Diversity Days 2025

This year’s Diversity Days are titled 'Family Matters: Balance & Belonging' and are organized in cooperation with the Office of Family Services. The event will focus on the intersections of family and academia. The Diversity Days, also supported by the Queer Network NRW, will also highlight the importance of synergies and exchange between academia and civil society organizations.

In addition to a reading and a workshop addressing the question of 'compatibility of parenthood and academia', a session on 'families (of choice) and queer communities' will broaden perspectives on family models beyond heteronormativity and will also discuss the discrimination faced by trans individuals within their families. Furthermore, a workshop on the diversity strategy and the annual network meeting will take place.

Employees of the University of Bonn may participate in the Diversity Days 2025 during their regular working hours. The Office of Family Services will provide childcare for all Diversity Days events on location.

Registration and dates

Date and time

Monday, 26 May 2025
3:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday, 27 May 2025
8:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Location

DigiHub
Am Hauptbahnhof 6
53111 Bonn
Room: San Francisco
Other rooms: Room Berlin (childcare), room Museumsmeile (safer space)

Registration

Please register by 11 May.

Day 1

26 May 2025

An auditorium of people listening to a lecture

Schedule

3:30 p.m.
Arrival / welcome

4:00 p.m.
Opening of the Diversity Days 2025 by Vice Rector Prof Dr Irmgard Förster and the Head of the Office of Family Services, Karin Kick

4:15 – 6:00 p.m.
Session 'You get to pick your family^1' - families (of choice) and queer communities

Lecture by Leah Petersen (University of Bonn): 'Discrimination in the parental home—the dynamics between the gender identity of young trans people and their parental living environment'
Lecture by Sascha Sistenich (University of Bonn): 'Families of choice and communities of care: queer perspectives on ‘family’ in a diverse society'
Panel discussion
- Birgit Brockerhoff (Queeres Netzwerk NRW, Fachstelle Regenbogenfamilien NRW)
- Leah Petersen (University of Bonn)
- Sascha Sistenich (University of Bonn)
- Lenny Streit (Queeres Netzwerk NRW; Projekt Trans*sensibel)
- Host: Mia Wietkamp (Bonn FM)

¹Angie Xtravaganza (Paris is Burning 1990)

To the session 'You get to pick your family'

6:30 – 8:30 p.m. (hybrid)
Reading 'Parenthood and academia—escaping incompatibility' with Dr Sarah Czerney and Dr Lena Eckert (Netzwerk Mutterschaft & Wissenschaft)

To the reading 'Parenthood and academia'

Day 2

27 May 2025

People sitting around a table, photographed from above

Schedule

8:30 a.m.
Arrival / welcome

9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Workshop '(Wanting) kids and academia—a space for reflection for researchers and how to escape incompatibility' with Dr Sarah Czerney and Dr Lena Eckert (Netzwerk Mutterschaft & Wissenschaft)

To the workshop '(Wanting) kids and academia'

2:00 – 4:30 p.m.
Workshop (world café) on the diversity strategy
Host: Mia Wietkamp (Bonn FM)

4:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Break

5:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Network meeting

Information for participants with children

The Office of Family Services offers childcare for all events during the Diversity Days. Please let us know your specific childcare needs via the registration form.

Information for employees of the University of Bonn

For all employees, participation in one of the two event days counts as working time. Please ensure that you comply with the applicable regulations on working hours and break times.

Photography notice

As part of the Diversity Days, we will be taking pictures which are published on the internet, in print media and on social media channels as part of our public relations work. By participating in the event, participants or their legal guardians agree to the photos being taken, saved and published. Please speak to our photographers on site if you do not wish for you and/or your children to be photographed.