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New guidelines for policy engagement and science-based policy advice have been in force at ETH Zurich since February. They offer guidance for ETH members wishing to participate in the dialogue between science and policy. Benedikt Knüsel, Head of the Science-Policy Interface unit, explains the key issues in this obvious field of tension.

This year, the Wolfgang Pauli Lectures will highlight the CRISPR technology, its origins and its current applications in research and medicine. The speaker is Jennifer Doudna, the 2020 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry.

Christian Wolfrum has been Vice President for Research at ETH Zurich since the beginning of the year. What are the next challenges for research and how does he propose to tackle them?

They come to ETH Zurich almost daily by bike or e-bike. Three ETH transport researchers are investigating how an e-bike-friendly city works. They are also committed to a safe, sustainable, and CO₂-reducing campus mobility at ETH Zurich.

In winter 2022/23, ETH Zurich reduced its energy consumption by around 7 percent compared to the previous winter and met the federal government’s gas savings target. As there is still some uncertainty surrounding energy supplies, it plans on reintroducing its energy-saving measures next winter. Specific measures for research are currently being worked on.

Since October 2022, biochemist Dorota Pfizenmaier and chemical engineer Charles Ledoux have been Vice-President and President of the Academic Association of Scientific Staff at ETH Zurich (AVETH). In an interview with Internal news they describe what it was like coming to ETH Zurich during the lockdown and which university policy challenges they intend to address.

ETH Zurich wants to lower its total energy consumption this year in response to the sharp increase in energy costs. The university will emphasise saving electricity, which will require the joint effort of all technical, administrative and scientific units.

On Wednesday, a fault in a medium-voltage installation led to a power outage on the Hönggerberg campus. No one was injured. The causes and impact of the power outage are now being examined in order to learn any necessary lessons for the future.

ETH Zurich consumed less fossil energy for heating purposes in December 2022 than in previous years. Alongside the savings measures, this was also due to the temperatures. The switch from natural gas to heating oil has succeeded.

In November 2022, ETH Zurich’s gas consumption was significantly lower than in previous years. The university is currently implementing further measures to save energy.

In contrast to other ETH Zurich employees, it is still unclear for doctoral students whether and when they will receive a cost-of-living adjustment and how this will be financed. The Executive Board is unhappy with this situation. A working group will seek a solution in early 2023.

Switzerland currently has only limited access to Horizon Europe, the world’s largest funding programme for research and innovation. Here’s why this will become problematic for Switzerland as a centre of research and innovation in the long term.

ETH Zurich has joined the Energy Saving Alliance. The Energy Saving Alliance brings together over 290 organisations that have committed to using energy more efficiently and sparingly, thus helping to ensure security of supply over the coming winter.

Since October, ETH Zurich has been implementing energy-saving measures in order to actively avoid a potential energy shortage. The current outlook for the extent to which the energy shortage will affect Switzerland is better than feared, but the situation remains very tense and saving energy is still important – not least because of higher energy prices.

ETH Zurich has launched a first round of measures to reduce its gas and energy consumption and avoid an energy shortage. These measures concern the room temperature in the buildings, the hot water and the lighting.

Would you like to contribute to the prevention of an energy shortage in Zurich? Do you have an idea that you want to develop quickly and effectively? Sign up for "Energy Now! - An Impact Accelerator by ETH Zurich"! This ETH initiative aims to enable innovative solutions for more energy security in Zurich before Christmas.

Should there be an energy shortage in Switzerland next winter, ETH Zurich will prioritise operations within its teaching and research infrastructure. A group of specialists at ETH has developed an action plan to ensure that core tasks are maintained at the University, even in the event of a crisis.

The Executive Board of ETH Zurich has put two course regulations into effect and repealed 23 others. It also approved an ETH grant for a research project.

Anyone at ETH who wants to get from one place to another quickly can hire an e-bike from one of four convenient ETH Zurich locations.

