ISTP News

Meet Maximillian Forberg, a current STP MSc student minoring in Energy and Mobility who started in Autumn 2023. He previously completed his Bachelor of Physics at EPFL, as well as a Master of Physics at ETH. He will be continuing his studies this Autumn as a PhD student at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden where he will be doing research on carbon footprints of household consumption in Sweden/doing research in ecological economics!

Are you an ambitious student looking to make a real impact? Do you have a passion for leadership, technology, and society? If so, the IDEA League Challenge Programme is the perfect opportunity for you! Designed for high-achieving students, this extra-curricular course will equip you with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in future leadership roles in both the public and private sectors.

Congratulations to STP Student Noah Kim and team CyBerg for their victory in this year's Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge 2024. Their unwavering commitment and dedication over the past 8 weeks have undoubtedly led to this well-deserved success!

Meet Andreas Felderer, a recent graduate of the STP MSc program. He began his studies in the Autumn 2020, minoring in Data and Computer Science. Before beginning his Master’s, he completed a bachelor’s degree in engineering science from the Technical University of Munich. He previously attended an add-on study program in technology management and did an internship with Munich Re in the R&D department focusing on natural language processing.

Join us as we explore Yilin Huang's master's thesis journey, where her passion for technology, environment, and policymaking converge. To understand how community participation and policy decisions interact in a real-world environment, Yilin’s thesis focuses on landscape decision-making in rural Laos, where she spent two months during the summer of 2023.

Congratulations to the 2023 STP graduates! We look forward to seeing the journeys and achievements your future holds.

This past weekend, ETH Zurich hosted the IDEA League Challenge Programme. The event, marking the programme's midway point, brought together 40 highly skilled Bachelor's and Master's students. These students engaged in an intensive exploration of global water management issues, focusing on the identification and resolution of key conflicts.

Meet Milena Bojovic, an STP MSc Student with a minor in urbanization and planning. After earning her bachelor's degree in architecture at ETH, she realized her desire to broaden her knowledge across multiple disciplines, including economics and statistics. In this interview, Milena shares her experience during an internship at Wüest Partner, where she served as a real estate consultant.

The ISTP, in collaboration with The Energy Science Center (ESC), is thrilled to announce the return of "Energy Now!" – an initiative focused on addressing the most pressing challenges in building a sustainable Swiss energy system. The event's kick-off, "Energy Now! 2.0," is scheduled for October 2nd, 2023, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at the Dozentenfoyer (HG K 30.5) at ETH Zurich. Make sure to secure your spot now!

We are thrilled to announce the official commencement of the semester. It is great to see the fresh faces of the Science, Technology, and Policy Master program.

After a week of interactive keynotes, torrential rain, case study analysis, thunderstorms, and captivating poster presentations, the 2023 Summer School on Energy Technology, Policy, and Politics has officially come to a close. 

Are you an ambitious student looking to make a real impact? Do you have a passion for leadership, technology, and society? If so, the IDEA League Challenge Programme is the perfect opportunity for you! Designed for high-achieving students, this extra-curricular course will equip you with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in future leadership roles in both the public and private sectors.

Discover Yash Dubey's journey from the corporate sector to academia as he explores the intersection of policy and technology in his STP Master's studies.

Embarking on an internship during your master's studies can be a transformative experience that can help shape the path to a successful career. Najmeh Karimian-Marnani, an STP student, shares her reflections on her time at Roche Diagnostics, revealing the impact it had on her personal and professional growth. She highlights the skills she acquired and the challenges she faced.

From September 4-9, 2022, the ISTP hosted the IDEA League summer school on Greening and Governing Global Supply Chains. The focus of the summer school was on assessing the environmental and social effects of supply chains and actual and potential policies for addressing them.

As part of her Master's studies at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy, Samira Amos completed an internship in Tanzania, where she participated in a project called "Research and Advocacy for Agroecology" with the aim to improve sustainable rural livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Tanzania.

Join our interdisciplinary Master‘s programme at the intersection between technology & society / policy at the ISTP and tackle today’s grand societal challenges! The online application window for the MSc in Science, Technology and Policy is now open until 31 March.

Public opinion is a crucial driver of trade policy, and environmental considerations are playing an increasing role in this area. Prof. Bernauer will examine whether and how citizens consider environmental concerns when forming opinions about trade and trade policy. The seminar takes place online on Tuesday, 17th November 2020, at 4.15 pm. It is offered within the framework of the Global Economic Governance Seminar Series.

