The «WaldLab Forest Experimental Site» on Hönggerberg in Zurich is a key site in the international EU Horizon project CryoSCOPE, which started in February 2025. CryoSCOPE investigates the interplay between atmospheric, cryospheric, and hydrologic systems across various landscapes, including the Swiss Alps, Finnish Lapland, Svalbard, and the Himalayas. A key focus is on quantifying hydrologic partitioning, so how precipitation is distributed into streamflow, groundwater, and evapotranspiration.
João P. Leitão develops innovative urban water management solutions to help cities tackle the challenges posed by climate change. Increasing temperatures and more frequent extreme weather events present major challenges to urban infrastructure. On the occasion of his appointment as Adjunct Professor, we asked what currently drives him in research and teaching.
ESD Professor Stephan Pfister and PhD Student Shuntian Wang contributed to a news article by SRF about the CO2 emissions imported to Switzerland. While official territorial emissions in Switzerland are falling, the picture looks different, when supply chains are taken into account: Then, Switzerland has one of the highest climate impacts per capita.
If you want to make a contribution to solving the increasingly urgent challenges in the environmental and climate field, the IfU is the right place for you. Research and practice are brought together in our Environmental Engineering course.
