The Women Professors Forum at ETH Zurich (WPF) has a clear objective: to substantially improve career opportunities for women in science and engineering. Founded in 2011, the women’s network is now welcoming a new chairwoman. Women professors at ETH Zurich will also be working more closely with their counterparts at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL).
According to the Gender Monitoring Report 2014/2015 produced by the ETH Zurich Office of Equal Opportunities, the percentage of women in professorships at ETH Zurich averaged 12.8 per cent. “At least 33 per cent would be desirable,” says Ursula Keller, Professor of Experimental Physics at the Department of Physics (D-PHYS). “Numerous studies show that organisations work better when women are well represented in leadership positions. This also applies to research institutions.” To increase the proportion of women in leadership positions at ETH Zurich, Ursula Keller worked with other women professors to found the ETH Zurich Women Professors Forum in 2011. More than 80 per cent of ETH Zurich’s female professors joined the association within a very short time.
Now Ursula Keller is resigning from her position as President of the WPF. Her successor will be the previous vice chairwoman, Janet Hering. She is a professor at the Department of Environmental Systems Science (D-USYS) at ETH Zurich and EPFL and is a director of Eawag, the ETH Domain’s water research institute. Developing and maintaining this women’s network is a labour of love for Professor Hering, “Of course women can establish a career for themselves on their own, but we know that a good network can make the journey a little easier. This is also supported by scientific studies.”
Cooperation with counterparts at EPFL
Members not only elected a new chairwoman at the WPF General Meeting of April 2016; they also approved a change to their statutes. This amendment means that women professors at EPFL can now join the WPF. Rizlan Bernier-Latmani, Professor of Environmental Microbiology at EPFL, was unanimously elected to the post of WPF Vice Chairwoman. She shares her position with Viola Vogel, Professor of Applied Mechanobiology at the Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST), also newly elected to the role.
“We are certain that both universities can do even more to significantly increase the proportion of women over the coming years,” says Hering.