Inspiring Futures: A Student-Organized Space Lecture Series

Implementation of the Course

The format of the course is an interdisciplinary lecture series with a strong emphasis on lecturer-student interaction, aimed at bachelor’s and master’s students across multiple departments. Each week, a different speaker from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and career stages, ranging from astronauts and academic researchers to industry experts in physics, engineering, computational science, and biology, is invited. In a 60 minute talk, they present insights into their career trajectory and current or past projects. To foster interaction, each session includes the students engaging with the speaker in an open Q&A session. Students actively contribute by preparing icebreaker questions for the lecturers, and small groups of up to three students serve as session hosts. Hosts are invited to join the speaker for lunch, enabling direct interaction and informal exchange. Face-to-face exchange is essential for the level of engagement we aim to achieve and the course is delivered exclusively in person. Nonetheless, all sessions are recorded and made available for later reference. Communication and organisational matters are facilitated through Moodle, which also provides access to recordings, discussion forums and feedback opportunities. Assessment is based on a group reflection paper. Every group selects one talk and critically reflects on the speaker’s message, situating it in the context of their own studies, aspirations, and potential professional directions. This exercise is designed to not only deepen understanding of the diverse opportunities presented but also to encourage peer exchange and networking. Successful completion of this reflection corresponds to the award of 1 ECTS. A central challenge of the course is to make high-profile speakers, who are often perceived as distant or intimidating by students, feel approachable. The formats of the ice-breaker, student hosts and informal lunches deliberately help to demystify these figures, and show how open and interested the speakers are in interactions with students. This empowers students: they gain confidence in initiating conversations and recognise that building connections, even with leading experts, is an accessible and valuable step in shaping their own career paths. Importantly, speakers also highly appreciate the interaction with the students, and frequently express interest in returning despite their demanding schedules, which has proven key for the sustainability of the course. Across four editions we refined the format to foster direct exchange between students and lecturers. We learned that simple interventions work best: a silent minute to focus attention, informal either-or questions to humanize lecturers and student-led Q&A sessions that break down the ‘glass wall’ and turn lectures into active dialogs.

Motivation, Project Mission, Vision Statement

In 2020, three years before Thomas Zurbuchen joined ETH and initiated the space systems master program, we recognized the need to integrate space-related education into the curriculum. We saw space not just as a catalyst for education and a driver for scientific progress, economic growth, and high-tech innovation, but also as an area that inspires strong intrinsic motivation among students to pursue a career in this field. Their time at ETH is decisive in turning a vague vision of their future into a concrete professional pathway. For this process, students need inspiring role models and early access to their professional community. Our vision is to provide this platform: to connect students with leading experts who can inspire and motivate them. Our mission is to establish the Lecture Series: Space Research and Exploration as a recurring, interdisciplinary format that nurtures passion for space, supports students in envisioning their careers, and sustainably expands ETH’s space-related curriculum. It is guided by the following values:

Inspiration: remind students that they already are on the path towards impactful careers.

Approachability: show that high-profile role models are relatable and that setbacks are part of success.

Interdisciplinarity: highlight that space exploration thrives on teamwork across disciplines.

Specific role models: enable students to learn directly from personal stories that provide lasting motivation for their academic and professional journeys.

Innovative Elements 

The main innovation of our Lecture Series lies in its conception. Traditionally, curricula are defined by faculty, with students only providing incremental feedback. We inverted this dynamic: as master’s students, we identified a gap in the ETH curriculum and independently designed, developed and implemented the series. This role-reversal positions students as co-creators of education, extends curricula with lectures tailored to student needs. It also distributes responsibility for teaching design in times of growing student numbers and contributes to a participatory teaching culture at ETH. A further innovative element is our approach strategy. To attract an interdisciplinary audience across departments, we combined advertisements through campus channels, student associations, lecture announcements and online marketing via instagram. The doubling of student numbers over the first three iterations underscores the success of this approach.

Effects on Student Learning

The main goal of the lecture series is to inspire, and outcome that is difficult to quantify. We gain confidence in the impact of the course from evaluations, feedback, and most importantly student outcomes. Evaluation results are consistently excellent: overall ratings were 4.9 (’22) and 4.8 (’24), with interaction between students and lecturers rated 4.7 and 4.9. Student testimonials highlight the diverse speakers, direct interaction and engaging format. Career-related outcomes further illustrate effectiveness. While tracking the more than 600 participants is challenging, we know of many who now work in space industry and academia, some through connections made in our course. This year, we will also welcome the first former participant returning as a speaker. These examples illustrate how the series fosters engagement and real career steps: “So far the best course I had in any semester! It’s super inspiring to hear from so many people in the field of space science.”