Overview

The 6th Research Day of the Department of Health Sciences and Technology was held on Thursday, 7 September 2023.  After a break of several years due to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, it was the first Research Day since 2018 and with approx. 300 participants again a successful and enjoyable event.

Speed presentations were again the heart of the Research Day. This year 71 doctoral and postdoctoral students presented their projects in 2  minute presentations to the audience. In addition, after finally moving to the new GLC building, several research groups took the opportunity to present their research in their new labs. For the first time since 2013, the program of the D-HEST Research Day included lab tours and live demos which were highly appreciated by all participants.

This year, the James Mitchell Award for Excellence in Collaborative Science was awarded for the first time within the framework of the D-HEST Research Day. The awardee Nicole Stoffel could not attend the ceremony in person, but spoke to the audience about her research in a pre-recorded presentation. As in 2021 and 2022, Elisabeth Ligthart, James Mitchell's widow, was present at the ceremony to honor Jay and to hand over the award which was received by a colleague on Nicole's behalf.

Before the lunch break, ETH Vice President for Research, Christian Wolfrum, gave an overview of the role of ETH Zurich and the Department of Health Sciences and Technology in the field of medicine. As Professor of Translational Nutrition Biology at D-HEST, Christian knows the department and its development into one of the largest departments of ETH Zurich very well. Then, after lunch, Daniel Naeff, Head of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the ETH AI Center, fascinated the audience with his keynote talk about chances, challenges, and changes that all of us will face with the entry of AI into our lives and work.

In the afternoon, lab tours were the main activity before returning to the auditorium for the last session of speed presentations. Since the D-HEST Research Day is all about exchanging ideas, finding opportunities to collaborate, and learning about other group's research, enough time was reserved for coffee and lunch breaks and, at the end of the day, an enoyable apéro.

We look forward to the next D-HEST Research Day!