An illustrious addition to WSS
Michael Hengartner has been named Chair of the WSS Scientific Advisory Board. The molecular biologist, aged fifty-eight, is one of the most respected voices in Swiss research: he served as President of the University of Zurich and currently presides over the ETH Board, the body responsible for strategic management of the ETH Domain.
Outstanding research projects are generally not found waiting by the roadside. Seeking such projects, evaluating their feasibility and, if necessary, asking critical questions and offering advice to improve them is the core mission of the Werner Siemens Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board. To execute this demanding work, Board members must be first-rate researchers—who are also experienced in project evaluation and who have access to an extensive network in the scientific community.
Professor Michael Hengartner fully meets the qualifications. Hengartner, a molecular biologist, is succeeding Gianni Operto as Chair of the WSS Scientific Advisory Board. Operto led the five-member WSS body over the past twelve years; he stepped down at the end of 2024 in accordance with the Foundation’s statutory age regulations.
During his active research career, Hengartner worked with the model organism C. elegans, a nematode, and was one of the world’s leading researchers in the area of apoptosis, also called programmed cell death. From 2014 to 2020, he was President of the University of Zurich, Switzerland’s largest university and, since 2020, has served as President of the ETH Board, the ETH Domain’s management and supervisory body.
Finding the right people
Hengartner says he was delighted to receive the invitation from WSS. “It’s a very meaningful role with high relevance to society—and I’m confident I can support the Foundation Board in seeking and finding worthwhile projects.” He believes that WSS’s practice of offering long-term project funding—and the associated willingness to take great risks—makes it one of the most unusual and interesting research funding organisations in the German-speaking world.
He adds that gauging the potential of these types of large-scale projects also takes much more than a quick look at a completed application form. “It’s a similar situation to assessing a start-up,” Hengartner explains. “Although having a solid business or research plan is important, success will always depend heavily on personal qualities—those of the project leader and the team.” Identifying people in the scientific community with the right qualities calls for the right kind of network—and engaging with candidates in person.
Foundations have greater freedom
Hengartner has been involved with science foundations for several years already, and he believes that these kinds of organisations represent a key, supplementary source of financing in addition to the basic funding offered by universities and through competitive public funding programmes. Although state funding—at least as it’s done in Switzerland—is a successful model, science philanthropy is becoming more prevalent, Hengartner says. “In the past, Swiss foundations have traditionally supported music, art or sport. But in recent years I’ve observed that financing research has gained traction.”
This trend is encouraging for researchers. Public funders like the Swiss National Science Foundation must adhere to strict rules concerning the allocation of public money, Hengartner says, adding that not every good idea will fit the bill. “But because foundations have such diverse missions, researchers have a greater likelihood of finding funds for highly specialised projects.” In addition, he says foundations have greater freedom and can prioritise a specific research area or goal.
Endowed chair in Zurich
Michael Hengartner’s own story is a prime example of what private foundations can achieve. “If it weren’t for foundations, I probably wouldn’t be here in Europe,” he says. Hengartner was born in St. Gallen, Switzerland, but his family soon left the country, settling in Quebec, Canada, where his father was a professor. Hengartner went to school in Quebec, studied biochemistry at Laval University and earned his PhD in the United States, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge.
He worked and led a research group at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. “At some point, someone told me there was a new endowed professorship at the University of Zurich, and that, as a Swiss citizen, I might be interested.” It was the Ernst Hadorn endowed professorship for molecular biology that had been instituted by Charles Weissmann, professor and co-founder of biotech company Biogen.
Up till then, Hengartner says he hadn’t considered returning to Europe. “But the offer was very enticing—and we researchers go where we can get an interesting and secure position.” And so, he emigrated to his home country, made his name in research—and is now doing his part to support outstanding researchers in the German-speaking world.