Barbara Schaffner

Last updated
Barbara Schaffner
Barbara Schaffner (2019).jpg
Barbara Schaffner in 2019
Member of the National Council of Switzerland
Assumed office
2011
Personal details
Born (1968-07-28) 28 July 1968 (age 57)
Zurich, Switzerland
Political party Green Liberal Party
Residence Hausen AG
Alma mater ETH Zürich

Barbara Schaffner (born 28 July 1968) is a Swiss politician, energy expert, and physicist. She is a member of the National Council for the Green Liberal Party for the canton of Zurich and mayor of Otelfingen.

Contents

Biography

Barbara Schaffner grew up in Anglikon  [ de ] in the canton of Aargau. In 1988 she lived as an exchange student on a farm in Wyoming, USA. After studying physics and receiving a doctorate in medical physics [1] at ETH Zürich and the PPaul Scherrer Institute, she completed a postdoc at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba, Japan. From 2000 to 2008 she worked at Varian Medical Systems as a specialist in proton therapy and researched algorithms in radiotherapy [2] At ETH, Schaffner furthered her education, obtaining a Master of Energy Science and Technology, worked as a project manager for solar power plants and, as an energy expert, is the managing director of her company eneba GmbH.  As managing director and board member, she heads the non-partisan networking group Zurich Renewable: Association for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energies. Furthermore, as a member of the board of the Mühle Otelfingen Foundation, she is committed to preserving the historic building and using it for cultural events. [3] She has two children with her long-term partner, Paul Eggimann.

Political career

Schaffner was elected to the Cantonal Council of Zurich for the Dielsdorf district in 2011. She was a member of the Committee for Transport, Energy and the Environment. [4] From 2011 to 2013, she was also a member of the Committee for Planning and Construction. In the Cantonal Council, she campaigned primarily for renewable energies  and public transport. She also attracted attention with a successful [5] initiative [6] against the disappearance of native crayfish species.

In July 2018, the voters of Otelfingen elected Schaffner as mayor. In 2019, she was one of the driving forces with the committee "No to the harmful water law" that defeated the new water law in the canton of Zurich in a referendum, arguing primarily with environmental and flood protection as well as the additional bureaucratic burden for municipalities. In the GLP, she heads the national energy working group and is president of the GLP Unteres Furttal. In the parliamentary elections on 20 October 2019, Schaffner was elected to the National Council for the Green Liberals. She therefore resigned from the Cantonal Council in November 2019. In the National Council, she is (as of August 2024) in the Committees for Transport and Telecommunications of the Federal Council  [ de ], in the Delegation for Relations with the Parliament of the Principality of Liechtenstein and deputy in the Parliamentary IT Group (PIT).

Publications

References

  1. Schaffner, Barbara (1997). Range precision of therapeutic proton beams (Thesis). ETH Zürich. doi:10.3929/ethz-a-001891967. hdl:20.500.11850/143426.
  2. Archived (Date missing) at furu.zehnder.ch (Error: unknown archive URL), Malini Gloor in Furttaler Nachrichten 22 January 2019, retrieved 13 August 2019.
  3. Archived (Date missing) at kantonsrat.zh.ch (Error: unknown archive URL), retrieved 13 August 2019.
  4. Abstimmungsprotokoll Zürcher Rathaus 24 February 2014 [ dead link ], Homepage des Kantonsrats, retrieved 17 August 2019.
  5. Dringliches Postulat Rettung einheimischer Krebsarten [ dead link ], 9 December 2013, Homepage des Kantonsrats, retrieved 17 August 2019.