New professorships

Three Empa researchers appointed professors

25-set-2023 | RÉMY NIDERÖST
On 21 September 2023, the ETH Board appointed three Empa researchers to professors: Corsin Battaglia, head of Empa's Materials for Energy Conversion lab, and Mirko Kovac, currently professor at Imperial College London and head of Empa's Sustainability Robotics lab, were appointed titular professors at EPFL; Peter Wick, head of the Particles-Biology Interactions lab at Empa, was appointed titular professor at ETH Zurich.
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Peter Wick. Image: Empa
Peter Wick, currently a lecturer at the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zurich and head of the Particles-Biology Interactions lab at Empa, has been appointed titular professor at ETH Zurich. Wick conducts research at the interface between materials science and health, particularly in the area of nanomaterial safety and nanomedicine. The internationally recognized expert was, among other things, a member of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force as well as an advisor in the "Action Plan Synthetic Nanomaterials" for the Federal Office of Public Health.
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Corsin Battaglia. Image: Empa
Corsin Battaglia, currently titular professor at ETH Zurich and head of Empa's Materials for Energy Conversion lab, was appointed titular professor at EPFL. Battaglia conducts research in the field of batteries, particularly on sustainable alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, which are used in electric vehicles, among other applications. An internationally recognized and award-winning researcher, he is very active in the field of technology transfer and industrial collaboration.
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Mirko Kovac. Image: Imperial College London
Also appointed titular professor at EPFL is Mirko Kovac, currently full professor at Imperial College London and head of the Sustainability Robotics department at Empa. Kovac's research focuses on the development of flying and biohybrid soft robotics solutions for digital infrastructure systems. His particular specialization is in robot design, hardware development and multimodal robotic mobility. Mirko Kovac has been awarded, among others, an ERC Consolidator Grant 2022.