Archive internal news

The pilot test for the Leadership Feedback Process has proved positive. From 2024, all full professors will systematically obtain and address feedback on their leadership role at regular intervals. Alongside individual reflection on potential blind spots, this process will enable ETH to specifically gear and tailor the support it offers for professors.

The rETHink project aimed, among other things, to promote the culture of discussion at ETH Zurich. But have the efforts been successful? Read the opinions of two ETH employees in the current special edition of the magazine "life". And what is your opinion? 

ETH Zurich’s organisational development project is entering a new phase. The solutions developed in the various working groups are now to be implemented. The project managers explained at the “rETHink Switch” event what now awaits us.

In future there will be six key values describing the way members of ETH Zurich research, teach, work and study together. The new integrated approach encompasses the university’s vision and mission – as well as referencing the contributions made by its employees – and thus unites all the factors that shape the university’s culture.

The role of the academic departments at ETH Zurich is to be strengthened. Workstream 4 of the rETHink project has analysed what this means for the organisation of these decentralised units. Concrete proposals have since been drawn up. Mirian Berrocal, Coordinator for D-BIOL, and Giovanni Salemme, Coordinator for D-HEST, offer an initial assessment.

ETH’s growth presents a number of challenges to its central administrative services and processes. Increased use of digital technologies should provide some relief. A digitalisation strategy has therefore been drawn up for the administration of ETH Zurich in the context of the rETHink project. In this interview, members of the working group explain what this strategy involves.

rETHink seems to have quieted down in recent months – but appearances can be deceiving. The project’s six workstreams have been hard at work fleshing out solutions for the future of the university. Smaller projects have already been implemented, and decisions have been made regarding the trajectory of bigger changes, says President Joël Mesot.

What do junior scientists at ETH think about the proposed cultural values? AVETH has developed an exercise that depicts each value as a fictive team member. This blogpost explains the results from the 66 participating groups and the meaning of the formula in the headline.

Workstream 3 of the rETHink project deals with the question of how to improve support for professors in their multiple roles. The two operational workstream leaders Paola Picotti and Edoardo Mazza explain in this interview which milestones the workstream has reached so far.

As part of the rETHink process, Workstream 5 is dedicated to taking a closer look at the support processes provided by ETH's central administration. The goal is to ensure that professorships and academic departments receive the best possible support. We sat down with Operational Workstream Lead Dieter Wüest to find out how his workstream plans to achieve this.  

Since March, members of the ETH community have been actively involved in discussing culture and values at ETH as part of rETHink. An interim report and a call to join the conversation.

On Friday 1 October, around 100 ETH members, including the ETH Executive Board, attended a rETHink assembly to discuss the status of the project to develop the university’s organisation, and initial implementation ideas. In this interview Katharina Poiger, Secretary General of ETH Zurich, sets out the project’s current status and future direction.

ETH Zurich is evolving: the coming years will see not only the construction of new buildings, but also the transformation of interior space and office concepts. A townhall has been held to inform ETH members about architectural developments at ETH Zurich.

The rETHink project was launched by President Joël Mesot in 2020. More than 600 ETH members have participated in various capacities in the six workstreams so far. One of them is Andre Kahles, Senior Scientist in the Biomedical Informatics Group (BMI) in the Department of Computer Science.

More than 600 ETH employees participated in the analysis phase of rETHink, the project focusing on the development of ETH’s organisational structure. Now those responsible for the workstreams together with the Executive Board have presented the results of this analysis. Those who missed the virtual Townhall can watch the recording.

The analysis phase of rETHink, our project focusing on the development of ETH’s organisational structure, has now been completed and the main areas of action defined. Now the task is to come up with solutions, says ETH President Joël Mesot in this interview. The first decisions will be made towards the end of the year.

At the beginning of February, I participated in a virtual retreat together with my colleagues from the Executive Board. For me, this retreat reinforced how important it is – particularly in these COVID times – to put extra effort into learning about each other and creating opportunities to communicate.

Julia Dannath-Schuh has been serving as Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership (VPPL) since November 2020 and has headed up the VPPL staff unit since its creation one month later. We inquired about how the set-up phase is going.

About 300 ETH members have taken part in the “Taking our pulse” survey on the values of ETH. Their responses will now provide food for thought in the forthcoming rETHink culture and values discussion.  

Professorships are one of the focal points of the rETHink project. But what does the professorship of the future look like? Workstream 2 of rETHink is responsible for finding out, and they completed a comprehensive analysis of this question last year. Project focus groups drew attention to autonomy – both on an academic and an organisational level – as a vitally important aspect of professorships at the university.

The deadline for the survey of ETH values has been extended. All members of ETH now have until the end of January to contribute their views and play a role in the cultural development of the university.

We’re asking members of the ETH community to express their opinions in a short survey on the values that shape – or should shape – the work we do together. The results will form the basis for a wide-ranging examination of ETH’s culture in the coming year.

Faculty members at ETH tend to stay in their in-groups. Knowledge, however, has smooth transitions. To tackle interdisciplinary research questions and to boost team spirit and diversity, I envision a lunch meeting platform.

“We are capable of reacting quickly and adapting”: ETH President Joël Mesot blogs about what he has learned from looking back on the corona lockdown and reflecting on the values this brought to the fore.

We now know who will head the two new Executive Board domains. ETH Zurich President Joël Mesot explains what this move means for professors, staff and the Executive Board.

The culture development workstream of the rETHink project has gained momentum. Members of the ETH community from all university groups have held initial discussions about the values that our university should adhere to, paving the way for a wide-ranging discussion across the institution.

The coronavirus pandemic has inevitably disrupted the ETH organisational development process "rETHink" as well. ETH President Joël Mesot explains the current status of the project and what he considers to be the major challenges at present.

In the Executive Board’s Town Hall forum on February 4, the focus was on the sweeping initiative to refine ETH’s organisational structure. ETH members are invited to help shape rETHink through various forms of participation.

ETH President Joël Mesot announced a restructuring of the Executive Board last June. In the Town Hall forum on 8 October, he provided an update on the status of the "rETHink” project and, together with his fellow board members, answered questions from ETH members.