Interviews with winners of the Diversity Awards 2024
Victoria Herbig and EquipSent were awarded this year's Diversity Award for their exemplary engagement at ETH Zurich. We spoke to the award winners about their experiences and asked for tips for everyday work and study life.
Interview with EquipSent
Congratulations on winning the Diversity Award 2024! What does this recognition mean to you?
EquipSent: Thank you very much! We also would like to thank the jury and everyone who nominated us. It is truly an honor to receive this award. It means a great deal to EquipSent because it helps increase our visibility at ETH. Such visibility is vital for EquipSent to secure more equipment donations and raise awareness about the global inequalities in access to teaching and research opportunities within the academic community.
This is especially evident by the fact that we currently face a much higher demand for receiving equipment than the donations we receive. Further, EquipSent decided to donate the prize money we received to facilitate a shipment to a high school in Pakistan. This shipment would not have been possible otherwise, as the receiver could not secure enough funds to cover the shipping costs and import taxes.
Why are diversity and inclusion so important at ETH Zurich?
EquipSent: Diversity and inclusion are essential for the success of any institution. The outdated idea that genius is purely innate needs to be challenged. What truly makes a university great is its ability to help every student become the best version of themselves, offering everyone equal opportunities to excel and shine.
As a world-leading university that attracts scholars and students from around the world, ETH has the responsibility to further strengthen its efforts to foster diversity and equality in the university community, both here in Zurich and worldwide.
Each member of the ETH community can contribute to an inclusive environment. What recommendations do you have for doing so?
EquipSent: Each member of the ETH community can contribute to creating a more inclusive environment by taking deliberate and thoughtful actions. A key step is to promote equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of their background or gender. When teaching or conducting research, it is important to actively include and support students and colleagues from diverse backgrounds and underrepresented minorities. Additionally, various organizations at ETH, such as the other two finalists of this year -CSNOW and the Focus Groups- offer opportunities for engagement and support.
Thinking globally, we should strive to provide equal opportunities for individuals everywhere, irrespective of their country, social class, or political circumstances. At EquipSent, we work toward global scientific inclusion by donating equipment and enabling access to experimental scientific education for those who might not otherwise have the chance. Members of the ETH community can support this mission by donating unused equipment from their labs, spreading awareness about our work, or volunteering to help pack and send equipment to those in need.
Interview with Victoria Herbig
Congratulations on winning the Diversity Award 2024! What does this recognition mean to you?
Victoria Herbig: Thank you very much! This award means a lot to me as it recognises not only my work but also my values. It confirms my convictions that have carried me through challenging and adversarial times. Time and again, I have had to assert myself in contexts where diversity was perceived as more of a burden and where the existence of the problem of bias and lack of equality was overlooked. The Diversity Award shows that we are not alone when we stand up for inclusion, transparency and fairness. The recognition of the WIDEr Teaching Initiative, which I worked on for twenty months, is particularly rewarding. We have campaigned for structural changes at the D-GESS department and, last but not least, have collaboratively developed the resource 'Information on Performance Assessments at D-GESS', which summarises existing guidelines and instructions and supplements them with relevant recommendations. The unanimous adoption of this resource in the department conference represented a department-wide consensus that would have been unthinkable two years ago. The recognition through the Diversity Award also motivates me to continue to work tirelessly for a fairer and more open future. This year, I wrote my master's thesis on inclusive stakeholder engagement in participatory modeling processes and plan to deepen my research on inclusive policy-making for sustainable development.
Why are diversity and inclusion so important at ETH Zurich?
Victoria Herbig: Diversity and inclusion are essential to creating an innovative, creative and fair environment. Research and teaching benefit from various perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Only in this way can we develop truly comprehensive and forward-looking solutions to the crucial questions facing the world today. In addition, universities like ETH should serve as a role model in promoting a more equitable society. Study programs characterized by homogeneity - be it in terms of gender, ethnicity or other dimensions - risk creating an echo chamber in which relevant interests and insights are neglected, thereby perpetuating structural inequalities. A heterogeneous environment is crucial to becoming aware of one's own positionality, which I see as fundamental to relevant, legitimate and credible research.
In addition, I am convinced that conditions that benefit marginalized groups improve the experience for all. Measures related to transparency, clarity and rigor not only contribute to reducing biases and increasing fairness, but also provide helpful framework conditions for everyone, allowing them to concentrate fully on their studies and research.
Each member of the ETH community can contribute to an inclusive environment. What recommendations do you have for doing so?
Victoria Herbig:
- Actively promote diversity of perspectives: Listen without immediately judging and create space for different perspectives. Question not only your prejudices, but also the structures and norms that unconsciously promote them. Questions like "Who is speaking here and who isn't?" can make barriers visible that would otherwise go unnoticed.
- Design accessibility and fair structures: Transparency and fairness are not abstract principles, but practical tools. Whether in performance assessments, the organization of working groups or decision-making processes - ask yourself how your measures include those who are otherwise often overlooked. Accessibility means actively breaking down barriers, be it through language, formats or decision-making structures.
- Make different voices visible: Diversity and inclusion are not marginal issues, but central components of every community. Use your position to make marginalized perspectives visible - be it by deliberately inviting less represented people to discussions or by providing the necessary resources so that these voices can be heard. Make sure to go beyond pure tokenism or stereotyping of expertise and enable participants to make substantial contributions to a variety of topics using their full expertise.
- Share knowledge and develop further: Inclusion is not simply a checklist, but a continuous practice. Take the time to identify your own knowledge gaps and actively close them. Whether through literature, workshops or exchanges with those affected - each of us has the responsibility to live inclusion as part of everyday life.
