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Many people at ETH Zurich are faced with the challenge of combining their professional activities with caring for family members. A new, comprehensive website and events are designed to support ETH members in this endeavour.

The Association of Scientific Staff (AVETH) and ETH Diversity granted the Diversity Award for the third time. In a ceremony held in the main building of ETH Zurich, individuals and organizations that are committed to the principles of diversity and inclusion were honoured.

In collaboration with AVETH, ETH Diversity is conferring the Diversity Award for the third year this November. Individuals and organisations will be honoured for their efforts to promote diversity and inclusion at ETH Zurich. Submit your nomination now!

You can attend workshops in October at which ETH is ‘experienced’ in a wheelchair or with a white stick and simulation glasses – please register and come along! Furthermore, there are new directions to ETH buildings for visually impaired and blind people. And another sub-project has now been completed.

In November 2021, the President of ETH Zurich, Joel Mesot, and the Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership, Julia Dannath, appointed seven professors to investigate the current situation of women faculty at ETH Zurich. The aim is to gain an insight into how things stand today.

Accessibility remains an important issue for ETH Zurich. A new exhibition charts the progress made so far by the “Barrier-free at ETH Zurich” programme, along with unresolved issues. In addition, the CHN building is being adapted to make it barrier-free, and a new website provides information about how to organise events that are accessible.

An anonymous reporting form has been available to ETH members since 1 April 2023 if they experience or witness inappropriate behaviour at the university. The online form is another way in which staff and students can report anyone who has overstepped boundaries.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) calls for an inclusive education system – including at higher education level. At a panel discussion on 20 April, affected students, teaching staff and persons with expertise in the field of teaching talked about the possibilities and limitations of accessibility in education.

A newspaper article about a study conducted by the University of Zurich is currently raising a lot of questions. The article claims that women students are less ambitious than their male counterparts and consequently not interested in pursuing a career. This conclusion has alienated many in the ETH community – including Julia Dannath, who as Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership is responsible for diversity at ETH Zurich. In this interview, she explains why.

ETH members are now able to learn more about unconscious bias. A new e-learning tutorial, launched as part of the university’s Respect campaign, explains how unconscious bias arises, the possible consequences it can have, and how we can consciously avoid it in future.

The rETHink project aimed, among other things, to promote the culture of discussion at ETH Zurich. But have the efforts been successful? Read the opinions of two ETH employees in the current special edition of the magazine "life". And what is your opinion? 

ETH Zurich does not yet offer a fully accessible environment. The university is therefore launching a new campaign in mid-April as part of its “Barrier-free at ETH Zurich” programme. The “Design for all” campaign includes clear goals such as “Make architecture accessible to all!” and “Break down the barriers to accessible teaching!”

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.

The ALEA – the Art of Leadership Award – has been conferred by ETH Zurich since 2017 in recognition of leaders who facilitate modern and innovative working conditions and who actively encourage and support the reconciliation of work, family, and part-time commitments. This time the award was for the first time jointly presented at an independent event by AVETH (Academic Association of Scientific Staff at ETH Zurich) and VPPL.

In April and May, interested ETH members will have the chance to navigate the ETH campus in a wheelchair or with a white cane to gain a different perspective. This is one of the various events offered as part of the “Design for all” awareness campaign. ETH has now also published an accessibility statement.

Sexual Harassment Awareness Day will take place on 23 March. Universities and research institutions throughout Switzerland will for the first time campaign jointly for an environment without sexism and sexual harassment. ETH Zurich is also taking a stand to show that such transgressive behaviour will not be tolerated.

Women also continue to earn less than men in Switzerland. Salary differences exist from the start of a career and are particularly pronounced among highly qualified women. ETH Zurich offers workshops on the topic.

Since October 2022, biochemist Dorota Pfizenmaier and chemical engineer Charles Ledoux have been Vice-President and President of the Academic Association of Scientific Staff at ETH Zurich (AVETH). In an interview with Internal news they describe what it was like coming to ETH Zurich during the lockdown and which university policy challenges they intend to address.

Sonia Seneviratne is the new associate vice president for sustainability of the Executive Board. As of 1 January 2023, she will take over this function from Reto Knutti, who has worked meritoriously for the thematic focus for eight years.

At least once a year, ETH Diversity publishes its Equality Monitoring report on gender equality and diversity at ETH Zurich. The figures for 2021 are now available.

ETH mathematician Georg Anegg spent three weeks at Ashesi University in Ghana, which offers a joint master's program in Mechatronics Engineering with ETH Zurich. In an interview published by the D-MATH News, he talks about what it's like to teach in Ashesi and what motivated him to participate in the project.

Two ETH employees argue for and against a quota for women in management positions.

rETHink seems to have quieted down in recent months – but appearances can be deceiving. The project’s six workstreams have been hard at work fleshing out solutions for the future of the university. Smaller projects have already been implemented, and decisions have been made regarding the trajectory of bigger changes, says President Joël Mesot.

The 100 best girls from the Kangaroo mathematics competition were given the opportunity to visit ETH on 9 June. Former ski racer and physicist Dominique Gisin accompanied the girls as a mentor. ETH female researchers gave an insight into their research work.

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.

For the second time, AVETH is presenting the Diversity Award. It will honor an ETH scientific staff member who has contributed significantly to the advocation for diversity and inclusion at ETH Zurich. ETH members can now submit their nominees.

