Prof. Dr. Sarah Springman

Sarah Springman has been Full Professor for Geotechnical Engineering at ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) since January 1997 and Rector of the university since January She studied engineering sciences at Cambridge University. She then worked for five years as an engineer on several geotechnical projects in England, Fiji, and Australia before returning to Cambridge, where she earned her PhD in soil mechanics in 1989 and established an academic career as a lecturer. Her main interest in research is soil-structure interaction and the geotechnical aspects of natural hazards. Professor Springman has been an active lecturer, winning the Golden Owl, and she has supervised two dozen doctoral students, while she has inspired many young women to take up engineering and science degrees. As Rector of ETH Zurich and within the Executive Board she is responsible for education and as such for 21.000 students. She is in charge of admissions to study programmes at all levels and for the organisation and management of study-related matters.

Christine Kaiser

Christine started her career in 1993 as a vocational counselor in the first Swiss “Centre de Bilan”, helping long term unemployed individuals re-enter the job market. From there, Christine went on to work at UBS, leading and managing initiatives in the area of talent acquisition, performance and development in Switzerland and Asia. Deciding to change industries, Christine spent the next 14 years in two leading HR services firms, consulting clients on talent development and mobility solutions, as well as managing the business in the functions of Country Manager (shl/CEB) and Director Sales EMEA (Lee Hecht Harrison). Christine holds a Masters in Organisational Psychology, as well as a Masters in Vocational Psychology. She completed her Executive MBA at IMD in 2008.

Thanks to her experience, Christine has an extensive knowledge of the Swiss job market, and understands the talent acquisition and development needs that companies have in today’s competitive environment. She also has a broad expertise of career management and has a passion for coaching students and professionals (alumni, dual career spouses) during their career transitions.

Solène Wolff

Solène Wolff joined the ETH Carer Center in October 2016. Prior to joining, she worked in the University Relations department of an international energy company and more recently she was a Recruitment Consultant at a big HR consulting company.

Due to her experience she has a broad knowledge in the area of job interviews, CVs and requirements for graduates as well as a deeper understanding of the Swiss labor market. In her role as a Career Advisor and Project Manager she applies her expertise in trainings, workshops and individual counselings for students and doctoral students and she takes care of companies regarding their employer branding activities at ETH.

Solène Wolff is French and is holding a Master in Management of the Skema Business School which also contained exchange programs in Canada and Germany.

Dr. Estefania Tapias

Estefanía is co-founder and CEO at WeSpace. She obtained her Ph.D. at ETH Zurich and worked as a researcher and lecturer on the topic of Future Cities. Estefanía is an honoree of the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe list of 2018, BILANZ Top 100 Digital Shapers 2018, WEF Global Shaper, and Founding President of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Alumni. Estefanía has been invited as speaker in different international events such as the World Web Forum, the Sustainable Innovation Forum – COP21, and the European Forum of Young Innovators – EURODOC. Estefanía is committed to develop and shape initiatives that support the sustainable future of societies and cities.

Edith Schmid

Edith Schmid holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from HSG and a Master of Arts in History and Philosophy of Knowledge from ETH. She served as president of the ETH EC in 2015 and brought the ETH EC Alumni to life. Since 2016 she helped build the MedTech IoT Startup Kenzen, where she acts as CEO for the Swiss entity and as COO for Kenzen Global. Kenzen specializes in sweat analysis in order to predict and prevent avoidable injuries and health conditions.

Laura Rijks

After studying motion sciences at the ETH Zurich, Laura Rijks worked in a health center as a prevention officer. There she quickly learned that the healthy body is the basis for personal development. At the same time, however, she realized that the traditional approach -move and eat enough- is often not enough to live a balanced and happy life. She therefore expanded her philosophy of healthy eating and exercise with other aspects, such as sleep and rest, mental energy and positive psychology.

In addition to her work as an independent performance coach, Laura Rijks also works in the athletic department of the FC Zurich Academy. There she is dealing with young athletes who are eager to turn their talent into a career. Her job as an athletic trainer focuses on improving physical performance. However, dealing with young people also shows her how important the right mentality in this top sports environment can be and what significance small details can have on optimal performance.