Dr. Christian Schaffner

Since September 2013, Christian Schaffner is the Executive Director of the Energy Science Center (ESC) of ETH Zurich in Switzerland. The ESC is an inter-disciplinary competence centre to promote energy research and teaching at ETH. It aims to facilitate the deployment of an environmentally friendly, reliable, low risk, economically viable and socially compatible sustainable energy system. Linking over fifty professors from eleven ETH Zurich departments, the ESC enhances cooperation between ETH Zurich, industry, government and society on energy related issues. 

Before that, Christian Schaffner was with the Swiss Federal Office of Energy as head of the grid section, responsible for the development of a grid expansion strategy and a smart grid road-map. He was also involved in the bilateral negotiations between Switzerland and the European Union regarding a contract on energy supply. He received his M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering and his PhD degree in Electric Power Systems from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich in 1998 and 2004, respectively. In addition, he received a diploma in higher education teaching from the same institution in 1999.