ISTP News

Whether voluntary environmental action pays off for both business and the environment has been a subject of academic and policy debate for many decades. A recent study by CIS & ISTP PhD Student Dennis Kolcava, ETH Prof. Thomas Bernauer, and NMBU & UZH Prof. Joachim Scholderer reveals that citizens are more willing to reward firms with public procurement contracts, tax breaks and lenient regulatory enforcement when these firms engage in ambitious voluntary environmental action.

New research from ETH Zurich shows that holding events for new students before they enter university is an investment that pays off. Incoming students benefit from the chance to meet, mingle and form friendships at orientation events, which contributes to their long-​term academic success. (Re-​post from ETH News)

A number of conditions must be met in order for utilization-focused policy advice to become a reality on a wider scale. Researchers from various institutes, including ISTP Member Prof. David Kaufmann, propose a six-point checklist for developing effective policy advice. They argue that in addition to invest in science communication for the general public and politicians, a specific form of policy advice, that is, policy-prescriptive evidence-based information, should become available. 

We are happy to announce that the ETH's Executive board decided to continue supporting ISTP programs and initiatives for four more years.

What happens when a hip-hopper roams ETH and meets the students? Of course, they rap together. And while they’re about it, you get to learn a lot about the Master's programmes. (Re-post from ETH News)

After his talk in Vienna, the ISTP Director Thomas Bernauer was featured in an article by the Austrian public broadcasting company (ORF). His talk was around the 'water war' hypothesis, which is pretty prominent because of climate change. However, Thomas' research shows that water conflicts rather lead to cooperation between states.

The paper is co-authored by the Energy Politics Group’s (EPG) Martin Beuse, EPG's & ISTP's associate member Tobias Schmidt, as well as Prof. Vanessa Wood from ETH’s Electrical Engineering department.

Dr. Stéphanie Engels, Head of Corporate Development at Elektrizitätswerk der Stadt Zürich (ewz) visited the ISTP yesterday and spoke about opportunities in the challenging energy market.

From April 15-17, ETH Zurich’s Institute of Science, Technology and Policy (ISTP) hosted 23 students in this year’s IDEA League “Challenge Program.”

We are happy to invite you to our new building opening on Thursday, May 19th 2016 at Universitätstrasse 41. The UNO building will host the research and teaching activities of ISTP.