Research and competence centers

The great scientific diversity of the Department of Environmental Systems Science is reflected by numerous national and international links and networks for collaboration in research and teaching. Important partners include other departments within ETH Zurich as well as the research institutions in the ETH Domain, in particular Eawag and WSL, the sister school in Lausanne (EPFL) and, in the context of the National Competence Centre for Climate Research, the University of Berne.

The development of environmental and agricultural sciences is characterized by thematic and methodological challenges that go beyond given academic structures. The complex feedback mechanisms between natural processes and human activities require broad and integrative approaches. To meet these challenges members of D-USYS increasingly engage in competence centres and technology platforms within ETH Zurich and the ETH Domain.

Center for Climate Systems Modeling

The Center for Climate Systems Modeling (C2SM) was established in 2008 as an ETH competence centre in close collaboration with its partner institutions MeteoSwiss, Empa, and Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon. The overarching goal of C2SM is to improve our capability to understand and predict Earth’s climate and weather with a specific focus on the role of multi-scale interactions within the climate system. C2SM encompasses the technical and scientific expertise of more than 200 climate scientists. The centre’s lead is within the D-USYS, and the majority of its members also stem from the department.
The main activities of the centre are (1) to maintain, improve, and make available to the centre’s community a hierarchy of state-ofthe-art climate and climate-related models; (2) to exploit and disseminate key national and international data sets by providing a repository for them and by developing analysis and data management tools; and (3) to foster the collaboration between research groups by facilitating scientific discussions and the preparation of joint proposals. Current projects focus on the role of carbonclimate feedbacks, the interactions between air pollution and climate (i.e., the role of chemistry-aerosol-cloud interactions); and climate models with high spatial resolution.

Competence Center Environment and Sustainability

The Competence Center Environment and Sustainability (CCES) was established in 2006 as a centre of the ETH Domain to promote large-scale, integrative research projects that help find solutions to foster the sustainable development of society while minimizing the impact on the environment. CCES seeks to combine research with an education and outreach programme in partnership with private and public actors to achieve a visible societal impact. By providing expertise in research and applications, CCES also aims to support politicians and decision-makers in integrating the principles of sustainable development in national policies and programmes. ETH is the leading house of CCES. The CCES Steering Board is chaired by a representative of D-USYS. In addition, D-USYS members collaborate with colleagues from Eawag, Empa, WSL, PSI and EPFL in many of the currently running projects.

Genetic Diversity Centre

The Genetic Diversity Centre (GDC) was founded in January 2008 by members of the Institute of Integrative Biology as a technology and knowledge platform for all applications where genetic diversity is studied in natural and managed populations. GDC addresses the rapidly increasing technological and analytical needs in this field.
The platform supports biologist from various disciplines of ETH Zurich, the ETH domain and other academic institutions with expertise in bioinformatics and statistical analysis as well as in the technical operation of various instruments. GDC integrates relevant knowledge and data from various disciplines to deal with environmental questions and global problems related to genetic diversity, e.g., biodiversity loss and food safety. The centre is chaired by the Institute of Integrative Biology in D-USYS, but draws support from and offers its services to a broad network of research groups within ETH Zurich, the ETH Domain and other academic institutions. GDC offers also education and training for students to ensure continuing expertise in the handling of the new technologies.

North-South Centre

The North-South Centre is the competence centre of the ETH Zurich promoting research and education, and offering scientific advisory services in the area of international development and cooperation. It represents a broad range of research expertise and facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration dealing with ecological, economic and social challenges. The Centre is responsible for development-relevant research and scholarships programmes. These programmes foster long-term research partnerships with institutions from developing countries and support scientists from the South and from the North. The North-South Centre concentrates its activities on four topics – always contributing to the overall goal of sustainable development for human well-being: Food security, natural resource management, urban and rural transformation, and technology and infrastructure.

Plant Science Center

The Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center (PSC) is the competence center for plant sciences at the ETH Zurich and the Universities of Zurich and Basel. Established in 1998, the PSC has become a strong advocate for plant science research and education in Switzerland. It is a truly multidisciplinary network, with research ranging from molecular biology to ecology, from systematic botany to evolution, and from agronomy to conservation biology.
The PSC offers broad training in the field of plant sciences. Students can choose between two PhD programs and from a large variety of scientific and transferable skill courses. The PhD Program in Plant Sciences and Policy offers students the possibilities to gain competencies necessary to gap the bridge between science and implementation of knowledge for the benefit of society. With PLANT FELLOWS the PSC offers an international post-doctoral training program. These programs are open to PhD students and Post-doctoral fellows of the D-USYS.
The PSC and its scientists understand cooperation with other universities, research institutes, non-governmental organizations and the industry, as an essential element of scientific progress and are open for new partnerships.

World Food System Competence Center

The World Food System Competence Center was established in 2011 as an integrative research, education and outreach platform concerned with addressing the global challenges of food security. The center lies within D-USYS, however includes members from a wide variety of ETH departments. The objectives of the center are to provide goal oriented leadership, build the capacity of the next generation of decision makers, drive cutting edge research into the complex challenges facing the world food system both now and in the future, translates this research into real world impact, and communicate this knowledge to help shape decision making.
The center does this through an integrative framework that encompasses existing ETH Zurich professorships, institutions, competence centers and research initiatives, while adding new teaching and research areas, partnerships and outreach platforms to local and global industry, policy makers and society.