New rules at D-PHYS affecting Prof. Keller’s activities at ETH Zurich

During her official emeritus review (i.e. “Emeritierungsgespräch”) with the physics department and the ETH staff on 12. Nov. 2021, we were informed that the new rules of D-PHYS [1] will be strictly implemented, even though very limited time is left to fulfill the required space-time and budget-time integral.

The basic principle of the space-time integral means that any additional space used after the official legal retirement age needs to be compensated by giving up space before the retirement. The integrated space-time area needs to be conserved before and after the retirement age.

The basic principle of the budget-time integral means that additional funds can be used after the retirement of a professor when put aside ahead of time.

These rules were implemented to “protect the access of the younger generation to resources” [1], with the following rule which we refer to as the space-time and budget-time integral [1]:

“Any prolongation request for a full professor should be accompanied by a plan showing how resources (budget and lab/office space) released before the legal age of retirement will compensate the one used after. In terms of funding, it is understood that any such prolongation will be cost-neutral for the department; in terms of space it is the integrated area-time.”

[1] Download2021-3-5 New D-PHYS Guidelines_Retirement_Professors (PDF, 57 KB)vertical_align_bottom