The Zukunftsblog is opening up

Launched in 2009 as a climate blog, in 2013 the Zukunftsblog became a platform for various sustainability topics at ETH. Since 2018, the opinion platform has been organised into three categories, covering the research focuses of sustainability, health and digitalisation. These categories and the corresponding colours are now being removed, and the Zukunftsblog will expand to include all socially relevant topics.

The Zukunftsblog provides a forum for ETH members to write about current issues, discuss theories and outline ideas for the future. Posts should be based on their expertise but do not have to be related to their area of research. The focus is on pointed opinions, surprising points of view, exciting findings and assessments by experts – formulated from a personal perspective, but always based on facts. An editorial team from the Corporate Communications department makes sure that there is a good mix of topics and checks each article individually to ensure that the blog’s high standards are maintained.

The success story continues

These high standards have paid off. The Zukunftsblog has long been established as an opinion platform – and not just internally at ETH. It had been repeatedly selected as one of the best science blogs in the German-speaking world. Since the range of topics covered was expanded in 2018, an average of 80 percent of the blog posts have been republished on other platforms and even by leading media sources such as NZZ and Tages-Anzeiger. In terms of reach, in 2020, Viola Vogel’s post “Reducing the risk of infection” broke all records: the viral opinion piece was viewed around 536,000 times and produced 170 comments.

Rainer Borer, Head of Corporate Communications, explains the goal of the Zukunftsblog: “With the Zukunftsblog, ETH Zurich demonstrates its commitment to participating in current social discourse. ETH positions itself as an open university where members can express themselves freely and critically. We would now like to continue writing this success story by opening up the blog to cover more topics.”

First blog post from Marcel Benoist prize-winner

The start is being made by ETH Professor Lars-Erik Cederman, who received the Marcel Benoist Prize in 2018 for his research into political peace-building and the inclusion of ethnic minorities. In his first blog post “The empire strikes back”, the well-known political scientist describes how aggrieved nationalists want to make their country “great again” through outdated imperialistic ideas.

Rainer Borer: “I am delighted that Lars-Erik Cederman is on board for the start of this new phase. And I hope that his example inspires ETH researchers from all fields and departments to do the same!”