Diversity at H-BRS
Respekt! Revue 2025: A year full of diversity, sustainability and visibility
Respekt! Revue 2025
Together against anti-Semitism
At the beginning of the year, the cartoon exhibition "#Antisemitism for beginners" was on display in the Rheinbach campus library. The 25 roll-ups used satirical drawings and short texts to convey the fundamentals of anti-Semitism and encourage people to confront prejudices and discriminatory thought patterns. The exhibition was widely visited and offered a low-threshold introduction to a societally relevant topic in the cartoon format.
Together against racism
Another focus was on our commitment against racism. H-BRS took part in the International Weeks against Racism with the "Facts instead of prejudices" campaign. Students and employees had the opportunity to find out about forms of racism, mechanisms of marginalisation and options for action in everyday life. The campaign increased the visibility of the topic on campus and sent a clear signal against racist marginalisation and discrimination.
Visibly queer on campus
As part of Pride Month, we distributed Respekt! saddle covers in June under the motto "Ride with Pride" together with the student initiative Queerheinbach to set an example for diversity and queer visibility on campus.
Another highlight was the queer art exhibition "We are pART of culture" in autumn 2025. The exhibition showed portraits of queer personalities from history, art, culture and science, making diversity visible in the truest sense of the word. It invited students and employees to take a fresh look at questions of identity, belonging and social commitment. The resonance was great and confirmed how important such spaces of visibility and inspiration are for our campus life.
The exhibition was accompanied by the interactive lecture "The structure of discrimination" by Holger Edmaier (project 100% MENSCH). He shed light on social norms, power relations and privileges as well as the question of how discriminatory structures are stabilised and offered participants space to exchange ideas and share their own perspectives.
We will take the ideas on solidarity, empathy and discrimination-sensitive structures with us and incorporate them into our future work and formats.
A strong signal for sustainability
There were also significant milestones in the area of sustainability in 2025. We are particularly pleased about the recertification of H-BRS as a Fairtrade University. This award recognises the university's ongoing commitment to fair trade, global responsibility and sustainable campus culture. This is supported by many committed people within our university community and also emphasises our aspiration to not only teach sustainability, but to actively live it.
In this context, the university and the city of Sankt Augustin once again took part in the Bonn Filmfair in 2025. The screening of the film "Bigger Than Us" opened up moving perspectives on global future issues and the commitment of young activists worldwide. This was followed by a lively discussion about the global and social responsibility we can shoulder together at the local level.
Respekt! in action
The year of Respekt! was also characterised by numerous other events:
- Viva Diversity brought together people from different areas of the university at events such as Diversity Snacks and Diversity Creates, the international creative get-together, and facilitated encounters in a relaxed atmosphere.
- Respekt! Inclusive provided important impetus for mental health, including through workshops for students with disabilities and chronic illnesses, offers from the H-BRS inclusion assistant and the subsidisation of the training to become Mental Health First Aiders.
- As part of Diversity Thursday and the Today is... series, we focussed on various social issues - from democracy, human rights and social justice to SDGs, mental well-being and suicide prevention.
- We also organised workshops and activity stands that focused on topics such as civil courage, empowerment and resilience.
Each of these activities stood for our common goal: a university in which diversity is valued, differences are respected and social responsibility is actively embraced.
We wish everyone a wonderful end to the year and a fabulous start to 2026, marked by respect and confidence.
Your Respekt! team:
Sarah Friedrichs
Kristin Pöllmann
Vivien Herrig
July Lemos
Contact
Do you have any questions, comments or requests? Feel free to contact us at respekt@h-brs.de.
Contact us
Sarah Friedrichs
Head of Diversity Management, Senior Expert on International Affairs and Digital Transformation to the Vice President, Commissioner Antidiscrimination and Anti-Racism
Location
Sankt Augustin
Room
E 236
Address
Grantham-Allee 20
53757, Sankt Augustin
Telephone
+49 2241 865 137
Location
Sankt Augustin
Room
E 236
Address
Grantham-Allee 20
53757 Sankt Augustin
Contact hours
Monday - Thursday
Telephone
+49 2241 865 9830
Contact points
Diversity Management
Campus
Sankt Augustin
Room
E236
Opening hours
By appointment
Links to
Further links