An insightful mediator and skilled listener: reflections of an ombudsperson

How did you learn the ropes?

I grew into my duties. When I started four years ago, there was no coaching for people taking office. This has changed in the meantime. We as ombudspersons just coached ourselves, sought out training, talked to each other and exchanged ideas.

That sounds like trial by fire...

Well, you have to consider that the cases we get are very different. In many instances, you need not only to be familiar with ETH but also to have sound judgment and common sense. You definitely can’t prepare yourself for everything with coaching.

What courses of action does an ombudsperson have when dealing with a case?

An ombudsperson doesn’t have any executive powers, meaning they can’t enforce or mandate anything. But they have the right to question any unit at ETH and receive an answer. In many cases, there are issues at play such as a lack of clarity in an employment or research contract. In the instance I’m thinking of, the person who came to us didn’t want to contact the legal department themselves because they were afraid their case could become public. Here I took on an intermediary role and inquired at the legal department myself without naming any names.

What did you particularly enjoy about your work as ombudsperson?

One aspect was the very good internal teamwork at ETH. When carrying out my duties I always received a great deal of support from all sides. The lines of communication with everyone were very good. Another aspect was that I always found it very motivating to work with young people. This was something I’d always been interested in throughout my entire career.

Which parts of the ETH community came to you for help the most often?

Over a period of four years, I received around 160 inquiries. A solid one-third were from doctoral students, around one-fourth from postdocs and senior scientists, with another 15 percent from students and 8 percent from professors. So I dealt with the full spectrum!

What were the most common kinds of problems you saw?

People’s problems were very diverse. Undergrad students had issues like exams not being conducted properly. For doctoral students and postdocs, there were problems surrounding authorship.

Doctoral students were often confronted with their supervision ending prematurely and wondering how they should go on. In cases like those I could sometimes help by finding a new supervisor or just providing moral support. One doctoral student even listed me in their acknowledgments during his defence, which made me very happy.

For postdocs the cases tended to be more difficult because the regulations for postdocs at ETH are still unclear. More needs to be done here. As employees they have very short contracts and unclear perspectives for the future. We need to catch up in terms of employment law, much like how PhD students have been addressed in the new doctoral regulations.

Are there cases that you remember particularly well?

There were definitely funny cases like a non-Swiss doctoral student whose professor invited his research group out to beer in Niederdorf on Friday evenings. Her problem was that she didn’t drink beer but didn’t feel comfortable telling her professor that’s why she didn’t want to come. I recommended that she just be open with her professor, who would certainly understand.

What about more serious cases?

There were some where I wasn’t able to find a resolution. Around 80% of cases were just dispensing advice and could be solved with three emails or meetings. But there were also cases of actual conflict that were more difficult or even unsolvable. I only had about two or three cases where I couldn’t help, and other parts of the university had to take over.

Does ETH Zurich do enough to prevent difficulties and conflicts at the workplace and in the classroom?

A lot has been done over the past four years. The university launched the Respect campaign and created a new office for the Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership. We now have to wait and see how this turns out.

Something that always bothered us as ombudspersons was that in some cases we couldn’t provide any more help because the person with the problem was afraid of what would happen if their case became known. I think this is a cultural question for ETH. There needs to be a certain openness for addressing problems without fearing what will happen next. The relationship and dependency between doctoral students and professors would benefit from more clarification here.

How are you staying connected with ETH, and what are your plans for the future?

I am still part of the Swiss Study Foundation, where I’m mentoring a group, and I regularly read the ETH news – ETH is still part of me and that’s not going to change anytime soon.

But now I have time for my hobbies, for playing music and for travelling. I’m enjoying this very much, but what I do miss is the contact with young people. This was always important to me. I very much enjoyed holding lectures and interacting with students. But everything comes to an end, and you have to make way for younger people and give them a chance to do something new. It’s not good if only “the old guys” are at the helm.