Archive internal news

Now that Covid restrictions have been lifted, more and more of us are returning to the workplace and travelling back and forth between locations and institutes again. Here¡¯s an idea for anyone who would rather have company in the car.

As a leading international university, ETH Zurich places great significance on its international relationships and partnerships. Despite the numerous advantages they afford, one should still exercise caution when pursuing activities in the international arena, as potential contractual partners might be on an official sanctions list. A new search tool has been launched to help you do your due diligence.

Following the Federal Council¡¯s decision on Wednesday, ETH Zurich will keep the current coronavirus master plan in place.

The traditional Christmas event was held virtually for the second time due to the pandemic. One of the highlights was the farewell to Rector Sarah Springman, with an almost magical atmosphere as the baton was handed over to her successor G¨¹nther Dissertori.

For the period from Friday, 24 December 2021 up to and including Sunday, 2 January 2022, special ETH Zurich opening times and operational hours apply.

With the newly introduced interaction design as well as a revised colour concept, a colour focus is set on the ETH websites. The goal is an attractive and consistent web presence for all screen sizes.

Since 1 April 2021, the ETH platform for workshop technology (in short Workshop Platform) has expanded its range of services to include design and development. This service is offered free of charge to ETH members.

Two ETH employees argue for and against the concept of flexible workplaces.

A new release from the ETH Zurich Tours app is online! Join our second tour; discover the H?nggerberg campus for yourself, and learn all about the role women played in the 160-year history of the science university.

For five years, the Ó¢»ÊÓéÀÖ Info Team has been committed to serving both the Zentrum campus and H?nggerberg campus as well as the telephone switchboard.

More and more companies and institutions are adopting a more informal internal culture. Should ETH follow suit? Christine Bratrich and Robert Schikowski, employees of ETH Zurich, stand up for their position.

Beware of emails from fraudsters posing as supervisors! Since the coronavirus pandemic began, there¡¯s been an upsurge in internet fraud. How can we arm ourselves against it? ?

Some new guidelines for procuring goods and services entered into effect at the beginning of this year. The following points apply to anyone planning to make purchases of CHF 10,000 or more.

Despite slowdown, lockdown, home office and digitalisation, documents, flyers, posters, etc., are still needed in printed form. In addition to the web shop and Service Hotline, Print and Publish will now support you in handling your print orders by distributing printed materials in Switzerland without shipping charges.

Do you believe a first-name culture across the university would offer many advantages? Then take the chance to convince other ETH members with your arguments in the next issue of life magazine!

The ETH Store has entered into a partnership with ETH spin-off HeiQ to offer antimicrobial masks to the ETH community. The masks are treated to provide highly effective protection against microbes and germs.

Following the latest measures announced by the Federal Council, all ETH members must work remotely from home as of Monday. The only exceptions are for experimental work, workshops or other activities requiring on-site presence. University buildings will mostly be closed, with a few exceptions. The exam session is still going ahead as planned from 25 January onwards, with some exams sat in person.

The Zukunftsblog is ETH Zurich¡¯s editorial platform, where ETH experts have been able to express their views on important issues surrounding sustainability, digitalisation and health. The Zukunftsblog is now opening up to include articles on any significant social issue from ETH researchers.

Sports and physical activity are important for your well-being during this challenging period. ETH Zurich is launching #moveETH to encourage students and staff to be active and to motivate each other on social media.

For the period from Thursday, 24 December 2020 up to and including Sunday, 3 January 2021, special ETH Zurich opening times and operational hours apply.

Opening hours for ETH Zurich buildings will be restricted from 7 December.

ETH Zurich is growing. To make more space for teaching, research and knowledge and technology transfer on campus, the Executive Board domains of Infrastructure and Personnel Development and Leadership moved to the Octavo building in Oerlikon this month. In this building near the railway station, employees work in open multi-space office premises that facilitate new forms of collaboration.

By 2030, the Zurich City university district is set to undergo major changes. ETH will renovate its canteen and multi-purpose building under the Polyterrasse as well as the main building and forecourt. USZ and UZH will build a new hospital as well as an education and research centre. The streets, cycle paths and green spaces will be redesigned.

The Executive Board has decided to continue to permit the use of Zoom at ETH, initially (for legal reasons) until the end of June 2021. However, the plan is to keep the conferencing tool available after the coronavirus crisis ends.

