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Annette Hofmann has been Head of the Safety, Security, Health and Environment department (SSHE) at ETH Zurich since 1 April 2023. We talked to her about pragmatism, the difficult balancing act between regulations and the needs of science and spontaneous parachute jumps.

The new barrier-free forecourt of the Main Building will be fully available as of early 2024. Completion has been delayed due to an objection and the resulting late start of production in the quarry.

For the next issue of life magazine, we are looking for ETH members who would like to talk about their life crises. If you think other people can learn from your experiences and take heart from them, please let us know by 28 August.

The federal government is threatening to make a two percent cut in its 2024 contribution to the ETH Domain. In this interview, ETH President Joël Mesot explains what this means for ETH Zurich and what countermeasures the ETH Executive Board is taking.

ETH Zurich’s organisational development project is entering a new phase. The solutions developed in the various working groups are now to be implemented. The project managers explained at the “rETHink Switch” event what now awaits us.

On 1 June 2022, Tanja Zimmermann became the first woman to head Empa, the research institute for materials science and technology. Like her predecessor, Gian-Luca Bona, the materials scientist also holds a dual professorship at ETH and EPFL.

On Friday, 3 June 2022, Sarah Springman will be giving her farewell lecture. Before the lecture, people who have worked closely with her will also be expressing their appreciation for her work at ETH, including ETH President Joël Mesot. The event is open to the public. Advance registration is requested.

As of today, the ETH Zurich annual report for 2021 is available online. This is the last time it will appear in its current form. Robert Perich, Vice President for Finance and Controlling, reveals what readers can expect in the future.

VSETH is supporting the “Friends of Ukraine” organisation in collecting relief supplies and has set up a collection point on the Hönggerberg campus. You can hand in material there and at other collection points in Zurich.

Numerous exhibitors will be at the Food4Thought fair in early April to present the diversity and deliciousness of sustainable food. You can visit the three-day event to learn more about vertical herb gardens, plant-based meat alternatives and sustainable gastronomy. The fair kicks off an awareness campaign orchestrated by ETH Zurich as part of the federal government’s Exemplary Energy and Climate initiative.

Robert Perich is stepping down as Vice President for Finance and Controlling at his own request on 31 March 2023. He will not retire entirely: at the same time, he will take on a new part-time academic position at D-MTEC. The process to recruit a new vice president will get underway in the coming weeks.

Since the first of February, Günther Dissertori is the new Rector of ETH Zurich. In an interview we asked him a few “this or that” questions: lecture or seminar? Cooking or washing up? Valais or Grisons? Dumplings or gnocchi?

The Executive Board of ETH Zurich has issued new guidelines on scientific integrity. These rest upon the four principles of reliability, honesty, respect and responsibility and apply from 1 January 2022 to all those involved in teaching and research at ETH Zurich.

From early 2022, Dagmar Iber, Professor of Computational Biology at the Department of Biosystems in Basel, will take over the presidency of the University Assembly from Werner Wegscheider. In the following interview, they offer an insight into the work of ETH Zurich’s most important representative committee.

At ETH Zurich, sustainability is a principle that is relevant not only in teaching, research and innovation but also in campus and infrastructure development. For institutional sustainability and ETH Sustainability as the coordination office responsible for it, this means constant evolution.

Workstream 3 of the rETHink project deals with the question of how to improve support for professors in their multiple roles. The two operational workstream leaders Paola Picotti and Edoardo Mazza explain in this interview which milestones the workstream has reached so far.

The Executive Board domain of the Vice Presidency for Personnel Development and Leadership (VPPL) will have a new organisational structure as of 1 January 2022. How did this come about, what are the goals of the new VPPL organisation and how will the domain be reorganised?

Since March, members of the ETH community have been actively involved in discussing culture and values at ETH as part of rETHink. An interim report and a call to join the conversation.

On Friday 1 October, around 100 ETH members, including the ETH Executive Board, attended a rETHink assembly to discuss the status of the project to develop the university’s organisation, and initial implementation ideas. In this interview Katharina Poiger, Secretary General of ETH Zurich, sets out the project’s current status and future direction.

The changes to the master plan communicated in mid-September have been incorporated in a new master plan under which ETH Zurich will continue to operate Covid test centres up to the end of October and will cover any test costs not borne by the government.

What had been feared since the breakdown of the EU-​Swiss bilateral agreement negotiations has now come to pass. Yesterday, the European Commission notified the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) that Switzerland will be treated as a non-​associated third country for the submission of project proposals in Horizon Europe and other related programmes and initiatives. Although this status can be changed at any time, it will now apply for all calls in 2021.

