ETH4D News

Since November 2023, five IDEA League universities have been working together with KNUST in Ghana and Strathmore University in Kenya to train doctoral candidates to become ambassadors for a sustainable transition. The AMBITION programme brings together an international group of 36 doctoral candidates from various disciplines to collaborate on issues of global sustainable development in Europe and Africa.

Applications are open for the seasonal school taking place in Switzerland from 6-20 April 2024. The school will bring together doctoral students and experts from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana, and Swiss Universities to facilitate a dialogue on how can we reach scale for the UN Water Action Agenda.

The new Social Impact Pioneer Fellowship will support ETH students and researchers in developing their research-​based technologies into viable products and services with a social impact that benefit people in low- and middle-income countries.

In a new Research Brief, Eva Reynaert and Eberhard Morgenroth from the Institute for Environmental Engineering at ETH Zurich and the Process Engineering Department at Eawag explain how the use of sensors and automated chlorination can improve microbial water quality in on-site water reuse systems for increased user safety.

ETH doctoral students can now apply for the new Honours Programme in Sustainable Transitions, offered by five European universities, KNUST in Ghana and Strathmore University in Kenya. 

ETH Doctoral Student Alexander Nedergaard worked as a teaching assistant at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Rwanda for three months. In this interview, he talks about the intensive time with his students, the welcoming atmosphere at AIMS, and what he learned during his stay.

An upcoming seminar with Dr. Samuel Kofi Tetteh-​Baah, economist at the World Bank, will focus on how the international poverty line is determined and what its recent increase means for global poverty.

The current issue of Uplift Magazine by the ETH Zurich Foundation focuses on sustainable development. The issue features several projects and programmes of the ETH4D community.

In the spring semester, we invited five experienced professionals from various fields, who are committed to making an impact on people's lives or the environment through their work. They shared their experience and advice on careers in sustainability and global development with a crowd of more than 50 ETH students during the second edition of our SDG Career Panel.

We talked to Stéphanie Ruch about her internship at Bühler Nairobi. Besides gaining in-depth knowledge on milling technology, she dedicated her laboratory work to the identification of a composite flour suitable for the Kenyan market. She shares her insights on working on this project and her most memorable impressions of living in Nairobi.

An upcoming seminar with food systems expert Chris Barrett will focus on how successful transformation of our food system will require the combination of accelerated technological change with a range of policy, institutional and cultural innovations.

"Breathe" and "Diaxxo" are among ten Swiss startups that participate in the SASBI Africa Residency Programme. The programme supports entrepreneurs to spend time in Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya, or South Africa to boost their know-how and advance growth opportunities.

As part of the Sustainability Week Zurich 2022, ETH4D, together with other ETH units, researchers and students, organised the exhibition and event programme "Together for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" in March 2022. 

A recent project by ETH researchers, together with partners from South Africa, has examined the impact of improved public lighting on the life of residents of informal settlements in Cape Town. Wall-mounted solar public lights may be an effective and sustainable alternative to the high-mast lighting currently in use.

Since the beginning of the year, ETH Zurich and Ashesi University in Ghana, together with industry partners, are offering a master's programme in mechatronics engineering taught in Ghana by faculty of both institutions. 26 students from across Africa have made it through the selection process. In this interview, two of them, Miyang and Theophilus, talk about their motivation and expectations of the programme.

On 1^st December 2021, ETH for Development (ETH4D) held its General Assembly which gathered members and the leadership of various ETH units including ETH Sustainability and Nadel - Center for Development and Cooperation, amongst others, which are part of the ETH-wide initiative on global sustainable development. The achieved milestones of 2021 and the growing activities and plans for the following years were shared by the team of the Executive Office.

This year, for the first time, the ETH4D Research Challenges Seminar took place, where ETH researchers working with partners in low-income countries and practitioners from NGOs and industry presented a variety of innovative projects that address pressing global challenges.  

On 3 November 2021, more than 80 guests celebrated the opening of the exhibition "Together for the SDGs" in the main hall of ETH Zurich. They listened to inspiring speeches by ETH Rector Prof. Sarah Springman, Nicolas Radin, Frank Odhiambo and Prof. Isabel Günther and took the opportunity to discuss with ETH researchers and students committed to the Sustainable Development Goals.

How can we fight global poverty and inequality, protect the planet and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity? Together for the SDGs is an exhibition and event programme at ETH Zurich that raises awareness and inspires action for the Sustainable Development Goals. From 30 October - 13 November.

At this year's Industry Day, two projects from the ETH4D network presented their innovative technologies for global health - "breathe", a low-cost ventilator and "peakPCR", a fast PCR testing device. 

While most of the world’s gold is extracted by industrial mines, about 20 percent is produced by millions of artisanal miners trying to make a living by mining gold with only basic tools and methods. This includes the use of toxic chemicals like mercury. In this interview, Antoinette van der Merwe talks about her research into miners’ knowledge of working with mercury and use of protective gear in Burkina Faso.

