The Ombuds Blog: Ombuds at HELENA in Munich Serve Grad Students

March 30, 2018

Ombuds at HELENA in Munich Serve Grad Students

Four Ombudspersons serve the graduate students at HELENA--the Helmholtz Graduate School of Environmental Health. The eight year old program is collaboration of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and Technische Universität München and enrolls over 400 international students. The Ombuds, "are designated impartial individuals who mediate in cases of conflict between graduate students and their advisers. All conversations are strictly confidential. The ombudspersons are nominated by the graduate students and are elected for a term of two years."

The current Ombuds are Dr. Vera Hoellriegl from the Institute of Radiation Protection; Apl. Prof. Dr. Johannes Beckers from the Institute of Experimental Genetics; Dr. Siegfried Ussar from the Institute of Diabetes and Obesity; and PD Dr. Silke Meiners from CPC Großhadern. A presentation by Meiners in 2014 outlines the role of the Ombuds program. (HELENA Ombuds; LMU Bioethics Seminar: "When things go wrong - ombudssystems in research and graduate education.")

No comments:

Organizational Ombuds

Organizational Ombuds serve as a confidential, independent, neutral and informal dispute resolution resource for a specific entity. They are accessible to a defined population and can advocate for fairness. These unique characteristics distinguish Organizational Ombuds from Classical Ombuds, mediators, arbitrators, and other alternative dispute resolution professionals. The term "Ombuds" is shorthand for "Ombudsman," "Ombudsperson" and "Ombuds Officer," which also are used widely.

Some other variants include:

Austria -- Ombudsstelle

Brazil -- Ouvidor

Croatia -- pravobranitelji

France -- médiateur/defénseur

Germany -- Ombudspersonen

Italy -- difensore

Netherlands -- ombudspersoon

Norway -- ombudet

Poland -- Rzecznik

Portugal -- provedor

Russia -- омбудсмен

Spain -- ombudsman organizacional

Sweden -- studentombud

Switzerland -- ombudsmann

Comment Policy

Content and Relevance

Stay on topic: Comments should be relevant to the post.
Be respectful: Personal attacks, insults, profanity, inflammatory language, and discriminatory or harassing comments will not be tolerated.
No self-promotion or spam: Comments should contribute to the conversation and not be used to for commercial purposes.
No confidential information: Do not share confidential information about your organization or visitors.

Length and Format

Keep it concise: Comments should be clear and to the point. Excessively long comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Use appropriate formatting: Do not use all caps unnecessarily. Comments may include HTML formatting for readability.

Other Considerations

Be professional and respectful: Please be mindful of your content, even when commending anonymously.
Comments may be edited: I reserve the right to remove or edit any comments that violate these guidelines. My edits will be noted.
Complaints about IOA: This is not the appropriate forum to lodge formal complaints against the International Ombuds Association.
Guest editorials: Please email me directly to discuss a guest editorial offering a longer, more in-depth perspective on a topic related to the organizational ombuds profession

March 30, 2018

Ombuds at HELENA in Munich Serve Grad Students

No comments:

Post a Comment