Interdisciplinary cooperation

(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.

ETH Singapore Month 2019
During ETH Singapore Month, invited Master’s students had the chance to exchange ideas and suggestions. (Image: Singapore-​ETH Centre, Carlina Teteris)

Unlike most base camps, this one is not at the foot of a remote mountain, but in the middle of a bustling city. The Singapore-​ETH Centre (SEC) is the first research centre established by ETH outside Switzerland. It was founded in 2010 in partnership with Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF) with the goal of addressing key challenges of urbanisation

"Asia is seeing huge growth in city sizes and populations. We need to be close to those challenges to address them properly."Remo Burkhard, SEC former Managing Director

Remo Burkhard was involved with the SEC from the very beginning, travelling to Asia to set up the centre together with SEC Director Gerhard Schmitt. The research community there grew to 100 people after just 15 months – and by next year, the SEC will have over 200 researchers from 25 disciplines and 20 different countries. At the end of this year, however, Gerhard Schmitt will hand over his position as director to Gisbert Schneider.

Cooperation with practical benefits

At the core of the SEC are its five-​year research programmes in which the SEC acts as lead partner. The first programme, Future Cities Laboratory, combined science and design to promote a sustainable and liveable urban future. Collaboration with industry and the Singapore authorities enables rapid implementation of development concepts such as 3for2, an energy-​efficient building cooling system developed by a team led by Arno Schlüter. This system offers space savings, which provide economic leverage while using 40 per cent less energy than conventional buildings.

The tenure of SEC Director Peter Edwards (2013–2017) included the launch of the Future Resilient Systems programme, which aims to make complex infrastructure systems more robust and resilient. At the start of this year, the SEC embarked on its latest research programme, Future Health Technologies. In collaboration with Singapore’s universities and hospitals, researchers will be developing more patient-​centric digital technologies for prevention and care, including chatbots. “Our goal is to find answers to pressing questions on ethics, data security, the usability and usefulness of AI algorithms, and much more,” says Detlef Günther, Vice President for Research and Corporate Relations at ETH and Co-​Chair of the SEC Governing Board. COVID-​19 has added a whole new dimension to their research work: with many patients reluctant to attend doctors’ offices in person during the pandemic, the development of chatbots and virtual medical consultations looks set to attract greater interest in many regions, including Europe.

  • For the full article, please visit the ETH News homepage.
  • This text has been published in the current issue of the Globe magazine.
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