Conférence “Une histoire des chats”
Conférence d’Éric Baratay, professeur d’histoire contemporaine à l’Université Lyon-3.
Devenus les principaux animaux compagnons en Occident, les chats ont connu une histoire mouvementée depuis leur introduction en tant que domestiqués, se voyant au fil du temps valorisés ou dénigrés, choyés ou ignorés, voire persécutés. Plus d'infos
Lieu: Uni Dufour, auditoire U300 Lien GoogleMap: Voir“La marque de la bête”: livres en scène
Livres en scène avec Marie Darresquieux, écrivaine.
Dans l’univers fictionnel de Marie Darrieussecq, qu’en est-il de la manière d’exprimer la vie animale? Comment prendre en charge l’énonciation et la sensibilité animales? Peut-on distinguer le sauvage du domestique? Que peut la littérature à propos de la condition animale? Plus d'infos
Lieu: Uni Dufour, salle U260 Lien GoogleMap: VoirConférence “L’empire équestre des Mongols”
Conférence de Marie Favreau, directrice de l’Institut français d'études sur l'Asie centrale.
Initiée au début du XIIIe siècle, l’expansion mongole est portée par trois générations de conquérants nomades dont la domination, vers 1280, s’étend sur un espace immense allant de la Corée à la Pologne. Les Mongols règnent et administrent en selle, faisant du cheval le principal pilier de leur organisation impériale. Plus d'infos
Lieu: Uni Dufour, auditoire U300 Lien GoogleMap: VoirConférence “La peur du loup en Europe: de la crainte à...
Conférence de Michel Pastoureau, directeur d'études honoraire à l'École pratique des hautes études. Intervention musicale du Quintette Naïades formé par les étudiant-es de la Haute École de Musique de Genève.
Dès le haut Moyen Âge, la peur du loup hante les campagnes européennes pour atteindre son paroxysme au XVIIe siècle. Tantôt fondée, tantôt fantasmée, cette peur est à la fois individuelle et collective Plus d'infos
Lieu: Uni Dufour, auditoire U300 Lien GoogleMap: VoirFestival Histoire et Cité 2025
Les animaux peuplent notre histoire et notre imaginaire depuis des millénaires. Mais que nous apprennent-ils sur notre propre humanité? La 10e édition du Festival Histoire et Cité, qui se tiendra du 31 mars au 6 avril 2025, se penche sur ce rapport complexe et ambivalent entre l’humain et l’animal, depuis le Paléolithique jusqu’à nos jours. Plus d'infos
Lieu: Genève, Lausanne, Neuchâtel Lien GoogleMap: Voir
Guest speakers
We regularly invite prestigious speakers to give talks on a range of subjects. These talks are a great opportunity to enrich your knowledge and network at the same time.
23 February 2022: Fin de l’accord-cadre. Quelles conséquences pour les universités et l’économie suisses ?
Representatives from academic, economic and political circles discussed the initial effects of the breakdown of the Framework Agreement with the European Union and explored scenarios for the near future.
Guest speakers have included:
- Pierre Krähenbühl (June 2024)
- Hugo Duminil-Copin (May 2023)
- Michel Mayor (May 2022)
- Yves Flückiger (Sep 2021)
- Ouided Bouchamaoui (Mar 2019)
- Denis Duboule (Apr 2018)
- Michael Møller (Mar 2017)
- Claude Nicollier (Apr 2016)
- Richard Jones (Oct 2015)
- Patrick Odier (May 2015)
- Yves Daccord (Nov 2014)
- Patrick Aebischer (Sep 2013)
- Carla Del Ponte (May 2011)
- Jean-Pierre Roth (May 2010)
10th anniversary celebration
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Alumni UNIGE organised a great evening on November 7, 2019, which was attended by numerous key alumni of the University of Geneva.
Archive footage:

Alumni Tuesdays
Each year we hold four Alumni Tuesdays. These fun, themed evenings put the spotlight on a distinguished UNIGE alumna or alumnus.
Each evening is split into two parts. First, there is a talk by a highly regarded alumna or alumnus. Guest speakers have included, among others, Ruth Dreifuss, former Swiss Federal Councillor and President of Switzerland; Ulrich Lehner, Switzerland’s representative to the OECD; the writer Joël Dicker; and director Frédéric Mermoud.
The evenings finish with a Q&A session and drinks. This is a fun way to build your network, often in the plush Salons.
