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June
März2014
2014
Das
für magazine
die ETH-Community
ETH Magazin
community
MATTER IN HAND EU programmes
Keeping the
horizon in sight Strong women in chemistry Page 8
Reconciliation as a vocation Page 14
Page 4
Pin board
Dual careers –
a factor in career
choice
5 to 6 June. For 15 years, ETH
Zurich has been offering support to its professors’ partners.
Helping them to find employment
either within or outside the university is one of the main tasks of the Dual
Career Advice Office. To mark the end
of the EU-sponsored TANDEM project
at ETH in June, university representatives from all over Europe discussed
the relationship between dual career
services and international research
careers.
The results of the TANDEM
project will be published at:
www.euraxess-tandem.eu →
In the film series “ETH Zurich –
a smart choice for science and
family”, male and female professors talk about dual careers
at ETH.
Personal advice
at the Welcome Center
April 2014. The Welcome Center at ETH
helps foreign doctoral students and postdocs come to Switzerland and settle in.
Since April, Catherine Arnold (HR) has been
giving them individual help and advice from
the Help Desk on the Hönggerberg campus.
The Help Desk is in the HPI Building F12 and is
open on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. –
or by arrangement (email: [email protected]).
www.welcomecenter.ethz.ch →
Publishing information
“life – the magazine for the ETH community”
is a medium for internal communication
within ETH Zurich and is published q
uarterly
in German and English by Corporate
C ommunications (HK).
Editorial office
Norbert Staub (Editor-in-Chief)
Florian Meyer, Andrea Schmits
Images, layout
Evelyn Graf
Proofreading
Beate Marder (German), Lilian Dutoit (English)
Translation
Syntax Translations Ltd
Layout, concept
Agentur Paroli AG
Printing
Neidhart + Schön AG
Circulation
17,000 copies
Contact
life magazine, ETH Zurich,
HG FO 37.6, 8092 Zurich
Email the editors: [email protected]
Further information: www.ethz.ch/life
Cover
The illustration on the cover of this issue
is by Paula Troxler.
12 June to 13 July. From the second
round on 28 June, the Football World
Cup enters its most exciting phase –
and you’ll be able to watch it on the
ETH campus. There will be public
viewings in the bQm Sports Café on
the Polyterrasse on the ETH Zurich
Zentrum campus and in the summer
garden of the Alumni Lounge on the
ETH Zurich Hönggerberg campus.
All the World Cup matches that kick
off before midnight will be shown
in the bQm. The Alumni Lounge will
be showing matches starting before
10 p.m. The matches to be shown will
be decided at the start of each week.
www.ethz.ch/wm2014 →
(Photo: ASVZ Sports Café / istock)
Watch the
Cup Final at ETH
(Foto: ETH
(Photo:
Daniel
Zürich
Auf/der
Daniel
Mauer)
Auf der Mauer)
togETHer goes to the circus
22 August 2014. “Let the show begin!” is the theme
for togETHer, the ETH staff party, which will bring
the magic of the circus to ETH this year. From 4 p.m.
until midnight, musicians, jugglers and acrobats
will keep visitors young and old entertained on the
Hönggerberg campus – and there’ll be lots of other
attractions too.
ETH heads up three national
energy competence centres
www.together.ethz.ch →
5 May 2014. The federal government is providing CHF 72 million to fund eight Swiss competence centers for energy
research (SCCER) between 2013 and 2016. ETH Zurich is
in overall charge of three of them: the SCCER Efficiency
of Industrial Processes (Head: Philipp Rudolph von Rohr,
D-MAVT), the SCCER Efficient Technologies and Systems
for Mobility (Head: Konstantinos Boulouchos, D-MAVT) and
the SCCER Supply of Electricity (Head: Domenico Giardini,
D-ERDW). “The energy research community at ETH Zurich
is very proud. Thanks to this federal funding, ETH will be
able to launch new and innovative research activities”, says
Marco Mazzotti, Chairman of the Board of the ETH Energy
Science Center.
focusTerra celebrates
its 5th anniversary
www.kti.admin.ch/energie →
(Photo: Andreas Eggenberger)
April 2009. The distinctive exhibition tower is the
trademark of focusTerra. On its three storeys, visitors learn about the geological processes in and on
our planet. About 60,000 children, teens and adults
have visited focusTerra since it opened in 2009 and
120 students and doctoral students from ETH and
the University of Zurich have been involved in the
work of focusTerra. On 8 May 2014, the focusTerra
team led by Ulrike Kastrup celebrated its anniversary with many invited guests.
