At its meeting on 4 and 5 March 2026 and upon application of Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed twelve professors, including Professor David Kaufmann. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Spatial Development and Urban Policy and is based at the Institute for Spatial and Landscape Development in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering.
David Kaufmann has won many awards for his research, which covers topics of fundamental importance to society in Switzerland and throughout the world, including urban policy, spatial planning, public policy and migration studies. His work has a particular emphasis on density and residential construction, sustainable urban development, humanitarian aid and development planning. It has substantially improved the current state of research in many of these areas. By promoting David Kaufmann, the Department and ETH Zurich are retaining an outstanding lecturer and recognised expert whose future research will continue to make a decisive contribution to a subject area that is of urgent importance both nationally and internationally.