ETH Alumni networking at the embassy of Switzerland in Japan

Approximately half of the attendees were members of ETH Alumni Chapter Tokyo, including the Senior Vice President of Kyushu University, Prof. Kazunari Sasaki, who has obtained his doctoral degree from ETHZ (Dr. sc. techn. ETH). They were joined by current and former Vice Presidents of the University of Tokyo and many other guests ranging from students to representatives of industry, all with a connection to ETH.

A future in medicine

The event started off with the Ambassador greeting the guests and pointing out the importance of ETH when it comes to scientific collaboration between Switzerland and Japan. Prof. Guzzella introduced the attendees to the latest developments at ETH in a short presentation on “New approaches in education and knowledge translation in health research”. He particularly focused on the newly offered program leading to a Bachelor in Medicine, the “Zurich Heart” project and the Cybathlon movement under the leadership of ETH Zurich. Then it was the turn of ETH Professor Christoph Hölscher to report about "Urban and architectural design for healthy living: behavior and cognition", where he elaborated on the collaboration between the ETH home basis and the Singapore – ETH Centre, among others. Prof. Shuro Nakajima from Wakayama University continued where Prof. Guzzella has finished, by introducing the "Cybathlon movement in Japan". The round of talks was finished off by a short Q&A session moderated by Daniel Citterio, one of the two co-chairs of the ETH Alumni Chapter Tokyo. Many of the questions were related to ETH’s “new entry” into the domain of medicine, which for most of the guests, including the ETH Alumni, came to quite a surprise, since it has so far been a field of science not necessarily associated with “typical ETH” activities.

Networking and planning future events

The second part of the event was fully devoted to networking, accompanied by Swiss wine and snacks including “Schinkengipfeli” and “Chäschüechli” (ham and cheese pastries), both items not on everyday’s menu in Japan, which for ETH Alumni was certainly the most perfect setting to reminisce about our common experience, which is the past at ETH in Zurich. For many of the us having left ETH years ago, it was actually the first time ever to talk to a president of our alma mater. It was a great opportunity to meet old-time friends and to make new acquaintances, even extending the number of members of our ETH Alumni Chapter Tokyo with Japanese students very recently returned from their stay in Zurich. As with many other pleasant occasions, time was flying and the attendees left the Embassy with positive memories and a “refreshed link” to ETH and Switzerland, in general. On the way to the nearby subway station, some ETH Alumni already started planning a next get-together, that time with ETH Alumni residing in Japan meeting current ETH students on exchange programs to Japan.