IARU: Towards
a sustainable campus
Opening hours: Mon – Fri: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.,
Sun: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Public guided tours on Sunday
Free admission
(Photo: Radek Brunecký)
www.focusterra.ethz.ch/index_EN →
24 to 25 April 2014. The International Alliance of
Research Universities (IARU) is an association of
ten of the world’s leading universities. ETH Zurich
is one of them and in April this year it hosted the
annual meeting. One important topic was the “Sustainable Campus Initiative” and the ways in which
universities can contribute to sustainable development in their regions. A guideline including case
studies demonstrating best practice is due to be
published in autumn.
www.iaruni.org →
life 6 / 2014
3
matter in hand Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020
Towards Europe:
All at sea
Since February, ETH Zurich’s researchers and students have been partially excluded
from Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020. Here is an assessment of the situation.
Text Florian Meyer Illustrations Paula Troxler
The horizon is a key metaphor for open
and objective fundamental research: for
researchers, it is the dividing line between
the perceptible and the imperceptible
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life 6 / 2014
that shifts when they use their methods
to acquire new knowledge.
“Horizon 2020”, the name of the EU
Framework Programme for Research and
Innovation from 2014 to 2020, picks up
on this image. “Frameworks are fixed,
but horizons are dynamic, so the horizon
metaphor fits very well with the broader
possibilities of the new European funding
programme”, said Peter Strohschneider,
speaking in Berlin in January. The President of the German Research Foundation
(DFG) was referring to a change in European funding policy, which is moving away
from closely managed technology and
innovation funding to a comprehensive
scientific funding system with “stable
medium-term funding for fundamental
research”.
The largest research programme
Strohschneider is calling on the European
Research Area not just to focus on politics,
but to consider cross-border cooperation
and the necessary differences between
national research systems too, as science cannot develop in an enclosed space.
Strohschneider’s thoughts highlight
the importance of the world’s largest research and innovation programme (which
has a payload of 77 billion euros – around
94 billion Swiss francs) for ETH Zurich
too, with its strengths in fundamental
research and technology transfer. Since
Switzerland voted to curb immigration
in February, it is classed as a third country rather than an associated country in
relation to Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020.
Moreover, talks with the EU on what
will happen next to the links between
Swiss research and Europe are currently
suspended (status as of 17 June).
Association is a priority
“ETH Zurich is keen to foster competition
and exchange with universities and re
search institutions in Europe”, says ETH
President Ralph Eichler. “The priority
is to ensure that, if possible, Switzerland reestablishes its association from
2015 onwards and that our researchers
are included in the European Research
Council’s evaluations even if Switzerland
had to fund the grants itself.”
Until then, he would welcome the
temporary backup measures proposed
by the Federal Council and the Swiss
National Science Foundation (SNSF

Grants), because his “main concern is
the unclear situation for students and
researchers” (see p. 6).
The Executive Board and other ETH
members are keeping close contact with
federal authorities, Parliament and the
“FUTURE Network” team of politicians (see p. 7 ) in order to expound the
importance of the international programmes and the university’s need for
foreign students and highly qualified
researchers (see p. 6 ).
The Federal Council intends to propose an interim solution whereby the
life 6/ 2014
5
ETH President Ralph Eichler has his sights fixed on the future:
association with Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020 remain a top priority. (Photo: Stéphanie Marie Couson)
“The unclear situation
is my main concern”
Text Florian Meyer
ETH remains a magnet for excellent
research, says ETH President Ralph
Eichler, who is calling for optimum
framework conditions.
“ERC grants are the new currency for
scientific quality”, said Ralph Eichler,
speaking in Israel in May, “not scientific
or natural science papers anymore.” Since
their introduction in 2007, the European
Research Council’s grants have become an
established benchmark and seal of quality
for cutting-edge research.