(Re-​post from ETH News) With the number of coronavirus cases growing rapidly, ETH Zurich sees no choice but to extensively restrict classroom teaching starting on 2 November. The ETH community will receive detailed information over the course of this week.

(Re-​post from ETH News) Ten years ago, ETH took the bold step of establishing a presence abroad in the form of its very own research centre. This year, the Singapore-​ETH Centre launched its third research programme – and new insights are already making their way back to Switzerland.

The "Social aspects of public lighting" lecture will take place online on Monday, October 12, 2020, at 14.30.

The Wyss Academy for Nature at the University of Bern is dedicated to shaping sustainable futures for nature and people by strengthening and harmonizing nature conservation, human well-being, and natural resource use in different landscapes around the world. To this goal the Wyss Academy invites applications for six new open-rank professorships.

We are delighted to announce that ISTP PhD Candidate Sergio Guidon successfully defended his doctoral dissertation on Tuesday, 19 May 2020. We would like to congratulate him warmly and wish him all the best for his future career!

ISTP PhD Student David Kretzer will give an online lecture on lighting and crime ("Beleuchtung und Kriminalität"), as part of the "10. Straßenbeleuchtungstage" Symposium, on Thursday, 07. May 2020, at 10.15.

Due to the latest developments in the spread of the coronavirus, the Executive Board has decided to suspend all classroom teaching with effect from Monday, 16 March up to the end of Spring Semester 2020. The university is continuing to expand its offering of online study alternatives. (Re-post from ETH News)

ISTP PhD Students David Kretzer & Michael Walczak will give a lecture on public lighting in informal settlements at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá on Tuesday, 17. March 2020, at 18.00.

The schedule for the ISTP Colloquium series for the Spring Semester 2020 is now available online.

We would like to warmly thank Prof. Alayar Kangarlu, Director of the physics and engineering group at NYSPI MRI research center at Columbia University, for his visit to the ISTP and his interesting talk on ultra-​high field magnetic resonance imaging and their importance in medicinal research and diagnostics.

Dr David Garcia is a computational social scientist who focuses on explaining social phenomena through computational models of human behaviour. He is currently a group leader at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna and Medical University of Vienna, Austria. We would like to warmly thank Dr David Garcia for his visit to the ISTP and his interesting and insightful talk.

ETH Zurich has been trying for years to increase the percentage of women in its ranks, not least among its students. So far, these efforts have not met with huge success. Why is that? And what is ETH doing to attract more female students? We asked Rector Sarah Springman. (Re-​post from ETH News)

We are happy to have Megan Seipp per February 1^st as Ph.D. student at our Institute – a warm welcome to Megan! She started a Ph.D. - project as part of Minerals Research Group’s team and she will be sharing room UNO C 14.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of three new ISTP members. We would like to welcome Prof. Dr. Rachael Garrett, Prof. Dr. David Kaufmann & Prof. Dr. Tobias Schmidt and wish them a fruitful and rewarding collaboration.

Dr. Iossifova presented a new research program on the infrastructure for fragmented(ing) cities. This Colloquium's focus was Shanghai – Borderland formation, urban sanitation transitions and related policy challenges in a rapidly evolving socio-​eco-technical system. Dr. Iossifova is senior lecturer in Urban Studies and director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Manchester.

Prof. Dr. Rachael Garrett is the newly appointed Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy with dual affiliations with the Dept. of Humanities, Social and Political Science (D-GESS) and the Dept. of Environmental Systems Science (D-USYS). At the last ISTP colloquium, she presented her research on the potential of forest-focused supply chain policies (FSPs) for meeting global conservation objectives.

The Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich will have the pleasure of hosting the ETH Evening Talk: "Resilience through Technology. How We Protect Critical Infrastructures from the Unexpected", on Wednesday, 11 December from 17:15 to 18:45.

We would like to warmly thank Andrés Sepúlveda, urban planner for the Department of Habitat of Bogotá and lecturer of urban development at the El Bosque University in Bogotá, for his visit at ISTP and his talk about the use of street art as an urban planning tool in the case of informal settlements in Bogotá.

We would like to warmly thank Dr. Sebastian Ziaja, researcher in the programme "Transformation of Political (Dis-​) Order" at the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwick​lungshilfe (DIE), for his visit to the ISTP and his talk about the effects of foreign aid on state capacities on the subnational level.

