Collegium Helveticum
The Collegium Helveticum is a Zurich- based, transdisciplinary Institute for Advanced Study . It is a joint institution of the University of Zurich , the ETH Zurich and the Zurich University of the Arts . Its mission is to promote encounters and dialogue between the humanities and social sciences, natural and engineering sciences, medical sciences and the arts. Every four to five years a new focus topic is determined on which the fellows of the respective period work. The topic of the current fellowship period 2016–2020 is “Digital Societies”.
profile
The Collegium Helveticum sees itself as a laboratory for transdisciplinarity and at the same time as a think tank . In addition to the research activities of its fellows and members, the Collegium Helveticum organizes international events on fundamental topics in science and the arts in general, as well as on the current focus topic “Digital Societies” in particular. In addition, the Collegium Helveticum forms a platform for transdisciplinary research questions and alliances, partly in cooperation with other institutions and initiatives.
The fellows (professors from the three sponsoring universities) form the core of the members of the Collegium Helveticum. This differs from other Institutes for Advanced Study on the one hand by a relatively small number of fellows, on the other hand by their multi-year commitment and their transdisciplinary cooperation on a common focus topic.
The fellows elected by a board of trustees are all professors at the respective universities. A total of around 40 to 50 members doing scientific / artistic research work at the Collegium Helveticum, in addition to the Fellows and associated Fellows, scientists or artists as well as visiting scholars from international cooperation programs (e.g. EURIAS). The Collegium Helveticum has been headed by Thomas Hengartner since January 1, 2016 .
history
The Collegium Helveticum was founded in 1997 by the ETH. Until 2004, the core of the Collegium Helveticum was an interdisciplinary graduate college for young scientists from the University of Zurich and the ETH Zurich. Since 2004 the Collegium Helveticum has been jointly supported by ETH Zurich and the university. At the same time, the current structure was introduced with fellows elected for five years who work on a jointly defined focus topic. Since 2016, the Zurich University of the Arts has been the third university within the sponsorship.
The Fellows of the period 2004–2009 dealt with the main topic “The role of emotions: their part in human behavior and in setting social norms”, the following Fellows period (2009–2016) with “Reproducibility, Prediction, Relevance”. For the 2016–2020 fellowship period that began in the fall semester, the topic is “Digital Societies”.
The first director of the Collegium Helveticum was Adolf Muschg . In 1998 the management passed to Helga Nowotny , who held it until her retirement in 2002. Peter Rieder headed the Collegium Helveticum as interim director until the end of September 2004. Between 2004 and 2015 Gerd Folkers was the director.
place
The Collegium Helveticum is housed by the Semper Observatory of the ETH Zurich. The construction of the observatory is closely linked to the mathematician and astronomer Rudolf Wolf (1816–1893), who was appointed professor of astronomy at the newly founded Eidgenössische Polytechnikum in Zurich in 1855, and to Gottfried Semper (1803–1879), professor of architecture and Head of the construction school at the Zurich Polytechnic.
By resolution of the government council, the supra-municipal inventory of monument preservation for the city of Zurich came into effect in 1981, making the observatory a protected object of cantonal importance. After an extensive restoration (1995–1997), the observatory has housed the Collegium Helveticum since 1997.
Publications
The research projects and the work of the fellows, associated fellows and employees of the Collegium Helveticum are reflected in scientific publications. At the same time, the Collegium Helveticum publishes its own book series in which the work at the Collegium is reflected.