GESS Help!Point

The GESS Help!Point is an internal and confidential point of contact for students, doctoral students, postdocs, professors, and other D-GESS staff.

Everyone faces struggles and stress factors at work. However, sometimes coping with things can just get too difficult. That is when the Help!Point can be of service. We are here to listen to you and to help you defuse workplace conflicts as early as possible. You can let us know if you are unsure whether a certain behaviour or procedure is appropriate, if you feel uncomfortable or unduly pressured, or if you are simply confused about how to deal with a situation. We are a confidential service. You may speak to us without worrying that what you say will reach your colleagues, supervisors, or friends.

Our Mandate

The D-GESS Departmental Conference created this point of contact in 2019 at the request of students. Following the most recent Department Evaluation, at the start of 2022 the Help!Point team of volunteers was enlarged from two members to four, with the hope of raising the visibility of the service and offering friendly faces from across the employment spectrum. The team comprises Malte Bachem and Sabina Bossert (technical-administrative staff), Aydin Yildirim (Postdoc), and Frank Schimmelfennig (professor).
Please note that we cannot offer professional care, such as psychotherapy or legal counsel. Though, if necessary, we can assist you in reaching out to professional services offered by ETH Zürich. Administrative problems and problems with formal ETH regulations are outside of our remit.

How to Contact Us

You can email your questions and concerns to the GESS Help!Point, in which case all four of us will pool resources to help. Alternatively, you can directly email one or more of our team members, in which case only those whom you contact will be involved.

Please use your ETH e-mail address, otherwise your mails will not reach us.