Why? Because independent experts
measure the quality of research projects
across Europe with the same yardstick.
ETH researchers will be left out of this
comparison if they can no longer apply
for ERC grants, which is rather exasperating given that ETH Zurich had a success
rate of 31.5 percent in obtaining Starting
Grants and Advanced Grants up to 2013.
Ralph Eichler therefore believes it is all
the more important for researchers at
ETH to be able to apply for ERC funding
again as soon as possible.
“My main concern is the unclear situation for students and researchers”,
says Ralph Eichler. “At the moment we
don’t know if and when Switzerland will
be associated with the EU programmes
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life 6 / 2014
again.” It is therefore difficult to gauge
the impact of this exclusion on reputation
and finances. “Only one thing is certain:
we won’t notice the financial effects until
2016 at the earliest, because until then
funds will still be received from the ongoing framework programme for research”,
says Eichler. There is ambiguity amongst
EU partners too: ETH researchers are
not prohibited from taking part in EU
joint projects, but Switzerland bears the
costs of this. Even more seriously, Eichler
notes: “We currently have no access to
the data in the Euratom nuclear research
programme.” The rectors’ conferences
in Germany and France have indicated
their support, as has the IDEA League.
residence permits and bring their families
into the country if Switzerland were to
introduce quotas. As Ralph Eichler announced on Radio SRF in March, Swiss
universities have now submitted a statement to the Federal Office for Migration
arguing that quotas should give priority
to highly qualified university staff and
students should not be subject to quotas at
all. Ralph Eichler and his successor Lino
Guzzella are continuing to consider what
position ETH could adopt with regard to
referendums: “This calls for new approaches, because tax-funded campaigns are
out of the question for ETH.” 
Statement on quotas
Information events
ETH Zurich is holding information events
for researchers and administrative staff:
→EU GrantsAccess. Horizon 2020 Conference. Thursday, 6 November 2014,
ETH Main Building.
→Swiss National Science Foundation.
Research Day. Wednesday, 26 November 2014, ETH Main Building (Audi Max).
→EU GrantsAccess will be holding an
information event on “Financial accounting for EU projects” in the autumn.
The date and venue will be announced
in due course.
Ralph Eichler does not wish to dramatise matters: “ETH is and remains a
magnet for outstanding researchers.” In
spite of the exclusion from ERC grants,
he is keen to stress his opposition to dual
professorships with EU universities: “Researchers either come to ETH or they
don’t.”
He is more concerned about the situation for scientific staff, as ERC grants
would be a hugely important benchmark
for the careers of young researchers in
Switzerland. It would be much more
difficult for foreign scientists to obtain
contributions originally intended for
Brussels can be used to fund the participation of Swiss-based researchers in
Horizon 2020.
“It is not totally clear to researchers
how funding for their positions will be
secured in future”, says Lars Büthe,
President of AVETH, the A
cademic
Association of Scientific Staff at
ETH Zurich. “The ERC grants and the
Marie S
kłodowska-Curie Actions would
be important for scientists pursuing an
academic career.”
Rearranged partnerships
Yet it is these very funding schemes that
they can no longer take part in, or only
on a restricted basis, and Swiss universities cannot take on any researchers with
these grants. In the long term, Switzer
land’s exclusion from EU career funding
instruments may have an adverse effect
on the immigration of excellent young
researchers, says Agatha Keller, Co-Head
of the information and counselling centre
EU GrantsAccess.
“In terms of Erasmus+, the institutio
nal partnerships in the European Higher
Education Area are fraught with uncertainties and hassle, as we have to arrange
the bilateral exchange agreements with
partner universities individually”, says
Rector Lino Guzzella.
Not all of the 90 or so Erasmus partner
universities have agreed to continue the
student exchange programme yet. As an
interim solution, Switzerland is paying
for both its own and foreign students’
exchange visits itself.
Thomas Bernauer, a professor of international relations at ETH and a member of the SNSF’s Commission for Temporary Backup Schemes, expects the
negotiations over the bilateral agreements
Lobbying
for universities
Text Florian Meyer
“There is a need for active lobbying in
Parliament in the interests of science,”
says Petra Studer. “While there is a great
deal of goodwill towards education and
research in Bern, few politicians come
from that background themselves. That’s
why many of them don’t understand, for
example, why international competition
is so important for science and innovation
in Switzerland.”
