Mein HEINE-Mensch 2026

1) Please complete the profile sheet (German only) and introduce your HEINE-Mensch.

2) Please return your completed profile sheet by December 5, 2025, to the email address of the Equal Opportunities Office: Send Email

3) The profile form will be checked by the Equal Opportunities Office to ensure that it meets the requirements.

4) If all requirements are met, your HEINE-Mensch representative will then be asked whether they would like to accept the nomination. Your HEINE-Mensch will then be asked if they would like to accept the nomination and given the opportunity to personally introduce themselves in a short profile, tell about their commitment and give the public a little insight into the challenges of their everyday life.

5) For our commemorative publication, we require a profile photo of you, the nominating person, and the following signed declaration of consent: Information and consent “Mein HEINE-Mensch 2026” (German only).

6) The profiles of the nominating and nominated persons are finally revised by an editorial office.

7) All HEINE-Mensche 2026 will be photographed individually and published in a commemorative publication. Anonymous entries are not possible.

Every two years since 2008, the Central Equal Opportunity Officer has honored female and, since 2018, male lecturers, researchers, students and university employees at HHU who have rendered outstanding services to equal opportunities - especially for women - within the university and beyond. With reference to the legal recognition of more than two genders, the award has been called “Mein HEINE-Mensch” since 2022. With the renaming, we want to include all people.

In the past period, a lot has happened in terms of equality, not least due to the dedicated efforts of those honored in the past years. However, much remains to be done, because true equality of opportunity has by no means been achieved yet, and much remains to be done in the coming years and decades. In all likelihood, it will not be possible to achieve the big goal at once. All the more important are the many small steps in the "right" direction - and the more people get involved and take such small steps, the sooner the target will become reality.

Therefore, in the coming year, I, Anja Vervoorts, HHU's Central Equal Opportunity Officer since 2016, would like to call on all HHU faculty, researchers, students and university employees to nominate your HEINE-Mensch*. The HEINE-Mensch works hard to promote equality and equal opportunity at our university.

My team and I look forward to your suggestions!

Your Dr. Anja Vervoorts

*Persons who have been nominated in the past cannot be nominated again.

The award ceremony for the HEINE-Menschen 2026 will take place:

Thursday, 1 October 2026
6 p.m.

The venue will be announced. All HEINE-Menschen 2026 will receive a certificate, presented by the Central Equal Opportunities Officer, on the day of the award ceremony.

Please note our data protection information on the "Mein HEINE-Mensch 2026" project:
Information and Consent “Mein HEINE-Mensch 2026” (German only).

Agnes Schröder M.A.
Coordinator for equal opportunities
Equal Opportunity Office of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Building: 16.11
Floor/Room: 00.24
Phone: +49 211 81-10462
Send e-mail