Joël Mesot has been President of ETH Zurich since 2019. He studied physics at ETH Zurich, receiving his doctorate degree in 1992 with a thesis on high-temperature superconductors. He
spent several years researching quantum materials in France, the USA, and at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland. Between 2008 and 2018 he served as the Director of the PSI before accepting an appointment as President of ETH Zurich. Under his leadership, the university intensified its policy-relevant research and deepened its dialogue with political actors in Switzerland and internationally. He launched various initiatives in the fields of space, AI, cybersecurity, and energy, and initiated the establishment of an ETH campus in Heilbronn, Germany. Mesot is a member of several advisory boards, including the Board of Trustees of the Swiss Innovation Park and the Board of Directors of CREATE (Singapore).