Getting through difficult times together

Our university is well positioned

Mesot went on to say that our university’s expertise is more necessary than ever given the numerous global challenges we face – whether it be climate change, an ageing society, poverty, migration or cybercrime – and that the university is well positioned to provide this expertise.

So, are we on track to meet our objectives? “Yes and no,” said Mesot, referring to shifting political preferences. The federal government needs to save money. On the one hand, there is the debt brake, which is now taking full effect due to huge federal spending during the pandemic. On the other hand, military conflicts are resulting in increased military spending. Given that many items of federal expenditure are fixed, such as those for social affairs, Mesot said that education and research are particularly hard hit. “We therefore find ourselves facing a paradoxical situation where the world needs ever more expertise from ETH, but research and education are falling down the priority list in day-to-day politics at the same time.”

Tackling challenges together

It is important to respond to this situation. The Executive Board is keen to establish priorities and, for example, to consolidate the competence centres and reduce the complexity of processes. Fundraising efforts must be further reinforced, and dialogue with the political sphere, or rather with society as a whole, must be intensified. “We will get through the difficult times together and emerge stronger as a result,” said Mesot.

The talk by former Federal Chancellor Walter Thurnherr set out in impressive fashion why dialogue with politics and government is vital for Switzerland as a whole and what obstacles must be overcome in the process.

An outside view from the federal authorities in Bern

In his fascinating speech, ETH Zurich’s designated Professor of Practice summarised the general mood in Bern as follows: “The federal authorities in Bern think ETH is great. On the other hand, ETH professors are seen as competent, polite and occasionally peculiar, especially if they say something people don’t want to hear.”

With this statement, which he himself described as pointed, Thurnherr was conveying the idea that there is no one “federal government in Bern” just as there is no one “ETH”. Both sides are made up of different individual stakeholders, and yet an ETH professor will always be speaking as a representative of ETH in the eyes of the federal authorities in Bern. It is, he said, important to bear this in mind.

His statement also points to the fact that politicians and ETH researchers need to work on achieving a shared understanding, as Thurnherr stressed: “Scientists who want to deliver advice convincingly in Bern need to speak a language that people there understand.”

Working on mutual understanding

However, mutual understanding goes beyond just the language itself. For many politicians, he says, terms such as “evidence-based policy” or “follow the science” are misleading slogans that give an impression that policy can be derived from scientific facts alone. “From the point of view of most stakeholders in the federal authorities in Bern, it is not the place of science to tell politicians what needs to be done,” says the former “eighth Federal Councillor”.

Thurnherr believes the biggest risk is that the scientific and political spheres become too distant from one another. After all, “when the political debate is decoupled from its scientific foundations, legislation becomes a ghastly process,” he says. Apparently, the majority of legislative texts being worked on are linked to technological advances.

Accordingly, Thurnherr believes that one of the greatest challenges for ETH lies in setting out a framework for public relations work that meets the needs of the general public and politicians, that does not undermine the independence of research, and that maintains a link between politics and science.

In this sense, ETH also wants to work with the ETH School of Public Policy to create a platform for maintaining relationships with the political sphere more systematically than in the past.  

The power of the collective

Annedore Neufeld reported on soloists who put themselves at the service of a greater whole, or rather on how top individual performances can be brought into harmony with one another. As conductor of the Sinfonisches Orchester Schweiz and other ensembles, she also saw to the event’s musical accompaniment.

Neufeld reflected on her role as conductor, in which she is principally responsible for a piece’s interpretation, conveying her vision and determining the tempo, character and dynamics. The individual musicians must subordinate themselves to her – no matter how brilliant they are in their own field. This, she says, can be achieved either by establishing a dictatorship or, so her credo goes, by forming a community.

“The responsibility for a concert lies with the musicians,” said Neufeld, “but the responsibility for a piece’s interpretation lies with the conductor.” She emphasises that the musicians are all dependent on one another and are therefore only able to achieve top performance in an environment of mutual trust and respect. For the overall sound, it is vital that every single musician knows not only their individual position and role but also that they are aware of the overall structure. It is essential, she said, to listen to and support one another in a spirit of cooperation while also taking pride in a successful solo.

At the end of her talk, Neufeld helped the audience to gain their own experience of harmony with an ETH song she had arranged herself. After a few warm-up exercises, the room was soon filled with sound.

Addressing challenges

With the audience now suitably engaged, it was time to address the challenges and develop proposed solutions with an eye to the future.

How can we uphold quality at our university despite financial constraints? How must we address our country’s opinion makers so that they recognise that freedom of research and teaching forms the basis for Switzerland’s prosperity? And how can we tackle society’s increasing scepticism of academic research and education?

These are just some of the challenges that emerged from a survey of departments and Executive Board domains in the run-up to the conference. Participants came together in 30 working groups, in which they worked on solutions to a total of ten selected questions. Their findings, which they presented in the plenary session, will now be condensed with a view to deriving corresponding measures. These measures are to be presented at the next conference between the Executive Board and Department Heads.

At the end of the event, Joël Mesot thanked all the collaborators and participants for their efforts. He emphasised the power of collective intelligence, which, he said, had been demonstrated once again that day at the conference. For him, a key finding was the conjecture by one workshop that not only Executive Board members and scientists but also all ETH members can play a role in positively representing ETH in their everyday lives.