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In Good Hands

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In Good Hands MAX PLANCK COMMUNITY In Good Hands Developing the best possible advisory service for foreign employees and guests group in particular expressed a strong de- local authorities. This service existed before sire for greater professionalization of the I took up my position and it will, of course, role. Our aim would be to have full-time vis- continue to be available in the future. An- itor advisor positions at these institutes, other idea would be to organize regional too. A small number of Max Planck insti- Welcome Days, which several institutes tutes already have “International Offices.” could coordinate together. Which issues or tasks did the institutes con- How would you describe the general goals of sider to be particularly urgent? What specific your work? measures have you developed based on this Katrin Sillem: I would like to increase information? awareness of the fact that intercultural Katrin Sillem: In addition to increasing competence should be considered a cru- the number of visitor advisor positions, cial, rather than a supplementary basic there was also a specific request for more qualification in the MPS. The MPS took its intercultural training. We will be expand- first visible step in achieving this objective ing the range of training courses in this by signing the Diversity Charter in March. area accordingly. As an additional urgent In addition, we are constantly increas- Katrin Sillem, Integration Issues Officer requirement, many institutes also suggest- ing our efforts to attract outstanding for- ed that we have a manual in which foreign eign scientists. When deciding in favor of scientists and guests can find all types of or against a research facility, it is no long- As the new Officer for Integration Issues at useful information on such topics as resi- er just the scientific environment, but also MPS Administrative Headquarters, Katrin dence permits, childcare facilities, the me- the support provided for the individual re- Sillem has been working with the insti- dia, etc. – an A to Z of life in Germany, as it searcher and his or her family that is a ma- tutes since mid-February on expanding the were. We are currently in the process of pre- jor consideration. The competition from advisory service for foreign employees and paring such a manual. It should be availa- universities and non-university research guests. ble in hard copy and electronic form by fall. facilities cannot be underestimated. It thus Financing integration activities is quite seems to me to be extremely important MaxPlanckResearch: What sparked your a tricky issue as, to date, no resources have that we provide a level of support that not interest in the issue of integration and “in- been budgeted for the necessary expendi- only involves the handling of all adminis- terculturalism”? ture. We are making every effort to find a trative issues, but also includes activities Katrin Sillem: For one thing, I pursued cul- long-term solution that will allow us to that foster integration. This will help us at- tural studies at the university. For another, continue to expand our activities. If noth- tract foreign scientists and guests and en- before I came to the MPS, I worked for a ing else, it is important for the institutes to sure that they feel at home with us. They long time in an international environment, have a main contact person who is familiar can then pursue their research work with where I learned a lot about the co-existence with the legal issues surrounding, for ex- fewer worries and, in a best case scenario, of different cultures. ample, visas, or who is available to act in an promote the MPS in their home country as advisory capacity if there are problems with an employer that cares. Photo: MPS Early this year you sent a questionnaire on the subject of “Advising and integrating for- eign employees” to all institutes. How do you rate the survey results in general? Katrin Sillem: To start with, I am very sat- MPS Signs Diversity Charter isfied with the response rate, as almost 100 percent of the questionnaires were re- turned. This is an indication of how seri- An environment that cultivates acceptance and mutual trust, where employees ously the issue is taken at the institutes. are shown appreciation – regardless of gender, race, nationality, ethnic origin, The survey revealed that roughly one-third religion or world view, physical ability, age, sexual orientation and identity – in of the institutes employ full-time visitor ad- short, one that embraces and harnesses diversity: this is what the MPS has com- visors. In around two-thirds of the insti- mitted to by signing the Diversity Charter. Launched in 2006 by a number of Ger- tutes, this function is performed on a de- man companies, the Charter has Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel as its patron. centralized basis, which means that, in Minister of State Maria Böhmer, Federal Government Commissioner for Migra- many cases, institute employees look after tion, Refugees and Integration, presented