The recruiting team is currently testing two text analysis tools that people recruiting at ETH Zurich can use to check their job advertisements for linguistic discrimination and hidden stereotypes. The tools support the creation of job advertisements and automatically suggest inclusive formulations.

Anyone who has children will likely agree that finding the right work-life balance isn’t always easy. To support employees with children, ETH Zurich offers a whole range of services that can make balancing family and career easier. 

ETH Zurich advocates for diversity and equal opportunity, including equal pay for its employees. The university and other institutions from the ETH Domain have been formally audited using the EQUAL-SALARY method – with positive results.

At the beginning of 2021, the “Barrier-free at ETH Zurich” programme was launched. This aims to make the university as accessible as possible over the course of the next few years. New courses, new public tours and a large pilot project are planned for 2022.

It takes courage to step up to the plate and help when someone is acting inappropriately towards another person. The current Respect campaign at ETH Zurich demonstrates how to put an end to a difficult situation when others won’t and how to switch from being a passive bystander to an active upstander

At the beginning of 2021, the “Barrier-free at ETH Zurich” programme was launched. This aims to make the university as barrier-free as possible over the course of the next few years. Progress has already been made in the fields of room acoustics and teaching.

The pandemic has changed many things - including the ways scientific staff communicate with each other. The "zoom-isation" of exchange opportunities has expanded networking and integration possibilities and supported a cultural change, say Rosa Visscher, Linda Wehner, Florentine Veenstra and Konstantinos Voulpiotis of the Scientific Staff Association AVETH.

The VSETH student association and the AVETH association of non-faculty scientific staff have launched #speakupETH, a campaign designed to highlight instances of discrimination or disadvantage at ETH Zurich. This campaign aims to make ETH Zurich a more inclusive university. An interview with the campaign managers at VSETH.

On May 21st, the Association of Scientific Staff at ETH (AVETH) and Equal! presented the first AVETH Diversity Award. The joint first prize went to the African Student Association Zurich (ASAZ) and the physicist and doctoral student Chiara Decaroli.

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.

The next edition of the employee survey will run from 23 March to 23 April 2021. The survey gives you, the employees of ETH Zurich, the opportunity to express your opinion and share feedback about your working situation at the university. In doing so, you can help shape the university’s development.

In her final year as Rector, Sarah Springman is aiming to draw attention to outstanding performance by women science to challenge and encourage the younger generations. She is holding a series of events on the subject of space exploration, with contributions from distinguished female scientists.

The first meeting of the “Barrier-Free at ETH Zurich” steering committee took place in mid-January, and the leaders of the 14 sub-projects in the categories “Construction”, “Technology” and “Organisation” have begun to put together their teams and plan the next steps.

For 13 years now, ETH Zurich has been awarding prizes to exemplary leaders. ETH members can nominate their leader for this year's ALEA Award until 16 October.

The first-ever survey of professors at ETH shows that they are generally satisfied with their working situation – but with some room for improvement.

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.

In the last few weeks, the University Assembly (UA) has expressed its opinion to the Executive Board and the ETH Board on a number of subjects.

At its last meeting the Executive Board decided to strengthen the ombudspersons and specialist support units, setting up more contact points and advisory services. It also discussed the feedback from the consultation process for the development of the doctoral programme, and passed a corresponding package of measures with a number of changes.

At a recent retreat, the Executive Board set the course for the further development of ETH Zurich’s organisational structure. The initial strategic direction was established for the Executive Board’s future composition, the university’s core values and the enhancement of ETH’s leadership culture.

In the first series of meetings chaired by the new President, Joël Mesot, ETH Zurich’s Executive Board made provisions for ten new professorships. It also concluded the project to optimise occupancy of the ETH Main Building and created a more permanent structure for the Critical Thinking Initiative.

On Friday, 15 March 2019, Joël Mesot and Sarah Springman, together with the other members of the Executive Board, held an information session for ETH employees in which they answered questions on the planned leadership measures.

ETH is an open university. This also means that physical limitations should not prevent anyone from accessing ETH. The “Barrier-Free at ETH Zurich” project, which was launched in late 2018, aims to determine which infrastructural facilities still require adjustment to ensure barrier-free access for everyone.

ETH Zurich is launching a comprehensive research initiative in a previously overlooked field of medicine, namely the medium and long-term rehabilitation of patients. The last Executive Board meetings also covered the election of two new ombudspersons, the annual gender monitoring report and the new Financial Regulations.

The Executive Board has approved the function description of the departmental delegates for good scientific practice and has also decided to develop online communication channels step by step, to award a prize for young innovators to mark the 200th birthday of Alfred Escher in 2019, and to put childcare on a new footing.

“You can’t say that, it’s far too provocative!” “That’s too wishy-washy, it has to be clear.” “You’ve crossed a line there!”

The Executive Board is launching a new campaign to encourage respectful behaviour and personal responsibility among ETH members.

The Network of Women in Computer Science is relaunching its name and logo. On Wednesday, 2nd of November, 5pm at CAB G51, all ETH members are invited to join.

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).

Katharina Poiger Ruloff will take over as ETH Zurich Secretary General from 1 October 2016. The Executive Board has announced her as the successor to the current Secretary General, Hugo Bretscher.

ETH Zurich offers a wide range of support services for students and researchers during their studies and work at the university. A new website section provides an overview of the various support options and funding instruments.

The renovation of the kihz Foundation crèche at the Hönggerberg campus created space for an extra infant group in early May. A new activity room has also been added.