The Executive Board of ETH Zurich has issued new guidelines on scientific integrity. These rest upon the four principles of reliability, honesty, respect and responsibility and apply from 1 January 2022 to all those involved in teaching and research at ETH Zurich.

Members of the ETH community who need a fast, secure and reliable internet connection for their data now have an alternative: SCION network technology, invented at ETH Zurich, is now also available to any ETH lecturers, researchers or employees with special security, performance or reliability requirements.

At ETH Zurich, sustainability is a principle that is relevant not only in teaching, research and innovation but also in campus and infrastructure development. For institutional sustainability and ETH Sustainability as the coordination office responsible for it, this means constant evolution.

The ETH Executive Board has decided to continue the Critical Thinking initiative at ETH Zurich. It will be part of a larger platform encompassing courses and projects that are designed to convey interdisciplinary skills.

The technology in ETH Zurich’s laboratories and buildings is becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex. Moreover, ETH wants to make further strides in sustainability on campus, which is not possible without the latest technology. So that technical systems can be developed and maintained by a single entity, the Engineering and Systems department will assume overall responsibility for them as of 2022. The department will be headed up by Dominik Brem.

Scientific integrity is a key value in credible and excellent teaching and research and a prerequisite for trust in science. What integrity means for researchers at ETH and for their daily work will now be a topic for discussion until October.

The pandemic has changed many things - including the ways scientific staff communicate with each other. The "zoom-isation" of exchange opportunities has expanded networking and integration possibilities and supported a cultural change, say Rosa Visscher, Linda Wehner, Florentine Veenstra and Konstantinos Voulpiotis of the Scientific Staff Association AVETH.

Hateful comments severely affect public debate on the internet. The social science research project “Stop Hate Speech” is investigating how such comments can be detected using algorithms, and which counter strategies can curb them.

The new ETH AI Center will officially open its doors on 20 October 2020. It has been headed by Executive Director Alexander Ilic since 1 October. What motivated the co-founder of ETH spin-off Dacuda and holder of two Entrepreneur of the Year awards to return to ETH Zurich?

VIScon Digital is set to take place in ETH’s main building from 5 to 10 October, and will be streamed online. All ETH employees are invited to attend. The talks, presentations and events will offer insights into current trends in and around the field of computer science, including developments relating to the coronavirus pandemic.

The ETH Link will run on electricity from the beginning of the semester. Starting on 14 September 2020, electric articulated buses will link the Hönggerberg campus with the Zentrum campus. Alongside the “eLink” connection, there will be new charging stations for electric vehicles and more services for e-bikes.

A 245-tonne circular concrete chamber has been installed at the Hönggerberg campus. It serves as the housing of a large geotechnical centrifuge that is used to model earthquakes and their effects on soils and buildings.

Researchers, laypeople and learning machines are working together to find ways of containing the coronavirus. This is rendered possible by the new Citizen Science Project Builder. This web-based tool for research projects allows volunteers to classify large amounts of image, audio and text data.

For two months, ETH Zurich operated in emergency mode. During this time, the vast majority of buildings, lecture halls, laboratories and offices remained empty. Two photographers visited ETH in April in order to capture a largely deserted campus with only a few people still on site.

Until 26 March 2020, an exhibition at the Campus Info on the Hönggerberg campus will show how the excellent anergy grid works.

Forty-nine young professionals have passed their final apprenticeship exams. As part of the 2019 apprentice graduation ceremony, they celebrated completing their vocational training at ETH Zurich on Thursday.

ETH Zurich has received the SAP Innovation Award 2018 for its “refine” IT project.

Since January, ETH Zurich has been managing its financial and personnel matters with a new resources and finance platform. Here is an overview of the changes.

Day-to-day work at the university is physically and mentally demanding. What does this mean for our health? What can we do to improve our health and how can ETH help?

Pressure on the busy VBZ no. 80 bus route will be somewhat eased, starting in autumn. From 17 September 2018, additional buses will be added to the no. 80 route to the Hönggerberg campus. This has been arranged by agreement between ETH Zurich, public transport operator VBZ, and public transport authority ZVV.