Dialogue strategy

Dialogue with society is vitally important for a university like ETH Zurich. It is keen to engage with all social groups and divides dialogue into three areas, which in practice cannot always be clearly delineated and between which there are considerable synergies: Communication and Outreach, Politics for Science and Science for Politics.

Communication and Outreach

The area of Communication and Outreach mainly comprises traditional science communication. The researchers themselves are part of the dialogue when they represent ETH Zurich in public and offer guidance. ETH members regularly speak to the media to provide a context for geopolitical developments or the impact of climate change, for example. The spectrum of dialogue formats was again very broad in 2022. They ranged from campus events, such as Treffpunkt Science City, the Global Lectures and Industry Day, to the Climate Roundtable and events at home and abroad. ETH Zurich again attended the Olma trade fair and took part in the Berlin Science Week and the Milano Design Week with a high-profile exhibition presenting innovative materials to a wide audience.

As a place of social debate, ETH Zurich uses its networks and platforms to exchange views with various groups in a national and international context on topics of relevance to education, science and society. To live up to its claim of being a competent and trustworthy dialogue partner, the university expanded its support and communication advice for researchers and launched the Communication Academy in 2022. Here, doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers and professors can acquire useful knowledge on how to communicate science to the public in a comprehensible way for specific target audiences.

Politics for Science

Politics for Science encompasses ETH Zurich¡¯s efforts to create ideal conditions for science in general and the university in particular. This involves autonomy, reliable public funding and unhindered access to international networks. For ETH as a federal university, relations with the Swiss Federal Parliament and the Federal Council are vitally important. It maintains and develops these hand in hand with the ETH Board and the other ETH Domain institutions. But it also engages closely with cantonal and communal authorities as well as the political parties.

In the year under review, for example, ETH Zurich welcomed the Federal Parliamentary Group of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland as well as the EU/EFTA delegation of Swiss and European members of parliament. ETH and the University of Zurich together exchanged views on the issue of animal experiments with the Zurich cantonal government. The ETH President together with the President of EPFL attended a hearing during which they advised the Security Policy Committee of the Council of States (Switzerland's upper house) on the subject of digital sovereignty. ETH Zurich also stated its position on other matters of higher education and science policy. To maintain this important dialogue and a more systematic exchange with policymakers, since 2020 the Office of the President has included a member of staff responsible for political relations.

Politics does not end at the border. ETH Zurich therefore uses its international network to work with other universities, including at the global level, to promote freedom of research and teaching and knowledge-based discourse. The university was also involved in the Stick to Science campaign launched across Europe in favour of Switzerland becoming fully associated with Horizon Europe as soon as possible.

Science for Politics

Science for Politics covers a wide range of activities concerned with scientific policy advice. ETH researchers cooperate closely with the authorities and agencies at local, cantonal and national level. They make their knowledge available to committees and author studies with practical relevance. The authorities regularly draw on the expertise of ETH scientists in all relevant policy areas, such as health, digitalisation, security, sustainability and the environment. The following are examples of the many activities carried out in the year under review: a publication by researchers at the Energy Science Center (ESC) on the independence of the Swiss energy system from fossil fuels, the leading role of ETH Professor Tanja Stadler on the new federal and cantonal advisory committee on COVID-19, and a security policy study by the Center for Security Studies (CSS) submitted to the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS).

ETH Zurich also makes its expertise available at international level. For example, ETH members are involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and in initiatives such as the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA), which, like ETH Zurich, is also committed to scientific progress in the service of society. Policy advice is an important part of knowledge transfer to society. To help achieve this goal, in 2022 ETH created a new position concerned with the wide-ranging dialogue area of scientific-policy advice, based in the office of the Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations.