Silvia Dorn

In 1992, Silvia Dorn was elected Full Professor of Applied Entomology at ETH Zurich. She was Chair of the Department of Agriculture and Food Sciences and Director of both Curricula from 2002-2004. As Professor Emerita in the Department of Environmental Systems Science since 2013, she continues with selected international research projects and with her commitment to greater gender diversity in the academic world.

Silvia Dorn was born in 1947 in Brugg, Switzerland. She received her diploma degree in Natural Sciences with honours from ETH Zurich in 1971, and simultaneously her degree for academic high school teaching. After her doctorate in phytomedicine at ETH Zurich in 1974, she held leading positions in entomology in the international crop protection company Dr. R. Maag AG. Silvia Dorn made decisive contributions to the discovery and implementation of a novel, environmentally sound insect growth regulator for integrated cropping systems. In 1975/76, she spent a sabbatical at the Columbia University in New York.

At ETH Zurich, her research focused on insect-plant interactions, particularly as a basis for more sustainable crop and agro-ecosystem management, and for food security also in developing countries. Her studies in insect ecology revealed how and why pest and beneficial insects and pollinators move in agro-ecosystems, and how novel crop protection systems can be developed with diligently combined natural resources.

In Switzerland, she was a founding and board member of the ETH Women Professors’ Forum, of the Swiss Society of Phytomedicine (President 1997-2000) and of the Swiss Centre for International Agriculture. Internationally, she was an elected Council Member of the European Congresses of Entomology and of the International Congresses of Entomology, and Co-Chair of the International Entomology Leadership Summit (2016).

Her research was recognised by many honours and awards, including the Gold Medal at the VIIth Symposium on the Protection of Stored Foodstuff in 2003, the Award of the Swiss Forum for International Agricultural Research in 2009, the Doron Prize in 2014, and the international Distinguished Scientist Award in 2018. She is an elected Fellow of the Entomological Society of America (2004), the Royal Entomological Society (2006), and the International Society for Horticultural Science (2010). In 2017, she received the Honorary Doctorate in Science from Newcastle University (UK).