"Between Walls and Fences - Gated Communities in Bogotá and the decline of Public Space" on Monday, 18. November 2019 at 14.45.

Clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in. However, millions of people including children die every year from diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene. The urgent question that arises here is: what can we do to improve sanitation and access to drinking water? Within this framework, ETH is hosting a series of talks under the topic “Clean Water for All” on Sunday, November 24 at Hönggerberg campus in the HCI building.

"New tools for an old problem: Ending deforestation and fires in the Brazilian Amazon" on Monday, 24. February 2020

The Center of Comparative and International Studies hosts a very interesting colloquium talk by Prof. Saba Siddiki of Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University about transport policy in the US. The talk takes place on 31st October at 12:30 at the Department of Political Science at UZH.

We would like to warmly thank Dr Iain Staffell, a multidisciplinary scientist working at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, for his visit to the ISTP and his fascinating and insightful talk on what drove Britain's massive power sector decarbonization between 2012-​​19 and the lessons for other countries with heavy fossil-​​fuel dependency.

We would like to warmly thank Prof. Nathan Williams, Assistant Research Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, for his visit to the ISTP and his fascinating and insightful talk on decentralized energy systems in East Africa.

The Center for Law & Economics at ETH Zurich will have the pleasure of hosting ETH's Prof. Dr. Andreas Hierlemann on Wednesday, October 16 from 10 am to 12 pm. He will give an accessible talk on "Bioelectronics: Interfacing Microelectronics with the Brain?" in IFW A.32.1, in conjunction with the Law & Tech course.

We would like to warmly thank Prof. Sophie Oldfield for her visit to the ISTP and her interesting and insightful talk on collaborative urban theory.

The Center for Law & Economics at ETH Zurich will have the pleasure of hosting CERN's Dr. Maurizio Bona on Tuesday October 1. Dr. Bona is the senior advisor for relations with parliaments and science for policy at CERN. He will give a talk in IFW A.32.1 from 10 am to 12 pm on Tuesday, October 1, in conjunction with the Law & Tech course, which is offered through the Science in Perspective programme. 

We would like to warmly thank Prof. Ambuj Sagar from the Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Noelle Selin from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Prof. Joanna Chataway from the University College London for their visit to the ISTP and their interesting and insightful discussion with Prof. Sarah Springman and Prof. Tobias Schmidt about the importance of science and technology in public policy-making.

On Tuesday, 17th September 2019, 17:15 - 18:45, the 6^th SiP Talk was held in the Main Building of ETH Zürich (HG G 60). Guest speakers of world leading technical universities talked about key societal challenges whose solutions are likely to emerge at the intersection of science, technology, and public policy, discussing how to institutionalize policy-focused, interdisciplinary research, as well as teaching in this field.

Our next colloquium talk takes place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 24th September 2019 at 17:15 - 18:30. "High Stakes, High Hopes" reflects on a decade-long research and teaching partnership, a collaborative process through which members of a civic organization in Cape Town and Prof. Sophie Oldfield have researched the city to collaboratively build urban theory. This approach brings together multiple voices shaping urban theory in shared spaces across Cape Town.

We are happy to announce additional speakers for our colloquium seminars. The schedule for the ISTP Colloquium series for the autumn semester 2019 is now online.

On Tuesday, 17th September 2019, 17:15 - 18:45, the 6^th SiP Talk will be held in the Main Building of ETH Zürich (HG G 60). Visit us to see speakers of world leading technical universities talking about key societal challenges whose solutions are likely to emerge at the intersection of science, technology, and public policy, discussing how to institutionalize policy-focused, interdisciplinary research, as well as teaching in this field.  

Our next colloquium talk takes place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 28th May 2019 at 17:15 - 18:30. The ISTP speaker will talk about different ways that urban policies can be modified to embrace new interventions related to existing gated communities in Bogotà.

Our next colloquium talk takes place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 21st May 2019 at 17:15 - 18:30. The invited guest speaker will present his research results on the global politics of securing urban spaces and the evolution of security ensembles and state-society relations, based on fieldwork conducted in Zurich, Marrakech, Kathmandu and Montevideo.

Our next colloquium talk takes place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 14th May 2019 at 17:15 - 18:30. The invited guest speaker will present evidence on potential user support for MaaS subscription plans, providers' investment interests & governance models.