As the coordinator of the “FUTURE
Network”, Petra Studer bridges the gap
between politics and science. She is familiar with both worlds, from her work
for the FDP (Liberal Party) in Switzerland, for the Basel-Stadt trade association,
as a former active politician and as the
Public Affairs manager at EPFL. Now
Studer, who comes from the Basel area,
also represents the interests of Swiss universities and research institutions before
the Federal Administration and in the
Petra Studer (Foto: Nicole Nars-Zimmer)
Wandelhalle (lobby) of the Parliament
Building. However, the actual “lobbying”
is carried out by the 44 parliamentarians
who make up the “FUTURE” team of politicians led by member of the Council of
States, Felix Gutzwiller (FDP, canton of
Zurich). They speak up for the scientific
community in Parliament. All the political
parties and the relevant commissions are
represented on this team.
The “FUTURE Network” has been
in existence since 2001 and Studer has
been the coordinator since May 2012. Its
and access to EU programmes to continue
for some time yet.
He would like to see “fewer political
restraints on action” if ETH is affected
by further referendums in future: “from
a moral as well as a politico-strategic
perspective. I have some great employees
and colleagues from all over the world
who are tremendously committed to ETH
and Swiss research. They deserve for us
to champion their cause.”
Science is international
Ulrich Weidmann, Head of the Department of Civil, Environmental and
Geomatic Engineering, takes a similar
view: in the long term, the universities
will have to make it clear “that the current international state of science and
Switzerland’s prosperity cannot be maintained without highly qualified people
from abroad”.
activities and publications are financed
by the three Rectors’ Conferences, the
Swiss National Science Foundation and
the Academies. As a member of CRUS,
the Rectors’ Conference of the Swiss Universities, ETH Zurich also supports the
network.
Studer’s work supplements the cooperation between ETH Zurich and the
ETH Board with federal departments,
and the presence of ETH representatives
on the commissions.
Studer and the FUTURE team concentrate on influencing opinion among
members of the National Council and
Council of States, and on preparatory
work with the commissions or in the earlier stages of the political process. “As well
as the question of Swiss association with
EU programmes, the joint positioning of
universities to fund education, research
and innovation in the years 2017 to 2020
will be a big challenge.” 
Newsletter and Fact Sheets about research,
education and innovation policy:
www.netzwerk-future.ch →
life 6/ 2014
7
conversations
Jessica Schulz and Katherine Elvira are connecting women
within the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at ETH Zurich.
“Women need
female role models”
With their newly founded women’s association, WiNS, two women from D-CHAB want to help
their colleagues to network and show them that there are women at the top.
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life 6 / 2014
“There are also men
who would like to come
to our events.”
Katherine Elvira
Interview Andrea Schmits
Photo Oliver Bartenschlager
These are two women in a male-dominated
environment: Katherine Elvira (29) and
Jessica Schulz (26) work as Senior Assistant
and doctoral student respectively in the
Department of Chemistry and Applied
Biosciences (D-CHAB) at ETH Zurich.
Together with three other female scientists, they have founded the “WiNS” association. The abbreviation stands for
“Society for Women in Natural Sciences”.
The first two events took place in February and May. A “getting-to-know-you”
event was followed by an evening with
representatives from companies such as
Novartis, Lonza and Google.
Ms Schulz and Ms Elvira, why is a women’s association needed?
Schulz: There are only a few women in
D-CHAB. And the number declines from
doctoral level to professor level. Perhaps
it’s because like attracts like, so more
men apply for professor positions. Many
women do not have a female role model.
The more women want to become professors, the more normal it will become.
The WiNS association
The “Society for Women in Natural Sciences (WiNS)” is open to all women in
D-CHAB, from doctoral students to professors. The association organises five
events a year: two career-focused events,
two “fun events” and one welcome event
for newcomers.
www.wins.ethz.ch →
We want to encourage the members of
ETH to consider this.
Elvira: If female scientists are to receive better support, people need to be aware
of the problem.
How will the WiNS association help
to solve the problem?