MPS Secretary General Barbara Bludau our foreign employees and guests. This with the certificate of signature at a ceremony in Munich’s Haus der Bayerischen 92 MaxPlanckResearch 3 | 10 MAX PLANCK COMMUNITY Personal Contacts That Matter How do other people do it? Research School coordinators learn from one another Sometimes it’s not so much the intellectual issues that many visitors feel the need for personal contacts in a for- pose problems for scientists. For many of them, especial- eign land. Therefore, the Centers offer scientific lectures, ly when spending time abroad, the first priority is to find discussion groups, concert evenings and other leisure en- a suitable home for the family or a good kindergarten. Vis- counters. One is even affiliated with a kindergarten and a iting scientists at German universities and Max Planck In- school. stitutes receive help in matters like these from the Inter- Due to the different ways in which they are organized, national Centers (IBZs) and Guest Houses. Representatives however, the Centers often find themselves dealing with of these organizations met in Munich in December to ex- problems on their own. Audit offices, for instance, dispute change ideas. whether operating a guest house should even be one of the This was their fourth meeting since 2002, and it prompt- tasks of a scientific institution. Some participants were con- ed considerable interest. Some 28 IBZs and Guest Houses cerned that as funds become scarcer in the coming years were represented, even though there has so far been little these problems will intensify. And yet, in an age of increas- networking between them. So when the participants met ing globalization, paralleled by a growing skepticism to- for a Bavarian sausage breakfast, they were not short of ward foreigners, the IBZs and Guest Houses are now more things to talk about. Items on the agenda ranged from in- important than ever. In order to present a more united front tegrating different cultures to financing and administrative in the future, the representatives attending the meeting matters, through to “meet-and-greet lounges” and operat- agreed to reinforce their “brand” by forming an alliance. ing instructions for washing machines in Chinese. The meeting was also an opportunity to exchange prac- The IBZs and Guest Houses can trace their history back tical experiences. On a guided tour of the newly renovated to the 1960s when the first Guest Houses – already a com- Munich IBZ, the female participants – the IBZs are mostly mon feature in the Anglo-Saxon countries – were estab- operated by women – drew inspiration from the interior de- lished in Germany. The next stage saw the establishment sign features. With utility costs included in the rents of the IBZs, with the buildings initially financed by the Al- charged by most Centers, it is often a challenge to persuade exander von Humboldt Foundation. Over time, a variety of residents to be economical in their use of electricity and different forms of financing have developed, and the sys- water. tem of organization is by no means standardized. The band- Working at the IBZs and Guest Houses also requires ex- width ranges from autonomous associations to university tensive interpersonal skills to strengthen communal life. endowments. At a local level, the IBZs have strong links The atmosphere is also aided by the requirement written with one another. The Munich association, for example, into the rental agreements for residents to give presenta- combines the universities and the Max Planck Society. tions of their own work. The participants from Munich in The IBZs and Guest Houses are united by an underlying particular were concerned that intercultural exchanges at sense of purpose that one representative from Berlin de- the IBZs might suffer from being too dependent on the scribed as the “philosophy of academic coexistence.” The work of volunteer program planners – one reason being that goal is for scientists from abroad to feel at home in Germa- many of the female scientists who previously gave gener- ny. On the one hand, this means finding suitable accom- ously of their time now have professional commitments of modation without undue difficulty. On the other hand, their own. Wirtschaft in early March. “Diversity is a fundamental factor in successful international competitiveness and future economic growth,” stressed the Minister of State in her speech. By signing the Charter, the MPS joins a group of roughly 800 companies and institutions that are committed to the Charter’s ethos. Barbara Bludau (left) and Maria Böhmer at the signing of the Diversity Charter. Photo: Gerhard Blank MAX PLANCK COMMUNITY Science Guided by Ethics Max Planck President Peter Gruss comments on the new rules for dealing with scientific risk as adopted by the Max Planck Society’s Senate in 2010 Science is of central importance to all areas ical weapons, computer viruses or unethi- of modern life, and scientific discoveries cal interrogation techniques, or for terror- form the basis of our entire modern living ism or military purposes.
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