Daily research between crisis management and cultural change

Rosa imagined the start of her presidency differently. Only one day after she became president of AVETH, the Federal Council tightened the measures to contain the coronavirus in March 2020, and soon after declared an "extraordinary situation". At ETH as well, the buildings remained closed and the campus deserted. The pandemic changed many things, also in the academic scientific staff which comprises the senior scientists, the postdocs and the doctoral students whose concerns AVETH represents. After all, scientific staff make up 64 per cent of the total ETH staff (FTE, 31.12.2020).

"The first three months after the lockdown were mostly crisis management for us," Rosa recalls, "when the standard scientific work suddenly stopped, we as AVETH wanted to prevent the scientific staff from feeling lost or left out." The digital communications channels allowed AVETH to connect with the scientific staff from different departments and collect information and clarify misconceptions. In addition, Rosa found it very helpful to have the orientation provided by the newly introduced "Internal news" newsletters and the town halls of the ETH Executive Board, where ETH employees could not only ask questions but also read the most important answers online at any time. Even now with the Townhall's themes no longer being just about COVID, but about work-life subjects and well-being in changing times, Rosa as well as other AVETH representatives welcome this format of ETH-wide internal orientation and discussion.

A boost for communication and networking

In retrospect, Rosa notes that the changes during last year certainly enabled developments that had a beneficial effect on interdepartmental cooperation and networking in the scientific staff. This was a positive end to a chaotic term as president and a good note to hand over the duties and responsibilities that come with being an AVETH president. Florentine took over the AVETH presidency in March 2021, as Rosa is concentrating on her doctoral thesis - which is about machine learning models for the treatment of children with movement disorders. Florentine, for her part, is a chemical engineer in the Catalysis Engineering Group. She researches the production of fuels and chemicals from abundant molecules such as CO₂ and N₂, powered by renewable energy to enable a sustainable scheme. For three years she has been a member of AVETH's Counselling Team, which advises and supports scientific staff in difficult situations. She has been around the block and knows how to help.

One of the priorities of AVETH, which is an organisation run by volunteers, has been to strengthen networking among the scientific staff. Bringing people together through virtual platforms has changed the type or networking and offered new opportunities: "The fact that we easily collaborate digitally now and exchange information much more easily with researchers from other departments is definitely a positive side effect of the pandemic for us," says Florentine. For example, the AVETH events team quickly found creative approaches to virtual events. Virtual meetings have made it possible for those researchers whose place of work is neither in the ETH main building nor on the Campus Zentrum or Campus Hönggerberg to feel more involved. The exchange with colleagues from EPFL, WSL, Empa and Eawag has also improved. AVETH would keep this chance of virtual communication to integrate more people when going back to normality, adds Florentine. 

Change in research and culture

Rosa agrees with Florentine: "In the past, we stayed in our research groups or in our office and didn't really see colleagues located at other ETH locations. That is starting to change now. With, for example initiatives as the lunch lottery, we start talking to each other more and not just with our peers." Not only in the scientific staff, but at ETH in general, it is gradually becoming easier to communicate with all of the different layers and departments. A real cultural change is emerging, which is also reflected in the ETH-wide rETHink project, she states.

Konstantinos represents AVETH in rETHink when it comes to the further development of ETH culture. He has become Vice-President of AVETH - succeeding Linda, a Doctoral student in Materials Science. He remarks: "We are currently experiencing strong changes in the world of research: although we always knew about the importance of collaborations, demanding new research projects remind us that leaving our own bubble has never been more important.”

Compared to ”actual work”, it might seem a bit trivial to take time off to talk about culture and communication, he says, "but these factors can have a significant impact on the quality of life at work by creating a positive environment, bringing people together, exchanging ideas and being aware of the overall direction of research. Identifying with a culture and networking are essential parts of every profession: even if I'm the best in the world, I am not complete as a unit, I strongly depend on collaborations.” Konstantinos is a structural engineer, and had actually already been working in the private sector when Andrea Frangi, Professor for Timber Structures, convinced him to take up a doctorate at ETH. In his research he deals with the design of high-rise buildings made of wood.

Another topic that has recently gained a lot of importance at AVETH is diversity. For Rosa, diversity "is not an abstract concept, but it is about us including and respecting underrepresented or marginalised groups in ETH." To express this concern, AVETH together with Equal! launched the "AVETH Diversity Award", which was presented for the first time in May.

Looking to the future, Florentine concludes: "We are and will remain an organisation of volunteers who share the common goal of making ETH a better place to learn, teach and research - and we are treading this path completely detached from the pandemic."