In this extraordinary year, social distancing and virtual communication have turned our everyday life topsy-turvy. Christmas cards help us connect and give a sense of belonging.

More quality competition, sustainability and innovation: with these goals in mind, legislators have introduced a paradigm shift with the new public procurement law. Successful implementation will depend on the efforts of procurement offices and suppliers in equal measure. ETH Zurich welcomes this change and intends to take advantage of the opportunities.

Since early November, the ETH Store on H?nggerberg campus has been offering an expanded selection that includes food and drinks alongside books, stationery and other merchandise. To offer this new one stop shop, the ETH Store has entered into a partnership with Valora.

For those experiencing serious conflicts, threats or abuse in the workplace, it can often seem as though there is no way out. New regulations set out the procedure for dealing with difficult situations at ETH.

The new ETH AI Center will officially open its doors on 20 October 2020. It has been headed by Executive Director Alexander Ilic since 1 October. What motivated the co-founder of ETH spin-off Dacuda and holder of two Entrepreneur of the Year awards to return to ETH Zurich?

The VSETH printing service?Student Print On Demand (SPOD) will be incorporated in the Print and Publish range of services as a pilot project this semester. The service will be available from the online web shop as of 14?October 2020.

The ETH discussion on values has been launched ¨C 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.

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 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.

VIScon Digital is set to take place in ETH¡¯s main building from 5 to 10 October, and will be streamed online. All ETH employees are invited to attend. The talks, presentations and events will offer insights into current trends in and around the field of computer science, including developments relating to the coronavirus pandemic.

For 27 years, Wolfram Uhlig and his assistants have delighted their audience with barking "Chemical Dogs", flash fires of burning oil, and meter-high fountains of beer foam. Uhlig combined entertaining experiments with theoretical background in his shows. Now, he retires.

ETH¡¯s annual vaccination campaign against seasonal influenza is to run again in this pandemic year. This autumn, the Safety, Security, Health and Environment (SSHE) department will offer the voluntary and free service to ETH members. Additional vaccinations have been organised as a result of the high demand.

We now know who will head the two new Executive Board domains. ETH Zurich President Jo?l Mesot explains what this move means for professors, staff and the Executive Board.

The background work of the Safety, Security, Health and Environment (SSHE) department is a major reason that ETH Zurich has come through the coronavirus crisis relatively unscathed. Katherine Timmel and Reto Suter discuss the work of the SSHE team and current Covid-19 cases.

There's so much to organise and think about when planning an event ¨C especially in the coronavirus era. That includes obtaining the necessary permit to hold the event. Thanks to a new tool called Servix, getting an event approved is now easier than ever.

The ETH Link will run on electricity from the beginning of the semester. Starting on 14 September 2020, electric articulated buses will link the H?nggerberg campus with the Zentrum campus. Alongside the ¡°eLink¡± connection, there will be new charging stations for electric vehicles and more services for e-bikes.

In the townhall on September 3, the two members of the Executive Board, Ueli Weidmann and Sarah Springman, answered questions from ETH members about the recently enacted regulations.

Under ETH Z¨¹rich¡¯s safety protocol for the Autumn Semester 2020, everyone is required to wear a facemask indoors. Dr Hermann Lehner, head of Academic Services, provides some general background and explains why this practical measure is essential.

No event at ETH must last longer than 1 ? hours and drinks parties can only be held in catering facilities or outdoors.

Since Monday, wearing a facemask as soon as you enter any university building has been compulsory at ETH Zurich. In this interview, Dr Leonhard Sigel, head of the Occupational Medicine and Health Protection section of SSHE at our university, explains why facemasks are a necessary and sensible measure.

Emergency mode at ETH has led to many changes: from teleworking and virtual lectures to online events, things that were mostly unpopular a few months ago now seem to be the way of the future. We spoke with Anahita Zelger, Events Project Leader, about events in the corona era and which aspects of the lockdown are here to stay.

Monday, 31 August sees the start of the next stage of the ETH Master Plan for restart, which mainly concerns the Autumn Semester 2020 and will last up to the end of the year. To keep the risk of coronavirus spreading as low as possible, everyone will be required to wear a facemask as soon as they enter any ETH building. This measure already applies from 24 August.

