ETH News

Job platform, knowledge network, mentoring and cross-generational exchange: President of the ETH Alumni Association Jeannine Pilloud talks in an interview about the upcoming transformation of her organisation.

Everyone talks about Artificial Intelligence but its current adoption rates are low in the Swiss tech industry, especially in manufacturing-related applications. This is one conclusion of a survey conducted by ETH Zurich in collaboration with Swissmem and Next Industries. Professor Torbjørn Netland, responsible for the report, explains why Swiss tech companies are still faring well in an international comparison and how they can release the potential.

Manu Kapur has been Director of the Singapore ETH Centre (SEC) since the beginning of the year. In this interview, he talks about which research programmes will be continued in Singapore, which new programmes will be created, and how researchers from across the ETH Domain can get involved in the SEC.

ETH Zurich maintains its excellent ranking from the previous year in the QS rankings just published. Alongside top scores for its academic reputation and international outlook, the university’s efforts in the area of sustainability have also helped it to retain seventh place. The faculty-student ratio remains the indicator in which the university scores lowest.

Paolo Ermanni researched novel composite materials at ETH for over a quarter of a century. His enthusiasm for materials was rivalled only by his passion for teaching. He will also go down in ETH history as the first Vice Rector for Continuing Education. To mark his retirement, we take a look back at his storied career.

Students at ETH Zurich are working together with engineers from the technology firm Bühler to accelerate innovation and minimise the attendant risks. It's a fruitful collaboration that other companies are also poised to benefit from.

Vanessa Wood, Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations, wants to expand research collaborations with industry, governmental agencies and non-profit organisations. She has recruited Jeannine Pilloud, who brings a wealth of industry experience, to help her with this task.

On the weekend of 2-3 September, visitors can experience science up close and personal at interactive exhibition stands, shows and workshops and exchange ideas with researchers. Scientifica, Switzerland's largest science festival starts on 26 August with events in the city of Zurich. Free tickets are available now.

The 19 January visit of Yoon Suk Yeol, President of the Republic of Korea, to ETH Zurich focused on Quantum Science.

As part of a two-day state visit to Switzerland, the Italian President stopped off at ETH Zurich on Wednesday (30 November) in the company of President of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis. After a welcome by ETH President Joël Mesot and some words of greeting from the two guests, researchers and students of the university provided an insight into their work.

Sarah Springman made a real difference as Rector and helped to improve teaching at ETH on many levels. Her passion and commitment inspired everyone she met – both inside and outside the university walls.

The announcement that COVID certificates will be compulsory has been welcomed by both students’ and lecturers’ associations at ETH Zurich as the best way back to in-person teaching. Implementation is a challenge, as Rector Sarah Springman explains.

After three semesters of online teaching, it’s time for students to get back to ETH, says Hermann Lehner, Head of Academic Services at ETH Zurich. He hopes that the Federal Council's further decisions will enable face-to-face teaching at universities.

Rising expectations from both inside and outside the university have prompted the Executive Board to launch rETHink. One year on, this organisational development project is steadily gaining momentum.

Online teaching has been the dominant feature of the Autumn Semester curriculum. Only three weeks remain before exams start. Hermann Lehner, Head of Academic Services, explains why sitting exams in person at ETH is so important, and the relevant arrangements.

With the number of coronavirus cases growing rapidly, ETH Zurich sees no choice but to extensively restrict classroom teaching starting on 2 November. The ETH community will receive detailed information over the course of the next week.

The "Black Lives Matter" protests in the wake of George Floyd's death in the US have spilled over into Europe and Switzerland as well. ETH President Joël Mesot and Renate Schubert, the Executive Board's Delegate for Equal Opportunities, explain why this issue also affects ETH Zurich, and stress the importance of diversity for the university.

The switch to online teaching last semester has worked incredibly well at ETH. But what form will teaching take in the autumn? Rector Sarah Springman discusses some of the arrangements that the university is currently considering.

The two technical universities in the ETH Domain are launching a new initiative, “helpfulETH”. Its goal is to provide solutions for hospitals and other healthcare bodies to help them deal with the acute problems presented by the coronavirus epidemic.

What is life? This question is the starting point not for a philosophy lecture, but for the newly designed Bachelor’s degree programme in biology at ETH Zurich. With it, the department is embarking on an entirely new path.

ETH Zurich has been trying for years to increase the percentage of women in its ranks, not least among its students. So far, these efforts have not met with huge success. Why is that? And what is ETH doing to attract more female students? We asked Rector Sarah Springman.

ETH Zurich is planning to step up its research activities in Singapore. It aims to extend its current Future Resilient Systems programme by five years and to launch a new programme, Future Health Technologies, in the coming year.

The School for Continuing Education is adding new courses. Six new CAS programmes will be kicking off next year, including three for (future) managers with non-technical backgrounds.

You can find the answer in this video and at Scientifica from 30 August to 1 September at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich. Scientifica is the biggest science festival in Switzerland. This year's theme ist “science fiction – science facts”.

You can find the answer in this video and at Scientifica from 30 August to 1 September at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich. Scientifica is the biggest science festival in Switzerland. This year's theme ist “science fiction – science facts”.

You can find the answer at Scientifica from 30 August to 1 September. And in our video, which sets the scene for this year's event.

You can find the answer at Scientifica from 30 August to 1 September. And in our video, which sets the scene for this year's event.

ETH researchers have succeeded in elucidating how and at what rate steel corrodes in a variety of porous materials. Their findings help enable the breakthrough of new, environmentally friendly types of cement.