Guest speakers have included:
- Thomas Greminger (Feb 2025)
- Fabienne Picard (Feb 2024)
- Thérèse Blanchet (Oct 2023)
- Lorenz Baumer (Jun 2023)
- Basile Landis (Mar 2023)
- David Sander (Dec 2022)
- Yves Rossier (Jun 2022)
- Patrick Aebischer (Nov 2021)
- Serge Michel (Sep 2021)
- Nicolas Zufferey (Nov 2019)
- Antoine Geissbuhler (Jun 2019)
- Suren Erkman (Feb 2019)
- Tibère Adler (Sep 2018)
- Luis Lema (Jun 2018)
- François Nordmann (Feb 2018)
- François Dermange (Dec 2017)
- Bertrand Levrat (Sep 2017)
- Grégoire Ribordy (Jun 2017)
- Joël Dicker (Feb 2017)
- Jean-Marc Rickli (Nov 2016)
- Ulrich Lehner (Sep 2016)
- Frédéric Mermoud (Jun 2016)
- Anne Héritier Lachat (Mar 2016)
- Caroline Coutau (Dec 2015)
- Maurice Bourquin (Jun 2015)
- Ruth Dreifuss (Mar 2015)
- Peter Brander (Nov 2014)
- René Prêtre (Sep 2014)
- Gilles Marchand (Jun 2014)
- Blaise Matthey (Apr 2014)
Alumni trips & exhibition tours
We organise a variety of trips and exhibition tours for our members, featuring a UNIGE researcher or professors as your guide. The aim is to provide cultural and educational experiences that provide members with an opportunity to network with other Alumni. They are also a chance for other members of the UNIGE community to share their knowledge and know-how.
Alumni trips
Our trips may vary in duration and geographical distance, and they can cover anything from culture and history to natural phenomena and research facilities. Please note that places for these trips are limited.
You can find out more about each destination by clicking on the link in the right column.
Exhibition tours
We regularly organise tours of cultural exhibitions or research facilities, either with a UNIGE professor or another expert. The CERN, the Fondation Gianadda, the MEG (Musée d’ethnographie de Genève) and the Physiscope, not to mention the UNIGE gallery, are just some of our regular destinations.
Our trips:
- Geneva’s geological secrets (2024)
- Rome (2024)
- Dordogne, France (2019)
- Southern Sicily (2019)
- Van Gogh’s footsteps: Paris to Arles (2018)
- British Museum, London (2017)
- Armenia (2017)
- Ardèche region, France (2016)
- The Netherlands (2015)
- Sicily (2015)
- Delft (2014)
- Calabria region, Italy (2014)
- Cyprus (2014)
- Northern Italy: Discovering Ötzi (2013)
- The sources of the Styx in Arcadia, Greece (2013)
- Albania (2012)
- Pompeii (2011)
- Stonehenge and Avebury (2011)
- Mali and Burkina Faso (2011)
- Australia (2010)
Our exhibition tours:
- Immersum – Diving into the past (January and February 2025)
- Heritage Tour of UNIGE – Former School of Medicine (October 2024 and February 2025)
- Heritage Tour of UNIGE – Institute of Physics (September 2024 and February 2025)
- Enchanted Journey (June 2024)
- Perspectives – The Mathematical Universe of M.C. Escher (April 2024)
- Rebirth in War (December 2023)
- Plankton, from Lake Geneva to the Ocean (September 2023)
- Pioneering Insights into the Birth of the Alps (June 2023)
- COVID Aftermath: the Ripple Effect of the Pandemic (March 2023)
- The New Threat – Exhibition on Cognitive Bias (October 2022)
- Who cares? Gender and Humanitarian Action (September 2022)
- Extraordinary History of Ordinary Prints (June 2022)
- Where’s the Monster? (April 2022)
- Intimate? (October 2021)
- Ancient Medicine, from Body to Stars (oct 2010 – jan 2011)
Events around the world
Welcome, bienvenidos, huān yíng! Over the years, the Alumni UNIGE network has also grown outside Switzerland, with events, meetings and talks taking place further afield. When we don’t have our own local chapter, we work in partnership with Swiss representations, embassies, chambers of commerce and Swissnex. For instance, we regularly hold events in Japan and Québec, and have also organized meetups in Paris, Mexico, Hong Kong and São Paulo.