News

The ETH Board was gratified to note that more than half of the newly appointed professors were women. This means that the two Federal Institutes of Technology are on course to achieve the long-term goal of increasing the proportion of women professors. At its meeting of 3/4 December 2025, the ETH Board discussed the next steps of the organisational development project “FIT for the Future”. In addition, it bade farewell to its long-standing member Susan Gasser at the end of her term of office, and to Peter Allenspach, a member of the PSI Board of Directors.

On Thursday, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) held the third Swiss CommUNITY Day on Data at Forum Fribourg, in collaboration with Digital Public Services Switzerland and the Fribourg cantonal statistics and data service (SSD). Data platforms were at the heart of this year’s event, which brought together members of the various FSO partner committees. The day yielded a productive exchange of best practice on the various aspects of data platforms, including infrastructure, security, interoperability and the use of AI.

At its meeting of 3/4 December 2025 and upon application of the President of ETH Zurich, Professor Joël Mesot, and the President of EPFL, Professor Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, the ETH Board appointed a total of seven women and eleven men as professors and awarded the title of professor to seven individuals. It also took note of the resignations of nine professors (two women and seven men) and thanked them for their services. In the last 12 months, the ETH Board has made a total of 28 new appointments for women and 24 for men; the proportion of women among these new appointments thus amounts to 54%.

For several weeks now, cyclones and torrential rain have been causing major damage in many countries in South and South-East Asia. The situation is particularly serious in Sri Lanka, which has launched an appeal for international aid. The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) is deploying specialists and equipment to meet needs in the region, particularly in the field of water and sanitation.

The Federal Office for Defence Procurement armasuisse has completed the evaluation for a new service pistol and selected a type. The model SIG Sauer P320 has been selected as the new pistol. The manufacturer has assured that production will be set up in Switzerland. This complies with the Armament Policy Strategy of the Federal Council to retain and set up security-relevant industrial capabilities in Switzerland.

Address by Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and incoming OSCE chairperson-in-office in Vienna – Check against delivery

On Tuesday, 2 December 2025, a number of interventions on suspicion of insider trading took place in Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom as part of several criminal proceedings conducted by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG). The criminal proceedings are being conducted against five individuals who are alleged to have exploited confidential and price-sensitive information relating to a listed international Swiss company.

Automatic charging instead of plugging in cables: In a cooperative project, Empa researchers investigated inductive charging of electric cars. This is not only similarly efficient to cable-based charging, but could also simplify the integration of vehicle batteries as flexible storage devices into the electricity grid. The first cars in Switzerland to be converted for inductive charging have already been approved for road use.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell by 0.2% in November 2025 compared with the previous month, reaching a level of 107.0 points (December 2020 = 100). Inflation was 0.0% compared with the same month of the previous year. These are the results of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

The Federal Office for Defence Procurement armasuisse and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) have launched the “A-VIPER” research project. It is based on the existing framework agreement between the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) and the US Department of Defense (DoD). The aim of the project is to further develop the automated identification, analysis and prioritisation of software vulnerabilities in security-critical systems.

On 2 December 2025, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), received the Kazakh foreign minister, Yermek Kosherbayev, in Bern for an official visit. The talks centred on bilateral relations, regional cooperation in Central Asia and Switzerland's chairpersonship of the OSCE next year. The delegations also signed a memorandum of understanding for the implementation of the Blue Peace initiative.

A panel of experts has selected the three best proposals for the environmentally sound and safe recovery of ammunition from Swiss lakes. The proposals provide important approaches for further investigation; however, there are no plans to actually recover the ammunition, provided that the monitoring efforts continue to show that the ammunition is not having any negative effects on the environment.