August 2022

On 26 October, the Association of Scientific Staff at D-​BAUG invites all students, researchers and professors to join the department’s annual meet and share event. Selected case studies will be presented to showcase the manifold ways in which engineering research at D-​BAUG helps to tackle societal and global challenges. Keynotes will be given by Professors Bryan Adey and Adrienne Grêt-​Regamey. In addition, there will be a poster session and, as always, a networking apéro at the end!

On 8 June 2022, the Institute of Environmental Engineering (IfU) held its annual "Scientific Speed Dating" event. The fast-paced program included six short talks, 13 poster presentations and a bingo quiz – maximum attention was required! The winners were rewarded with generous vouchers. After a virtual version of the event last year, everybody was glad to be back together in person and to exchange ideas in a relaxed atmosphere.

Spatial planning in the underground is becoming increasingly important. As part of the pioneering project "Digital Underground", an international research team led by D-BAUG professors Martin Raubal and Andreas Wieser is developing a 3D map of the underground in Singapore. The digital twin will help to save time and costs in construction and increase worker safety. The mapping initiative has model character and could also find applications in Switzerland in the future.

The Executive Board has approved an ETH Research Grant of 603,400 francs to the D-BAUG research project “Protecting Sandstone Monuments”. The project develops a new approach to preserving historic cathedrals and castles made of sandstone against the consequences of weathering. The research groups of Professor Robert Flatt, Professor Andreas Wieser and Dr. Falk Wittel are involved in the project.

Researchers around Daniel Farinotti, D-BAUG Professor for Glaciology, have for the first time reconstructed the extent of Switzerland’s glacier ice loss in the 20th century. For this purpose, the researchers used historical imagery and conclude that the country’s glaciers lost half their volume between 1931 and 2016.

Guillaume Habert, Professor of Sustainable Construction, is the new ETH Zurich representative on the board of NEROS (Network for Swiss Mineral Resources). ETH has been involved since the network’s inception in 1918 and historically has been represented by a member of the Earth Science department. The shift from D-ERDW to D-BAUG highlights the transition from primary to secondary resources in the economy and the key role the construction industry plays for mineral resource consumption.

Satellite data affords D-BAUG researchers a new method for quantifying carbon mobilisation in Arctic permafrost. Their findings also reveal how summer heatwaves accelerate the rate of Arctic landslides in thawing permafrost. The study was developed by researchers around Irena Hajnsek, Professor Earth Observation and Remote Sensing at the Institute of Environmental Engineering (IfU).

At its meeting of 13/14 July 2022 and upon application of Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed several professors and also bid farewell to others and thanked them for their service. For D-BAUG, Johan Gaume was appointed Associate Professor of Alpine Mass Movements. Professors Markus Rothacher and Daniel Hall were bid farewell.