In its recent meeting, the Executive Board enacted a new policy governing outside employment and addressed possible risks to our university.

Since the start of the year, the Workstream 4 of the rETHink project has focused intensively on the organisation of our academic departments. Jan Vermant and Zeljko Medved, the operative co-leads of Workstream 4, talk about the most important findings of the analysis phase and the next steps.

Julia Dannath-Schuh has been serving as Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership (VPPL) since November 2020 and has headed up the VPPL staff unit since its creation one month later. We inquired about how the set-up phase is going.

Employees are currently being asked to give their opinion on the work situation and on internal communication. The fact that these two surveys are taking place almost simultaneously has raised some questions.  

Professors at ETH Zurich are proposing Günther Dissertori, professor of physics, as successor to our current Rector, Sarah Springman. He won an absolute majority in the first round of voting at the Professors’ Conference, with 233 of the 439 votes.

ETH Zurich has experienced significant growth over the past several years, and the university's long-term financial commitments have grown in tandem. Over the next few years, ETH will need to reduce its recent growth in order to ensure that the university can continue fulfilling its core missions of teaching, research and knowledge transfer with the funds that are expected to be available. We take a look at what this means in concrete terms.

The ETH discussion on values has been launched – and the new rETHink blog gives all ETH members a voice. Take part in the discussion, and make a contribution to shaping the future of our university.

The Executive Board tasked an investigative committee with reviewing allegations of scientific misconduct against a professor at the beginning of 2019. The results of the investigation and the decision of the Executive Board are now available.

ETH Zurich has launched a university-wide project to reduce CO₂ emissions from business air travel. At an event held by the university, more than 200 participants discussed the ways in which individuals and ETH as a whole can change their behaviour.

In its last four meetings, the Executive Board revamped several Master’s programmes, re-elected the President’s delegates and gave the green light for the 2020 employee survey.

Future admission arrangements for the ETH master’s programme, the composition of the ETH Zurich Research Commission for the next few years, and new uses for the space under the dome of the ETH main building: these were some of the most important items on the agenda for recent meetings of the Executive Board.

As President of the Staff Commission (PeKo), André Blanchard focused on dialogue and achieved good results for employees. What strategies will his successor Christopher Sauder be pursuing and what are his aims?

E-bikes are an effective way for ETH Zurich to reduce the carbon footprint of its operations. This summer, the university will be testing out several models that will allow ETH students and employees to use e-bikes. Currently, 100 people are needed to test an app-based lending system.

The Women Professors Forum at ETH Zurich (WPF) has a clear objective: to substantially improve career opportunities for women in science and engineering. Founded in 2011, the women’s network is now welcoming a new chairwoman. Women professors at ETH Zurich will also be working more closely with their counterparts at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL).

A new report entitled “Research and Innovation in Switzerland 2016” was today presented by Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, President of the Swiss Confederation and head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research. It offers a first review of the performance of Swiss research and innovation – with some good results for ETH Zurich.

An ETH Professor has recently taken on a key role in Swiss scientific policy: since January 2016, Gerd Folkers has been President of the Swiss Science and Innovation Council (SSIC).

On the second anniversary of the vote on the mass immigration initiative, Swiss universities are warning of the consequences of the enforcement initiative and publishing a joint manifesto on the position of Swiss education and research. The repercussions are far-reaching – Switzerland's economy and prosperity are at stake too.

D University Medicine Zurich is an initiative by ETH Zurich, University of Zurich and the university hospitals in Zurich. A new flagship project was launched at its annual event in late November. The aim of the University Medicine Zurich collaboration is to strengthen academic medicine. This objective is also supported by the new Balgrist Campus.

A delegate from the University Assembly represents the staff and students of EPFL and ETH Zurich on the ETH Board. More information will be provided on the role at ETH Zurich on 16 November.

The close proximity of the University Hospital Zurich, the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich in the Zurich city university district offers a great opportunity for research, teaching and medical care. Further information on the development of university medicine can be found on the Berthold website.

With Monday's ground-breaking ceremony in Lindau, Cantonal Councillor Markus Kägi, ETH Zurich President Lino Guzzella and University of Zurich Rector Michael Hengartner have commenced the construction work for the Agrovet-Strickhof education and research centre. Research on sustainable agriculture will be conducted at the centre from 2017.

In autumn 2016, the SNSF will introduce changes to project funding: the maximum duration of projects will be raised from three to four years and grants can be used more flexibly. Researchers are encouraged to focus as much as possible on a single research project.