The Department will be focusing its research and teaching in the coming years on three major challenges to which it intends to contribute new approaches to sustainable development.
“Respect – Reflect – Respond”: Starting today, you’ll come across this slogan at various places at ETH Zurich. It’s part of the new Respect programme aimed at all members of the university community. These three words summarise how we should treat each other at ETH: on equal terms, willing to reflect on our own thoughts and actions, and responding appropriately in a variety of contexts.
The new ETH Policy Fellowship aims to foster greater understanding between government and the academic world. Regina Witter from the Federal Office for Spatial Development was among the first cohort to take part. During her time at ETH Zurich, she was embedded in the research group of Professor David Kaufmann at D-BAUG.
D-BAUG Environmental engineer Estelle Clerc searches remote waters such as the deep ocean for bacteria that can degrade specific pollutants such as microplastics, pharmaceuticals and pesticides.
Recycling is an accepted formula for sustainable resource use, but in the case of plastic it can have serious side effects, says Helene Wiesinger – and uses the example of plastic flooring in Switzerland to illustrate the dilemma.
At its meeting on March 6 and 7, the ETH Board, at the request of ETH President Joël Mesot, appointed several new professors, including two Adjunct Professors and one "Professor of Practice" for the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering. Their focus is on environmental engineering and spatial planning respectively.
On the occasion of Guillaume Habert’s promotion to Full Professor of Sustainable Construction at D-BAUG, we asked him what currently drives him in research and teaching. He also shared with us what he considers the most important things in life and what he would do if he had an extra 53 minutes to spend every week.