Who we are

Our members are professors at ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne, who are distinguished, worldwide recognized experts in their scientific fields and experienced in leading and working in an international environment. Details

What we do

We are committed to promoting the next generation of female scientists and engineers, and creating a community for exchanging scientific knowledge and experience. Details

Who we are

Our members are professors at ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne, who are distinguished, worldwide recognized experts in their scientific fields and experienced in leading and working in an international environment. Details

What we do

We are committed to promoting the next generation of female scientists and engineers, and creating a community for exchanging scientific knowledge and experience. Details

Thu 29. Aug 2024, 12:00h

Retreat in the Swiss Alps

Save the date for this joint retreat to the Swiss Alps on August 29-30 2024.

News

Karen Scrivener selected by UN Secretary-General to be Representative in 10-Member Group for Sustainable Development Goals

Congratulations to Karen Scrivener for being selected by the United Nations Secretary-General for the Group of Ten High-level Representatives of Civil Society, Private Sector and Scientific Community to Promote Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (10-Member Group).

As an internationally recognized engineering expert in developing environmentally friendly building materials from decades of research into cement and concrete, she now works closely together with the UN Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation while contributing to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Read more on the EPFL website.

Karen Scrivener

Lecture series at ETHZ in the spring semester 2024

In the coming spring semester, the ETH Zurich is hosting a series of Inaugural, Farewell and Introductory Lectures that are open to the public. Some of our members are among the professors giving a lecture.

Spanning all ETH departments, the lectures will take place from February 21, 2024 to May 30, 2024, mostly in the same hall.

Explore the list of lectures and topics here.

A live stream of the events will take place here.

The introductory and the farewell lectures will be live streamed here.

New professors appointed at ETHZ and EPFL

On December 7, the ETH Board announced the appointment 14 new professors at the ETHZ and the EPFL.

Of these 14 professors, 4 of them are women; 3 at the ETHZ and 1 at the EPFL, who coincidentally is the only professor that the EPFL appointed this term.

Their fields of research are in the Departments of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences; Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering; Architecture; and the School of Computer and Communication Sciences and Life Sciences.

Read about the appointed professors on ETH Board.

ETH Diversity Award

As an official office of the ETHZ, the ETH Diversity is dedicated to making the experience of studying, researching and working at the ETH more diverse and inclusive. Every year they celebrate 3 individual people and 3 groups or organizations for their efforts to promote equal opportunities for all at the ETH.

This year they presented the awards on November 29, 2023. The winners of the award in the organization category have organized multiple events to discuss issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ community and provided a networking opportunity for queer people. The winner of the award in the individual category has advocated for women and minorities, by working in multiple initiatives and engaging with groups and committees.

We salute the winners and nominated parties of the award and the ETH Diversity team and hope they continue the good work.

Read more about the award and this year’s recipients on ETH Diversity.

SNSF grants for WPF members

The Swiss National Science Foundation has awarded 6 of our members a grant for their projects in the coming years. We congratulate Professors Manuela Brunner, He Niao, Anna Soter, Tatjana Kleele, Xu Wenchao and Ana Klimovic on their grants.

Sexism in Academia

“Sexism in academia is bad for science and a waste of public funding“: an article which can receive no better introduction than its own title. This one in the Nature Reviews Materials online journal and another similar article in The Conversation are two articles co-authored by two of our members, Ursula Keller and Janet Hering. In collaboration with other women scientists they highlight how great of an obstacle sexism is to science and its consequences in academics and real life: (potentially life-saving) progress is stifled and resources in the shape of public funding and valuable contributors to science are lost. Ursula Keller also contributed her own article on the subject on ellexx.

Read the full articles here:

“Sexism in academia is bad for science and a waste of public funding“ Nature Reviews Materials

„How your money is helping subsidize sexism in academia – and what you can do about it“ The Conversation

„Sexismus in der Wissenschaft: Wie Fortschritt gebremst und Steuergelder verschwendet werden“ ellexx