Elvira: It’s difficult to get to know new
people here, because the teams are so
focused on their own research. We want
to bring women in the department closer
together through our events.
Schulz: Our “fun events” are an opportunity for women to get to know each
other, make friends and even start to work
together. With the career events, we want
to show them what opportunities there
are on the labour market, and that women
have made it to the top. The women in
D-CHAB have been very positive about
the idea: around 60 people took part in
each of the first two events.
What do the men in D-CHAB think of
the association?
Elvira: Unlike in the UK or the USA, such
women’s associations are still relatively
unknown in Switzerland. There are some
men – and women too – who think we are
discriminating against men. But, according
to the law, taking reasonable measures to
achieve actual equality does not constitute
discrimination. That said, there are also
men who are very interested and would
like to come to our events.
So is it possible that men will be invited in the future?
Schulz: We don’t know yet. We would like
it if men came as well, but we wouldn’t
want their presence to change the nature
of the event.
Do you have any female role models?
Elvira: There is nobody who makes me
think: “Yes, I want to be like her”. There
are just too few female role models. At
school you never hear about women in
science, and I haven’t worked with any
female professors yet.
Schulz: I don’t think people should
copy one another. Women need to have
more self-confidence about doing what
they want.
When did you decide to become
scientists?
Elvira: I can’t remember a time when I
didn’t want to go into science. My parents brought me up to believe that I can
achieve anything.
Schulz: After my Abitur (A-Levels).
I am not from Zurich so I wasn’t even
aware that there would be so few women
here. But it’s not a problem for me. It
seems to me that a lot of women in Zurich would rather study at the University
of Zurich, because ETH is seen to be a
male domain.
What would you like to do later in your
careers?
Elvira: I would like to become a professor.
I really just want to stay in academia,
which means either you climb the ladder,
or you leave.
Schulz: That’s the reason why I probably won’t stay in academia. I would like
to do more research, but in industry. There are so many possibilities. The world is
our oyster. 
life 6/ 2014
9
inside out
Good for research:
Multicultural teams
From left to right: Mihai Grigore (Romania), Mihai Calin (Romania), Bernadetta Tarigan (Indonesia), Juliana Sutanto (Indonesia),
Hassan Aldarbesti (Qatar), Lazaros Goutas (Greece) and Ninoslav Malekovic (Croatia).
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life 6 / 2014
Juliana Sutanto’s team is based at the D-MTEC on Weinbergstrasse.
Text Andrea Schmits
Photos Giuseppe Micciché
The Indonesian Assistant Professor
Juliana Sutanto has seven different
nationalities in her team at D-MTEC.
She believes that this mainly brings
advantages but also presents some
challenges. In this interview she
explains why.
The cultural differences become apparent
in the very first minute of the interview:
Juliana Sutanto, Assistant Professor with
tenure track of management information systems in the Department of Management, Technology and Economics
(D-MTEC) at ETH Zurich, has a cold.
She asks whether she should wear a face
mask, and reaches into the drawer where
she keeps it. In Singapore, this is normal
procedure to keep from infecting others,
she explains.
Here in Switzerland, however, it is
not at all normal. This is not a problem –
because Juliana Sutanto knows all about
cultural differences. The 33-year-old has
put together a team of ten people who
come from very different parts of the
world: Greece, Indonesia, Qatar, Romania, China, Croatia and Switzerland. She
herself comes from Indonesia but studied
in Singapore.
Need for privacy
“It’s very interesting to work with so many
different nationalities, but it can lead to
misunderstandings”, says Juliana Sutanto. “It takes a little time for a new team
member to get used to the other members
of the team and vice versa.” For example, it has happened that someone had a
greater need for privacy because of their
cultural background. “After a short time,
the other team members noticed that and
altered their behaviour. And the person
in question changed their ways a little,
too. I always encourage my team to be
open-minded and learn from one another.”
She also believes it is important that
they all speak English together, even
though there are two people in the team
from each of Romania, China and Indonesia. “Talking to each other in a language that only a few people speak can
“Internationalism is a reality at ETH Zurich”
In the last ten years, the proportion of foreigners at ETH Zurich has increased by 14%.