A 245-tonne circular concrete chamber has been installed at the H?nggerberg campus. It serves as the housing of a large geotechnical centrifuge that is used to model earthquakes and their effects on soils and buildings.

Sharing knowledge and technology with foreign countries may be subject to legal restrictions or even banned altogether. ETH¡¯s export control service is on hand to advise ETH members and ensure that they comply with the necessary regulations.

A survey of ETH Zurich professors reveals their approval of the university¡¯s air travel project. Many of the respondents have already reduced their business air travel in recent years. Virtual events could be a sensible alternative.

The ETH Library will be accessible again at all locations starting 3 August 2020. Please note the opening hours for the individual locations.

Members of ETH Zurich can now stream a selection of European and international art-house films.

Organising session examinations during the coronavirus pandemic is an extraordinary logistical challenge. In August, more than 12,000 students will take these exams. After weeks of intense planning, the Rectorate has published its health and safety concept for exam season.

Going forward, three confidants will serve as contact persons for all questions about good scientific practice. Three commissions ¨C the Strategy Commission, the Research Commission and the Commission for Good Scientific Practice (GSP) ¨C have also inducted new members, with the Strategy Commission welcoming Ulrike Kutay as its new President.

The Executive Board has approved the further use of Zoom at ETH until the end of the year.

All passengers using the ETH bus connection between the Zentrum and H?nggerberg campuses must wear a mask from Monday, 6 July.

Signs of life have slowly been returning to the ETH campus since the beginning of June. Since then, the Federal Council has decided to further ease lockdown restrictions. ETH Vice President Ueli Weidmann, head of the university¡¯s COVID-19 task force, tells us what we should expect in the months ahead.

The SwissCovid app is officially available since Thursday 25 June. If you are already using the pilot version, this explains what you need to do if you want to continue using the app.

The Ó¢»ÊÓéÀÖ Services and IT Services departments are now offering virtual event solutions for ETH members.

ETH Zurich has appointed a new delegate for medicine and a new external ombudsman; it is also getting a new unique NMR spectrometer for nationwide use.

For 25 years, Marianna Berger held various administrative positions at ETH Zurich, most recently in the Department of Computer Science. Before her retirement at the end of June, she looks back on her varied career at the university.

Researchers, laypeople and learning machines are working together to find ways of containing the coronavirus. This is rendered possible by the new Citizen Science Project Builder. This web-based tool for research projects allows volunteers to classify large amounts of image, audio and text data.

All content from ScienceDirect is now accessible to ETH members.

Despite the university going into emergency mode, staff at the Registrar¡¯s Office have continued working in the Main Building. While the office now lacks face-to-face contact with its most important group of stakeholders, adapting to unforeseen events is nothing out of the ordinary for those who work there.

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

ETH members are gradually returning to buildings on the campus. From 8 June especially, there will be increased activity in office buildings and laboratories. So the obvious question is, how best to protect ourselves. We asked the advice of Dr Leonhard Sigel, head of the Occupational Medicine and Health Protection section of SSHE at our university.

For two months, ETH Zurich operated in emergency mode. During this time, the vast majority of buildings, lecture halls, laboratories and offices remained empty. Two photographers visited ETH in April in order to capture a largely deserted campus with only a few people still on site.

Last Friday the Executive Board communicated the master plan setting out how ETH Zurich intends to resume normal operations. At yesterday¡¯s virtual townhall meeting, the Executive Board answered all the relevant questions asked by ETH members. ?

The Print and Publish webshop has now produced a number of templates for communicating the emergency operation requirements. This new offering is tailored to the needs of ETH members and is constantly being expanded.

Pharmacy student Ilario Scapozza is helping out at a pharmacy during the corona crisis. Doing something useful motivates him in these troubled times, and he¡¯s developing skills that will be valuable for his career too.

At last Thursday¡¯s meeting, ETH Zurich¡¯s Executive Board passed the master plan for the university¡¯s gradual return to normal operations and approved the relevant plans for the academic departments and central bodies.

Nicola R¨¹egsegger and Pascal Wacker are studying computer science at ETH Zurich as a second career path. With their know-how, they helped set up two platforms that help place students and personnel in the most affected hospitals.

