COPL news channel

We congratulate Dr. Gabriel Giger on being awarded the 2025 PhD Prize by the Origins Federation for his outstanding doctoral research conducted at ETH Zurich under the supervision of COPL member Prof. Julia Vorholt.

The Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life congratulates Professors Julia Vorholt and Jérôme Faist, both COPL members, on receiving ERC Advanced Grants. These highly competitive grants are the first to be awarded to Swiss-based researchers since Switzerland regained partial access to the EU’s Horizon Europe programme.

The Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life announces the 2025 cohort of NOMIS-ETH Fellows. Between April and September, two postdoctoral fellows are joining the COPL, thanks to the generous support of the NOMIS Foundation.

As the speaker of the third edition of the COPL Colloquia, Sara Seager presented her current research on the atmosphere of Venus, showing how its chemistry and cloud characteristics are compatible with Venusian life.

Four researchers have been selected for the short-term visitor programme this spring.

Marie Schölmerich, professor for environmental microbiology and COPL member, is among the eight researchers who successfully applied for Starting Grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation via ETH Zurich.

For the first time, the Centre offers financial support to those wishing to organise and host workshops on topics relevant to the Centre. Applications may be submitted until Friday, 06 December 2024, 17:00 CET via the COPL website.

This October, the Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life at ETH Zürich welcomed three new postdoctoral fellows as part of the NOMIS–ETH Fellowship Programme. Sean Jordan, Taylor Priest and David Schnettler each explore critical aspects of the origin of life, its evolution and place in the broader cosmic context. 

The second edition of the Origins Federation Conference brought together in Cambridge its diverse and ever more consolidated scientific community. Researchers from the Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life at ETH Zurich share their impressions. 

The 2024 call for applications for the NOMIS–ETH Fellowship Programme within the Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life is open. Researchers are invited to apply until 8 November 2024, at 17:00 Zurich local time.