Dear MOL-Members

“A reflective Advent season!”—however well meant this wish may be, for many of us December is anything but reflective. Finalizing annual reports, chasing deadlines, and at the same time supervising exams and grading term papers—all while academic and personal life continues at full speed. Time for reflection? In short supply.

How demanding everyday life can be for MOL members is unfortunately also reflected in the recently published SWiMS study: around 60% of us report high current stress levels, a similar proportion report regular burnout symptoms, and 15% reach clinically relevant levels of depression.

For us, these figures underline how important our engagement for better working conditions in the academic mid-level faculty truly is. If you are interested in contributing yourself: several MOL positions will soon become available. Feel free to get in touch if you would like to get involved!

At the same time, we know that in order to fulfill our responsibilities well and sustainably, we depend on strong support structures. A key role in this is played by the MOL administrative office, which provides essential relief in administrative matters. Over the past years, Christina Bolliger has carried out this role with great dedication. She will now be focusing fully on her position at the Faculty of Economics, but will remain with us until the end of January 2026 during a transition phase. We would like to sincerely thank her for her valuable work!

At the same time, we are very pleased to warmly welcome Yvonne Müller, who is taking over the administrative office as of now and briefly introduces herself in this newsletter. We very much look forward to working with her!

With this in mind, we wish you strength during the holiday season—and good support wherever you may need it.

Warm regards,
Your MOL Executive Board

Andrea Aegerter (faculty-independent), Lea Keller (RF and Treasurer), Alexander Ort (GMF), Alejandra Rodriguez (WF), Johannes Saal (KSF), Joshua Schibli (TF), Flavia Tinner (VPF)

PS: If you are currently struggling with back pain: further below you will find information on participating in a University of Lucerne study—including a back assessment and a twelve-week training program.

Vacant MOL Positions

Are you interested in actively participating in the mid-level faculty organization? Starting in April 2026 and June/August 2026, seats on the MOL board and positions in various committees will become available as representatives or deputies.

Ideally, the members of the board should come from all faculties. However, if the composition is uneven, it is also possible to take over the seat of another faculty.

The position as deputy to our representative Andrea Aegerter in the FoKo offers the opportunity to gain insight into the work of the committee on an interim basis until the general assembly and to actively participate in the April meeting of the FoKo.

Konnten wir dein Interesse wecken oder hast du Fragen zu den Aufgaben und Ämtern? Dann melde dich bis Ende 2025 bei uns unter mol@unilu.ch.

MOL Office: Handover

We are happy to announce that Yvonne Müller is taking over the administrative department. Since 1 December 2025, she has been receiving training from Christina Bolliger, who will be focusing entirely on her work at the Faculty of Economics and Management from February 2026. Yvonne introduces herself briefly below:

My name is Yvonne Müller, and since September 2024 I have been working at the University of Lucerne as a Curriculum Planner at the Faculty of Behavioral Sciences and Psychology. In addition to curriculum planning, I am responsible for faculty-internal events and provide administrative support to the professors as well as to the Dean’s Office.
Before joining the University, I worked for over 13 years as a Personal Assistant at executive board level in an international corporation. Prior to that, I spent more than three years as the Personal Assistant to a member of the Cantonal Government of Lucerne.
I am very much looking forward to taking on this additional role within the MOL office, and I especially look forward to connecting and collaborating with all of you.

Swiss-Wide Mental Health Survey

In 2024, the Swiss Academic Well-Being and Mental Health Survey (SWiMS) was conducted among academic staff at the University of Lucerne as part of a nationwide assessment of mental health in Swiss higher education. The results show high psychological strain among early-career researchers: about 60% report substantial stress and frequent burnout symptoms, and 15% score in the clinically relevant range for depressive symptoms. Major stressors include unclear career paths, insecure funding, heavy administrative load, insufficient protected research time, and concerns about compensation. Awareness of and trust in mental-health support structures are markedly below national benchmarks. The findings complement and partly mirror recurring themes raised in informal exchanges between the Mid-level Organisation University of Lucerne (MOL) and its members, as well as results from the MOL surveys carried out in 2021 and 2024.

The University Leadership has been briefed and is examining the findings,
while MOL is in active exchange with relevant university bodies to identify potential areas for action and determine where changes to existing support mechanisms or the creation of new ones may be needed. Affected individuals are encouraged to contact the existing support services: the Psychological Counselling Centre, the Ombudsman’s Office, and the University Chaplaincy.

MOL Apéros

The informal MOL meetings offer a platform to exchange ideas and network within the mid-level faculty. In addition, we regularly organise events on relevant topics for mid-level academic staff.
The informal meetings take place at 5 p.m. at Baloo:

-> Next MOL-Apéros: Spring Semester 2026, Dates to follow

We look forward to seeing you!  -> MOL Events

Stay tuned...

We regularly publish interesting articles and news concerning the academic mid-level staff on our website – check this out in the News section.

Do you prefer to stay informed via social media? Then follow us on LinkedIn to stay up to date on events, positions and announcements: https://ch.linkedin.com/company/mol-unilu