On Wednesday 22 June 2022, LIVES invited its members, alumni, partners and friends to celebrate its first 12 years of research. More than 100 people took part in this important event in the beautiful setting of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.
The programme started with the last General Assembly (LIVES Day) of the NCCR LIVES, where the co-leaders of the research axes gave an overview of the projects of their teams. Dario Spini, director, and Eric Widmer, co-director, led the discussion and gave the floor to the members of the administrative team, who ensure the continuity of the LIVES Centre.
The evening continued in the Gallery of the Olympic Museum, where guests were welcomed by speeches from the management. Nicky Le Feuvre, dean of the UNIL SSP faculty, first congratulated Dario Spini and Eric Widmer as well as the previous co-directors Laura Bernardi and Michel Oris for having managed, listened to and supported the teams that succeeded each other at LIVES.
Dario Spini and Eric Widmer also thanked the UNIL and UNIGE as well as the researchers for having had the "taste of others" by participating in this common effort, or spoke about their relationship as an "old couple", which will soon come to an end. In the next few months, they will hand over to a new management team.
The rest of the LIVES Night was spent in a festive mood, sharing memories between (ex-)colleagues, discovering 12 LIVES highlights and the energy of the LIVES Band, a short-lived musical group that performed "Life is LIVES", a cover version of the original title "Live is life" by the Austrian band Opus.
It was a memorable evening and a golden opportunity to thank the 450 current and former members of LIVES in person, and to wish each other continued success in this beautiful common enterprise of interdisciplinary research on life courses and vulnerability.
In his speech, Dario Spini paid tribute to Ilario Rossi, a recently deceased colleague at UNIL, by quoting Mikhail Bulgakov: "What would your good do if evil didn’t exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows disappeared?" (The Master and Margarita). A way of remembering that the contrast of events makes the beauty of a life course.
Photo credits: Sébastien Bovy, Photographisme
Video editing: Swiss Movie