Facilities outside the departments

The Collegium Helveticum was established by ETH Zurich in 1997 as a forum for dialogue between the sciences. Its aim is to promote mutual understanding between natural and engineering sciences and humanities and social sciences. The Collegium Helveticum is run jointly with the University of Zurich and the Zurich University of the Arts.

Since 2002, the joint Language Center for the two higher education institutions in Zurich has offered a broad range of language courses, demonstrating that the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich recognise the growing importance of language skills in studies and research, as well as in academic and other professional fields. The Language Centre is a joint institution with the University of Zurich.

The  Congressi Stefano Franscini (CSF) is ETH Zurich’s international conference platform, situated on Monte Verità above Ascona. The CSF is responsible for the promotion, selection and financing of international conferences, workshops, ETH doctoral schools on Monte Verità. The CSF provides an ideal meeting point for all members of the international scientific community who wish to discuss the state of the art and new challenges of any field of research.

The Functional Genomics Center Zurich (FGCZ) supports research on topics relating to genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics. It is run jointly with the University of Zurich.

On behalf of the federal government, ETH Zurich operates the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano, where the ultra-modern supercomputing infrastructure is constantly being expanded. The supercomputing systems are available to all Swiss universities and research institutions and also provide computing services for industry.  

The FIRST laboratory is a technology platform for advanced micro- and nanotechnology on the Hönggerberg campus (Science City) of ETH Zurich. It maintains a central clean room facility with state-of-the-art equipment for a wide range of processes with a focus on III-V materials.

ScopeM provides scientific services in light and electron microscopy, as well as direct access to state-of-the-art microscopy and sample preparation equipment to researchers of all disciplines at ETH Zurich.  

The Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at the ETH Zurich is the federal government's expert body for earthquakes. Its main tasks are the monitoring of Switzerland's seismicity and the investigation of earthquake hazards.  

The Nanotechnology Center, which ETH Zurich is running in a unique partnership with IBM Research – Zurich, offers an outstanding research infrastructure for academics and industry specialists. It includes a clean room and six “noise-free labs” for carrying out highly sensitive trials on the nanoscale.  

The centralised laboratory animal facility offers access to laboratory areas equipped with modern methods of analysis, which all research groups can use for characterising the in vivo models. The ETH Phenomics Center complies with the latest international standards in species-appropriate breeding, welfare and treatment of mice used for experimental research. Handling laboratory animals in a competent, respectful and responsible way is an integral part of the biomedical research and education carried out at ETH Zurich.  

The ETH Institute for Theoretical Studies (ETH-ITS) is an interdisciplinary centre for theoretical sciences, and focuses on mathematics, theoretical physics, theoretical computer science and related fields. It hosts visiting scholars (senior fellows) and postdocs (junior fellows) for up to one year.

NEXUS aims at closing the gap between fundamental research and clinical application by offering state-of-the-art technology solutions in the field of personalized medicine.

The new translational research centre of ETH and University of Zurich unites researchers across various disciplines, ranging from technology and medicine through to materials science, stem cell research and robotics.

The ISTP contributes towards increasing the policy relevance of scientific research at ETH Zurich, and educates students and future decision-​makers at the interface of science, engineering, and policy-​making.

The Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability (SEC) in Singapore was established in 2010 as a collaboration between ETH Zurich and the National Research Foundation of Singapore. The SEC aims to strengthen the capacity of Singapore and Switzerland to research, understand and actively respond to the challenges of global environmental sustainability.

AgroVet-Strickhof is a cooperation of Strickhof, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich. It provides a platform for education and research in agricultural and veterinary sciences at various sites.

The  Swiss Data Science Center is a joint venture between ETH Zurich, EPFL and PSI. Its mission is to accelerate the use of data science and machine learning techniques within academic disciplines of the ETH Domain, the Swiss academic community at large, and the industrial sector. 

ETH Zurich is a leader in the continuing education of specialists and managers with academic backgrounds under the umbrella of the school of continuing education. Its range of continuing education programmes extends from MAS, DAS, CAS to short courses and focuses on technology, life sciences and engineering as well as the humanities, social and political sciences.

The C2SM drives the development of weather and climate models and supports the analysis data, enables collaborations and engages in a dialogue with the public about climate change. It is a technology platform of ETH Zurich and its partner institutions.

The Digital Trial Intervention Platform supports ETH researchers and spin-​offs in the implementation of medical research and offers support in planning, submission and implementation of complex clinical studies.

The interdisciplinary research centre was established in 2022 and is focused on answering questions such as: How did life on Earth begin? How did it develop and proliferate? Is there life on other planets? To answer these fundamental scientific questions, COPL facilitates the building of bridges between disciplines. Members of the Centre are more than 40 research groups from five different departments at ETH Zurich including biologists, chemists, Earth scientists, physicists, and environmental systems scientists. Together they focus on the chemical and physical processes that made the formation of living organisms possible, as well as on planets and the environmental conditions hospitable to support life.