The Executive Board reports 2018 / 7
ETH Zurich is the proud recipient of a new research funding instrument called “ETH+ Grants” with which ETH aims to fund major interdisciplinary research projects. In addition to this, ETH Zurich hopes to significantly reduce flight emissions. After making these decisions, the Executive Board of ETH Zurich will now take its leave for the holidays.
Change of personnel in the ETH Zurich Research Commission: The Executive Board has elected Ulrik Brandes (D-GESS), Max Schmidt (D-ERDW) and Emo Welzl (D-INFK) to take up a four-year term of office on 1 March 2019. Furthermore, Robert Flatt (D-BAUG) was elected to provide the expertise in Building Science. The Executive Board and the Research Commission would like to thank Jeffrey Bode (D-CHAB), Lars-Erik-Cederman (D-GESS), Derek Vance (D-ERDW) and Peter Widmayer (D-INFK) for their services following their decisions to step down. Anthony Patt (D-USYS) has been re-elected for a second term of office.
New ETH+ Grants
The ETH Zurich Research Commission has received a new funding instrument named “ETH+ Grants” for the funding of interdisciplinary research projects that are being carried out across multiple departments. The Executive Board is providing an additional CHF 3 million per year from its own coffers to support major interdisciplinary research projects. As a result the "ETH Zurich Research Grants" will now comprise a two-tier structure. In addition to the new “ETH+ Grants”, its predecessor the “ETH Grants” funding programme, which enjoys a high level of acceptance across all departments, will continue to be run.
"With this new line of funding, we want to use the dynamic nature of the ETH+ initiative for interdisciplinary research projects and further network the research of the individual disciplines within ETH."Detlef Günther, Vice President for Research and Corporate Relations
“ETH+ Grants” will provide funding to research projects that demonstrate a clear added value in comparison with other individual projects. Applications for the new grants must be submitted by at least three applicants from multiple departments or disciplines with a common research approach. Funding will not only be provided to doctoral students, but also to post-doctoral researchers and senior scientists.
Within an “ETH+ Grant”, interdisciplinary research projects will receive amounts ranging from CHF 750,000 to CHF 3 million. The maximum amount of funding provided for each approved “ETH Grant” will now be CHF 750,000 (previously CHF 1.5 million). Over the past 5 years, the Research Commission has approved 63 “ETH Grants” every year with an average volume of just under CHF 250,000.
All of the applicants must jointly and in equal parts contribute 25 percent of the requested funding amount from their own research reserves. The applicants’ own contribution can also be sourced from basic funding if the research reserve is less than CHF 200,000. The guidelines for the new “ETH+ Grants” will be published on the internal research funding websites by the end of January 2019 at the latest. Applications for the first round of funding must be submitted by 1 March 2019.
Reducing flight emissions by 11 percent
More than half of all of the greenhouse gas emissions produced by ETH Zurich can be attributed to travel, with 96 percent of this total caused by business flights. In order to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by flights, in April 2017 the Executive Board launched the Air Travel Project which is being headed by the Vice President for Human Resources and Infrastructure, Ulrich Weidmann. The aim of this project is to establish a realistic approach towards reducing emissions that is compatible with scientific excellence and at the same time offers the best possible career opportunities for researchers. In a participatory process, the departments and central bodies committed to a per capita reduction of 11 percent by 2025. The average figures for the years 2016–2018 serve as the reference value for this reduction.
"I am impressed that the entire ETH is taking the problem of flight emissions very seriously and is determined to substantially reduce the amount of their own greenhouse gas emissions produced by taking flights."Ulrich Weidmann, Vice President for Human Resources and Infrastructure
The reduction targets range from at least 3 percent to 20 percent, a range that also reflects the different requirements. In addition, the majority of the departments are looking to compensate for the emissions caused by aircraft operations, with ETH Zurich teaming up with the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) together with many other federal agencies. Compensation is no substitute for actually reducing emissions, but rather an additional measure and a transitional solution. Six departments have also decided to introduce their own internal “carbon tax” as a regulatory tax. The funds generated through these measures will be invested in courses, research and development programmes that focus on CO2 reduction. Finally, every department is supporting efforts to increase virtual communication, for example by increasing the number of conferences and project meetings held via digital communication channels.
From 2019, every flight taken by an ETH employee will be recorded centrally in ETHIS with the flight number, travel class and flight date. The Executive Board, departments and administrative units will each receive a monthly statement detailing the amount of CO2 emissions they caused by taking flights. This will help them to adapt their behaviour quickly and favour airlines with more efficient aircraft fleets. The project for reducing the amount of greenhouse gases caused by ETH members travelling by air will be held from 2019 to 2025, with an interim evaluation scheduled to take place in 2022.
Regular updates from the Executive Board
The ETH Zurich Executive Board meets every two weeks for its usual session. Brief summaries of the major decisions passed during these meetings can be found in this section. This edition contains the key decisions from the Executive Board meeting held on 10 December 2018.