Pursuing a PhD degree does not only mean to spend long hours in the lab trying to make tricky experiments work out and report on them. Educational institutions are not only places to study theoretical concepts and gain (scientific) experience. Thanks to the presence of professors and experts in diverse fields of study, close ties to politicians and industry as well as thousands of motivated students eager to learn, universities are also the ideal hub to connect all of these people to analyse, discuss and possibly tackle the problems our societies face in present and future. This enables everyone involved to learn from each other and grow together in the process.
Now you may wonder: “How can academic institutions function as such a hub and how does that look in detail?”
While there is a variety of good answer to the first questions, I will describe in the following one way that I have encountered, appreciated and grown a part of during the last three years: The sustainability week Zurich (https://nachhaltigkeitswoche.ch).
This is a student association supported by all five institutes of higher education in Zurich (ETHZ, University of Zurich, the teachers’ school, the university of applied sciences, and the art academy) but not associated to any political party. We are entirely run by students to organize a set of events targeting the topic of sustainability once a year and maintaining the interest via smaller educational and yet fun events throughout the year. Sustainability may originate from the long-term oriented industrial usage of forests to avoid over-exploitation and is often used as a concept to counteract climate crisis and mass extinction. However, nowadays it also entails social, political and psychological dimensions, thus exceeding beyond the classical scope of the protection of biotopes.
Considering the diversity of people and topics, a plethora of opportunities arises for students from different fields of study to engage in talks, discussions and hands-on workshops. For instance, in my first year I had organized an experts talk to teach the general public about the capabilities and limitations of carbon capture technology as well as a panel discussion on whether stock market investments can be sustainable. Other more practical events dealt with bike fixing tutorials, vegan cooking classes, introductions to urban gardening or plastic recycling.
In October, my student initiative “Sustainability Week” co-organized an educational and yet fun trip to the water dam “Grande Dixence” in Valais, Switzerland. We were allowed to enter the dam, learn about hydro power plants, the associated possibilities and challenges and also enjoy the beautiful nature in autumn.
Our events regularly also involve exchanges with professors of the universities, members of the Swiss parliament, and the local industry. To provide an example, several months back, I moderated a panel discussion on “Biodiversity” with a professor from the university of Zurich, the president of the Green party Switzerland and a representative of the large agricultural company Syngenta to compare perspectives and discuss action points regarding the pressing problem of a loss in biodiversity in Switzerland and nearly everywhere else in the world as a consequence of human impact.
Whereas finding groundbreaking solutions is obviously rare, our association does believe that it is important to keep the issues related to sustainability on the academic agenda in spite of several other challenges our societies are currently dealing with. Generally, our goals are to spread awareness, discuss problems and possible solutions, encourage personal changes and demand paradigm shifts from society and politics. In the process, we attempt to maintain a positive atmosphere and spread optimism and avoid judgemental statements. Even though news and studies on the current status of the environment may not raise it, we believe that hope is a better driver for humans than dystopian pessimism.
Now you may ask: “Why does that matter for a PhD student in magnetism at all?”
The recent decades have demonstrated that scientists’ activities and findings have regularly very little impact, unless they are effectively, repeatedly, simply, and yet truthfully reported to other parts of society. In turn, scientist need to learn about the challenges faced by society and industry to regularly reflect on their research activities that may contribute to tackling some of those challenges. From my point of view, sustainability week events are a great way of training and practicing exchange with other perspectives on multifaceted problems. This brings valuable additions to a student’s skillset, may her/his future be in science or elsewhere. And after all, I believe the fundamental reason for me to study physics, discuss potential solutions for environmental problems, and go hiking in the mountains is the love for mother nature, which is being shared by so many people of different backgrounds, not only in Zurich, but Europe- and worldwide.
