Ismene Ehrler is a PHD candidate at the chair of Social Geography and Urban Studies (SURB) at the University of Zurich and an associated researcher at the EPFL.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the Bauhaus University of Weimar and a Master’s degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from the University of Stuttgart. During this time, she completed academic exchanges at the UNAM in Mexico City and the EPFL in Lausanne. After writing her Master Thesis on collective habitat and heritage in Mexico City, she successfully completed the joint MAS in Urban and Territorial Design at ETH and EPFL. 

As part of the SNSF Programme The Responsible City, she is conducting research on responses to housing controversies in the context of the socio-ecological crisis in Switzerland. Her focus lies on the question of how tenants and owners handle everyday responsibilities regarding maintenance, repair and care of the material and social environment.