Archive internal news

At the start of the year, Gisbert Schneider handed over management of the Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC) to Manu Kapur. The outgoing SEC Director looks back in an interview at his three years in office and explains why he is keeping one foot in Singapore.

ETH Zurich had planned to construct a building on the Hönggerberg campus for students and entrepreneurial initiatives, but costs rose so sharply over the past two years that they could no longer be justified. As a result, the Executive Board of ETH Zurich has decided to relaunch the project.

Julia Bogdan has been President of the VSETH student representative body since September. In this interview, she tells us why she is enthusiastic about university politics and what she wants to campaign for in the coming year.

Margrit Leuthold has been ombudswoman at ETH since 2018 and is stepping down next year. She talks to us about why listening is so important, some beautiful moments she has had in this confidential role, and what qualities an ombudsperson needs.

In future there will be six key values describing the way members of ETH Zurich research, teach, work and study together. The new integrated approach encompasses the university’s vision and mission – as well as referencing the contributions made by its employees – and thus unites all the factors that shape the university’s culture.

Emir İşman is the new President of the student association VSETH after taking over from Nils Jensen at the start of the semester. Together with 11 Executive Board members, he will spend the next 12 months representing students’ concerns and implementing the association’s activities.

Covid infection rates are rising across Switzerland. But the authorities have not introduced any preventive measures so far. Dr Leonhard Sigel, Occupational Physician at ETH Zurich, gives an update on the current state of play and advice for ETH members on the best way to conduct themselves in this situation.

rETHink seems to have quieted down in recent months – but appearances can be deceiving. The project’s six workstreams have been hard at work fleshing out solutions for the future of the university. Smaller projects have already been implemented, and decisions have been made regarding the trajectory of bigger changes, says President Joël Mesot.

On 4 May, ETH Zurich is presenting the KITE Award to honour particularly innovative teaching projects and initiatives. In a short series, we present the three projects that made it to the final. All of them were created in the semesters of distance learning.

Now that the Federal Council has ended the special situation, the Executive Board of ETH Zurich is also withdrawing all pandemic regulations with effect from 1 April. It still advises ETH members to wear a face mask – in lecture halls at least – until the Easter break.

Five days ago, Russia invaded Ukraine. ETH Zurich condemns this act of aggression and is taking some first measures to support students and researchers from Ukraine.

From early 2022, Dagmar Iber, Professor of Computational Biology at the Department of Biosystems in Basel, will take over the presidency of the University Assembly from Werner Wegscheider. In the following interview, they offer an insight into the work of ETH Zurich’s most important representative committee.

Ulrich Weidmann, head of the internal ETH Covid Crisis Management team, urges further, greater caution in view of the rising number of Covid infections and the newly discovered Omicron variant. From now on, face masks must always be worn indoors, including at all workplaces, with the exception of offices with a sole occupant.

Since March, members of the ETH community have been actively involved in discussing culture and values at ETH as part of rETHink. An interim report and a call to join the conversation.

On Friday 1 October, around 100 ETH members, including the ETH Executive Board, attended a rETHink assembly to discuss the status of the project to develop the university’s organisation, and initial implementation ideas. In this interview Katharina Poiger, Secretary General of ETH Zurich, sets out the project’s current status and future direction.

There have never been so many exhibition booths, lectures and other events as at the seventh edition of the Scientifica science festival. To allow researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich to exchange ideas with the public without any worries, the protection concept includes not only the COVID certificate but also a general requirement to wear face masks indoors.

As things stand, it is difficult to predict how the coronavirus situation will develop, and so the current master plan will remain in force until the exam session ends, says Ulrich Weidmann, head of the ETH Crisis Management team, in the following interview. The master plan is currently being revised ahead of the Autumn Semester due to start in September and will probably be published to coincide with any new measures announced by the Federal Council.

Scientifica 2021 will take place on the weekend of 4 and 5 September. The range of this year's science festival by ETH and the University of Zurich is larger than ever before. This brings some challenges for the organisational team. Helping hands from the ETH community are still needed.

The VSETH student association and the AVETH association of non-faculty scientific staff have launched #speakupETH, a campaign designed to highlight instances of discrimination or disadvantage at ETH Zurich. This campaign aims to make ETH Zurich a more inclusive university. An interview with the campaign managers at VSETH.

Following the latest decisions by the Federal Council, the requirement for ETH employees to work remotely from home is being cautiously relaxed. The university’s own testing programme launched back in April has made this possible.

ETH members can now obtain and return saliva PCR test kits on the Hönggerberg campus. Colleagues in Basel, Lugano and Schwerzenbach can also be tested regularly.

Following the latest easing of restrictions by the Federal Council, ETH Zurich is preparing a new master plan, due to come into effect on Monday 26 April. The ETH Executive Board will provide details of the new arrangements next week.

