“Good research requires the courage to ask difficult questions.”

It’s about finding the balance between the difficulty of the task and the resources I’m willing to invest. Finding the fine line of what is just achievable defines good, original, and creative research that really leads to progress. One of my goals is to motivate researchers to move in this direction.

You yourself were a postdoc with Tomas Lindahl, the discoverer of DNA repair who later won the Nobel Prize. What did you learn from him about good research?

Exactly that. Tomas was big enough to say that we wouldn’t publish until we had answered a good question. The quality of researchers is not reflected in how often they publish, but rather in the fact that they make a difference when they publish, that was his credo. Of course, as a researcher, you have to withstand that pressure, because you are measured by your output. But having the courage to address a key knowledge gap, to ask a challenging question and to answer it with a good research approach – I learned that from him.

You were appointed for a four-year term. Where should the focal areas be and which topics need greater attention during this time?

We need to develop the university as a university. As the President’s Office, we have to look at where valuable plants are sprouting, and we have to cultivate the soil so that these plants can thrive. What I can do is promote a dialogue that leads researchers to discover for themselves: what are our priorities, where are we really doing well, where can we make a difference? And then we can lend a helping hand wherever interesting and exciting things are happening.

And how can the university administration offer support?

When we discover innovative researchers or research areas with good, creative ideas, we can approach the researchers and ask them what it would take to remove obstacles and allow the project to thrive.

It’s not always money, sometimes you just need to make contacts, create interactions, strengthen networks so that good things can happen and flourish. The aim is always to create an environment in which researchers can go as far as possible with their interests and ideas.

Speaking of environment: it is no coincidence that our University focuses on the fields of life sciences and medicine. What role should the University play in the regional environment?

We are in the midst of Big Pharma, surrounded by a lot of innovation from the field of smaller start-ups, we have top departments like the Biozentrum and Biomedicine, we have associated institutes like the Swiss TPH and the FMI, we have Roche’s new Institute of Human Biology, ETH Zurich in Basel and so on. There are many players working on similar concepts and ideas, and when you bring them together, there are many opportunities for creating and exploiting synergies. My specific plan is to make better use of this ecosystem and to put people from different institutions in touch with each other to talk and make things happen together. I still see a lot of room for improvement.

What about the other research areas?

I think it makes sense to exploit the potential of the location in all areas. Even if the opportunities in other areas of research are not as obvious, I am convinced that they are there.

One of my most interesting tasks is to identify the priorities that we may not see or may be overlooking. Where can we initiate cooperation beyond specialist areas, or at least a dialogue that leads to a focal area? We are a comprehensive university and yet, when it comes to focal areas, we usually only talk about life sciences or quantum computing. I always find that a bit of a shame. These are excellent areas, but there are definitely others that have great potential but are simply not yet visible enough.

Academia enjoys a high level of credibility in Switzerland. At the same time, researchers are expected to work responsibly and according to high ethical standards. How can university management ensure good academic practice?

This is a question of the culture that we embody in science. For me, excellent research doesn’t just mean a good question, it also means that we are fair in research, that we are honest, that we only publish results that are correct and reliable, and that we accept our ethical responsibility. And here, as university management, we can create an environment that supports this. We can establish processes that ensure fairness, honesty, openness and ethical aspects are guaranteed, or the open use of research data, for instance. There are committees with corresponding processes for reviewing research proposals, etc. My predecessor has already invested a lot in this area, and we will try to optimize it further.

One recurring topic in research is the working conditions of non-professorial academic staff. How can excellence in research be combined with modern working conditions?

Actually the values have changed over time, and I’m probably not a role model for today’s generation of doctoral students and postdocs. I have never experienced research as a nine-to-five job. As I see it, as researchers at a university, we are privileged; we enjoy the freedom and trust of the institution to pursue our interests – so we are prepared to go the extra mile or two. For most people around me, this is a matter of course. On the other hand, there is a desire today for regulated working conditions with sufficient time off, which is justified.

So we need rules that meet these needs and also protect researchers from abuse, while at the same time helping them to keep on going that extra miles. And we need to develop our research culture so that high-quality research and free time are compatible. We have to make sure that we can maintain the curiosity, enthusiasm and focus of the researchers and that the demanding task does not become a nine-to-five job – because in research we are in international competition with people who work very fast, very hard and with a great deal of focus – and in the end, every new discovery can only be made once.

You gave another lecture this morning. Will you continue to teach as Vice President for Research?

For me, it was a condition that I could reserve some time for teaching and research. I just have to organize it so that it works. Right now, the weekends are gone, that’s clear. But I love teaching. It’s a wonderful and enriching experience to develop a topic together with students. Regular interaction with the staff in my research group is also very important to me, and it’s a great way to balance things out.