NCCR LIVES. New definition of the research projects and introduction of cross-cutting questions, to be addressed by all projects. 

2014

Funding obtained for the 2nd phase of the NCCR LIVES. Reorganisation of research projects. 

2011

The National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES - Overcoming Vulnerability: A Life-Course Perspective (NCCR LIVES) is inaugurated. It studies the effects of the post-industrial economy and society on the development of situations of vulnerability by means of longitudinal and comparative studies. The NCCR LIVES aims to gain a better understanding of the emergence and evolution of vulnerability, as well as the means of overcoming it, in order to encourage the emergence of innovative socio-political measures.

Like all NCCRs, LIVES is evaluated annually by a panel of independent SNSF experts, who provide scientific and managerial recommendations. Every 4 years, this panel decides whether or not to continue funding for a further 4-year phase (see details of research projects for the 3 phases in the right-hand column).

The NCCR LIVES will be funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) for a maximum of 12 years. The biographical trajectories of some 25,000 people will be studied in various fields (health, family, work and institutions).

2010

Acceptance of NCCR LIVES funding. The Swiss Confederation announces the launch of 8 National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCRs), with the aim of promoting interdisciplinary approaches as well as innovative approaches within disciplines. LIVES is the only NCCR in the social sciences of its kind. 

2008

Submission of the project to the Swiss National Science Foundation. 

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The NCCR LIVES is an initiative of the Centre de recherche sur les parcours de vie et les inégalités LINES, a research unit of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at UNIL, and of the Centre PAVIE (PArcours de VIE) at UNIL. 

Here are the seven interdisciplinary research projects from the current phase of the NCCR LIVES: 

In addition to the research projects, four cross-cutting issues (CCI) characterize the research agenda of the NCCR LIVES. These CCI are the result of the combination of seven research projects (IP) which bring together about 200 researchers from all around Switzerland who conduct interdisciplinary research by mobilizing knowledge from various disciplines (sociology, psychology, demography, economics, social policy) and by developing innovative longitudinal methodologies.

The purpose of these cross-cutting issues (CCI) is to further develop and refine the research agenda of NCCR LIVES in order to stimulate theoretical, methodological and empirical advances in the domains of vulnerability and life-course research. Three of these issues aim at understanding the multidimensional (CCI-1), multilevel (CCI-2) and multidirectional (CCI-3) dimensions of vulnerability. The fourth one (CCI-4) focuses on developing innovative methodological techniques in order to better grasp the nuts and bolts of vulnerability from a life-course perspective.

CCI 1 - Stress and resource dynamics in social interactions and across life domains (multidimensional)

This cross-cutting issue aims to stimulate research focusing on the permeability of stresses and resources across different life-course domains, such as family, work, education, leisure time or well-being trajectories. (More)

CCI 2 - Stress and resource dynamics in social interactions and across analysis levels (multi-level)

This cross-cutting issue explores the dynamics of stress and resilience among interdependent individuals or between individuals and the normative and institutional context in which they are embedded. (More)

CCI 3 - Accumulation of resources and development of vulnerability over the life course (multidirectional)

This cross-cutting issue emphasises the importance of the accumulation of social and economic as well as psychological and physiological resources over the course of life. (More)

CCI 4 - Methodological advances on vulnerability and the life course

This cross-cutting issue develops strategies for innovative longitudinal analyses and new methods to study vulnerability across the course of life, at both individual and population levels. (More)

The second phase of the NCCR LIVES, from 2015 to 2019, had nine reserach projects: