Eawag's Research Environment - A Guide for New and Prospective Tenure-Track and Tenured Researchers
Creators: name: Hering, Janet
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021

description: Eawag is recognized worldwide as a leading institute for research, education, and expert consulting in aquatic science and technology and is thus ideally positioned to make key contributions to water sustainability and security. Eawag has unmatched capacity to conduct inter- and transdisciplinary research that is problem-driven and/or solution-oriented. This capacity depends on and benefits from effective cooperation with partners from both academics and practice, allowing Eawag’s research to span the continuum from curiosity-driven to implementation. Eawag’s mandate encompasses research, education, and expert consulting. Each of these activities is pursued in collaboration with national partners, particularly the other institutions of the ETH Domain, and also international partners. Key national partners in applied and transdisciplinary research and in expert consulting include the Federal Offices, Cantonal agencies, municipal utilities, consulting firms, and industry. The balance of these interactions reflects Eawag’s focus on public, rather than economic, goods. Eawag researchers enjoy an academic research environment, in which much of the research is driven “bottom-up” by the interests of the researchers themselves. Students at the Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral levels are engaged in many projects. Eawag is well-supported by the federal government, which allows for long-term continuity of research, excellent technical and administrative support and worldclass instrumentation and facilities. Eawag promotes a collaborative research environment with an emphasis on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. Eawag’s most valuable competitive advantage is the broad expertise of its research staff, which includes natural and social scientists and engineers. Eawag researchers have access to numerous sources of research funding. Approximately 25% of Eawag’s total budget is supported by external funding, which is primarily used for research projects. For example, in 2020, the breakdown of external funds (by volume) was approximately: 39% from the Swiss National Science Foundation, 36% from Federal Offices, 11% from private foundations and industry,<br> 5% from the EU, 5% from ETH Domain project funding, and 2% from Cantonal Offices. Eawag also provides support for proposal-based internal projects at the level of approximately CHF 1.5 M per year. Since this corresponds to less than 10% of Eawag’s external funding, internal funding is used strategically to advance Eawag’s competitiveness. Eawag has a 5-year tenure process in which successful tenure-track researchers are granted tenure (i.e., a permanent position) after a successful evaluation based on their professional accomplishments, their contributions to Eawag and external reviews. Tenure decisions are made by the Eawag Directorate and are not constrained by internal competition for a limited number of permanent positions. An accelerated tenure process is possible for more senior candidates. Eawag offers a remarkable environment for research in aquatic science and technology. It welcomes creative and motivated researchers to join in its research activities.