Antidiscrimination
The Department of Physics is committed to the mission statement of the University of Cologne, "Diversity and Equal Opportunities”. It sees itself as a non-discriminatory, safe and non-violent place to study, teach and work, where everyone treats one another fairly, appreciatively and respectfully. We want to promote a culture of acknowledging and naming discriminatory, abusive or violent behavior and to give those affected the greatest possible security and comprehensive protection.
Ombudspersons
To support this, we have a team of ombudspersons who are available as contacts for situations such as:
- You have been discriminated against and need support.
- You want to report a case of discrimination (anonymously).
- You are looking for an exchange in a safe environment in order to be clear about how you should deal with a stressful situation you have experienced.
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| Ralf Bulla has been working at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the UzK since 2008 and lectures on mathematical methods, theoretical physics and computational physics. He is a liaison lecturer of the physics department and appreciates the personal contact with the students - during counseling sessions, during the supervision of bachelor and master theses and in the lectures. | Lucie Hamdan has been employed at the UzK since 2000 in the II. Institute of Physics as a technical employee and is a chemical engineer by profession. As one of several ombudspersons in the physics institutes, she wants to be a contact point for students and employees. She also welcomes questions and suggestions on diversity and discrimination issues, and aims to promote a culture of fairness. Upon request, information on special counseling services offered by the UzK can be provided. Our principles are independence, confidentiality, neutrality and appreciation. | Maria Melamed is currently doing a master's thesis in astrophysics, but already did the Bachelor studies in Cologne and is active in the student council since. Here Maria is especially active in diversity topics, both in official posts such as “equal oppurtunities officer” and the team “Obelix”, and in the BCGS. Outside of physics Maria works in the area of political education and hence knows a lot about types and topics of discrimination. Hence Maria also wants to work on antidiscrimination in physics and is happy to be contacted for that in English or German. |
| E-Mail: bulla[at]thp.uni-koeln.de |
E-Mail: hamdan[at]ph2.uni-koeln.de |
E-Mail: mmelame1[at]smail.uni-koeln.de |
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| Yoko Okada has been working at the I. Institute of Physics (Astrophysics) since 2009 as a post-doc researcher. Having already been on the Gender Board of the expired SFB956 since 2021, she is now a member of the Diversity Board of the SFB1601 and tries to raise awareness of gender issues. She would like to contribute to improving the fairness of our working environment as an ombudsperson, which is important for everyone. Primary contact language to her is English (or Japanese), but she would be happy to communicate in German if someone wants to, though she may have to ask for some patience in that case. | Stephan Schlemmer is head of the Laboratory Astrophysics Group at the I. Institute of Physics. He is a liaison lecturer and thus a possible contact person for students. As such, he is also involved in measures against discrimination. | |
| E-Mail: okada[at]ph1.uni-koeln.de |
E-Mail: schlemmer[at]ph1.uni-koeln.de |
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Contact
To contact the ombudspersons, you can contact the individual persons directly via e-mail addresses mentioned above or write to all of them at the same time:
physics-ombudspersons[at]uni-koeln.de
If you wish to contact them anonymously, you can use a neutral e-mail address e.g. example@gmail.com.