News from the Executive Board 2/2023

Email services will in future be in the cloud

The email services of IT Services (ITS) comprise a large number of essential services for working together. Alongside emails themselves, they also include calendars, contacts and to-do lists. In order to operate these email services, ITS currently maintains infrastructure of the manufacturer Microsoft (¡°Exchange 2016¡±) at its computing centres.

However, further development of ¡°Exchange 2016¡± was discontinued in October 2020, and the manufacturer will no longer be providing the requisite support as of October 2025.

The Executive Board has therefore decided in future to use Microsoft¡¯s ¡°Exchange Online¡±. This means that data from emails, calendars, contact lists and the like will in future be stored and processed on Microsoft cloud infrastructure in Switzerland. This migration offers a number of advantages:

• It will be possible to make use of various applications for which the use of "Exchange Online" is a mandatory requirement, such as a wide range of cloud apps requiring an Exchange Online mailbox, all Teams functions and jointly managed to-do lists.
• Improved IT security
• Larger mailboxes
• Various cost savings

The first mailboxes are scheduled to be migrated in the second half of 2023 at the earliest. All mailboxes managed by ITS are to be migrated by the autumn of 2025. Further information will be provided in due course on Internal news. If you have any questions, please contact project manager .

New member of the GSP Commission

The Executive Board has elected Nicolas Noiray, Professor of Combustion and Acoustics for Power and Propulsion Systems (D-MAVT), as a new member of the Commission for Good Scientific Practice (GSP Commission) for the term of office 1 February 2023 to 31 January 2027. It also paid tribute to the services of his predecessor, Patrick Jenny, Professor for Computational Fluid Dynamics and Multiscale Modelling, who is stepping down from the GSP Commission at the end of January 2023 in order to assume the function of Head of the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering from 1 February 2023. The GSP Commission supports the Executive Board with issues concerning good scientific practice and anchoring this in teaching, research and knowledge transfer. 

Resignation of external ombudsperson

The Executive Board has accepted the resignation of ombudsperson Martin Hohmann as of 28 February 2023 and thanks him for his contribution. Martin Hohmann has been an external ombudsperson at ETH Zurich since 1 March 2022. He wishes to resume his exclusive concentration on his main occupation as a forensic psychologist. He paid tribute in his resignation letter to ETH Zurich as an organisation that ¡°goes to enormous lengths to exert a positive impact on the working environment and that is strongly committed to combatting all forms of bullying, harassment and discrimination with the help of contact and advice services¡±. The ombudspersons offer a sympathetic ear to ETH members in difficult situations.