Panel discussion "Diversity in German Academia"
Titled "Diversity in German Academia - A Reflective Look at the State of Play", in this panel discussion on May 23, 2023 experts took a critical, scientific look at "equal opportunities and diversity" at German universities and research institutions. The panel discussion was designed as an exchange of experience and knowledge between the panelists. They discussed measures to promote internal institutional processes of review and change and to strengthen diversity awareness. The discussion was organised in cooperation with the Cluster of Excellence "Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies".
Panel structure
Host
Minou Amir-Sehhi
Welcome speech
Prorektorin Prof. Dr. Irmgard Förster, Universität Bonn
Short presentation
Dr. Susanne Knoop, DFG
The Panelists
Dr. des. Robel Afeworki Abay
Robel Afeworki Abay is a research assistant at the Institute of Sociology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. He is a co-founder of the Intersectional Disability Justice network. His research areas include the intersectional colonialities of racism and Ableism, as well as Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory (Discrit) and post- and decolonial theories.
Dr. Astrid Biele Mefebue
Dr. Astrid Biele Mefebue is a founding member of the Institute for Diversity Research at the University of Göttingen and held the professorship for Sociology of Diversity there from 2017 to 2022. She currently also works as an (Agile) Coach and Project and Science Manager. Her work focuses on the sociology of work and organisation, social inequality, and diversity in organisations and lifestyles.
Prof. Dr. Paul Mecheril
Prof. Dr. Paul Mecheril is a professor at the Faculty of Education at Bielefeld University and participates in various interdisciplinary research projects on migration research critical of discrimination. He deals with the topics of racism in universities, democracy, migration society and pedagogy. Since January 2023, he has been the regional spokesperson of the nationwide Knowledge Network on Racism Research (WinRa-West).
Dr. Heike Pantelmann
Dr. Heike Pantelmann has been the Executive Director of the Margherita von Brentano Centre for Internationalisation, Gender and Diversity in Teaching at the FU Berlin since 2019. Her work and research cover the topics of gender and diversity in teaching, sexual harassment, discrimination and violence in the university context, power, domination and gender relations in organisations and diversity management.
Prof. Dr. Anne Waldschmidt
Prof. Dr Anne Waldschmidt is Professor of Sociology and Politics of Rehabilitation and Disability Studies at the University of Cologne. She heads the International Research Centre Disability Studies (iDiS). Her research focuses on the sociology of the body and knowledge, biopolitics, social and disability policy, political participation of disabled people and disability history.
Contact and Organisation
Equal Opportunity and Diversity Unit
The Equal Opportunity and Diversity unit assists and advises the Rectorate on the (further) development of concepts and strategies for promoting equal opportunity and diversity.
Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
The BCDSS is a research cluster within the framework of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments.