Michelle Grant

Projekt Managerin ETH sustainability,
Zürich

Michelle Grant holds a first class honours degree in Chemical Process Engineering (majoring in Environmental Engineering) from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. She has worked as an Environmental Engineer in various engineering consultancies including GHD in Australia and the Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI) in Norway and as an external consultant in Costa Rica and Nicaragua for INCAE, the top ranked business school in Latin America.

Since 2004 Michelle has been based in Zurich in the role of Project Manager for ETHsustainability, the center for sustainability at the ETH Zurich. Her core activities involve the management of the international educational and research programs of the center. She is responsible for the Youth Encounter on Sustainability (YES) program in Switzerland and for its expansion abroad. The program brings together masters and PhD level students of various disciplines from around the world for intensive two-week academic training on the challenges of sustainable development. To date over 600 students from 85 different countries have been trained in the courses.

Since 2004 Michelle has coordinated the contribution of YES alumni students to the Academia Engelberg Dialogue on Science.  During the 3rd Dialogue on Science this involved a preconference where a group of 18 students from 15 countries prepared an Action Plan for projects related to Climate Change mitigation. She has since acted as Project Manager for the "Latin American Forest Policies Research and Influence Project" that was an outcome of this process. As a contribution to the 5th Dialogue on Science,  a selected group of YES alumni students will present their views as young academics on the energy outlook for their region.