PhD Ombudsman

The PhD student ombuds are two PhD students employed by the Department of Physics and Astronomy to help and support the PhD students in times of need. All issues, great or small, personal or general, are welcome and handled with strict confidentiality. The ombuds are there to help the PhD students with any problems regarding the financing, terms of employment, harassment, discrimination, and issues with supervisors or colleagues. The ombuds have a duty of confidentiality. The PhD ombuds are also chairmen of the PhD student council and organise a welcome lunch for new doctoral students.

The PhD Student Council

The council gathers PhD student representatives from all divisions at the Department of Physics and Astronomy and representatives from relevant boards on the Department and Faculty level. The purpose of the council is to guard the interests of the PhD students at the department and arrange social activities. Meetings with all PhD students at the department are arranged once per semester.

The PhD Student Mentor Programme

There is a mentor programme for doctoral students, where the student can get a mentor who can answer questions and offer support for the PhD student in various aspects. The PhD student and the mentor jointly decide what they want the mentorship to look like. Anyone interested in participating in the mentor programme, both doctoral student and mentor can contact the PhD ombuds.

Alumni network

The ombuds have started an alumni network for PhD students who graduated in the Physics department to keep in touch with colleagues and friends from the department after graduating.

​Report discrimination

All employees and students shall be treated with respect and given the opportunity to work and study on equal terms, free from discrimination, based on the seven grounds of discrimination according to the Discrimination Act (2008:567):

  • sex
  • transgender identity or expression
  • ethnicity
  • religion or other belief
  • disability
  • sexual orientation
  • age

Contact

  • Supervisor or head of the division.
  • Head of department. The head of department is responsible for investigating harassment or other forms of victimisation at the department. This is done by filling in an incident report about the work environment. Please get in touch with the work environment PhD student representative for more information (see representatives above). These incident reports will then be filed and submitted to Försäkringskassan.
  • Union, such as Saco or SULF. The people at the union are independent of the employer. They have a duty of confidentiality.
  • “Skyddsombud” of the department or the “Huvudskyddsombud” responsible for the whole Campus. However, they represent both the employee and employer, which means that they are not as independent as the union. Their primary task is to deal with physical work environment issues.
  • Security and safety division. Their job is to handle immediate physical threats.
  • Central HR unit. Their task is to support the employer.

For further support and clarification, contact one of the local equal opportunities groups members or the ombuds, who can offer guidance and support. Whenever possible, schedule face-to-face communication to discuss sensitive issues, as all written communication with Uppsala University becomes a public document.

PhD ombudsman

Ana Maria Gomez Londoño
Nora Valtonen-Mattila

Representatives and substitutes

Health and Work Environment

PhD students have access to both Student health care (Studenthälsan providing services with physicians, psychologist or stress management courses) and Occupational health care (Företagshälsovården). Occupational health care is available to all employees at Uppsala University and everyone has the opportunity to book two free anonymous visits to a doctor or psychologist.

Last modified: 2023-08-17
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