You can find the answer at Scientifica from 30 August to 1 September. And in our video, which sets the scene for this year's event.

You can find the answer at Scientifica from 30 August to 1 September. And in our video, which sets the scene for this year's event.

ETH students experience a high level of academic pressure, but they consider the way they are treated at the university to be respectful, with the vast majority unaffected by discrimination or unequal treatment. These are the key findings of a wide-ranging survey conducted by the Students’ Association.

The ETH Executive Board has decided to issue more scholarships from the autumn semester 2019. It will also increase the amounts paid out. For the most financially disadvantaged, this will serve to offset the increase in tuition fees introduced by the ETH Board.

The VSETH student association is about to conduct a broad-based survey amongst the ETH students with the aim of obtaining a comprehensive picture of their situation. The Rectorate is supporting the initiative and will join the VSETH in evaluating the findings.

On 9 February 2019, researchers from ETH Zurich and Disney Research had the honour of receiving a Sci-Tech Oscar in Hollywood for their capture system, Medusa.

What makes good supervision for doctoral students? What factors define the relationship between the supervisor and the doctoral student? A two-day symposium was held last week at the ETH main building to answer these and many other questions.

A new continuing education programme at ETH Zurich provides future managers with technological foundations: the MAS Applied Technology is a kind of "reverse MBA" for people with a background in social sciences or economics.

A donation of four million francs from Franke will allow the Student Project House to massively expand its offering in the years to come. The “ramp-up” phase kicked off yesterday with a small ceremony.

The Omleth platform helps lecturers to plan and implement outdoor learning courses. It is one of 25 projects to be presented at the first Learning and Teaching Fair at ETH Zurich.

ETH Zurich has revised its policies regarding curricula. A good occasion to talk with the responsible Vice Rector, Andreas Vaterlaus. He explains the purpose of these principles, which degree courses are currently being worked on and the trends that are emerging in the context of these projects.

If a mother eats a high-fat diet, this can have a negative effect on the health of her offspring - right down to her great-grandchildren. This is the conclusion drawn by researchers at ETH Zurich from a study with mice.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in the Swiss economy. Read on to see hwo SMEs and ETH Zurich create marketable innovations based on successful partnerships.

For the world to be managed and organised using computers, it has to follow the digital logic of machines. Historian David Gugerli tells the story of this thrilling process of adaptation with a marvellously entertaining flair.

This autumn will see the launch of a new continuing education programme known as the Diploma of Advanced Studies ETH in Data Science. Quick decision-makers can apply now.

Today marks the start of the spring semester. A number of lecturers are particularly well prepared for it – such as the five assistants who attended the Learning to Teach course.

With plenty of anticipation, ETH Zurich welcomed the first 100 students to its new Bachelor’s degree in human medicine last autumn. The experiences of the first semester have resulted in a lot of enthusiasm – from the lecturers as well as the students.

Brand new technology in the classroom: students immerse themselves in a “mixed reality” and use HoloLens glasses to learn a fundamental principle of proteins.

Lorenz Hurni, Vice-Rector for Study Programmes, Gisbert Schneider, Associate Vice President ETH Global, and Lothar Thiele, Associate Vice President for Digital Transformation: Three key posts at ETH Zurich have been newly staffed.

Mathematics is the basis for all the new opportunities opened up by digitalisation. Statistics professor Nicolai Meinshausen discusses the increasing importance of his field and the challenges it faces.

Cornelius Senn, a measurement engineer in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (D-BAUG), and his post-doctoral colleague Silvan Leinss have developed a new reflector for radar measurements. The underlying mechanism, however, has many possible applications and could revolutionise furniture construction, for example.

ETH Zurich received a visit from one of Switzerland’s most famous comic book heroes this morning. While his latest book was presented to media professionals and members of the book trade, Globi entertained a group of around 30 children who had received an exclusive invitation to the event.

How someone learns depends largely on how they are assessed. To help ETH retain its leading position in the education of young talent, about 100 educational decision makers from ETH Zurich attended a two-day retreat on the topic of assessment.

Sensirion and GetYourGuide: two ETH spin-offs in entirely different market sectors, but both highly successful. Their common denominators? Fruitful business ideas, entrepreneurs with the courage to venture into new territory – and the support of the right employees.

ETH researchers have received this year’s Swiss Technology Award for their technology “Mesh Mould”, winning the most important Swiss prize for innovation and technology transfer in the “Inventors” category.

Using the power of thought to control a robot that helps to move a paralysed hand: a project from the ETH Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory could fundamentally change the therapy and daily lives of stroke patients.

Beginning in autumn 2017, ETH Zurich will be offering 100 places on its Bachelor’s degree course in medicine, an innovative course that combines medicine with natural sciences.

At the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, ETH Zurich researchers and students from the civil engineering and mechanical engineering departments demonstrated to the audience through practical experiments how new technologies are shaping the future of mobility.

Since 2010, ETH Zurich has forged strong links in Singapore. The Future Cities Laboratory at the Singapore-ETH Centre started recently on its second phase. Reason enough for the "Globe" magazine to take a look at the Swiss research in the city state.  

To find out more about the Earth’s biomass, Irena Hajnsek is collecting data from the air.

Following his degree at ETH Zurich, Patrick Anquetil set off for Cambridge, Massachusetts to do a PhD. Having settled on the US East Coast, he is currently launching his second start-up business. And he has big plans for it.

Michel Liès, CEO of Swiss Re, headed out into the big, wide world when still a young mathemati­cian. For the last thirty years he has been active on the international stage for the Swiss reinsurance company.