ETH News

For Sebastian Bonhoeffer, interdisciplinarity is all about taking the little intellectual detours that open up when exchanging ideas with colleagues from other fields.

Collaboration between talented members of multidisciplinary teams provides the best foundation for innovative, useful and trustworthy applications of artificial intelligence. This approach has been demonstrated at a joint event by ETH Entrepreneur Club and the ETH AI Center.

Next week, the first European Girls’ Olympiad in Informatics will take place in Zurich. The competition, which will have around 160 participants from 43 countries, is being organised by ETH students, who also came up with the original idea and are the driving force behind the event.

Discrimination and harassment violate scientific integrity – but the damage they do goes beyond that. According to Janet Hering, they also represent a waste of resources including energy, talent, finances, reputation and culture.

An extraordinary year is drawing to a close. ETH News takes a look back at the highlights that emerged amidst difficult and unsettling times, at ingenious ideas, fascinating science and solidarity in action during – and despite – the coronavirus pandemic.

Collegium Helveticum is the joint think tank of ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Leadership of the organisation is set to change hands in January 2021, with ETH professor Sebastian Bonhoeffer taking over the reins. A biologist and musician, Bonhoeffer has long pursued his passions for science and art. We sat down with him to talk about how he sees his new role. 

The mobility initiative launched in 2018 is gaining momentum. Konstantinos Boulouchos, the driving force behind the project, explains how far things have come since then and in which direction the initiative is set to develop.

ETH students should have opportunities to realise their ideas. To meet this need, ETH Zurich is building a new centre for student initiatives and entrepreneurial talent at its Hönggerberg campus. The winner of the architectural competition is the EQUILIBRES project designed by ARGE Buchner Bründler Planer / Rapp Architekten.

In her prior role as Director of Studies, Professor Nicola Spaldin oversaw the comprehensive revision of the curriculum for the bachelor’s degree course in the Department of Materials. In this interview, the ETH professor describes the most important changes and the benefits she hopes they will bring.

For the past 50 years, AVETH has promoted the interests of doctoral students, post-docs and scientific staff. The association gives equal weight to representing its members in university policymaking and providing concrete support and counselling.

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.

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.

To secure ETH’s leading position in the long term, the university launched the ETH+ initiative at the end of last year. The focus is on creating new professorships in future-oriented disciplines. Today, the Executive Board announced which projects will receive funding first and what is next for the initiative.

At the togETHer staff party, Professor Laura Nyström was presented with the ALEA Award as ETH Zurich’s most exemplary leader. The award, presented annually, aims to emphasise the huge importance of leadership skills for the success of ETH and to promote the desired leadership culture.

At its meeting of 4/5 July 2018 and upon application of the President of ETH Zurich, Professor Lino Guzzella, the ETH Board appointed 9 professors.

Upon application of ETH President Lino Guzzella, the ETH Board has appointed ten new professors, four of whom are women.

ETH ombudsperson Hugo Bretscher is resigning for personal reasons. ETH Zurich regrets this decision, and has asked the University Assembly to propose another candidate to replace him.

What was the most innovative research? Which researchers excelled? And what were the milestones in the development of our teaching? The Annual Report 2017 describes our achievements and performance in a year dominated by digitalisation.

AMIV, the association for mechanical and electrical engineering students, is celebrating its 125th anniversary next week. ETH News used the occasion to speak to AMIV’s president Aurel Neff about its successes and challenges.

In response to the proposals received from the President of ETH Zurich, Professor Lino Guzzella, the ETH Board resolved at its meeting of 7/8 March 2018 to appoint a total of eight professors and award the title of professor to three individuals; it also acknowledged the resignation of 13 professors and thanked them for their services.

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.

At ETH Zurich, the Research Commission promotes young talents at the beginning of their careers as well as projects that open up new scientific horizons. Today this Commission is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Uwe Sauer, President of the Commission, explains how it is going to proceed.

