A festive end to the year

The ALEA Award, which was presented before the Executive Board’s Christmas drinks party, honours leaders who foster progressive and innovative working conditions and who promote a positive balance between career, family and other part-time activities. The jury awarding the prize is composed of one Ombudsperson plus one representative each from the Human Resources department, the Staff Commission, AVETH and the Office of Equal Opportunities – Equal!. It is completed by an independent external expert from Fachstelle UND.

This was the first time the ALEA Award was presented by Joël Mesot. In his speech to the large audience in the Audimax, he highlighted the importance of the award. The President stressed that inspiring, authentic leaders encourage a positive work environment and serve as role models not only with a large and discerning organisation such as ETH, but also within society as a whole.

Outstanding leadership

The 2019 ALEA Award went to Gabriela Hug, professor in the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. She is described by her employees as an inspiring and committed supervisor with a strong understanding of very diverse needs. She gives her team maximum support, making everyone feel content and valued, despite the high performance demands.

The other two finalists, Ursula Müller, Head of the ETH Library’s InfoCenter, and Consuelo de Moraes, Professor in the Department of Environmental Systems Science, were honoured as well. Ulrich Weidmann, Vice President for Human Resources and Infrastructure, presented the “small” ALEA Award for a particularly family-friendly and amenable leadership style that still inspires and fosters productivity. Ulrich Weidmann added that the theme of leadership will play a much more prominent role in ETH going forward. New leadership offerings will in future be more closely tailored to the needs of professors and supervisors. Coaching packages will also be expanded for all ETH line managers.

AVETH’s 50^th anniversary

In 2019 the Association of Scientific Staff at ETH Zurich (AVETH) celebrated an important anniversary, as Linda Wehner, their Vice President and host of the award ceremony explained. For the past 50 years, AVETH has been championing the interests of doctoral students, postdocs and scientific staff. Its involvement in university policy is just as important as the concrete support it provides.

Time for fun

After the ALEA Award ceremony, the party started in the festively decorated main hall of the ETH Centre, where Joël Mesot thanked around 1,000 guests for their hard work and dedication over the course of the year. The President stressed that his first year had been very intense and full of contrasts. For example, he made personal visits to all 16 departments. “What I found there,” he said, “confirmed my impression that we are an exceptional university with highly committed professors, creative postdocs and – it’s always worth stressing – a research and teaching infrastructure that is the envy of many other university rectors.” In 2020 he plans to continue his journey of discovery through the inner workings of ETH, with visits to the administrative departments as well.

Then everyone at the traditional Christmas party had the chance to relax and raise their glasses to collective successes and projects.