In an era of turbulence, policymakers and scientists must collaborate to strengthen multilateralism and rebuild trust in science. At the UN-ETH Forum, UN policymakers and ETH researchers came together to drive this agenda forwards.

On 20-21 October 2025, ETH Zurich hosted the inaugural UN-ETH Forum, a two-day conference held under the theme “Science and Policy in Turbulent Times.” The event assembled policymakers, practitioners, and researchers from both institutions and beyond. Panels and workshops across three thematic tracks – Strengthening Global Peace and Security, Ensuring Responsible Digitalization, Reaching the Sustainable Development Goals – explored how science and policy can work together to address the world’s most pressing challenges.

The Forum is part of the UN-ETH Partnership, which was launched in October 2023. At the opening plenary of the Forum, Professor Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, and Guy Ryder, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Policy, reaffirmed their shared commitment to strengthening collaboration between their organisations and underscored the urgency of this task.

Over the past two years, the Partnership has moved from intention to action, with several new programmes having been created and launched. The UN-ETH Incubator, a programme that sources use cases from UN teams and pairs them with relevant ETH research groups, was launched earlier this year. Five new project-based collaborations were presented at the Forum, along with six additional proposals from the Incubator showcased at a dedicated poster session. 

Another important programme is the UN-ETH Student Team, an extra-curricular initiative that connects ETH students with UN practitioners to collaborate on real-world projects. Launched in summer 2025, it has already initiated one project – a data-analysis platform developed in collaboration with the UN Digital Library – and is preparing to launch two more. 

The Forum attracted considerable interest. Policymakers and practitioners from UN agencies headquartered in New York, Rome, Quito, and Addis Ababa joined counterparts from the Swiss government and from Swiss-based institutions. From the scientific community, early-career researchers from ETH Zurich, Cambridge, King’s College London, and several Swiss universities participated in the debates and presented their latest findings—spanning topics such as food security, artificial intelligence in mental health, and sustainable urban development.

A highlight of the event was the level of interest and engagement of students and young researchers. Members of the UN-ETH Student Team hosted a session with UN and ETH representatives to showcase how students can get involved and what to expect from working at the science-policy interface. Workshops such as the one led by the Swiss Delegation to the FAO World Food Forum Youth Assembly further underlined the importance of youth engagement in shaping sustainable futures. Overall, the UN-ETH Forum helped build momentum for new and ongoing collaborations, forged fresh ties between science and policy communities, and created a strong sense of common purpose. Moving from intention to action to impact, we are all curious to see what the newly initiated collaborations will deliver.  

To find out more about the UN-ETH Partnership and get involved, visit the “Engage” tab at https://un-eth.ethz.ch

Get to know the Center for Security Studies at https://css.ethz.ch/en/