By replacing the CTI and launching the Innosuisse funding agency on 1 January 2018, the federal government intends to give an additional boost to innovation in Switzerland. As one of the 21 members of the Innovation Council, the ETH Chemistry Professor Christophe Copéret is closely involved.

The ETH Zurich 2016 Annual Report provides an overview of the most important achievements, developments and events at the University over the past year, and is published alongside the 2015/2016 Sustainability Report.

Upon application of ETH President Lino Guzzella the ETH Board appointed a total of eight professors and awarded the title of professor to one individual.

The ETH Board has appointed 18 professors at ETH Zurich in accordance with the application submitted by ETH Zurich President Lino Guzzella.

The ETH Board has appointed ten professors at ETH Zurich in accordance with the application submitted by ETH Zurich President Lino Guzzella.

Digitalisation is changing the world. The libraries of the future will have to increasingly adapt to this fact, but shouldn’t restrict themselves to guiding students and researchers through a sea of digital data, writes Ulrich Weidmann, Vice President for Human Resources and Infrastructure, and responsible for the ETH-Bibliothek. The library at ETH will also maintain and provide a complete spectrum of requested media in the long term.

Upon application of the President of ETH Zurich, Lino Guzzella, the ETH Board appointed a total of four professors, and awarded the title of professor to two individuals.

Every Wednesday evening the art of free speech is exercised in the ETH Zurich Students' Debate Club. Participants meet to debate about god and the world. Club President Jonathan Feldstein explains what people can learn through argumentative manoeuvring.

The ETH Board has announced its new Vice President for Human Resources and Infrastructure at ETH Zurich: Ulrich Alois Weidmann. Who is he and what has inspired him to become a member of the Executive Board?

On Monday Kay Schaller was elected as the new VSETH president. He takes over this important role of representing his fellow students from his predecessor, Thomas Gumbsch. Schaller is not expecting any respite from his chemistry studies; instead he hopes to gain valuable experience for his future career.

At its meeting of 8/9 July 2015, the ETH Board appointed six professors at ETH Zurich in accordance with the application submitted by ETH Zurich President Lino Guzzella.

At its meeting of 20/21 March 2015, the ETH Board appointed 12 professors at ETH Zurich in accordance with the application submitted by ETH President Lino Guzzella.  

ETH Zurich’s 2014 Annual Report is now available, featuring the most significant achievements, developments and events of the past year.

The ETH Board appointed six professors at ETH Zurich as part of its meeting of 4/5 March 2015, in accordance with the application submitted by ETH Zurich President Lino Guzzella.

The promotion of upcoming young scientists and career development were the main items on the agenda at the first meeting of the University Assembly in 2015. This was also the first session involving the new Rector of ETH Zurich, Sarah Springman.

As of this year, the interests of all higher education institutions in Switzerland are represented by the new Rectors’ Conference of Swiss Universities, known as swissuniversities. On Tuesday, ETH President Lino Guzzella was elected to the swissuniversities Board.

The ETH Executive Board's new formation is starting today. Three new people have taken office, two will continue overseeing their tasks. Here we introduce the team. Also, Lino Guzzella explains in the Polybahn pitch what excites him about ETH.

ETH Zurich staff has been receiving the December issue of life in these days. The ETH community magazine focuses on Ralph Eichler’s time as president of ETH Zurich.

The ETH Zurich Personnel Committee (PeKo) is committed to safeguarding the interests of ETH employees. In December and January, the application period is reserved for the elections to appoint members to serve on the committee from 2015 to 2018. Jakob Hauri, the Vice President of PeKo tells us what motivates people to join the committee.

Hundreds of young researchers from the Zurich area attended Research Day at ETH Zurich on Wednesday and obtained information on the possibilities available at the Swiss National Science Foundation for promoting research.

ETH Zurich President Ralph Eichler will officially hand over the presidential baton to Lino Guzzella on 15 December. On Thursday, the University Assembly thanked him for his dedicated service.

The “Lange Nacht der Karriere” (“Long night of the career”) event attracted numerous students, doctoral students, postdocs and alumni to ETH Zurich’s Main Building, where they picked up useful tips from experts on professional life, jobs and careers.

