Joël Mesot

Joël Mesot, Jury Chair 2020-2021, Engineering & Technology

Joël Mesot has been President of ETH Zürich since 2019. He studied physics at ETH Zurich and obtained a doctorate in solid-state physics. He worked most his research career on quantum materials in Switzerland and abroad. In 2008 he became director of the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) and was promoted full professor of physics at ETH Zurich. In his current role as ETH president, he assumes overall political and legal responsibility for the university with which 22 Nobel Prize Laureates, among them Albert Einstein, are associated. Under his leadership the university has intensified its policy-relevant research and deepened the ties with policy actors both in Switzerland and on an international level. Thus, strategic partnerships exist with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as well as with the United Nations. Furthermore, Mesot launched various initiatives related to space, AI, cyber security and energy.