News from the Executive Board 2024/1
At the end of last year, the Executive Board of ETH Zurich approved new features in mathematics studies and elected a new Associate Vice President for Digital Transformation and Governance.
New features in mathematics studies approved
The Bachelor's degree study in Mathematics is seeing a steady increase in the number of students. While the number of mathematics students was 348 2013, it rose to 542 Bachelor's students by 2022. For this reason, the Department of Mathematics has revised the study programme under the leadership of Director of Studies Thomas Willwacher, Professor of Mathematics (D-MATH).
The most important change relates to the removal of the Bachelor's thesis, which will be replaced by a new, compulsory course unit for Mathematical Writing. The corresponding educational objective of the degree program stipulates that graduates should be able to formulate problems precisely, communicate professionally and purposefully and present complex issues in a manner appropriate to the target audience.
The Executive Board approved the revised study regulations in line with these changes in 2023 and brought them into force at the start of the 2024 fall semester.
New Associate Vice President for Digital Transformation and Governance
The Executive Board has elected Effy Vayena, Professor of Bioethics (D-HEST), as Associate Vice President for Digital Transformation and Governance as of 1 January 2024. She succeeds Lothar Thiele, Professor Emeritus of Computer Engineering (D-ITET), who will continue to serve as Associate Vice President for Digital Transformation at ETH Zurich until 31 July 2024. The Executive Board would like to thank Thiele for his years of valuable service as Associate Vice President since 2017.
The tasks of the Delegate for Digital Transformation and Governance include in particular: the development and implementation of new initiatives and projects in matters of digital transformation and governance, as well as supporting the ETH Executive Board in matters relating to this area. The first initiative under the AVP is the establishment of the external pageETH AI Ethics and Policy Network which aims to foster responsible AI and contribute to the global dialogue for the future AI.
Chief Information Security Officer function to be strengthened
The threat of cyber attacks is one of the greatest risks to the IT of any organisation today. This also applies to ETH Zurich. Since April 2019, our university has therefore had a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). The CISO is responsible for coordinating information security throughout ETH and implementing the “Directive on Information Security at ETH Zurich". In organisational terms, the CISO was previously attached to the General Secretariat.
To strengthen the function of the CISO, the Executive Board has decided to make an adjustment here: As of 1 January 2024, the position of CISO is now part of the IT department. This will combine the resources for ensuring information security with the resources for IT security. The role of the CISO at ETH will thus be redefined and significantly expanded: the CISO will no longer only draw up the information security strategy, set guidelines, check compliance with them and issue authorisations for all areas of ETH, but will also be responsible for the technical implementation of security measures within the IT Services department, thereby improving the overall effectiveness of information security.
The position of CISO is currently being advertised.
Replacement and new elections to the Ethics Commission
Jörg Goldhahn, Professor of Translational Medicine (D-HEST), stepped down from his membership of the ETH Zurich Ethics Commission at the end of last year. He had served on the Commission since March 2018.
At its last meeting in 2023, the ETH Executive Board then elected three new members to the Ethics Commission:
- Sabine Goldhahn, D-HEST
- Gerd Kortemeyer, Rectorate
- Ivo Schauwecker, digital Trial Intervention Platform (dTIP)
This is intended to address the continuing increase in the number of ethics applications to be assessed and to expand the Commission in the areas of medicine and educational science.
The Executive Board would like to thank Jörg Goldhahn for his commitment to the Ethics Commission and wishes the three newly elected members every success in their new roles.
D-ERDW will soon be called D-EAPS
The Department of Earth Sciences (D-ERDW) will change its name to the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (D-EAPS) from 1 August 2024. This new name is intended to better reflect the department's strategy in teaching and research.
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