If you are paying a visit to ETH Zurich sometime over the next four weeks, why not have a go at ice skating while you’re there? A public ice rink set up on the Polyterrasse is open until mid-December.

After finishing their degrees, graduates from ETH Zurich who want to keep in touch with the university can join the ETH Alumni Association. As of Friday, 7 November a dedicated alumni network has been set up for vocational education and training graduates too.

International cooperation is often part of modern research. This implies that the research partners may come from different cultural environments and have different value systems, that even significant human rights may be affected. For successful collaboration a common basic ethical standard is necessary. The adopted code is intended to support researchers in addressing this topic.

Developing a computer app in just 40 hours – that was the challenge facing the 350 attendees of the HackZurich programming marathon last weekend. The winner produced an app which enables users to explore remote places using their smartphone.

A boost for non-professorial scientific staff at ETH Zurich: as of this September, all 16 ETH departments have their own associations for scientific staff. In addition, doctoral students at ETH are now to be employed on a strictly full-time basis.

As she comes to the end of her year as President of VSETH, Julia Wysling (from the Department of Mathematics, D-MATH) has outlined in her essay what she imagines ETH Zurich and its campus will be like in ten years’ time.

A physics student is the new VSETH president: Since Monday evening, Thomas Gumbsch is at the helm of the ETH students’ association. He is the successor of mathematics student Julia Wysling.

ETH Zurich is creating more transparency with a scholarship calculator: the new web application calculates the amount of a potential scholarship for ETH students.

This year, the "Golden Tricycle", ETH Zurich’s award for family-friendly managers, will be presented at the “togETHer 2014” staff party. Entries should be submitted by 27 July.

ETH Zurich trains around 170 apprentices as part of its vocational education and training programme. A total of 56 apprentices and trainees specialising in commercial and technical occupations have passed their final apprenticeship examination – the “Lehrabschlussprüfung” (LAP) – at ETH Zurich this year.

To prevent future pensions from dwindling, action needs to be taken now. This includes a lump-sum compensation payment and higher contributions.

What does the President of the Students’ Association at ETH, the VSETH, spend her day doing? This is a question Julia Wysling has often been asked. Now the current VSETH President has found a way of making her work visible to people on the outside.

Over the course of a week, members of ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich competed in a sporting duel. ETH Zurich led the contest from the very first day and claimed overall victory.

The University of Zurich and ETH are marking the 75th anniversary of the ASVZ with a competition to find out which of the two is more athletic. From 4 to 10 May, entry into the ASVZ sports facilities will be free for all members of ETH.

Last year there was a lot of discussion about a new mission statement for ETH. Now ETH President Ralph Eichler and the Executive Board have decided how to proceed.

Switzerland wants a new immigration system. Cooperation in research and the exchange of students with the EU will be affected. The Federal Council now seeks talks with the EU to clarify the situation.

ETH Zurich is acting as the overall leader or co-leader in four new National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR). ETH Vice President Roland Siegwart explains what NCCRs mean for ETH Zurich.

As of 2014, new legislation will apply to the promotion of research and innovation in Switzerland: the Federal Council has put the corresponding laws and ordinances into force.

The Federal Council has informed the National Council that it is willing to prepare rolling out differentiated tuition fees at ETH and EPFL, if this is permissible within the legal framework.

This year’s Polyball features New York – the city that never sleeps. Find a slice of the Big Apple around the Polyterrasse: an ice rink, reminiscent of the famous Rockefeller Center Ice Rink, and a mini Brooklyn Bridge.

Until the end of October, members of ETH Zurich can submit ideas on how the campuses should be developed in the future in terms of mobility, waste management and spaces for interaction.

ETH Zurich is expanding its infrastructure. For the canteens on the Hönggerberg campus, a caterer has now been commissioned to implement the new food market concept.  

Good news for ETH Zurich researchers: Switzerland is continuing its involvement in the European Union’s research framework programme.