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.")