An Emerging Research Relationship
CROWN is in advanced discussions with ETH Zürich, consistently ranked among the world’s top five universities for engineering and technology, regarding collaboration on diagnostic technology. A professor in the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering has expressed interest in exploring the supervision of student projects on CROWN’s multi-sensor hair diagnostic system, which would establish a structured pathway for academic collaboration that advances both scientific knowledge and social impact.
This developing relationship reflects CROWN’s commitment to building measurement infrastructure at the highest standard of engineering rigour. The questions CROWN is trying to answer — how to miniaturise multi-modal sensing platforms, how to achieve cross-ethnic classification accuracy, how to standardise sensor calibration — are genuine engineering challenges that merit academic investigation.
Collaboration Formats
The proposed collaboration would operate through three established ETH frameworks, each suited to a different scope and duration of research.
Semester Projects (3 to 6 Months)
Well-scoped engineering challenges that can be completed within a single academic term. Examples of current and prospective semester project topics include:
- Optical micro-imaging system design for sub-micrometer fibre diameter measurement
- Impedance sensing circuit optimisation for hair porosity characterisation
- Cross-calibration protocols for ensuring measurement consistency between CROWN Diagnostic units
- Data pipeline architecture for privacy-preserving sensor data aggregation
Semester projects are ideal for students seeking a focused, hands-on engineering challenge with a clear deliverable and direct applicability to a real-world system.
Master’s Theses (6 Months)
Comprehensive research projects that address larger questions in CROWN’s open research agenda. Master’s thesis topics may include:
- Full multi-modal data fusion: integrating optical, spectroscopic, and impedance data into a unified classification system
- NIR spectroscopic method development for non-destructive detection of chemical hair treatments
- AI model development for cross-ethnic hair classification with limited initial training data
- Miniaturised sensing platform design integrating all four modalities into a tabletop form factor
A master’s thesis with CROWN offers the opportunity to work on a complete system-level challenge — from sensor physics through signal processing to machine learning — with the additional dimension of designing for equitable performance across diverse populations.
Pioneer Fellowship Pathway
ETH Zürich’s Pioneer Fellowship programme supports graduates who wish to develop research results into real-world applications. The fellowship provides CHF 150,000 over 18 months, access to ETH facilities and mentorship, and a structured pathway from academic research to deployment.
CROWN’s diagnostic technology would represent a strong candidate for the Pioneer Fellowship pathway. A student who completes a successful master’s thesis on CROWN’s multi-sensor platform would have a compelling application: a working prototype, a defined market need (the absence of objective hair measurement tools worldwide), an emerging research relationship, and a clear social impact narrative.
The Pioneer Fellowship is not guaranteed — it is a competitive programme evaluated on technical merit and impact potential. CROWN’s role is to ensure that the underlying research is rigorous enough and the application is compelling enough to merit consideration.
What Students Gain
Working with CROWN offers ETH students a distinctive combination of technical challenge and social relevance.
A real-world multi-sensor engineering problem. The CROWN Diagnostic integrates optical imaging, near-infrared spectroscopy, impedance sensing, and machine learning into a single platform. Few student projects offer this breadth of technical scope in a single system.
Direct social impact. The technology students build contributes to the CROWN Hair Commons — Europe’s first open, multi-ethnic hair dataset — and supports the CROWN Discrimination Index, which provides quantitative evidence for anti-discrimination legislation. Students can see a clear line from their engineering work to measurable social outcomes.
Publication potential. The intersection of multi-modal sensing, AI classification, and social impact generates research questions that are publishable in engineering, biomedical, and interdisciplinary journals. CROWN actively supports student publication of non-proprietary research findings.
An interdisciplinary team. CROWN’s team spans psychology, business, policy, and now engineering. Students working on the Diagnostic engage not only with technical problems but with the broader context of how measurement technology serves research and advocacy missions.
How to Get Involved
ETH students interested in working on CROWN’s diagnostic technology can find our project listings on SIROP, ETH’s platform for student research opportunities. Project descriptions include specific technical requirements, expected deliverables, and supervisory arrangements.
Students may also contact CROWN directly at [email protected] with a brief description of their background, interests, and the type of collaboration they are considering (semester project, master’s thesis, or general inquiry).
We welcome students from electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, computer science, and related disciplines. The most successful collaborations tend to involve students who are motivated by the social application of their technical skills — though deep technical competence remains the primary selection criterion.
The Broader Vision
CROWN’s developing relationship with ETH Zürich is one element of a broader strategy to build measurement infrastructure at the intersection of engineering, social science, and public policy. The Diagnostic device is the hardware layer; the CROWN Hair DNA profile is the data standard; the AI classification engine is the intelligence layer; and the CROWN Hair Commons is the research platform.
Each layer requires engineering excellence. ETH Zürich provides the academic environment where that excellence is cultivated. CROWN provides the mission context that gives it meaning.