What services for the campus of the future?

Data availability and governance therefore become fundamental. Trust in the quality and integrity of the data is paramount. At both the data and service levels, it is essential to overcome silos and isolated solutions. Participatory development and utilisation of digital infrastructures creates efficient, end-to-end and flexible processes. 

The evolution towards the campus of the future requires not only technology, but also change management. Only through cross-departmental collaboration across all organisational units can the campus realise its full potential and provide the flexible working and learning environments and services necessary.

Intelligence Augmentation - Bridging Human and Artificial Intelligence

Menna El-Assady begins her presentation by outlining utopian and dystopian scenarios for the campus of the future, focusing on two things: the role that data- and AI-supported systems are expected to play; and how humans and machines will interact and divide labour.

Undoubtedly, a digital assistant fed with real-time data could direct us to the lecture hall via the fastest route, bypassing the morning rush from the bus stop to the entrance with ease. However, wouldn't we then miss out on important human interactions, for example meeting a fellow student who has just returned from a sabbatical?

While AI systems can make future campus operations highly efficient through data analysis, their workings are largely opaque to users. Professor El-Assady, on the other hand, advocates the use of AI as an 'augmented partner' to enable transparent, data-driven decision-making. Furthermore, the division of labour between AI and humans should be consciously designed according to the situation and need.

The aim is 'collaborative human¨CAI interaction for efficient problem solving and decision making'. In her talk, Professor El-Assady presents various research projects organised around three key areas: 'Explainability & Alignment', 'Augmentation & Adaptation', and 'Feedback & Guidance'.

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓý,»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp ETH - On the psychology of a place of higher education

It is widely accepted that universities will require increasingly modular and flexible teaching and learning infrastructures in the future. But what characteristics should such spaces have, and how can campus infrastructure be optimally tailored to the needs of students and lecturers? This forms part of Christoph H?lscher¡¯s research.

He distils insights for the designers of future university spaces from experiments and simulations on wayfinding and navigation, as well as on human behaviour in different environments. He and his team also observe global trends in university architecture. He therefore considers his work to be a bridge between architecture and its users.

Professor H?lscher thus skilfully picks up where the previous speakers left off. The focus is on the campus as a place of encounter and productive interaction. Particular attention is paid to informal learning spaces. These are spaces ¨C ranging from the canteen to the stairwell ¨C that are not specifically designed for academic work, but which are used for that purpose nonetheless.

The research findings show that the design of learning spaces has an impact on the well-being of the university community. Furthermore, involving users in the design process improves the learning environment. While this requires dialogue between designers and users, it does not necessarily require large budgets, at least for informal learning spaces.

Panel discussion and workshops

After the three keynote presentations, there was a panel discussion with the speakers, moderated by Nina Indina, who curated the 2026 event together with Claudia Zingerli and Dominik Brem. After a generous networking break, the approximately 60 participants split into four workshops, each exploring specific aspects of successful teaching and learning environments. Topics covered included predictive analytics, agentic AI, and using one¡¯s voice as a tool.