WSS to continue promoting young talent
The Werner Siemens Foundation has renewed its funding programme at the Swiss Study Foundation for another ten-year period. The funding is earmarked for the summer academies, educational events and the WSS excellence scholarships for outstanding students in STEM subjects.
Fostering talent is what ultimately makes cutting-edge research possible. Gifted students must be given opportunities to pursue their interests and develop their skills already at an early stage in their academic careers. This support is what grants them access to the world of scholarship—laying the groundwork for their future as innovators of technologies that could one day advance society.
The Werner Siemens Foundation (WSS) recognises the importance of promoting talent, which is why it has been financing the Swiss Study Foundation’s talent programme for the last ten years. Recently, the WSS Foundation Board has decided to renew the “WSS funding programme” for a further ten years, pledging a total of ten million Swiss francs for the purpose.
“Fostering young talent is essential for a research hub,” explains Hubert Keiber, Chair of the WSS Foundation Board. “At WSS, we want to ensure that outstanding and exceptionally dedicated young people can focus their energies on their studies.” By financing the Swiss Study Foundation, WSS supports gifted students starting out at Swiss universities, regardless of the specific institution.
Interdisciplinary focus
The Swiss Study Foundation uses the funding provided by the Werner Siemens Foundation in a variety of ways. For example, it awards ten Werner Siemens Fellowships—excellence scholarships worth 19,800 Swiss francs—every year to high achievers in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics as well as medicine and pharmaceutics).
In addition, the WSS funding programme enables the Study Foundation to operate its three annual summer academies and hold other educational events that address a diverse audience and focus on an interdisciplinary approach to STEM topics. “The WSS funding programme is a valuable element in our funding strategy, both in terms of content and structure,” says Klara Sekanina, director of the Swiss Study Foundation.
Fostering interdisciplinary exchange is at the heart of the Study Foundation’s mission, as Sekanina explains: “Because the future is interdisciplinary. And because innovation happens at the interface between academic disciplines and cultures.” She adds that the Werner Siemens Foundation is an ideal partner for inspiring students from non-science subjects to engage with STEM topics and for strengthening dialogue between disciplines.
Popular seminars in the Aletsch region
Students supported by the Study Foundation are particularly appreciative of the interdisciplinary events financed by WSS. Klara Sekanina says one of the favourites is the weekend seminar held in the Aletsch region in the Canton of Valais. The event unites an immediate experience of the natural world with an in-depth investigation of environmental and climate-related issues. Students in non-STEM subjects in particular have the opportunity to gain a fresh perspective on the natural sciences, as Sekanina explains. “Many students say the experience is incredibly inspiring and that it broadens their horizons.”
The WSS Fellowships give recipients the freedom to concentrate on their studies one-hundred percent—without having to reduce their involvement in community projects. For example, it was a WSS Fellowship that enabled ETH Zurich student Leif Sieben (see portrait here) to join a research group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston—and simultaneously continue his work at “Swiss Youth in Science”, a competition designed to introduce young people to STEM subjects.
Growing a network
Last but not least, the WSS Fellowships are an ideal way for recipients to expand their network. Because the fellows meet on a regular basis, they develop a strong sense of community—one underpinned by mutual support and active dialogue, as Klara Sekanina explains. “It’s an important aspect of the programme’s sustainability. It’s amazing to observe this extraordinary dynamic between present and past WSS Fellows.”
The Study Foundation will continue fostering this sense of community among fellows in future and is also exploring ways to strengthen synergies with other projects receiving WSS funding. “The Werner Siemens Foundation finances a number of fascinating initiatives and projects—in bone surgery, for example, or in quantum physics,” Klara Sekanina explains. “We see big potential for additional interdisciplinary interaction and collaboration.”
