Career and career development in academia

In the Scientific Career section of the ETH website, content is compiled that is aimed at various target groups.

external pageFix the leaky pipeline (ETH Zurich): The peer mentoring programme of the ETH Domain for women in research.

Feminno (Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center) offers career development in the life sciences for women at the science/innovation interface.

Nationaler Zukunftstag (ETH Zurich/D-BIOL) is aimed at daughters and sons of ETH employees aged 10 to 13. It takes place throughout Switzerland at the beginning of November and gives children an impression of the working world in which their parents live. Attention is always paid to the dissolution of boundaries between typically male and typically female professions.

Treffpunkt Science City is the meeting place for ETH Zurich's educational offerings for the general public. It includes offers for adults, young people and children and has more than 20,000 visitors per year. As part of this public series of events, one course of study per Sunday event is always given the opportunity to present itself to a broad audience.

The ETH study week (ETH Zurich/D-BIOL), which takes place every year at the beginning of June, gives high school students aged around 16 the opportunity to work on a project together with researchers for a week. This gives them an insight into a field of study and into the scientific working methods.

The roadshow ETH unterwegs (ETH Zurich/D-BIOL) visits about ten secondary schools throughout Switzerland between October and April. The aim of the exhibition is to give students in the schools visited an understanding of the entire range of ETH Zurich study programmes through stands and various lectures.

Shortly before the start of the autumn semester, the Study Information Days will be held at ETH Zurich at the same time as the University of Zurich. Each curriculum is represented with a stand where students can get an idea of the respective course of study. In addition to the stands, there are other events that give visitors an overall picture of a curriculum and thus make it easier for them to choose their studies.

The peer mentoring group of the D-BIOL is made up of women who are doing their doctorate or postdoctoral studies in the department. In regular meetings among themselves or with their mentors, career-relevant skills are discussed and trained and aspects of career planning are addressed.

An important pillar for increasing the proportion of women at professorial level is the assistant professor concept of the D-BIOL, which enables a strategic orientation of research in the D-BIOL and allows for the targeted promotion of women in early career stages when recruiting.

In appointment committees for professorships, one member of each committee is responsible for identifying suitable candidates from the sought-after research area, actively approaching them and motivating them to apply.

In elections or by-elections for important bodies in the Department of Biology (IVK, Strategy Commission, etc.), a balanced gender ratio is always sought.