Who we are

ACTIS is non profit official spin off organisation of the ETH Zurich, created in January 2009 to continue and expand the successful Youth Encounter on Sustainability (YES) course concept. The small administrative team under the leadership of Dr. Roger Baud is accompanied by a group of renewed University professors and experts from different disciplines with a focus on sustainable aspects.

What we do

ACTIS was established with the core purpose of continuing the expansion of the YES course programs around the world, and leveraging the potential of the global alumni network of over 1200 academics and young professionals from 110 different countries and all academic disciplines. To do this ACTIS offers various YES course programs around the world, as well as special programs developed for YES alumni on particular thematic focus areas. In addition, ACTIS offers programs in education for sustainable development tailored for specific target groups, such as high school students, school teachers and university teachers and selected groups from the public and private sector. 

History

The YES course was initially developed in the year 2000 on the platform of the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS), an international research partnership among several leading technical universities around the world (namely the ETH Zurich, MIT Cambridge, University of Tokyo, Chalmers University of Technology Gothenburg). The YES course was created as an education initiative of the AGS, and was run for 10 years under the leadership of ETHsustainability. The core team responsible for designing and delivering the YES courses established ACTIS as an ETH spin off organisation in 2009 in order to expand the programs.   

YES Alumni

More information about the 1000 students from 90 different countries who form the global pool of alumni from YES courses can be found on the YES Alumni platform: www.yesalumni.org