ETH is a prestigious technical university with an exceptionally beautiful main building that proudly overlooks the city of Zurich from a hilltop. It was designed by Gottfried Semper, who is also known for the Semper Opera House in Dresden.

Serving as an opponent at a PhD defense is a celebration of science. The candidate had written an excellent thesis and defended it well. Behind us sat a proud audience.

Things became uncomfortable when I had to ask questions about an article published in Climate Policy, the journal where I have been an editor since 2024. Long before my time, the journal was already regarded as highly reputable. So I was representing an institution, had personally accepted the article for publication, and was also expected, as an opponent, to ask critical questions about it.

My discomfort about this potential conflict of interest only grew when it became clear that the other opponent was the editor-in-chief of the same journal.

At the same time, the article was only one part of a much larger dissertation, and it had been accepted long before I could have imagined ever serving as the author’s opponent. Moreover, in my written evaluation of the thesis, I had clearly stated in advance that, as an editor of Climate Policy, I was already familiar with the article.

Incidentally, the story I heard half an hour before the defense also put the whole matter into perspective. I was told that in the nineteenth century, architect Gottfried Semper himself was a professor at ETH and, in that capacity, was appointed chair of the committee tasked with selecting the design for the new main building.

The building was meant to become a temple of science and a monument to the young Swiss nation. It was therefore a prestigious commission, opened up to international submissions. However, the committee discarded every single submission, and Semper ended up designing the building himself.

Perhaps Semper’s design really was the best one. But 150 years later, we no longer know for sure, and that is exactly the point. A conflict of interest does not necessarily lead to a bad outcome, but it does plant seeds of doubt. And once doubt is sown, it can take root and spread.

Pieter Pauw researches climate policy and is an assistant professor in the Technology, Innovation and Society (IE&IS) group. The views expressed in this column are his own. 

This column was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.