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.
 |
 |
 |
| 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. | Roya Hamedani Golshan is currently a PhD student in I. Physics Institute. Her main concern is fairness. Every individual has unique potential and values, we just need to treat each other in a way that these will be fostered and flourish, regardless of the categories and boxes are brain defines for its convenience. But of course this needs all of us to be trained, be aware and step out of our comfort zone, break the stereotypes and talk openly about the challenges we are facing; as we will learn and improve upon one another experiences. So Roya is part of the anti-discrimination board to facilitate a community with progressing level of inclusion. She is willing to hear about your difficulties and address them to best of her knowledge. Feel free to contact Roya in Farsi, English and if necessary in German. | 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. |
| E-Mail: bulla[at]thp.uni-koeln.de |
E-Mail: rhgolshan[at]ph1.uni-koeln.de |
E-Mail: hamdan[at]ph2.uni-koeln.de |
 |
 |
 |
| Bettina Heyne is a PhD student at the I. Institute of Physics. Since she also did her Bachelor's and Master's there, she has already been able to gain a lot of experience as a physics student in Cologne. In case of experiences of discrimination or other problems, she is happy to act in a trusting and supportive manner. She can be contacted in German and English. | Vaishnavi Jayakumar is currently a PhD student in the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Cologne, since 2020. She is passionate about equality, inclusion and equal opportunity for all, which was the main reason behind her founding “Women’s coffee corner”, the association for female physicists at the university, earlier this year. Being a person of color herself, she can also very well understand the various problems students of different ethnic or religious backgrounds might face. By being a member of the anti-discrimination board, she would like to help people tread through the issues they have to the best of her ability and help them realise they are just as deserving of opportunities as everyone else. She would be most comfortable communicating in English (or Hindi), but she will try her best to help in German, if needed. | 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: heyne[at]ph1.uni-koeln.de |
E-Mail: vj[at]thp.uni-koeln.de |
E-Mail: mmelame1[at]smail.uni-koeln.de |
 |
 |
|
| 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 |
|
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: ombuds[at]ph1.uni-koeln.de
If you wish to contact them anonymously, please use the anonymous mailbox below.
Anonymous mailbox
Please enter your name and email address if you would like us to contact you. If you wish to remain anonymous, leave these boxes blank. The shared content will always be treated confidentially. Your email address will not be passed on to third parties. The mails via the anonymous mailbox go to all ombudspersons.
Please pay attention to our data privacy statement.