Campus
Good teams share the same views of their work. They know which goals they’re pursuing, reflect on what they’re doing, and are able to reconcile different needs and expectations. Read on to find out how members of the UZH community are working hand in hand.
“The members of our askSpace startup team come from completely different scientific disciplines – quantum cryptography, mathematics, engineering and neuroscience. This broad spectrum of knowledge is one of our strengths. What connects us is our passion for space. We also have a common vision: our startup is developing a platform that analyzes imaging data from satellites and makes it available to a wide variety of users. Images like these can show the impact of climate change and natural disasters, for example, but they can also reveal the beauty of our planet. Anyone who founds a company will constantly face setbacks. It requires a great deal of optimism – and staying confident works much better in a team setting than when going it alone.”
UZH-Startup askEarth
“Chemistry is our passion. Our shared goal is to manufacture tiny magnetic graphene molecules. This should open up possibilities for new applications in quantum computing, for example. Each one of our team members has their own projects, but we share our experiences and help each other out. I don’t see myself as a boss who orders people around, but rather as a member of a group of equals who inspires others. We also spend time with each other outside of work. We meet up regularly to go hiking or bowling, which boosts our team spirit and therefore our research as well.”
Michal Juríček’s team at the Department of Chemistry
“We are investigating how we can help knowledge workers and software engineers in particular to improve their productivity, flow and well-being at work. The aim is to reduce the cost of interruptions and increase focus. For example, we use virtual reality goggles to help developers work uninterrupted in a calm virtual environment, such as a forest or a beach. Our team is working at the intersection of software engineering and human-computer interaction, with a special focus on the human side of software development. This requires not only the technical knowledge to devise solutions but also an understanding of how developers work in order to design approaches that offer added value.”
Thomas Fritz’s team at the UZH Department of Informatics
“My team is made up of people from 15 different countries and backgrounds, and this benefits us enormously. What brings us together is our shared passion for research with plants. We’re working to improve of our understanding of their immune system and how they detect and defend themselves from pathogens and pests. The diversity of our group is both a challenge and an opportunity. We have experts for various highly specialized topics and techniques and can learn so much from one another, as long as we constantly share our ideas with one another.”
Cyril Zipfel’s team at the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology in the UZH Botanical Garden
“We investigated how people regulate their emotions by measuring their pupil diameter in response to images with negative or positive content. We discovered that some people re-evaluate and process emotional situations better than others. Diseases such as depression, eating disorders, drug addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder are linked to insufficient emotional regulation. The secret of our success as a team? An atmosphere of appreciative exchange about our research creates a positive feedback loop. This helps us identify opportunities and focus on them as a team.”
Marcus Grüschow and Silvia Maier
“People involved in developing therapies for rare diseases, like our team at the University Research Priority Program Itinerare, are confronted not only with medical and biological questions but also ethical and legal issues. Our team has experts in these different areas, which significantly improves our chances of success. A total of 14 research groups have joined forces on this URPP. What unites us is our shared goal of curing neglected diseases and giving patients a chance at a better life.”
Management team of the URPP Itinerare
