The beginning of an open exchange

Why was the event not held in English?
The event was aimed not only at doctoral students, but at all personnel. This includes staff whose English is not so strong. The part that was directed particularly at doctoral students was given by the Rector in English.

Will the HR department also receive training in how to handle reports?
Yes. The various contact points and reporting offices at ETH will receive regular training from the autumn of 2019. However, the HR department already has professionals with the appropriate education and training, such as psychologists and psychotherapists. They also cooperate with external experts and ensure that the people affected quickly receive professional support. In addition, new rules will be established for the handling of reports and complaints; these will include measures for speeding up the process. The goal is for reports to be addressed immediately, and the handling of reports to be completed within six months if possible. To this end, case management will be expanded in stages to form a team. This will ensure that the right offices are involved and that all affected parties  are informed regularly about the status of the proceedings.

There are numerous designated offices and contact points that people can turn to when they have problems. How will it be ensured that these reporting offices properly communicate amongst each other? Will the counselling centres run by student associations be involved in this exchange?
ETH will make sure that networking between the various contact points is improved. A new measure we will introduce is to regularly pool together the information available at the various contact points, so that conflict situations can be identified at an early stage. The counselling centers run by student organisations will also be included in these meetings.

Why are there no plans for an external, independent reporting office? The reporting offices today are often closely associated with ETH professors.
We will be following up on this idea and evaluate the possibility of establishing an independent reporting office, possibly one that operates across different universities.

Who verifies if a professor is doing a good job? Who manages the professors? Who intervenes if there are signs of inadequate performance, or for example if the annual performance reviews are not being carried out?
In management responsibilities relating to professors, the President is supported by the HR department and the respective department heads. However, management in an academic environment is fundamentally different from structures in other work environments. Professors enjoy a high level of autonomy, which they need in order to safeguard freedom of research.

Nevertheless, it goes without saying that professors must also observe ETH’s Code of Conduct. They are not only expected to achieve top-level results in their teaching and research, they must also be good managers. In the latter role, ETH will support them even more intensively in the future.

Conspicuous patterns such as high turnover or critical performance reviews will be systematically analysed in future. In addition, there will be discussions with those affected and solutions will be developed to improve the situation.

What does the timetable look like for implementation of all the measures?
You can find information about that in the press release.

Are the management courses also intended for existing professors? Are they mandatory for everyone?
Yes, the management courses will be mandatory for both new and established professors – and incidentally, the same goes for all management personnel at ETH. As President Mesot emphasised at the informational event, he sees it as important that new and experienced professors can exchange ideas and learn from each other and experiences at events on management subjects. To this end, he has initiated a comprehensive leadership concept. A project team is currently in the process of developing a concrete concept, which is to be implemented by the end of 2019.

This involves elements like a compulsory introductory programme for new professors and the expansion of management courses, training courses and coaching offers.

Some professors currently have huge research groups and supervise a large number of doctoral students. Are there plans to introduce a cap or other measures in the future?
There will not be a blanket limit. Numbers can’t tell us much about the quality of supervision or about a group’s structure. Senior scientists are also able to provide regular supervision for doctoral students. However, there will be greater attention paid in future to conspicuous patterns such as high turnover or critical performance reviews.

The measures planned in the area of doctoral supervision are now to be worked out in detail. Who will be involved in this process? And how will you ensure that doctoral students themselves have a voice?
The Vice Rector for Doctoral Studies summarised the ideas in a paper that is now being sent out for broad consultation. Naturally, the input of the Academic Association of Scientific Staff (AVETH) and the various associations representing doctoral students is also welcome. Initial feedback on the current version has already been sought from the Executive Board, the Lecturers’ Conference and the AVETH Board. As the experiences acquired in the doctoral symposium at the start of January have shown, joint discussion is important.

How much “centralisation”/standardisation is there to be in the supervision of doctoral students in the future?
The precise implementation will be worked out in the course of the upcoming discussion. That said, it is certainly planned to establish the same principles, such as shared supervision, everywhere. The individual academic departments should nevertheless be free to determine how they implement these principles, so that they can take into account the specific requirements related to their respective disciplines.

Questions about the shared supervision:

• Should the second supervisor also be from ETH?
• How will responsibilities be divided up between the two supervising professors?
• How will it be ensured that the professors are independent of each other?
  

We are unable to provide definite answers to these questions as of yet. They will form part of the implementation phase, which is still to be defined.

How will students and scientific staff be integrated into the professorial appointment process?
Scientific staff and students will be more closely involved in the appointment process as part of panels. They are to be given the option of conducting interviews with applicants and delivering an assessment, which will receive due consideration.

Many measures are to be implemented by 2020. What about doctoral students that are already here and have problems and/or who cannot benefit from shared supervision?
Doctoral students who are experiencing problems should notify the relevant contact point. If there are irreconcilable differences, the Vice Rector for Doctoral Studies and the Doctoral Administration office already support doctoral students today in finding another supervisor as a last resort.

