Working at SERI: Yaël Kaiser

What do you do exactly?

My tasks include planning ministerial meetings in Switzerland and abroad, taking part in international scientific missions and accompanying and/or advising the Head of EAER or the State Secretary. I am responsible for the USA, Canada, Turkey, the Scandinavian countries and the Balkan states.

In my day-to-day work, I liaise with representatives of these countries to ensure productive and positive international relations in the ERI sector. We also work closely with the Swissnex, which manages Switzerland's global network for the promotion of education, research and innovation abroad.

What do you like about your work in particular?

The countries that I work with are all different, which ensures that every day brings its share of new challenges. My working day is therefore extremely varied, as I switch from one country of focus to another and deal with a wide range of very diverse national realities and topics.

Our work is not limited to a specific education, research or innovation topic, but rather we coordinate all ERI relations with the respective country. This means that we have to familiarise ourselves with different subject areas, understand country-specific interests and develop and apply sound political intuition. 

What challenges do you expect in the near future?

We are currently working to expand our bilateral cooperation with countries that offer great potential for more intensive ERI collaboration. We have already established the political framework for closer cooperation with some of these countries. The main objective here is to work with ERI stakeholders to bring tangible follow-up to these political declarations of intent. At the same time, negotiations with other countries are still in the early stages. This requires intensive exploratory work with Swiss ERI stakeholders in order to ascertain their needs and understand the issues that are important to them.