All ETH Zurich buildings have been closed. Until further notice, they can only be opened using a key or an ETH employee card and the corresponding access code. As the head of the ET building area in the Facility Management Department, Ruedi Streuli talks about the current situation in the D-?ITET buildings in the campus Zentrum.

In a week¡¯s time, the Executive Board of ETH Zurich will set out the plan for the university¡¯s phasing out of emergency operations and will hold a townhall meeting to explain the details.

In times of corona, online communication is more crucial for ETH Zurich than ever. But right now, cyberattacks, computer viruses and the like can inflict considerable damage.

Zoom has really taken off, including at ETH. But now media reports have raised some red flags: at issue are data security and protection of privacy. Rui Brandao, Director of IT Services, responds to questions about Zoom and other communication platforms at ETH.

Following the successful completion of a pilot project, first-year exams can now be taken in two separate blocks in future. The Executive Board has also approved the curricula for a new type of study programme in materials science, as well as the new communication strategy for ETH Zurich.

Balancing the individual needs of 10,000 employees with the demands of running ETH Zurich during the current crisis: this was the challenge facing the Executive Board when deciding on the new regulations governing working hours, holidays and childcare.

The Human Resources (HR) Department has drafted special regulations to clarify how the university deals with working hours, holidays and childcare during emergency operations. Vice President Ulrich Weidmann explains the general approach and why the new rules are necessary.

On 17 March ETH announced a switch to emergency operations. Since then, classroom teaching has been suspended and on-site research activity reduced to a minimum. We sat down with ETH Vice President and crisis team leader Ulrich Weidmann to learn more about how ETH stays up and running in emergency mode.

The Botnar Research Centre for Child Health (BRCCH) announces the launch of a fast-track call to address several critical areas related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Working from home has its benefits, but requires adapting to a new work routine. Check out the tips the Department of Computer Science has compiled.

Working from home for such a long period of time is a new challenge for us ETH members. Here is some advice from HR on how to make the best of the situation ¨C while staying healthy in body and mind.

Ueli Maurer, Director of Studies ?of the Department of Computer Science, talks in an interview about the challenges of the transition to online teaching and how things will continue. The new experiences are also to be incorporated into future teaching.

A pool of helpers has been set up to help members of the ETH community who are under extra stress due to emergency operations. Volunteers are constantly being sought for this.

Yesterday the Vice President for Research issued a directive on research while ETH Zurich is in emergency mode.

At the town hall meeting last Tuesday, many questions were asked about the current working arrangements during emergency operations. The FAQs on the coronavirus website provide the answers.

ETH Zurich has switched to emergency mode and all university buildings are closed until further notice. What means emergency operation for the postal service, sport, catering and all other campus facilities?

A new newsletter has been set up to regularly update ETH staff when new articles are published on the internal news site ¨C for instance, new messages from the coronavirus task force.

ETH Zurich is doing everything in its power to contain the coronavirus epidemic. For ETH, switching to emergency operations has been an enormous feat. The ETH Executive Board held a virtual town hall meeting to answer the ETH community¡¯s questions about this extraordinary situation.

Since Friday, 20 March, all ETH Zurich buildings are closed. Until further notice, they can only be opened using a key or an ETH employee card and the corresponding access code.

In times of COVID-?19, hospitals are in desperate need of support, and students can make a difference.

A second case of coronavirus infection at ETH Zurich was confirmed on Sunday evening.

The first confirmed case of a coronavirus infection at ETH Zurich has been reported.

Until 26 March 2020, an exhibition at the Ó¢»ÊÓéÀÖ Info on the H?nggerberg campus will show how the excellent anergy grid works.

The new campaign "Guard your treasures" informs about risks in digital everyday life and provides practical IT security tip.

The situation regarding the Coronavirus is constantly evolving: updated information for ETH members.

In the Executive Board¡¯s Town Hall forum on February 4, the focus was on the sweeping initiative to refine ETH¡¯s organisational structure. ETH members are invited to help shape rETHink through various forms of participation.

ETH members are advised to take various precautionary measures with regard to the coronavirus.

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.

The ongoing development of ETH Zurich¡¯s organisational structure as part of the rETHink project is starting to take shape. At its first meeting of 2020, the Executive Board discussed the results of the consultation and used them as a basis to adapt and approve the changes to the ETH Organisation Ordinance.