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Joël Mesot re-appointed Director of PSI

Media Releases

At the proposal of the ETH Board, the Federal Council has re-appointed Professor Joël Mesot, Director of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), for a further four years. His second term will begin on 1 August 2012. Since July 2010, the 47-year old solid-state physicist has also been a member of the ETH Board, the strategic management and supervisory body of the ETH Domain.

Under the aegis of Joël Mesot, PSI has further strengthened its global leading position. His strategy of expanding joint professorships with both Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich and Lausanne and other Swiss universities is bearing fruit and ensuring that cutting-edge research and excellent teaching go hand in hand. PSI has strengthened its role as a bridge between academia and industry in recent years thanks to Mesot’s strong commitment to research in Matter and Material, Human Health, and Energy and Environment. By prioritising the forward-looking X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL, Joël Mesot has also secured a leading position for PSI in international research in the years to come, while providing Switzerland with internationally renowned research infrastructures.

Joël Mesot studied physics, gaining a doctorate from ETH Zurich in 1992. In 2002, he was awarded ETH's Latsis Prize. After residing in the USA and France, he joined PSI, where he became Head of the Laboratory for Neutron Scattering in 2004. Since 2008, he has been a full professor at ETH Zurich and EPFL. He is also a member of the Senate of the Helmholtz Association, a board member of the European Association of National Research Facilities, a member of the scientific advisory committee for the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz neutron source, and a member of the Foundation Boards at Förderstiftung Technopark Aargau and Schweizer Jugend forscht.

Text: Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA)

About PSI

The Paul Scherrer Institute develops, builds and operates large, complex research facilities, and makes them available to the national and international research community. The Institute's own key research priorities are in the investigation of matter and material, energy and the environment; and human health. PSI is Switzerland's largest research institution, with 1400 members of staff and an annual budget of approximately 300 million CHF.