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    Marie Heim-Vögtlin prize for outstanding young women researchers

    Charlotte Blattner wins the 2020 MHV Prize

    In today’s world it is difficult for states to protect animals effectively. Global competition and a lack of international agreements have precipitated a regulatory downward spiral in the animal industry. Through her research, Charlotte Blattner is the first to show what the law can do to counteract this development: states can use extraterritorial jurisdiction to apply domestic rights to animals abroad and also better protect those at home.



    Blattner earned her PhD at the intersection of international and animal law from the University of Basel. The work was supported by a Doc.CH grant from the SNSF. She subsequently was awarded an SNSF Early Postdoc.Mobility fellowship and pursued her research at Harvard Law School. She is currently a senior lecturer at the University of Bern, where she is doing her habilitation in the field of climate law.

    About the Marie Heim-Vögtlin Prize

    The SNSF awards the Marie Heim-Vögtlin (MHV) Prize each year to an oustanding woman researcher. Prizewinners are inspiring role models whose careers progressed significantly thanks to a grant from the SNSF. The prize is worth 25,000 Swiss francs. For ten years, the prize was awarded to former recipients of the MHV funding scheme. Now that this scheme has been discontinued, the prize is being awarded to former female grantees of the MHV, Doc.CH, Postdoc.Mobility, Ambizione and PRIMA funding schemes.

    Named after a pioneering woman

    The MHV grant was named after Marie Heim-Vögtlin, who became the first Swiss woman to study medicine when she was admitted to the University of Zurich’s medical faculty in 1868. On completing her studies, she opened a gynaecological practice, where she continued practising after giving birth to two children. She is regarded as one of the pioneers in the struggle to give women access to higher education.