Who chooses the ombudspersons?
The ombudspersons are elected by the ETH Executive Board. Since last year, they have been nominated by the University Assembly (Hochschulversammlung) and proposed to the Executive Board.

What specifically does ETH plan to do to prevent sexual harassment?
Sexual harassment will not be tolerated at ETH Zurich. Everyone at ETH Zurich is entitled to have their dignity protected. Sexual harassment can take many different forms. Ultimately, it is up to every member of the ETH community to create an atmosphere in which such harassment does not occur. Members of the ETH community who behave improperly should be addressed directly or, in serious cases, a reporting office should be informed about the situation. ETH will investigate these cases at the institutional level. We will also continue to sensitise the community to the issue, as we are already doing with the Respect campaign.

It is frequently mentioned that future cases of disrespectful behaviour will be handled better. How are the cases currently in progress being handled, and what will be done to improve this?
In terms of processes and communication, naturally we have taken the lessons learned from previous cases and are already applying them to current cases. However, when it comes to individual cases, we still have to comply with legal requirements – and we especially must not violate anyone’s right to personal privacy, whether they are lecturers or students.

To be specific, what is being done about sexism and bullying in the Department of Architecture?
The Department of Architecture (D-ARCH) rejects every form of disrespectful interaction just as emphatically as ETH does; sexism and bullying clearly fall within this category. The discussions held over the last several weeks and months have made a significant contribution to raising awareness of these issues. The Board of Deans is in contact with representatives from the student body and scientific staff. It has also set up a Parity and Diversity Commission (PDK), which will serve as an advisory board to promote equal opportunities, equality and diversity. With support from an external expert, the department is continuously monitoring the situation in order to identify the specific areas where action is required and then implement appropriate measures.

Some that have already been agreed on include the following: in the design studios, where students, assistants and professors work together extensively and are in direct contact throughout the semester, a new rule will be established at the start of each semester. The rule will apply to everyone involved in the studio and specifies how critical situations should be handled. If an individual feels they are being personally attacked or exposed to uncalled-for personal criticism, an agreed code sign will be used to stop the critical situation. At the department level, professors will visit colleagues’ courses to gain insight into their teaching methods and situations and to give each other feedback. In general, equal numbers of women and men should be invited to participate as guest speakers or guest critics in lecture series, panel discussions and closing critiques. This measure is aimed at establishing equal gender representation as the norm and thus accelerating the cultural change that has already begun with respect to overcoming traditional gender roles and power structures. With the support of the PDK, the recruiting processes at D-ARCH are being reflected upon and improved so as to recognise and avoid gender bias.

Will members of the ETH community who have experienced disrespectful behaviour receive compensation?
ETH employees become involved in a dispute during their employment that requires them to pay for legal services related to the case, ETH Zurich will guarantee an advance of costs of legal fees in accordance with personnel law.
However, there will be no damages awarded or compensation for personal suffering paid. Such measures have no legal basis.

Will there be a follow-up event to report on the progress of these efforts?
We will provide further information on the implementation of these measures. This could be done via various channels: articles in ETH publications, for example, or also additional informational events.

What is ETH doing to finally increase the proportion of women, especially among professors?
Increasing the number of women among its professors is a matter of great importance to ETH Zurich. During the last two rounds of appointments, the proportion of women was approx. 40 percent. In some areas at ETH, the proportion of women is still very low, and the Gender Action Plan is aimed at remedying this.

The ETH Domain (ETH Zurich, EPFL and the research institutes in the ETH Domain) also supports the “Fix the leaky pipeline” project, which aims to steer young women in science toward a career in academia. In brief:

• The «external page Fix the leaky pipeline» programme was introduced throughout the ETH Domain (ETH Zurich, EPFL, PSI, Eawag, WSL and Empa) ten years ago.
  
• It was initiated by the ETH Domain’s Group of Equal Opportunities for Women & Men and encourages young women in science (advanced doctoral students, female postdocs) to start down the path to an academic career and to succeed in their pursuits. The programme has since developed a large alumnae network.
  
• Funding is provided for a part-time coordinator at both ETH Zurich and EPFL, as well as for external page coaching groups and courses for participants. The external page course programme covers such topics as time management, applications, presentation skills, etc., and there are also annual kickoff meetings and interdisciplinary network meetings.
  
• Since 2017, the programme also offers external page one-to-one as well as external page peer mentoring programmes for young women in science. The Associate VP for gender equality and Equal! recruit ETH Zurich professors (both women and men) to volunteer as mentors for one year.
• ETH Zurich supplements the programme with additional mentoring slots. In 2019, around 30 women at ETH Zurich will participate in the programme (in addition to women from the other institutions of the ETH Domain).
  
• Besides the individual meetings between mentees and mentors, ETH Zurich and EPFL also organise networking events for all mentees and mentors.
  
• Increased dual-career measures