Ombudspersons and confidants
The ombudspersons and confidants offer advice to members of ETH Zurich who find themselves in difficult situations:
- The ombudspersons are a general contact point for conflicts that cannot be solved by direct communication and for reporting suspected illegal actions.
- The confidants can help you with issues concerning research integrity and scientific misconduct.
Both are independent and treat all information they receive confidentially. They involve further persons or units only if required by the case and observing confidentiality. While they cannot issue instructions, they may point out solutions, establish contacts, and initiate processes.
The ombudspersons and confidants are elected by ETH Zurich's Executive Board based on the Ordinance on Organization.
Dr. Margrit Leuthold
Personal page
Jonas Nakonz
Personal page
Prof. em. Annette Spiro
Personal page
Kathrin Teuscher
Personal page
The ombuds office offers advice on the following topics:
- Workplace conflicts and conflicts involving instructors
- Whistle blowing in case of suspected illegal action by members of ETH Zurich
- Other cases of breaches of ETH Zurich's DownloadCompliance Guidevertical_align_bottom (except where related to research integrity - see confidants)
The ombudspersons carry out their mandate in accordance with the external pageethical standardscall_made of the International Ombudsman Association.
Prof. em. Dr. Renate Schubert
Details
Prof. em. Dr. Karl-?Heinz Altmann
Details
The confidants serve as contact persons for all questions of research integrity. Some examples include:
- Authorship conflicts
- Suspected plagiarism in scientific publications
- Falsification and fabrication of data
- Problems with sharing data or handing them over when leaving ETH Zurich
- Conflicts of interest
- Insufficient support for junior scientists (in collaboration with the Vice Rector for Doctoral Studies)
Ethical assessment of research projects is not conducted by the confidants but by the Ethics Commission.