UNIFY – Unit for Family, Diversity & Equality Diversity participation process
In its mission statement, the university is committed to diversity and equality for all its members. This commitment is brought to life through a variety of activities, offerings and measures aimed at promoting equal opportunities and good relations at the university. All these measures are bundled in the university's diversity concept.
Goal
The goal of the participation process, which is being organised by the central institution UNIFY – Unit for Family, Diversity & Equality, is to develop a new diversity concept for the university that will form the basis for the strategic orientation and focus of diversity work in the coming years. Measures will be defined at the structural, organisational culture and individual levels that promote diversity competence and awareness, reduce bias and enable non-discriminatory and equal participation at all career levels.
The participation process focuses on the seven aspects of diversity:
- Age
- Social background
- Religion and worldview
- Disability/chronic illness and mental diversity
- Gender/gender identity and sexual orientation
- Ethnic, cultural and national origin
- Care work
Components of the participation process
Component I: Diversity Text Assessment
Im Rahmen eines Diversity-Checks werden funktionale Texte, Website und repräsentative Texte manuell und softwaregestützt analysiert.
Component II: Qualitative Interviews
Qualitative interviews are conducted on the diversity dimensions with members of the university who have experiential knowledge of individual dimensions and provide exploratory insights into the diverse realities of life at the university.
Component III: Workshops
A workshop is held for each dimension, during which the current status is analysed, needs are identified and ideas for measures are generated. The workshop participants are, on the one hand, members of a permanent core group of diversity stakeholders who are of key importance for the implementation of the planned measures in the individual areas and for the various target groups and, on the other hand, university members who wish to participate in the process and have experiential knowledge of individual dimensions.
Component IV: Concept
The results of the workshops and the contact/feedback page will be formulated by UNIFY – Unit for Family, Diversity & Equality in the form of implementable measures for the various target groups in a new concept that will be ready by the end of 2023.
Workshops
The workshops will focus primarily on determining the current status quo, discussing current issues, concerns and wishes, and collecting and discussing possible solutions to challenges and barriers. The workshop will be led by the “diversity company” from Mannheim.
We would be delighted if you took this opportunity to play an active role in shaping the new diversity concept so that we can develop meaningful measures tailored to your needs.
You can register informally at: beteiligung.unify@uni-heidelberg.de
Workshop dates
Table
June 13, 2023 | 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. | gender identity, sexual orientation |
June 23, 2023 | 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. | care work |
June 27, 2023 | 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. | race, ethnicity, nationality |
July 4, 2023 | 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. | religion & (non-)belief |
July 11, 2023 | 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. | disability, chronic illness, neurodiversity |
July 14, 2023 | 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. | (Life) age |
Update
The participation process has been successfully completed. Taking into account the wishes and needs expressed in the workshops, a new diversity concept was developed, which was approved by the university committees in fall 2024. The first measures are currently being implemented. You can find out more about current projects and take a look at the new diversity concept for 2024–2029 on the UNIFY website.