Our next colloquium talk takes place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 7th May 2019 at 17:15 - 18:30. The invited guest speaker will present their approach on evaluating policy interventions by using multi agent modeling to compare future freshwater scenarios aimed at improving Jordan’s freshwater situation.

Our next colloquium talk takes place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 16th April 2019 at 17:15 - 18:30. The invited guest speaker will talk about the relevance of the energy system for a post-fossil mobility; insights of CO₂ emissions of different powertrain concepts & the interplay with the CO₂ regulation.

Our next colloquium talk takes place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 26th March 2019 at 17:15 - 18:30. The invited guest speaker will present their research results on the importance of citizen engagement to reduce pollution & the limits of a centralized approach to improving environmental governance in hierarchical organizations through short-lived enforcement crackdowns.

Our next colloquium talk takes place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 19th March 2019 at 17:15 - 18:30. The invited guest speaker will present their research results on the implications of changes for cities today and into the future, and the transportation and urban planning policies and practices that have contributed to the observed changes.

Our next colloquium talk takes place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 12th March 2019 at 17:15 - 18:30. The invited guest speaker will present their research results on the climate implications of China's energy future on air pollution and health.

We would like to warmly thank Prof. Reza Abhari for his talk at the ISTP and his interesting insights on how to maintain and expand Swiss national wealth.

Our final colloquium talk for this semester will take place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 11th December 2018 at 17:15 - 18:30. The invited guest speaker will present their research results on how leg­isla­tive over­sight could reduce police killings reporting bias.

Our next colloquium talk will take place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 4th December 2018 at 17:15 - 18:30. The invited guest speaker will provide an overview of perspectives & initiatives bridging the role of technology, natural resources & infrastructure in maintaing Swiss wealth.

A farewell lecture by Prof. Heinrich about mineral resources and the impact on society will take place at ETH Zurich on Monday, 3rd December 2018 at 17.15.

We would like to warmly thank Prof. Noelle Eckley Selin for her visit to the ISTP and her interesting and insightful talk on climate change and air pollution.

Our next colloquium talk will take place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 20th November 2018 at 17:15 - 18:30. The ISTP invited guest speaker will talk about digital transformation with the people left in.

Our next colloquium talk will take place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Monday, 19th November 2018 at 14:30 - 16:00. The ISTP invited guest speaker will talk about factors and strategies that can foster and secure intrinsic motivation & engage people in pro-environmental behaviour.

Prof. Bauke Steenhuisen from the Technology, Policy and Management (TPM) Faculty at TU Delft, Netherlands, visited the ISTP to talk about the importance of storytelling.

Our next colloquium talk will take place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 13th November 2018 at 17:15 - 18:30. The ISTP invited guest speaker will provide an overview of how linking science with policy analysis could help us address climate change and air pollution more effectively. 

Prof. Andrea Castelletti from the Natural Resources Management Group at Politecnico di Milano visited the ISTP to give a talk on soft-path solutions for hard water problems in the Italian sub-alpine lake district.

A talk about the reason and way that storytelling can be a powerful instrument in response to the rapidly developing technologies, will take place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 6th November 2018 at 17:15 - 18:30.

Our invited guest speaker will provide an overview of soft-path solutions for hard water problems based on evidence from the Italian sub-alpine lake district. The talk will take place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 30th October 2018 at 17:15 - 18:30.

We are happy to announce additional speakers for our colloquium seminars. The updated schedule for the ISTP Colloquium series for the autumn semester 2018 is now online.

Prof. Hiroaki Matsuura Provost and Vice President (Academic) at Shoin University in Japan visited the ISTP on October 2nd to talk about the Economic and Demographic Effects of Emergency Risk Communication based on Evidence from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster.

A talk about economic and demographic effects of emergency risk communication based on evidence from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster will take place at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy on Tuesday, 2nd October 2018 at 17:15 - 18:30.

Prof. Frank Jotzo of ANU (Australian National University) Crawford School of Public Policy visited ISTP on September 20, 2018 to talk about the recent history of Australian climate change policy and the politics surrounding it. He also presented results from ongoing research on the energy transition away from coal to renewable energy sources.

The 5-day IDEA League summer school, organised by ISTP, was a success with the participation of 56 students from eleven leading universities, debating how they, the next generation of thinkers and leaders can use their disciplinary knowledge to reduce society’s environmental footprint.

The schedule for the ISTP Colloquium series for the autumn semester 2018 is now online.