This means that half the workforce now comes from countries other than Switzerland.
40% of foreign employees come from Germany, 34% from other EU countries and 26%
from the rest of the world. “Internationalism is a reality at ETH Zurich”, says Jürg
Brunnschweiler, Head of ETH Global. He emphasises how important this is for ETH Zurich: “ETH does not only have a technical mandate, but it should also prepare students
and employees so that they can succeed in the international environment.” This means
that they need, amongst other things, cultural understanding, linguistic knowledge and
social skills. “However, it is not the aim of ETH to increase the number of foreign students but just to continue to attract the best students to Zurich.”
www.global.ethz.ch →
life 6/ 2014
11
peoples’ privacy. In China, on the other
hand, users forwarded the coupons by
text message. The Chinese believe that
good things should be shared quickly”,
explains Sutanto.
These and other studies show how
important it is for Juliana Sutanto to
bring together lots of different nationalities in her team. “My team has a
broader understanding of the problems
and challenges that can arise in modern
society. That helps us to formulate our
research questions and understand the
results better.”
Multicultural team by chance
Hassan Aldarbesti, Juliana Sutanto and Ninoslav Malekovic at work.
lead to misunderstandings.” She finds
that having English as a common working
language also makes integration easier.
Benefits for research
Sometimes disagreements can occur
which are not due to cultural differences but to personality clashes, says
the professor. “In ‘power teams’ at a
world-class institution like ETH Zurich,
such disagreements are quite normal.”
Of course, working with a team of
people with the same cultural background
would be much simpler, she says. However,
she thinks that the benefits of working
with so many different cultures are more
important than the difficulties.
“I enjoy working with every single
person in my team. I learn a great deal
about the history and traditions of the
countries that they come from. That interests me personally very much.” Working
together in this way also helps to develop
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life 6 / 2014
social skills which will be of use to her
and her team in their careers.
“It’s also useful for my research into
the interaction between users of information systems to learn how people in
different countries think and behave.
Having a multinational team is definitely a plus.”
Despite all these benefits, the composition
of her team is pure chance: “When I have
a post to fill, I choose the person who has
the skills that I need – regardless of the
country they come from. I’m sure there
are other people like that in Switzerland
too, but I have to choose from the group
of people who apply and so that’s how it
turned out.” Only in cases where a research project is country-specific does
Juliana Sutanto deliberately choose someone from that country, but that is not
often the case.
Juliana Sutanto came to ETH Zurich
in 2008 after ten years at the National
University of Singapore. Her first three
assistants were from Switzerland. She
quickly learned that even the Swiss have
different mentalities: “One came from
German-speaking Switzerland, one from
the Ticino and one from French-speaking
Switzerland. So I learned right at the beginning about the cultural differences
within Switzerland itself.” 
Intercultural studies
Juliana Sutanto’s research focuses on the
design of IT artefacts and on behavioural
analysis in digital communication and interaction. One of her intercultural studies
investigated the reactions of consumers
to digital discount coupons which were
sent out by text message and email in
Switzerland and China.
The results in the two countries were
quite different: “Users in Switzerland
mostly forwarded the coupons by email,
because emails are less intrusive – The
Swiss do not like to intrude into other
Juliana Sutanto (33) is Assistant Professor
with tenure track in the Department of
Management, Technology and Economics
(MTEC). She comes from Indonesia and at
the age of 18 won a scholarship to study
at the National University of Singapore. In
2003 she received her Bachelor’s degree
in IT. Then in 2008 she received her doctorate. She began to work at ETH Zurich
in the same year.
www.mis.ethz.ch →
by the way
A folder for private emails
What rules do ETH members have to observe when they use the Internet or send emails?
“life” introduces some of the “BOT”-rules.
Text Florian Meyer
Your work is done and you just want to have a quick look at
the Football World Cup on your office PC at ETH? That’s
no problem. ETH Zurich does not limit Internet access
as a precautionary measure: it applies no filters and does
not block any popular websites such as those showing the
Football World Cup matches.
A friend sends some tips about great biking holidays to
your ETH email account and you want to keep them? You
can do that. Just mark private emails as “PRIVATE” or keep
them in a separate email folder.