ETH Zurich is setting up stations for saliva PCR tests where staff and students can be tested free of charge on a regular basis. Testing will start on 20 April, with capacity being increased on an ongoing basis.

Professors at ETH Zurich are proposing Günther Dissertori, professor of physics, as successor to our current Rector, Sarah Springman. He won an absolute majority in the first round of voting at the Professors’ Conference, with 233 of the 439 votes.

About 300 ETH members have taken part in the “Taking our pulse” survey on the values of ETH. Their responses will now provide food for thought in the forthcoming rETHink culture and values discussion.  

In her final year as Rector, Sarah Springman is aiming to draw attention to outstanding performance by women science to challenge and encourage the younger generations. She is holding a series of events on the subject of space exploration, with contributions from distinguished female scientists.

It was announced today that St Hilda's College of Oxford University has elected Sarah Springman as its future principal. Our Rector will take up her new post after retiring from ETH Zurich at the beginning of 2022.

Following the Federal Council’s decision on Wednesday, the Executive Board has approved a new coronavirus master plan for the university, effective 1 March 2021. The ETH Library and the Graphische Sammlung will be open, along with the Main Building, and now also the HIL building on Hönggerberg campus.  

Ulrich Weidmann, head of the ETH Coronavirus task force, provides an update on the situation at the university at the start of the year and explains how the Executive Board is dealing with it.

The Executive Board has decided to continue to permit the use of Zoom at ETH, initially (for legal reasons) until the end of June 2021. However, the plan is to keep the conferencing tool available after the coronavirus crisis ends.

While this year’s ETH Day on Saturday, 21 November will have to take place with almost no guests, the approximately one-hour Academic Celebration will be broadcast live from the Semper Aula.

The ETH Zurich Executive Board has approved a new master plan outlining measures designed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The most important changes concern teaching, the compulsory wearing of face masks and university events.

The background work of the Safety, Security, Health and Environment (SSHE) department is a major reason that ETH Zurich has come through the coronavirus crisis relatively unscathed. Katherine Timmel and Reto Suter discuss the work of the SSHE team and current Covid-19 cases.

The culture development workstream of the rETHink project has gained momentum. Members of the ETH community from all university groups have held initial discussions about the values that our university should adhere to, paving the way for a wide-ranging discussion across the institution.

Under ETH Zürich’s safety protocol for the Autumn Semester 2020, everyone is required to wear a facemask indoors. Dr Hermann Lehner, head of Academic Services, provides some general background and explains why this practical measure is essential.

No event at ETH must last longer than 1 ¾ hours and drinks parties can only be held in catering facilities or outdoors.

What has life in lockdown been like for ETH members? And what lessons can we learn for the future of our work? Professor Gudela Grote conducted a large-scale survey to look into these questions.

With every passing week, new coronavirus infections are reaching record highs around the world. However, ETH's master plan is allowing for more restrictions to be relaxed in the next stage of reopening. Starting in early August, ETH employees will once again have access to all buildings at the university.

To bolster the coronavirus master plan already in place, the ETH Zurich Executive Board has approved a plan B containing additional measures in case a second wave of the virus strikes.

Signs of life have slowly been returning to the ETH campus since the beginning of June. Since then, the Federal Council has decided to further ease lockdown restrictions. ETH Vice President Ueli Weidmann, head of the university’s COVID-19 task force, tells us what we should expect in the months ahead.

ETH members are gradually returning to buildings on the campus. From 8 June especially, there will be increased activity in office buildings and laboratories. So the obvious question is, how best to protect ourselves. We asked the advice of Dr Leonhard Sigel, head of the Occupational Medicine and Health Protection section of SSHE at our university.

The three-month survey on the ETH community’s working situation during the corona crisis has reached its halfway point. We held a virtual chat with Professor Gudela Grute, initiator of the survey, to talk about what the results reveal so far.

Balancing the individual needs of 10,000 employees with the demands of running ETH Zurich during the current crisis: this was the challenge facing the Executive Board when deciding on the new regulations governing working hours, holidays and childcare.

The exceptional situation we find ourselves in is extremely challenging for most people, both in their professional and private lives. The Human Resources department offers full support: from practical tips on preventing infection to personal advice for individual employees.

The Botnar Research Centre for Child Health (BRCCH) announces the launch of a fast-track call to address several critical areas related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new newsletter has been set up to regularly update ETH staff when new articles are published on the internal news site – for instance, new messages from the coronavirus task force.

On 1 February 2019, Andrea Rothenbühler, previously Deputy Head of the Student Exchange Office, took over as Head of the team within the Academic Services of ETH Zurich

Hans Heinrich Hauri, President of ETH Zurich from 1968 to 1973, passed away on 1 October at the age of 95.

The Language Center of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich has published its range of courses for the 2018 autumn semester. To help ensure regular course attendance, fees have now been introduced for students.