"My appointment will strengthen ties between the ICRC and EPFL"

Edouard Bugnion, EPFL's Vice President for Information Systems, has been elected to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This means that he will serve on the ICRC Assembly - the equivalent of a company's board of directors - where he will bring his expertise in digital technologies to bear. How were you selected to join the ICRC Assembly? The process is confidential. The Assembly co-opts members using predefined criteria in order to maintain gender balance and a wide range of professional experience and expertise among its membership. What will this role bring to you and to EPFL? For me, it will be a great honor to serve on the Assembly. It's an external, unremunerated position that involves attending Assembly meetings six times a year. It will naturally strengthen existing ties between the ICRC and EPFL, building on the framework agreement signed by Patrick Aebischer and Peter Maurer in March 2016. That resulted in the creation of the Humanitarian Tech Hub, a program that aims to use innovation to improve the lives of victims of humanitarian crises. Our two institutions also work together regularly in the area of big data. And the ICRC is a founding member of the Center for Digital Trust, which was unveiled in December. This center of excellence addresses the clear need for a research platform that can anchor trust in digital technologies. What will you bring to the ICRC?