These are two of the rules that apply to the use of Internet
and emails at ETH, and here are a few more:
→You can use your ETH email account and the Internet
for private purposes using ETH devices (“BOT”, Art. 8)
provided you do not cause any technical faults, interrupt
anyone’s work or study, overload networks or memory capacity, infringe anyone’s rights or advertise commercially.
→In principle, ETH members are responsible for using
the Internet and email correctly and for observing the
security precautions (e.g. browser and email protection).
This applies whether you are using ETH hardware or
connect your own devices to the ETH data network.
→You may not publish any private or personal material on
public ETH websites, with the exception of the CVs,
publications and projects of researchers.
→ETH members may send private emails, but must not
use a pseudonym or false sender information (“BOT”,
Art. 13).
→ETH members should retain emails containing relevant
business data for 10 years, and on their departure hand
them over to their manager and delete their email archive
with the help of the Service Desk or IT Coordinator for
their department.
A basic principle at ETH is that technical prevention, raising awareness and involvement of ETH members should
be given priority over monitoring (“BOT”, Appendix 1.).
→To protect the system from spam, viruses, trojan viruses,
hacker attack or other abuse (“BOT”, Art. 19), ETH has
the right to analyse Internet usage and email traffic
statistically – but only anonymously (“BOT”, Article 2,
18-20, Appendix).
→Even when there is a concrete reason to suspect abuse
(e.g. pornography, password hacking etc.), personalised analysis that goes beyond identifying the person
responsible is only permitted if the IT Security Officer
has informed that person about their suspicions.
→In the case of a criminal investigation, ETH must secure
the relevant data (including emails), but it does not itself
investigate individuals – only the Public Prosecutor’s
Office is allowed to do that. 
Rules and recommendations for practical applications
These rules can be found in the ETH Zurich Acceptable Use
Policy for Telematics Resources (“BOT”) and in the IT Best
Practice Rules.
– BOT: www.rechtssammlung.ethz.ch
– BOT Information Leaflets and IT Best Practice Rules
(August 2013): www.ethz.ch/it-best-practice-en
– ETH campaign “safeIT”: www.safeit.ethz.ch
– Compliance Guide: [email protected]
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13
Campus faces
Maryvonne Landolt – ombudsperson
for all ETH Zurich staff
Acting in the
interests of employees
Text Florian Meyer Photo Florian Bachmann
Listening, giving advice and acting as an
intermediary – these are what Maryvonne Landolt sees as the main tasks of an
ombudsperson.
In any job, employees can be faced
with difficult situations. In such cases,
members of ETH Zurich can contact the
ombudspersons in confidence. It is hoped
that, if they talk to an independent and experienced person, solutions can be found
for calming the situation down before it
gets out of hand.
The ombudspersons support any
member of ETH who is involved in a
conflict, crisis or emergency situation –
not only scientific staff but also technical
and administrative staff. Until now, this
role has been played by retired or current
professors. Now, this is about to change:
with effect from 1 August, ETH President
14
life 6 / 2014
Ralph Eichler has appointed a long-serving member of a staff unit, Maryvonne
Landolt, to be an ombudsperson at ETH
Zurich until 2018.
After studying Natural Sciences at
ETH Zurich, Maryvonne Landolt wrote
her dissertation at the ETH Zurich Institute of Microbiology in 1974 and then
studied in the USA to become a librarian.
After having two children, she found
it easier to return to work part-time after
ten years, as Head of a Commission Office. From 1992, she worked in the newly
established research staff unit where she
assisted departments with their project
loans and infrastructure procurement,
until she retired in 2008.
Over the course of her education and
professional career, Maryvonne Landolt
learned a great deal about various aspects
of the reality of working at ETH Zurich
and how to deal with all the different
scientific and administrative procedures.
For Maryvonne Landolt, retirement hardly means taking it easy: as well as working
for the ombudspersons, she also works as
a volunteer on international projects, for
the social services in the city of Zurich
and for an association providing support
for critically ill people, and she has been
a lay member of the Ethics Commission
for the canton of Zurich.
“I enjoy helping people”, says Landolt.
Starting this summer, she will be doing
just that at ETH. 
