MTEC News Archive

MTEC Day 2025 marked the graduation and awards ceremony for the MSc MTEC and MAS MTEC programmes. The event featured a record-breaking GPA, awards for brilliant Master's theses, engaging speeches, and an apéro that almost would not end.

Many ideas never leave the campus. Yet the world needs that knowledge to improve how organisations, communities, and industries operate. As the Director of the Humanitarian Operations and Supply Chain Management (HumOSCM) Lab, Dr Bublu Thakur-Weigold applies research to where it matters most. We spoke with her about how she makes it work.

New research reveals surprising truths about productivity in European agriculture – and why understanding them matters for resilience and future growth.

Shaping a more inclusive future in science is no easy thing – but that doesn’t make it less important. To spark conversations and celebrate International Women’s Day, several female associations and diversity groups at ETH hosted a panel where women in science shared their perspectives.

D-​MTEC wishes you happy holidays and a fantastic start to the new year! 2024 has been another exciting year in our community. Lean back and enjoy this video​collage with some highlights from last year. We are back on 6 January 2025.

The Entrepreneurial Leadership Seminar (ELS) offers MSc MTEC and MAS MTEC students a hands-on, collaborative experience. They work with project leaders and senior executives to tackle an organisation's real-world challenges. In 2024, they went to UBS to explore the transformative potential of AI in banking.

For two decades, Professor Frank Schweitzer explored complex social and economic systems at D-MTEC. Before retiring in early 2025, he reflects on what complexity research offers academia, organisations, and students – why understanding structural dynamics and resilience matters. Sebastian Wagner-Vierhaus interviewed him shortly after his farewell lecture.

A new theory challenges how firms manage AI. Gudela Grote and colleagues published the paper in the Academy of Management Review. They argue that developers, users, and managers must share control and accountability through dialogue, negotiation, and careful design. The result could reshape how we trust AI.

Vocational education can enhance youth employment and income while driving systemic change in education systems. A research project co-hosted by D-MTEC’s Chair of Education Systems revealed that robust social institutions, effective collaboration between schools and employers, and long-term reforms are essential for a lasting impact of vocational training.

Matej Svaral is the latest recipient of an ESOP fellowship to pursue his Master’s at D-MTEC. He’s not one to do things half-heartedly. Besides studying, he actively participates in the community as MSA co-president and has an ironclad plan for a leadership career after his studies. That may have something to do with being a triathlete, too.