And the first AVETH Diversity Award goes to…

On May 21^st, World Day for Cultural Diversity, Dialogue and Development, the Association of Scientific Staff at ETH (AVETH) organized the first Annual Diversity Award, supported and co-sponsored by Equal!, the office of equal opportunities and diversity at ETH. This award represents an actionable plan to give visibility to social justice leaders within our community who serve as role models and are voluntarily committing their time and energy towards outreach activities that raise awareness for tackling discrimination. Over 80 nominations for members within our ETH community were received.

The categories

The jury was composed of three members of the diversity group at AVETH and one member from Equal!. For judging, the nominations were categorized into four main categories:

• People who have integrated diversity and inclusion aspects into their work at ETH but always as part of their job.
• Individuals who voluntarily and outside of their actual job started initiatives that deal with diversity and inclusion.
• People who represent or who are very active in organizations or associations.
• Associations, organizations and groups that advocate diversity and togetherness, as well as the visibility of minorities.

In seeing these categories, the jury decided to split the award into two categories:

• an award for an organization that elevates underrepresented groups within our ETH community,
•  and for an individual who is voluntarily, outside of their daily job, actively pushing for diversity and inclusion initiatives.

The winners – organization category:

1^st place: The external page African Students Association of Zurich (ASAZ) was founded in 2015. The ASAZ is committed to represent and further the interests of African students in higher education institutions in Zurich. The association not only aims to facilitate integration into the student life in Switzerland, but it is also a platform where people interested in the African culture and heritage can experience its diversity. ASAZ strives to create more opportunities for African students in Zurich and at ETH as well as to implement projects between Switzerland and Africa.

2^nd place: The Parity Group, a fluid group of students, assistants, and professors from the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich.

3^rd place: Combined nomination for groups that empower women in science: LIMES (Ladys in Mechanical and Electrical Studies), WiNS (Society for Women in Natural Science), SWiSH (Society for Wom*n in the Social Sciences and Humanities of ETH Zurich), external page TWIST, (Towards more Women In Science and Technology), and Phimale.

The winners – individual category:

1^st place: Chiara Decaroli, a PhD student in the field of experimental quantum physics at ETH Zurich. During her time at ETH, she has engaged herself in several activities aimed at creating a supportive and encouraging environment for women in science. She has striven to make women in science feel less alone. Her activities to promote gender diversity and inclusion range from getting menstruation  bins installed in mixed gender toilets in her building, to founding a group called “Hönggerberg Ladies Lunches”, aimed at female PhD students at the Hönggerberg campus who could meet informally for lunch once a month. She has organized and led events for the awardees of the INSPIRE QSIT award, and more recently has worked on the NCCR Women Campaign, which highlights Swiss female researchers with the objective to inspire young girls to study STEM subjects.

2^nd place: Jane Walden works as a Scientific Assistant in the Glaciology Division of the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology. Jane decided to start regular meetings within their research group on the topics of diversity, inclusivity, and equality. These meetings became known as the “Lunchtime Discussions” and some examples of topics include awareness about implicit bias, representation of minorities in geosciences, and mental health challenges in academia.

3^rd place: Darcy Molnar has been working at ETH since 2005, when she joined the Institute of Environmental Engineering as a SNF Marie Heim-​Vögtlin recipient. Since 2017, Darcy has been coordinating the swissuniversities project Science Action in Schools for Sustainable Development (SAS4SD) with activities in Ghana and Cameroon, and since 2019 she has been on the coordination team of the swissuniversities project Network for Water and Life (NEWAL) with activities in West Africa. She is committed to promoting gender equality in the sciences, and in 2018 established a 500 Women Scientists chapter in Zurich. 

Nako Nakatsuka is a Senior Scientist at the Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics at ETH Zurich. She wrote the article on behalf of AVETH and Equal!