In collaboration with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST) in Ghana, we will hold a summer school on sustainable solid waste management in September 2021. The ETH Sustainability Summer School "Rethinking Waste" offers a unique learning experience: theoretical and practical knowledge gained via scientific presentations, workshops and group work. Applications for tutors and participants are now open.

Manuela Ernst, head of the Social Integration and Migration Department at the Swiss Red Cross, is a guest on the latest episode of the Nadel Podcast "1,90 pro Tag" and discusses migration, trauma and working in crisis areas.

Join us at the storytelling event “African Leadership for a Sustainable Future: Stories to Inspire”, co-hosted by ETH4D and the African Students Association of Zurich (ASAZ) on 12 March, 17:00-18:15 CET (on Zoom).

Dr. Elizabeth Tilley has been appointed Associate Professor of Global Health Engineering in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering. With this new professorship, ETH invests in the new field of global engineering science, which seeks to provide technical innovations to improve living conditions for everyone.

ETH Zurich, EPFL, and the ICRC are launching the Engineering Humanitarian Action partnership to harness technology for the benefit of humanitarian action. We are pleased to announce that six research projects have been awarded funding to address pressing humanitarian challenges.  

ETH4D, together with ICT4Peace Foundation and the Geneva International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, presented iHuman at this years' Human Rights Film Festival Zurich on December 6 at 8:30 pm. The film screening at Kosmos was followed by a panel discussion (in German).

We would like to introduce you to Theodora Sophia Taylor, a visiting student from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. Theodora is currently staying at EAWAG to study the potential of coconut husk powder for greywater treatment. Read more about Theodora and why she decided to come to Zurich for her research in this interview.

We look forward to celebrating the Ashesi-ETH Master in Engineering Programme initiative together with Ashesi University in Ghana and our industrial partners. We invite everyone to watch the livestream of the event on Tuesday, 13 October 2020 from 15:30 to 17:00 CET.  

In the new episode of the ETH Podcast, Churchill Agutu, ETH Doctoral Student at the Energy Politics Group, and ETH4D Executive Director Dr. Adina Rom discuss how to leverage science and technology for global sustainable development.

Artificial Intelligence holds great promise to contribute to a more sustainable future. At the “AI for Sustainability” session at this year’s Digital Festival Zurich, the audience heard experts from ETH Zurich and industry explain how they use AI to solve global challenges. In smaller group discussions, participants could ask questions and exchange ideas.  

Dr. Michelle Nay, a former E4D Doctoral Scholarship fellow, has won the SFIAR PhD Award for her project "Improving smallholder farmers’ food security through disease resistant common beans".  

Researchers from the Chair of Sustainable Construction, together with colleagues from the IFRC-Shelter Research Unit, developed guidelines for safety and health on small post-disaster reconstructions. The guide covers a diverse range of information, addressing project managers, professional staff, local staff, and volunteers, and it aims to provide the basic knowledge to protect the workers on site.  

We would like to introduce you to Shafiur Rahaman, a Research Project Manager for Eawag in the Rohingya refugee camps at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. Shafiur is coordinating the project activities of the ETH4D Research Challenge “Community governance of emergency sanitation” in the field. The project examines the governance structure of sanitation interventions and tests innovative community-based monitoring of sanitation systems.

Entrepreneurial master students, doctoral candidates and post-docs can apply for the next round of the Pioneer Fellowship by 1 September 2020. ETH4D offers support for projects that serve people in low- and middle-income countries. Get in touch with us!  

We are pleased to announce two grantees of the Special Covid-19 call, which supports research projects that address the negative impact of infectious diseases on the African continent. One project assesses the impact of iron deficiency anemia on vaccine efficacy in Kenya and the other project studies how to optimise the logistics preparedness for disease outbreaks in Uganda.

Dr. Gnanli Landrou grew up in a clay house in Togo. Today he combines know-how from his home country with what he learned in his doctoral degree at ETH to develop a building material for the future: cement-free concrete that is both eco-friendly and low-cost. His story is just one of many illustrating why embracing and encouraging diversity is key for the success of any forward-looking institution that wants to excel in innovation.

While Switzerland never had colonies, it was still involved in colonial practices and discourse and benefited economically from colonialism. In the NZZ, ETH4D member Professor Harald Fischer-Tiné discusses the involvement of Swiss players in the colonial business, the role of historians in current debates, and the ability of postcolonial studies to help us understand ideas, values and linguistic relics from the colonial past that still shape contemporary society.

The Leading House Asia launches a call for Bridging Grants with China, Japan, South Korea and members states of ASEAN to establish existing collaborations between Swiss scientists and their collaborating partners. 

Several ETH research groups are currently developing medical equipment that could also benefit low- and middle-income countries in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Since collaboration between academia and practitioners is essential when developing technologies for low resource settings, researchers and representatives of Swiss NGOs discussed how their research can contribute to addressing pressing challenges in developing countries related to COVID-19.

In June, ETH4D member Prof. Rachael Garrett will join the Scientific Steering Committee of the Global Land Programme. The responsibilities of the committee include exploring and promoting new directions in land system science, carrying out scientific synthesis, connecting the Global Land Programme to other science and policy communities, and providing overall guidance.