Student Prize Winner 2025

We are pleased to announce Alice Lemma as the winner of the Swiss Ethnobiology Network Student Prize 2025.

Alice is a Master’s student in Anthropology with a minor in Digital Humanities at the University of Basel. Her research project, “Healing with Plants — An Anthropological Study of Medicinal Plants to Manage Endometriosis,” impressed the jury with its strong interdisciplinary approach and social relevance.

Endometriosis is a chronic and incurable condition that is often diagnosed late and can significantly affect quality of life. Current biomedical treatments are limited and mainly rely on hormonal therapies and surgical interventions. Alice’s project addresses this gap by investigating how medicinal plants are used to manage symptoms of endometriosis and how these practices intersect with biomedical knowledge.

Her research aims to document medicinal plants that are both used in everyday contexts and discussed in scientific literature, with the long-term goal of contributing to pharmacological and phytochemical research on natural substances for symptom management.

By combining ethnobotanical and anthropological methods with digital tools, her project contributes to a better understanding of plant-based health practices and their role alongside biomedical approaches.

Alice conducts her research in Switzerland and internationally, in collaboration with endometriosis awareness and support associations such as S-Endo, Les Petits Rubans Valais, and Endo-Help.

We warmly congratulate Alice on receiving the Student Prize 2025 and look forward to her presentation at our next symposium in 2026.

Photo:
Alice Lemma / may be shared on the webpage with her permission.