UDE starts project against discrimination in medicine and teaching!

UDE starts project against discrimination in medicine and teaching!

The University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) has launched a novel, cross-faculty joint project that focuses on raising awareness among medical professionals and teachers about how to deal with discrimination and hate. This project, which was started on March 1, 2025 and will run for 12 months, is funded with 18,299.40 euros. The focus is on the topics of racism, sexism and ableism, as well as the disadvantages faced by people with disabilities or chronic illnesses.

The project is part of the UDE’s profile focus “Change in contemporary societies” and is part of funding line 1 “Initiatives for topic development”. The aim is to improve awareness of discrimination during the training of doctors and teachers. A research team will conduct surveys and analyze existing teaching concepts in order to identify discriminatory structures and develop practical concepts for integration into degree programs.

Research team and responsible persons

The project leader is Prof. Dr. Philipp Jugert, who also planned a comprehensive survey of medical and teaching students. This survey is intended to record experiences of discrimination and perceptions of the courses on offer. Dr. Eva Willmann and Dr. Cynthia Szalai leads various work packages in the project. While Dr. While Willmann focuses on the study of discrimination in medical and teaching studies, particularly in relation to ableism, Dr. Szalai aims to sensitize medical students to discriminatory practices when dealing with patients.

Other actors in the project include:

• Prof. Dr. Nicolle Pfaff, Institut für Erziehungswissenschaften
• Prof. Dr. Anja Weiss, Institut für Soziologie
• Dr. Merve Schmitz-Vardar, Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Integrations- und Migrationsforschung
• Dr. Regina Häuser, Diversity Support Center

Overall responsibility of universities

Universities are increasingly taking on responsibility for protecting against discrimination. The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency has published the brochure “Building blocks for systematic protection against discrimination at universities”. This brochure offers six central building blocks for implementation, which include, among other things, surveys, awareness-raising, anti-discrimination advice and the establishment of complaint offices. These strategies are based on a nationwide survey and are intended to support universities in identifying and combating discrimination.

The “Discrimination-Free University – Creating Knowledge with Diversity” project contributed to the establishment of these measures at ten universities and thus made an important contribution to creating a discrimination-free learning environment. It also includes an interactive guide to help university employees check discrimination risks in key areas such as studies, careers and campus life.

For further information about the project and the content covered at the UDE, interested parties can visit UDE website visit. In addition, it offers Federal anti-discrimination agency comprehensive information about protective measures against discrimination.