Who is conducting the survey?

The survey is being conducted by the non-profit NGO and social enterprise Citizens For Europe gUG (CFE) and its interdisciplinary team Vielfalt entscheidet on behalf of and in cooperation with the organisation, among all members of the following status groups:

• Professors
• Teachers for special tasks,
• Doctoral students,
• Research assistants,
• Lecturers,
• students,
• administrative staff,
• tutors (WOT),
• SHK/WHK

The survey is supervised by experts who have all been conducting anti-discrimination research and consulting for many years and who work on the topics of equal opportunities, equality and diversity in organisations, pursuing a human rights-based, anti-racist and intersectional approach.

Citizens For Europe gUG is responsible for the survey in terms of data protection law.

The survey provides nuanced insights into issues of diversity and discrimination. It aims to show how the diversity of society is reflected at the University of Cologne, which groups experience or perceive discrimination in the university context, and how such experiences are addressed. By making the expertise and experiences of UzK members visible in an anonymised form, the survey seeks to contribute to reducing discrimination and strengthening diversity.

It is therefore important not to focus on a single dimension, but to adopt a multidimensional approach, taking into account the diversity and discrimination grounds defined in the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) as well as additional characteristics, such as social background or caring responsibilities.

A further aim of the survey is to use the data collected to develop recommendations for action in support of a diversity-oriented strategy.

It is very important to us to capture the perspectives and experiences of members of Uni Köln, as you yourselves are the experts.

The survey is divided into four sections:

1. Your position within UzK, for example your status group, department, type of contract, etc.
2. Any experiences of discrimination in the context of [insert name] and how these were dealt with
3. The study and working environment with regard to diversity and anti-discrimination
4. Any diversity dimensions relevant to experiences of discrimination

The survey examines:

• The current state of diversity within our own structures.
• Diversity dimensions relevant to discrimination, based on the grounds of discrimination set out in the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG):
• Racism / ethnic origin
• Disability or impairment
• Sexual orientation
• Gender / gender identity
• Religion or belief
• Age

In addition, the survey also includes the following grounds of discrimination:

• Social background / financial precarity
• Caring responsibilities within the family (parenthood, caring for relatives)
• Place of birth / socialisation in East or West Germany
• Nationality

The more members of the University of Cologne take part in the survey, the more robust its findings will be and the greater its potential impact in reducing discrimination and promoting diversity. At the same time, every individual experience is valuable in understanding the dynamics of discrimination and diversity at UzK.

You are very welcome to share the information about the survey and the call for participation within the university. Thank you for your support.

No.
Participation in the survey is voluntary. This applies both to the survey as a whole and to each individual section. In general, a higher number of participants leads to deeper insights into issues of discrimination and diversity at the University of Cologne. We therefore very much welcome your participation.

Yes.
The survey is implemented using the open-source software LimeSurvey. LimeSurvey fully supports the use of screen readers and is continuously being improved in this regard. If you have any technical questions, please contact us by email at: uzk-erhebung@citizensforeurope.com.

Completing the questionnaire takes approximately 10–25 minutes, depending on your responses and the diversity characteristics and experiences of discrimination you choose to share. Your perspectives and experiences are extremely important to us in helping to reduce discrimination and strengthen diversity, as you are the experts.

Your UzK email address (Unikim or SMAIL) is used to ensure that only members of the University of Cologne can participate, and that each person can take part only once. It also allows us to send you a personalised, one-time survey link that is anonymised. 

No.
Connecting them is technically impossible. Only you can see your UzK email address (Unikim or SMAIL) locally; neither the UzK nor Citizens For Europe can access it. When you enter your UzK email address, it is converted into a hash value that does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about your email address.

If no invitation link has yet been generated for this hash value, you will receive an invitation to the survey at your UzK email address, including an individual and anonymized invitation link. Your UzK email address will be automatically deleted after this process.

No.
The email invitation to the survey is sent to your UzK email address (Unikim or SMAIL) via a specially configured mail server, which only logs the time of dispatch, not the content or recipients. It is technically impossible to link your UzK email address to the individual and anonymized link to the survey in the invitation.

Unlike a public link, the individual access link ensures that only eligible persons can participate in the survey.

In addition, the invitation link allows you to interrupt the survey and complete it at a later time.

You must not share the individual invitation link with third parties, as they could otherwise view, manipulate, or delete your survey responses. Each person receives their own randomly generated access link, without any record of who received which access link.

Please first check your spam folder and allow approximately 10 minutes for the invitation to arrive. If you still have not received the invitation after this time, please contact uzk-erhebung@citizensforeurope.com directly.

Yes.
Your responses are handled with the strictest confidentiality. It is technically impossible to link your answers to your email address. All responses are stored only on Citizens For Europe (CFE) servers, which are protected with SSL/HTTPS encryption. Your IP address is not collected.

The personalised survey access link is intended solely for you. Neither CFE nor we have access to it, as the link is never logged in connection with your UzK email address (Unikim or SMAIL), making any linkage technically impossible.

You must not share your individual access link with others, as this would allow them to view, alter, or delete your data. Each participant receives a unique, randomly generated acces link, without any record of which person received which link.

The results are presented completely anonymously, so that individual responses cannot be traced back to any participant. The dataset is stored on CFE’s secure and encrypted servers, and CFE is the sole data controller. We have no access to or insight into your responses.

Further information on CFE’s data protection policies can be found here:
https://citizensforeurope.org/data_protection/.](https://citizensforeurope.org/data_protection/.

No.
The final report itself is anonymized; meaning that no conclusions can be drawn about individual participants. Even while your data is being processed by CFE, we take numerous measures to ensure that it is impossible to trace responses back to you.

• data collected is first pseudonymized by CFE before any analysis takes place.
• Citizens For Europe gUG alongside the server provider Hetzner GmbH, is the sole data controller. The data is neither shared with us nor processed by us.
• The survey is hosted on a dedicated, encrypted virtual server operated by CFE.
• Your IP address is not recorded.
• Location information is neither collected nor stored.
• Your email address cannot be linked to the access link to the survey or to your responses.
• If you voluntarily to provide information in open-text fields that could be used to identify you, this information is either a) deleted if it constitutes personal data unrelated to the question, or b) anonymised. For example, if you write “I am responsible for ABC and, as a woman, experience XYZ,” this information will be included in the analysis in anonymised form.
• After the survey concludes, we only receive a report presenting the analysed results in summary form. The way the results are presented ensures that it is impossible to trace any information back to individual participants.

All members of the University of Cologne, i.e., students, doctoral candidates (if enrolled), guest students, all employees (including MED Faculty ), professors (W professorships: W1/W2/W3, adjunct professors, honorary professors), research assistants, technical and administrative staff, lecturers, and private lecturers can participate in the survey.

You will receive an invitation email from University of Cologne containing a link to a registration page, where you can enter your UzK email address (Unikim or SMAIL). You will then receive a personalised, anonymised access link to the survey via email.

The link to the registration page can also be found earlier on this website.

If you have lost your personalised access link, you can request a new link on the registration page by entering your UzK email address (Unikim or SMAIL). The previous link will then become invalid, and the survey will need to be started from the beginning.

To allow you to pause and resume the survey on different devices, session cookies and the personalised access link system are used.

No.
If you share your access link, anyone who receives it could view, alter, or delete your responses while you have not yet completed the survey. The personalised access link is confidential and only known to you—no one else knows which link you received.

You should also avoid entering your personal contact details (e.g., your name or email address) in open-text fields, even though such information will be removed during data cleaning. The results are presented anonymously, and it is impossible to link responses to individual participants.

The survey will be open from 12 January to 23 February 2026. After this period, you will no longer be able to view or edit your responses.

“Personal data” is any information relating to an identified or identifiable person (Art. 4 No. 1 GDPR or § 4 No. 1 KDG). This includes, for example: name, age, gender, postal address, email address, telephone number, or IP address.

However, there are also so-called “special categories of personal data” (Art. 9 (1) GDPR and § 4 No. 2 KDG). This is information that reveals, for example, a person's origin, religious beliefs, state of health, or sex life. Such data that is collected is subject to increased legal protection.

Yes.
As long as you access the survey using your personalised access link, all previously entered answers will be saved. Please note that your answers will only be saved once you click “Next” or “Back” within the survey. To continue the survey at a later time, simply return to the survey using the same personalised access link sent to you by email. 

You can view and edit your responses with this link for as long as the survey remains open and you have not submitted it.

Please also note that you should adhere to standard security measures, such as locking your computer when you are away from your desk. Otherwise, it is possible that an unauthorized person could gain access to your email account or the questionnaire. This person would then also have access to your survey responses if you have not yet completed the survey and cookies are enabled.

No.
Once the survey is completed, it is no longer possible to make changes, as your responses cannot be linked to your identity.

Yes.
Your responses are automatically saved on our survey server. To continue the survey at a later time, simply reopen it using your personalised access link.

Since it is technically impossible to link the survey link to your identity or email address, if you lose your personalised link (for example, if the email is deleted), you will need to request a new link at the registration page and unfortunately start the survey from the beginning.

To ensure the functionality of the survey, the open-source survey system Limesurvey must set/store two cookies (session time cookie and session ID cookie) in order to uniquely identify your participation/session with your access link, e.g., to guarantee the IT security of the system. No other cookies are set, e.g., for analysis purposes.

Preliminary results are expected to be presented internally within the university from summer 2026 onwards.

No.
Your personalised access link is intended for your use only. If you share it, others could view, alter, or delete your responses.

However, the more members of the University of Cologne participate in the survey, the more meaningful the results will be and the greater their impact in reducing discrimination and promoting diversity. You are welcome to share information about the survey and the call for participation within the university and to refer others to the registration page. Thank you for your support.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the data you have entered in the survey, as long as you have not yet completed it.

Once you have completed the survey, you can still withdraw your consent until the end of the research project by emailing uzk-erhebung@citizensforeurope.com and providing your personalised survey access link. The lawfulness of any processing of your personal data that occurred before you withdrew your consent remains unaffected.

The information you provide in the online questionnaire is transmitted securely using SSL/HTTPS to a virtual server set up specifically for this survey. The server is hosted in an ISO-certified data centre in Germany (ISO/IEC 27001:2013, certified by FOX Certification). SSL is a widely used encryption technology, also employed in online banking.