Diversity Award
Every year, ETH Diversity presents the Diversity Award together with AVETH with the aim of strengthening ongoing efforts to promote diversity and inclusion at ETH Zurich.
ETH's most important values include openness, responsibility, inclusion, respect, empowerment and ingenuity. Across the whole ETH Zurich, students, employees and lecturers promote diversity and inclusion in a variety of ways. The ETH Diversity Award was launched in 2021 by ETH Diversity and the Association of Scientific Staff at ETH (AVETH) to honour the achievements of members of our ETH community for their work to promote inclusion and diversity.
Organizations/groups and individuals that support underrepresented groups in the ETH community and who are actively committed to diversity and inclusion at ETH Zurich can be nominated. The first-place individual and group winners will each receive CHF 500.
Winners and finalists 2024
Organisation/group:
1st place: EquipSent was founded by ETH students to use resources better and more sustainably by redistributing unused equipment and material from countries in the global north to partner institutions in countries in the global south. EquipSent aims to raise awareness of global inequalities in access to teaching and research opportunities within the academic community.
2nd place: CS NOW - Network of Women in Computer Science has set itself the task to abolish gender-based barriers and prejudices, and to create a study and work environment that is comfortable for all. CSNOW believes that in a society where computer science plays such a large role, it is essential that women* are able to actively contribute their ideas, goals and thoughts, and to actively help shape the society.
3rd place: The AG Fokusgruppen is a working group at VSETH that coordinates and promotes the implementation of so-called focus groups. This is a special format of practice lessons for students who start at ETH with little prior knowledge.
Individual:
1st place: Victoria Herbig, researcher at the TransdisciplinarityLab, won the Diversity Award 2024 because she was significantly involved in various projects designed to strengthen the ETH community, including improving teaching and feedback mechanisms as well as on the topic of mental health. Her tireless work over the years shows her deep commitment to positive change in the academic environment, which has had a strong impact not only on D-GESS.
2nd place: Klara Sasse, a master's student in mathematics at D-MATH, is experienced by her fellow people as a committed and motivated person who is willing to work for the well-being of other students and make ETH Zurich a better place for everyone. She demonstrated this not only in her role as part of the VSETH board, in which she played a key role in conducting the "wiegETHs" survey in the spring semester of 2024, but also with her involvement in many other extracurricular associations with the aim of motivating students from all over Switzerland to get involved in educational policy.
3rd place: Katrina Abatis is Senior Program Officer in the Mediation Support Team. She is part of the Mediation Support Project (MSP), a joint initiative of CSS and swisspeace. She was nominated for the Diversity Award because she has managed to increase diversity, highlight the work of others and create safe, inclusive spaces for everyone in a creative way within the structures in which she works or which she has created. Katrina is committed to making power hierarchies in mediation and peace institutions visible.
Click here for the interview with the award winners and the photo gallery of the award ceremony.
- The commitment should not be part of the job description but rather voluntary work, but can of course be done in the respective role (e.g. as professor, student, etc.).
- The prize is awarded exclusively to members of ETH Zurich. A direct ETH affiliation within the last 3 years must be given.
- Only current ETH members can submit nominations.
- You can nominate yourself as well.
Winners of previous years
Read more about the event, the award winner Valentina Gasser and Hochschul-Pride Zürich as well as of the finalists in Internal news.
Organizations
1st place: external page Wall of Scientists is a platform with portraits of inspiring scientists that is intended to open up a new perspective. This project promotes the visibility of diversity in science and gives scientists from different backgrounds a greater sense of belonging.
2nd place: external page MeWell is a group of students and employees from Zurich universities who are committed to improving mental well-being in the academic sector. They raise awareness of the topic of mental health with numerous events, offer a strong network of mutual support and have become the hub for all information on the topic of mental well-being on campus.
3rd place: LIMES (Ladies In Mechanical and Electrical Studies) is the women's commission of AMIV, the association for students in the departments of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) and Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (D-ITET). It was founded in January 2012 by women students and was the first women's network in engineering to emerge from ETH Zurich. Every semester, LIMES offers many different events for the women members of D-MAVT and D-ITET, such as LIMES Talks, Schülerinnentage or Frauenabende. Members of LIMES were the initiators of the pilot project Menstruation Station, which brought free period products to ETH Zurich.
