UNIFY — Unit for Family, Diversity & Equality Family

‘A family is a diverse construct. Families include ways of life in which people live and experience social responsibility, care and solidarity.’ (FidH, 2023)

Heidelberg University is a member of the association "Familie in der Hochschule e.V." (‘Family in Higher Education’) and is guided by this concept in the work of the Family Services at UNIFY. Heidelberg University has been certified as a ‘family-friendly university’ since 2010 and was last successfully re-audited in 2023. The audit combines measures aimed at aligning personnel policy and the design of the working environment for employees, researchers and students in such a way that reconciliation of care work with career and studies is possible. Our Family Service is the central point of contact and provides regular and flexible childcare and advice on offers for families as well as study/work organisation during pregnancy and parental leave.

Current fields of action and projects

As part of the ‘Family-friendly university 2023-2026’ audit (for more information, see ‘AUDIT’ below) and the new diversity concept 2024-2029, we are actively working towards our goal of making study and working conditions care-friendly. Previous activities can be found in the activity reports (see below under ‘Concepts and Reports’) and on the ‘UNIFY News’ website. The following projects and measures are currently in focus:

Caring for relatives: training for 4 new care guides, raising awareness of the topic, providing important information, expanding the offer to include students who provide care, setting up a peer counselling service/network for students who provide care
Role of fathers: organisation of a photo exhibition by photographer Martin Moog, organisation of the annual conference of the association ‘Familie in der Hochschule’ on the topic: ‘Männlichkeit(en) auf dem Prüfstand - politisch, progressiv, reaktionär’, exchange with Volker Baisch on the topic of fathers' networks and with the network “Mutterschaft und Wissenschat”. So far, three events have been organised for university members: Workshop ‘Mentally strong fathers’ by Daniel Kauer, lecture ‘Zum Glück Vater: Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Privatleben aus Vätersicht’ by Volker Baisch and lecture as part of the Equal Care Day ‘Ernährer zum Fürsorger? A historical look at the care work of (grand)fathers’ by Dr Gina Fuhrich and Hannah Schultes.
Subsidy of travel expenses for child(ren) & necessary accompanying person (who need to be brought along on business trips): internal clarification of the legal and financial framework
Infrastructure: assessment of the current infrastructure (parent-child rooms, quiet rooms, breastfeeding rooms), opening of a parent-child room at the Bergheim campus
Management: collaboration in the development of a management code that also explicitly takes care work into account