About Us
We are an independent student association (Verein) in Zurich called Sustainability Week Zurich / Nachhaltigkeitswoche Zürich (NHWZ). Although other Sustainability Weeks exist in other places, we work independently, rooted in Zurich.
We are funded by Zurich's five major universities UZH, ETH, PHZH, ZHAW and ZHdK. Official representatives of all these universities attend the General Assembly every year. All the students in these five universities having voting rights and are welcome to the General Assembly. (See our Constitution). The association is led by the Lead Team which works with many other students who collaborate, organise events, volunteer and help make our events possible.
We organise ❇️ the Nachhaltigkeitswoche Zürich / Sustainability Week Zurich, which has been organised every year since 2013. During this week, many events around the theme of the year take place in these universities. These range from games to panel discussions to PubQuizzes and any creative ways that help increase awareness and foster discussions on this theme. ❇️ We also organise other year-round events ranging from panel discussions to hikes to film screenings.
Why Join Us?
Our Most Recent Week:- A great place to meet like-minded students & make friends outside your department.
- An association which takes interest in your sustainability related ideas.
- A well-connected organisation to help you get more engaged with sustainability.
- A truly inter-university collaboration.
- Be part of the rich legacy (see our history below)
- Annual Report of NHWZ 2025
- Full Program of NHWZ 2025
- Constitution of NHWZ as of 2025
Our History
It all began in 2013 when students of University of Zurich (UZH) from the VSUZH's Nachhaltigkeitskommission (Sustainability Commission) came together to raise awareness of sustainability at their university. Right from the start, students from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) from [project21] Students for Sustainability (Sustainability Commission) supported the event series.
In the first year, over five days, 32 events were organised by 16 students. The second year, 49 students from the UZH and ETH Zurich jointly organised the 42 events of the Sustainability Week. Since the third year, students from the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), the School of Engineering (ZHAW) and the Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich) joined the organisiers team. It was a truly inter-university beginning, represent the five major universities in Zurich, which continues to this day.
Wide press coverage was recieved by the NHWZ since the beginning as a driver of important discussions on sustainability in Zurich's university spaces. The work of the Nachhaltigkeitswoche has been widely covered in student journals and university pieces such as UZH News, PHZH News and ETH Polykum. It also received wide coverage from news outlets and magazines including Das Lamm, SRF, tsüri.ch, Limmattaler Zeitung, Aargauer Zeitung, Tages Anzeiger, NZZ Campus and Italian newspapers like Buongiorno Online.
Major international awards for sustainability on campuses were given to NHWZ over the years. In 2016, the Rosa Brown (UZH), Simon Liebi (ETH) und Lorenz Keysser (ETH) received an award from the International Sustainability Campus Network for their work for organising the Nachhaltigkeitswoche Zürich. In 2018, the GUPES Green Gown Awards, a collaboration between UNEP & EAUC also recognised the work of NHWZ as Highly Commended, with Al Gore sending a video message specifically for the opening of the NHWZ's Week.
Each year, the Sustainability Week has been thematic. Most events during the week were organised around a particular theme. This included a wide range over the years such as Short Termism in 2025 and Take Action in 2020. We decide on the theme of the year during our yearly fun NHWZ Weekend Retreat in October to the Youth Hostel (Jugendherberge) in Fällanden in Kanton Zürich. All interested students can join this for free.
Currently Instagram, Whatsapp group and the website remain the most important communciation channels. The Verein's earlier presence is also included active YouTube presence with panel discussions and promovideos from 2016 onwards. For example, see a 2018 promo video with a cat and the 2019 one. In 2025, we migrated to our current website nhwz.ch and until then we were hosted at nachhaltigkeitswoche .ch , which we continue to have as a rich archive. Our logo changed to the new one in 2019.
Here are the full programs of the previous Sustainability Weeks / Nachhaltigkeitswochen Zürich. The posters are in the gallery below. All the way back to 2013!
(Written by Ashoka Vardhan Manchala, with input from Annuscha Wassmann-Tomura
(Written by Ashoka Vardhan Manchala, with input from Annuscha Wassmann-Tomura
Written on 29.09.25, last updated 28.10.25)
Previous Lead Teams / Kernteams / Core-Teams
We boast an illustrious list of alumni who have been passionate about sustainability from the very start. Many are continuing to work in other areas of sustainability & make us proud. Each year includes engagement from hundreds of other students. Many of these names are available by clicking on the links of the years. Are you an alumnus? Join our Alumni Group Chat!
- 2026 Lead Team: Jan Mantsch (ETH), Marco Hoffman (ETH), Javier Ordonez (UZHÐ), Lina Bitterlin (ETH), Zoé Kugler (ZHdK), Szonja Kéri (UZH), Co-Presidents: Ana-Isabelle Leicht (PHZH), Ashoka Vardhan Manchala (UZH) & Jimmy Weber (UZHÐ)
- 2025 Lead Team: Marco Hoffman (ETH), Javier Ordonez (UZHÐ), Lina Bitterlin (ETH), Zoé Kugler (ZHdK), Szonja Kéri (UZH), Ana-Isabelle Leicht (PHZH), Ashoka Vardhan Manchala (UZH), Jimmy Weber (UZHÐ), Jan Chmiel, President: Jan Mantsch (ETH)
- 2024 Kernteam/ Core-team: Marco Hoffman (ETH), Javier Ordonez (UZHÐ), Lina Bitterlin (ETH), Szonja Kéri (UZH), Ana-Isabelle Leicht (PHZH), Jimmy Weber (UZHÐ), Co-Presidents: Jan Mantsch (ETH) & Zoé Kugler (ZHdK)
- 2023 Kernteam/Core-team
- 2022 Kernteam/Core-team
- 2021 Kernteam/Core-team: Jon Went und Mario Signer (Co-Präsidium) (Fully virtual NHWZ which also had an NHWZ Radio for the first time)
- 2020 Kernteam/Core-team: Rike Teuber (Kommunikation), Mara Aeschlimann (Marketing), Luana Nava (Programm), Noemi Lang (Sekretariat), Ina Schelling (Mensa), Anita Ni (Hochschulpolitik)
- 2019 Kernteam/Core-team: Lea Wenger (Infrastruktur), Jon Went (Programm), Philine Dudler (Marketing), Nayeli Paulin (Sekretariat), Anika Brunner (Hochschulpolitik), Sarah Käser (Marketing)
- 2018 Kernteam/Core-team: Marcel Garate (Sekretariat), Anna Schaffter (Infrastruktur), Ephraim Bastante (Programm), Jenny Shepherd (Hochschulpolitik), Gaia Di Salvo (Marketing), Michèle Arnold (Kommunikation).
- 2017 Kernteam/Core-team: Pascal Schneider (Sekretariat), Ole Müller (Infrastruktur), Anja Logo (Programm), Lorenz Keysser (Hochschulpolitik), Deborah Meili (Marketing), Orlando Scholz (Kommunikation).
- 2016 Kernteam/Core-team: Giulia Fontana (Sekretariat), Irene Scheuss (Infrastruktur), Jonas Walther (Programm), Levin Koller (Hochschulpolitik), Rosa Brown (Marketing), Simon Liebi (Kommunikation).
- 2015 VSUZH NKT, [project21]
- 2014 Annuscha Wassmann (Gesamtkoordination, public relations), Tessa Consoli, Daniel Wüest , Jonas Walther, Michael Wicki, Martin Jucker, Saskia Läubli, Flora Märki, Manuel Müller, Selina Fehr, Cédric Künzli (Tagesteams); Daniel Wüest (UZH Standortkoordination), Simon Gredig, Simon Wahl (ETH Standortkoordination), Felix Hofmann (Finanzen) & others
- 2013 VSUZH NKT: Ariane Albisser, Oriana Schällibaum, Andreas Scheuss, Annuscha Wassmann & others; [project21]: Mauro Bieg, Artemi Egorov, Samuel Leder & others