Individuals
1st Place: Prof. Elizabeth Tilley demonstrates a strong commitment to inclusion and the advancement of underrepresented groups in science and is a tireless voice for women in engineering. With her commitment to equitable engineering education, which is evident in her numerous lectures (e.g. at the Water Summit for Global Development), in her publications and in her teaching activities (including supervising several postgraduate students at African universities), she has pushed forward the training of the next generation of engineers both in Switzerland and in the global south. Among other things, she used her inaugural lecture to focus on the work of her predominantly women and non-white young scientists.
2nd Place: Prof. Lavinia Heisenberg was nominated for second place because of her efforts to promote social justice and inclusion in science. Over the last few years she has organized many different workshops and seminars for women scientists, for example on topics such as balancing family and career. It is important to Prof. Heisenberg to awaken a fascination for space and physics in girls, which is why she often appears in public and gives inspiring lectures. In addition, in 2022 she acted as a mentor in the mentor program for the Women-in-Physics Career Symposium of the Swiss Physical Society.
3rd place: Enriqueta Vallejo-Yagüe was nominated for the founding and development of the digital platform “Wall of Scientists”, with which she shows enormous commitment to promoting the visibility of diversity in science. With Wall of Scientists, Enriqueta Vallejo-Yagüe highlights scientists from diverse backgrounds, past and present, whose scientific influence has often been overlooked.
3. Platz: Dr. Darcy Molnar kam 2005 als Gewinnerin des Marie-Heim-Vögtlin-Preises ans Institut für Umweltingenieurwissenschaften der ETH Zürich. Seit 2017 koordiniert Darcy das swissuniversities-Projekt Science Action in Schulen für nachhaltige Entwicklung (SAS4SD) mit Aktivitäten in Ghana und Kamerun. Seit 2019 ist sie Mitglied des Koordinationsteams des swissuniversities-Projekts Network for Water and Life (NEWAL) in Westafrika. Sie engagiert sich für die Förderung der Geschlechter-Gleichstellung in den Wissenschaften und gründete 2018 in Zürich die Gruppe external page 500 Women Scientists Zurich.
Organizations
1st place: The external page African Students Association of Zurich (ASAZ) was founded in 2015. The aim of the organization is to represent and promote the interests of African students at higher education institutions in Zurich. ASAZ not only wants to make integration into student life in Switzerland easier, but is also a platform for people who are interested in African culture and its diversity. The aim of ASAZ is to create more opportunities for African students in Zurich and at ETH Zurich and to implement projects between Switzerland and Africa.
2nd place: The Parity Group is a fluid group of students, assistants and professors from the Department of Architecture (D-ARCH) at ETH Zurich who meet regularly to discuss issues relating to gender and diversity. They organize the so-called Parity Talks every year.
3rd place: A joint award for those groups that strengthen women in science: LIMES (Ladies in Mechanical and Electrical Studies), WiNS (Society for Women in the Natural Sciences), SWiSH (Society for Women in the Social Sciences and humanities at ETH Zurich), external page TWIST (Towards more Women In Science and Technology) and Phimale (Commission for Equal Opportunities in the VMP).
Individuals
1st place: Dr. Chiara Decaroli is a doctoral student in the field of experimental quantum physics at ETH Zurich. Through various activities, she wants to create an environment that supports and encourages women in science. For example, she founded the “Hönggerberg Ladies Lunches” group, where doctoral students meet once a month for an informal lunch and exchange. She has also organized events for INSPIRE QSIT prize winners and worked on an NCCR women's campaign to inspire girls and young women to study STEM subjects.
2nd place: Jane Walden works as a research assistant in the Department of Glaciology at the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology. Jane Walden initiated regular meetings within her research group on the topics of diversity, inclusivity and equality. These “lunch discussions” discussed topics such as awareness of implicit bias, minority representation in the geosciences, and mental health issues in science.
3rd place: Dr. Darcy Molnar came to the Institute of Environmental Engineering at ETH Zurich in 2005 as the winner of the Marie Heim Vögtlin Prize. Since 2017, Darcy has coordinated the swissuniversities project Science Action in Schools for Sustainable Development (SAS4SD) with activities in Ghana and Cameroon. Since 2019 she has been a member of the coordination team of the swissuniversities project Network for Water and Life (NEWAL) in West Africa. She is committed to promoting gender equality in science and founded the group 500 Women Scientists Zurich in 2018.