On the proposal of the President of ETH Zurich, Professor Joël Mesot, the ETH Board has appointed Thomas Scheiber as a member of the Executive Board. He will succeed Professor Ulrich Weidmann as Vice President for Infrastructure and Sustainability with effect from 1 April 2027.
The four research institutes of the ETH Domain are to collaborate even more closely under a shared roof. They will strengthen the way they coordinate and collaborate on overarching strategic research programmes and will gradually merge their support services.
At its meeting of 23/24 September 2026 and upon application of the President of ETH Zurich, Professor Joël Mesot, and the President of EPFL, Professor Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, the ETH Board appointed a total of six women and eleven men as professors.
Pursuant to Art. 27 of the Ordinance on Public Procurement, contracting authorities subject to the Swiss federal legislation on public procurement are required once a year to report in electronic form on their public contracts exceeding CHF 50,000.
More than 20 organisations support this initiative, including the ETH Board. A call is being made to parliamentarians to ensure that the necessary funding can be approved by December, as part of the Bilateral Agreements III package.
On 26 August, the Federal Council elected environmental scientist Tobias Walser to the ETH Board as a delegate of the university assemblies of ETH Zurich and EPFL.
At its meeting of 15/16 July 2026 and upon application of the President of ETH Zurich, Professor Joël Mesot, and the President of EPFL, Professor Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, the ETH Board appointed a total of seven women and three men as professors and awarded the title of professor to one individual and the title of Professor of Practice to one individual.
On 24 June, the Federal Council appointed Günther Dissertori as the new president of ETH Zurich, following a proposal by the ETH Board. The 56-year-old is currently the rector of ETH Zurich and a professor of particle physics. He will take up his post on 1 January 2027, succeeding Joël Mesot.
On 27 May, the Federal Council appointed Professor Martin Ackermann to a second term as director of the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag). The four-year term will run from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2030.
At its meeting of 20/21 May, the ETH Board discussed the conditions for the cooperation with the DDPS (and the Federal Office for Defence Procurement, armasuisse), which is to be intensified in accordance with the Federal Council’s new armaments policy strategy.
At its meeting of 20/21 May 2026 and upon application of the President of ETH Zurich, Professor Joël Mesot, and the President of EPFL, Professor Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, the ETH Board appointed a total of six women and thirteen men as professors and awarded the title of professor to five individuals and the title of Professor of Practice to two individuals.
At its meeting of 4/5 March, the ETH Board decided to put forward two versions of the organisational development project “FIT for the Future” for internal consultation within the ETH Domain.
Their names are Marianne Liebi Adrian Wanner. Two young researchers who make the nanostructure of macroscopic samples, such as bones or brain tissue, visible in three dimensions using high-resolution images.
Empa researchers have developed novel materials made of carbon that exploit quantum effects to exhibit previously unattainable electronic and magnetic properties.
Professor of number theory Maryna Viazovska has solved a mathematical problem that has stumped researchers for centuries. This achievement brought her recognition with the Fields Medal, which is something like a “Nobel Prize for Mathematics”.
The institutions of the ETH Domain produce around 60 spin-offs each year. Among them, five are valued at over one billion dollars. Here is an introduction to these five “unicorns”.
The Swiss energy system is expected to be climate-neutral by 2050. The key to this is science: CO2 can be converted by electrolysis into raw materials for chemicals or synthetic fuels and the cost of a fossil-free energy system can be calculated using modelling.
Matthias Saurer is a physicist and heads the WSL isotope laboratory where complex measuring procedures are used to determine plants’ isotope ratios. These provide answers to questions about the nutrient and water balance in forests, for example, and provide important foundations for environmental and climate research.
Anna Kiesenhofer has a doctorate in mathematics and was doing research as a postdoc at EPFL on partial differential equations when she qualified for the cycling road race at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and won the gold medal in sensational fashion. She sees parallels between mathematics and cycling which were instrumental in her success.
Cyanobacteria are ancient organisms. The most varied types of shells without a core, which, at high density in warm waters, can secrete complex substances and also toxins. Some are toxic to both humans and animals. Elisabeth Janssen is on the trail of these natural toxins: applied research, the results of which can be incorporated into water protection or water management.
Quantum physics has a long tradition at ETH Zurich. Now it is further expanding its teaching and research activities. Around 150 students are completing the novel Master’s degree programme in Quantum Engineering, there is a “Quantum Center” and quantum computers are to be built in the ETHZ-PSI Quantum Computing Hub.
Failing to perform an experiment, considering the wrong hypothesis, having a paper rejected: failure is not only normal in science, it is also essential for cutting-edge research. What is the experience of researchers in the ETH Domain with this sensitive topic?
A pan-European initiative launched at the behest of the Swiss and British research communities calls for the two countries to be rapidly reintegrated into European science.
What are the institutions of the ETH Domain doing to reduce the CO2 emissions of their buildings? An overview shows: quite a lot, from anergy and waste heat to district heating and photovoltaics.
The consultation on two versions of FIT for the Future took place within the ETH Domain between March and June 2026. The great majority of the opinions expressed were in favour of the “Swiss National Labs” (SNLs) option.
The four research institutes of the ETH Domain are to collaborate even more closely under a shared roof. They will strengthen the way they coordinate and collaborate on overarching strategic research programmes and will gradually merge their support services. Their own well-established areas of focus and their names will be retained. The ETH Board decided to go ahead with this further development and strengthening of the ETH Domain at its meeting on 23/24 September.
For the period 2029–2032, the ETH Domain aims to serve Switzerland effectively by advancing science, providing high-quality education and scientific services, and promoting innovation and knowledge and technology transfer; it also aims to remain highly competitive internationally.
Der Strategische Plan ist das zentrale Instrument, mit dem der ETH-Rat die wesentlichen Ausrichtungen des ETH-Bereichs für die nächste vierjährige Finanzierungsperiode festlegt.
Key figures
Highlights from the ETH Domain in 2025
“We want to serve Switzerland as best we can”
Image: Aurel Märki
Blue-green infrastructure
In Zurich-Oerlikon, a dog-like robot from the ETH Zurich spin-off Rivr delivers food, while ANYmal inspects refineries and chemical plants and reports leaks or irregularities to the control centre. The research behind these developments comes from the Center for Roboticsat ETH Zurich, led by Marco Hutter. And the robotics researcher is thinking further – into space.
How a sanitary towel detects diseases
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