"What really matters is how we ensure the public’s trust in science”

On the topic of how politics affects science: how could the ¡°No to a 10 million Switzerland¡± popular initiative impact research at ETH?
The vote on the sustainability initiative strikes at the foundation of our university. ETH ¨C just like EPFL ¨C is one of the most international universities in the world. Of course, we are deeply rooted in Switzerland, but our top-class performance relies on our ability to attract researchers and talent from around the world: 65 percent of our professorships, 75 percent of researchers and as many as 90 percent of postdocs come from abroad. This international nature is not a ¡°nice-to-have¡±, but rather the basis for our high performance and innovative strength. A ¡°yes¡± to the initiative would seriously impact ETH and the entire Swiss research sector, limiting our competitiveness at all levels.

How would the initiative affect the  conditions for ETH research, such as access to international programmes?
Adopting the sustainability initiative would inevitably call into question the Bilaterals III package. This would once again put our crucial access to the European research and innovation programme ¡°Horizon Europe¡± under pressure.

How would you describe the current situation regarding ERC grants, given that we have already been excluded several times?
European Research Council (ERC) grants are vitally important for ETH research. The ERC specifically supports cutting-edge research across Europe and grants researchers maximum scientific freedom. This research is often the foundation for breakthroughs later down the line and numerous innovations. I therefore very much hope that the political decision-makers in Brussels will make sure the planned ERC budget increase goes ahead. This is important for us: since Switzerland regained access to the ERC, ETH researchers have achieved above-average results, with a success rate of around 20 percent ¨C clearly showing more success with the ERC than under comparable SNSF interim measures while we were excluded. We would like to maintain these high standards.

What do you expect from the new ERC Plus Grants, which are being awarded for the first time this year and offer a maximum of seven million euros in funding?
The ERC Plus Grants represent a huge opportunity for our researchers. I would be very proud if we were able to secure even one or two of these highly competitive grants. Only around 30 ERC Plus Grants will be awarded each year ¨C compared to around 1,000 Starting, Consolidator and Advanced Grants annually. As a result, these grants will be very prestigious. I am confident that we have the potential to make this happen.

The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has to make savings. How severely does this impact ETH Zurich?
For ETH, funding for projects and career development is essential. That is why we are pushing for the SNSF to maintain funding for these core activities wherever possible and to continue to provide full support for postdocs in particular. The SNSF unfortunately find themselves faced with a paradoxical situation: the number of applications and the requested funding amounts have greatly increased since 2021, yet, at the same time, the SNSF has fewer resources at its disposal. So, when there are more researchers applying for a smaller amount of funding, our researchers inevitably end up receiving less as well. We are very concerned by how this is developing, because SNSF research funding is very important for researchers and especially so for basic research.

How does ETH support early-career researchers?
Alongside the established ETH Career Seed Awards and new career initiatives such as the ¡°Postdoc Career Week¡± or the ¡°Resilience in Research¡± event series, we still rely on fellowships for talented researchers. And we are not cutting back here. Quite the opposite, in fact ¨C they have become even more important.

A major project relates to how the ETH Centres will be organised in future. Where do things currently stand with this project?
We are in the middle of reorganising the Centres across ETH for the future, with new guidelines being prepared as part of this process. In collaboration with Effy Vayena, Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations, we aim to align the ETH Centres¡¯ organisational structures and bring them together as larger Centres.

What are the reasons for this reorganisation?
Firstly, to be clear: the ETH Centres will continue to play an important role alongside the departments, especially given the growing importance of interdisciplinary research. However, there are currently around 25 Centres and Centre-like units across ETH, with a range of organisational and governance structures. We are now simplifying these structures, with the aim of also increasing ETH¡¯s visibility in its strategic subject areas. By autumn, the ETH Executive Board intends to decide which ETH Centres will be established in these strategic subject areas. The current Centres are aware of these plans, and we remain in constant communication with them. Running parallel to this until the end of May is the internal consultation procedure on the new guidelines for ETH Centres.

Under your predecessor, Christian Wolfrum, plans were drafted for a Centre for Medicine. Where do things stand with this project?
That proposal is currently being discussed in great detail. My vision is for a Centre that draws on a broad scientific base and encompasses not only medicine, but also the life sciences and health sciences. How this ultimately looks should be based on a collaborative decision. To this end, a working group featuring representatives from most of the departments is currently developing a coherent final design for this Centre.

In 2024, the ETH Executive Board reiterated that research conducted via animal testing is an integral part of ETH's research strategy, and that the university aims to communicate its necessity even more transparently. Will this strategy be adjusted in light of the popular initiative ¡°Yes to a future without animal testing¡±?
By joining the Swiss Transparency Agreement on Animal Research (STAAR), ETH has committed to maintaining open communication about how and why we use animal models. And we are currently exploring ways to broaden our communication efforts and play a more active role in public debate. Politicians and the public should understand the issues for which animal models are essential. They should also understand what our researchers are doing to minimise animal suffering, reduce the number of experiments and develop alternatives to animal models. We are firmly committed to research and the responsibilities it entails.

In June 2024, the ETH Integrity Commission was established alongside the new internal procedure regarding scientific misconduct. How effective have the new measures proven to be?
The Integrity Commission is largely composed of members external to ETH. This greatly reduces the risk of any potential bias. The Commission, led by Mark Schweizer, is doing excellent work: if ever suspicions of scientific misconduct are raised, they examine whether any such misconduct has actually occurred, draw up a report and recommend appropriate actions to the ETH Executive Board. This new procedure has led to more structured processes and shorter turnaround times.

ETH Zurich has recently launched the FAIR Coalition. What is its aim and what is the new FAIR Competence Funding intended for?
Through the FAIR Coalition, we support research data management that aims to improve the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability of data, code and images. As a publicly funded institution, our aim is for such data to be fundamentally openly accessible, except where legal or ethical considerations ¨C like security concerns or the need to protect personal data ¨C prevent this. The new FAIR Competence Funding enables research groups and data specialists to work together and systematically implement research data management. In doing so, we increase the quality, transparency and repeatability of our research.