Ombudspersons at ETH Zurich
On 1 April 2014, Wilfred van Gunsteren,
Professor Emeritus at the D-CHAB, started
his position as an ombudsperson.
www.ethz.ch/ombudspersons →
Illustration: Kornel Stadler
op-Ed
AVETH Board Member
Association of Scientific Staff
Language remains
an obstacle at ETH
ETH is one of the leading technical universities not only in Europe but also in the
world. ETH�s high reputation combined
with the high quality of life in Switzerland
bring young and ambitious scientists from
all over the world to Zurich every year. It
is crucial, however, for a university with
such a reputation to go beyond the borders and provide high quality, world-class
facilities to compete with high ranking
universities all over the world.
The main feature of an international
university is that there is a common language, spoken by all different nationalities, to share knowledge and experiences.
Although ETH is considered to be an
international university, the language at
ETH remains not only one of the main
barriers between German-speaking and
non-German-speaking students but also
one of the main obstacles that ETH needs
to overcome to ascend in the list of the
world�s best universities.
In my opinion there are two important
reasons to provide an efficient English-speaking environment for doctoral
students. First, to attract the best of the
world to ETH; second, to take the opportunity to promote Swiss culture around
the world by means of more interaction
between German-speaking and non-German speaker students.
Concerning the first point, providing
high-quality education with courses offered in English on the higher education
level is one of the strengths of ETH. But to
compete on an international level, it goes
far beyond offering courses in English.
Students, especially doctoral students,
look for high rank international universities where they can live their lives and
gain new cultural experiences. In this
regard, Zurich has very good potential.
A strong economy, beautiful landscapes,
and the possibility of travelling within
the Schengen area all place ETH at the
top of the list for international students.
However, many non-German speakers
are afraid of entering a university where
many websites – in some cases key websites – are still only available in German,
the gym (ASVZ) courses are in German
and in some cases in Swiss German, announcements, posters and information
are in German, and there is a big barrier
between German-speakers and non-German speakers.
The question now is: Would it not be
more logical to deploy these potentials to
increase the quality of the campus life at
ETH for non-German-speaking students?
In this way, ETH could attract more of
the best, and benefit from them being
the messengers for Swiss culture around
the world. 
Nassim Nasseri
Scholarships:
a bold first move
ETH intends to enforce new scholarship regulations from the 2014 autumn semester onwards. Numerous changes are being made,
with the aim of ensuring that ETH scholarships genuinely enable students from all socioeconomic backgrounds to access higher
education. As students, we see this as a very
commendable move.
As far as VSETH is concerned, it is essential that students are now offered support to
help with the “additional costs of studies”.
Under the new regulations, extra costs are
covered by scholarships which are tailored
to the requirements of the relevant degree
programme: while an architect needs over
15,000 Swiss francs for his degree (in addition
to tuition fees) to pay for modelling materials,
excursions, etc., a mathematician like me has
hardly any extra expenses.
However, ETH’s scholarship system does have
one flaw that has nothing to do with regulations:
many students who could do with a scholarship do not apply for one because they are not
aware that such financial support is available
at ETH. A task force has therefore come up with
suggestions for improving the way information
is provided on grants.
VSETH believes that ETH’s new scholarship
regulations and the planned changes to the
information policy are heading in the right
direction. However, to really make the scholarships scheme better and fairer, the national
system needs to change, as proposed by the
Union of Students in Switzerland (VSS) in its
Scholarship Initiative.
Julia Wysling, President of VSETH,
www.vseth.ethz.ch →
www.aveth.ethz.ch →
life 6/ 2014
15
op close
At home on all media channels
Text Florian Meyer
SOLAR-JET is a big hit. By mid-May 2014, over 35,000 people had watched the
YouTube video Sunlight to jet fuel about “solar” kerosene. Researchers at ETH
developed the product as part of an EU project. A fair number of people have
seen the video on the ETH News website or on ETH Zurich’s channels on Twitter,
Facebook and Google+. It is ETH’s presence on social media that has enabled the
product to attract so much attention. In this way, the university is gaining followers all around the world.
Would you like to know more about social media? Then read the
“10 tips for a professional appearance in the social media”.
www.ethz.ch/social-media-tips →

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