21 August 2014. One focal point of the University of St.Gallen's public programme will be the topic of research and education at Swiss universities. The lecturer, Dieter Imboden, who chaired the Swiss National Science Foundation until 2013, is an expert on and influential shaper of Swiss science policy. In this lecture, he will link the topic of science policy with the history of his own family that encompasses the cities of Zurich, Basel and St.Gallen.

Creating and protecting new things

Imboden's family history was a determining factor for the design of the programme brochure. His grandmother, Frida Imboden-Kaiser, a paediatrician and in 1909 the founder of St.Gallen's home for babies, has been honoured with a street name of her own like other scientific and intellectual personalities of the region. The programme brochure with the photos of the street signs is a reminder of these St.Gallen personalities who rendered outstanding services to science and erudition.

"Innovation" is the magic word when people talk about the significance of science for the economy today. Science provides the insights required for inventions and innovation, enterprises generate profit and the economy grows. The question as to whether this division of labour is indeed all that clear and what the legal protection of innovators and inventors looks like will be answered from an economic, legal, academic and ethical perspective by the series on "The economy and the law explained simply".

Making use of old things and reconsidering them

Swiss scholars and writers have traditionally tended to emphasise the objective and craftsmanlike aspects of their intellectual work while leaving the role of the acrobats in abstract spheres to their German colleagues. The poetics lecture by Charles Lewinsky blends in with this Helvetic tradition. Lewinsky – a novelist, theatre director and dramatist – will lecture on "Writing as a craft".

In the last semester, the lecture on how to deal with dangerous criminals attracted a great deal of interest among the audience. This semester, the criminal law expert and sociologist Martin Killias will continue to speak about the topic of violence under the heading of "The crisis of criminal law". For him, the crisis manifests itself both in the enforcement of justice and in the safeguard of security.