Department Bodies

The Department Conference is the highest body of the department and has a multitude of tasks, including:

• Academic planning
• Request for granting of special teaching posts and the invitation of visiting professors and lecturers
• Request for award of full doctorate
• Establishment of rules of procedure for the department
• Request for appointment of department head and his representative
• Election of course delegates
• Establishment of guidelines for the allocation of resources earmarked for the department and the approval of proposals for the allocation of resources by the committee

The Department Conference comprises:

• all of the professors and six representatives of the other members of the teaching staff as well as
• directors of the archives
• four representatives of the academic mid-level faculty
• five representatives of the students and
• two representatives of the administrative and technical staff

The Department Conference meets two to three times per semester.
Meeting dates

The main business are personnel matters on the professor's level:

• Nomination of full and associate professors
• Checking habilitation applications and requesting of venia legendi
• Request for award of title of professor and honorary doctorate

The Professors' conference comprises all professors as well as the adjunct professors of the department.

The Professors' conference of the D-GESS usually meets after the department conference.

Its responsibilities are:

• to check doctorate applications forwarded by the President's Office
• to create proposals for the rejection or acceptance onto doctorate studies programmes for the attention of the department head
• to check the academic qualification of candidates obliged to fulfill additional requirements
• to define additional requirements in agreement with the dissertation supervisor
• to approve research plans
• to appoint one or more second examiners at the request of the dissertation supervisor

The Doctoral Committee consists of the department head, his deputy, a former department head and up to three further professors representing the core areas of GESS. It is elected by the Department Conference for a two-year term at the recommendation of the department head.

The Doctoral Committee of the D-GESS is identical with the Executive Board (Departementsausschuss).

The main responsibilities of the teaching committees include passing regular comment on study as well as requesting necessary changes to study-related regulations.

The Strategy Commission is an advisory body and prepares recommendations for the Department Conferences and for the Professors' Conferences. Its tasks include:
a) strategic mid- and long-term development of the Department in research, teaching, knowledge and technology transfer, engagement and outreach, and with regard to its internal structure;
b) longer-term professorial planning;
c) linking the departmental strategy with the strategic planning of ETH Zurich and the ETH Domain.

The members of the Strategy Commission are elected by the Department Conference for the term of office of the Department Chair. The Strategy Commission is composed of:
- two associate/full professors as chair and vice-chair;
- up to seven associate/full professors of the department;
- a total of two representatives of the academic staff and/or students at the D-GESS;
- the Head of Department;
- the Department Coordinator.

Members of the Strategy Commission are:
Prof. Isabel Günther (Chair, law & governance section)
Prof. Andreas Wenger (Deputy chair, governance section)
Prof. Ulrik Brandes (Head of Department, ex officio, Behavior)
Dr. Stefan Karlen (Departementskoordinator, ex officio)
Prof. Stefan Bechtold (law & economics)
Prof. Martina Rau (behavior section)
Prof. Christoph Hölscher (behavior section)
Prof. Harald Fischer-Tiné (knowledge section)
Prof. Roy Wagner (knowledge section)
Sandra Andraszewicz (scientific staff)
Thea Lobo (scientific staff)