The online survey on diversity and discrimination is being conducted by Citizens for Europe (CFE) at RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau. To this end, the Executive Board commissioned the “Vielfalt Entscheidet” (VE) research team from the nonprofit organization Citizens for Europe (CFE). The survey is aimed at all members of RPTU—students, faculty, and staff.

The survey is being supervised by experts who have all been conducting research and providing consulting services on discrimination for many years, working on issues of equal opportunity, equality, and diversity in organizations, and pursuing a human rights-based, anti-racist, and intersectional approach. The survey is funded by resources at RPTU.

Citizens For Europe gUG (CFE) is responsible for processing your personal data. Your responses will be processed exclusively by Citizens for Europe. The dataset containing your responses will not be shared with RPTU or any third parties.

The survey provides nuanced insights into the topics of diversity and discrimination at RPTU. The survey aims to highlight how and where diversity is represented at RPTU, who has experienced or observed discrimination, and how such incidents are addressed. The survey highlights the expertise and experiences of RPTU members and is intended to be used to reduce discrimination and strengthen diversity.

It is therefore important not to focus on just one dimension, but to conduct multidimensional research along the diversity and discrimination dimensions outlined in the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG), as well as other characteristics, such as social status or caregiving responsibilities.

Another goal of the survey is to use the data collected to identify areas of action and needs for a diversity-oriented strategy and measures for the RPTU, which should be based on the results.

The survey will take place starting November 2, 2026, and will last four weeks. We expect the first anonymized results in early 2027.

All RPTU members are eligible to participate in the survey. To do so, please register using your RPTU email address at survey.vielfaltentscheidet.de/rptu (English version: survey.vielfaltentscheidet.de/rptu?lang=en). You will then receive an invitation email from rptu-befragung@citizensforeurope.org containing a personalized link to access the survey.

The survey is open only to RPTU members, and each person may participate only once. By requiring registration with your RPTU email address, we ensure both of these conditions are met without the RPTU having to provide us with a list of its members' email addresses.

Please check your email inbox to receive your personal access link. If you haven't received it after a few minutes, please check your spam folder first. If you still haven't received a link after an hour, please contact rptu-befragung[at]citizensforeurope.org.

Your email address will only be used to send you the access link and will not be stored. Only an encrypted “fingerprint” (hash value) of your address will be stored. The address cannot be reconstructed from this; it serves only to prevent duplicate registrations. The sending of the link is not logged. There is no way to link your email address to your responses. Once the registration period ends, the fingerprints are deleted.

Participation in the online survey is voluntary and takes 15 to 35 minutes, depending on how you answer the questions.

The survey consists of the following sections:

• Your position at RPTU
• Diversity
• Academic and Work Environment
• Experiences with discrimination

The following information is collected:

• Position: Status group, faculty affiliation (if applicable), employment status, and scope of employment
• Experiences of discrimination in the workplace
• Diversity dimensions:
  1. Ethnic origin / racial discrimination (AGG)
  2. Migration background (AGG)
  3. Nationality
  4. Gender, gender identity (AGG)
  5. Religion and Belief (AGG)
  6. Disability and impairment (AGG)
  7. Age (AGG)
  8. Sexual identity (AGG)
  9. Social background / financial insecurity
  10. Family Caregiving Responsibilities

The more RPTU members who participate in the survey, the greater its significance and impact will be in reducing discrimination and promoting diversity at RPTU. Please feel free to share this information and the call for participation within RPTU. Thank you very much.

Participation in the survey is voluntary; this applies to both the entire survey and individual sections of it. As a general rule, a large number of participants increases the validity of the survey results. Your participation is therefore greatly appreciated to ensure high-quality survey results and the insights derived from them.

The survey is technically implemented using the open-source software LimeSurvey. The LimeSurvey survey software fully supports the use of screen readers and is continually being optimized in this regard. If you have any technical questions, please contact us by email at: rptu-befragung[at]citizensforeurope.org.

Yes, your responses will be treated as strictly confidential. There is no way to link your email address to your responses. Your responses are stored only on Citizens For Europe’s servers, which are secured with SSL/HTTPS encryption technology. Your IP address is not collected.

Each person receives their own randomly generated access link. This link is intended only for you: Please do not share it, as others could otherwise view, modify, or delete your information.

The results are presented anonymously, so it is not possible to link the responses to individual people. The response data is stored on Citizens For Europe’s secure and encrypted servers, and Citizens For Europe is the sole data controller for the collected data. At RPTU, there is no access to or insight into the responses. For more information on Citizens For Europe’s privacy policy, please visit: Citizens For Europe Privacy Policy

Citizens For Europe is the sole processor of the personal data collected in this survey. The RPTU does not have access to or view of the responses or the resulting data at any time. Citizens For Europe is responsible for storing and analyzing the data, as well as for sending the access link after you register. “Traditional” personal data such as name, email address, or IP address is not stored.

Technical measures are also taken to ensure anonymity: The response dataset is stored on Citizens For Europe’s secure and encrypted servers; access to the dataset is strictly regulated.

After the survey phase is complete, the data will be cleaned and analyzed and presented in such a way that aggregation makes it impossible to re-identify individual participants. This is achieved, among other things, by not providing any results for N < 10. Reporting is also conducted in a fully anonymized manner, so that responses cannot be linked to individual persons. Upon completion of the project, the data will be destroyed.

The results report itself is anonymized; it is impossible under any circumstances to identify you personally from it. Even while Citizens For Europe is processing your data, we take numerous measures to ensure that it is impossible to identify you personally:

• The collected data is first pseudonymized by Citizens For Europe and only then subjected to analysis.
• Citizens For Europe is the sole data processor, alongside the server operator Hetzner Online GmbH. The data is neither transferred to nor processed at RPTU, nor is it stored on RPTU’s servers.
• The survey runs on a dedicated, encrypted virtual server set up by Citizens For Europe.
• Your IP address is not recorded.
• Location information is not collected and therefore not stored.
• Your email address cannot be linked to the survey access link or to your responses.

If you choose to provide information—for example, in open-ended fields—that could be used to identify you, we will either a) delete it if it is personal data unrelated to the content of the question, or b) anonymize it. For example, if you were to state, “I am responsible for ABC and, as a woman, have experienced XYZ,” we would include this information in the analysis in an anonymized form.

• After the survey is completed, the RPTU will receive only a report summarizing the analyzed results. The format of the report ensures that it is impossible to link the results to you personally.

Please check your inbox and, if necessary, your spam folder. The survey link was sent from the following address: rptu-befragung@citizensforeurope.org. If you have any questions, you can also contact us at this address.

No. If you do this, the people to whom you send your access link will be able to view, alter, or delete your responses as long as you have not completed the survey. The access link is confidential and known only to you, since no one else knows which access link you received.

You should also refrain from entering your contact information (e.g., your name or email address) in open-ended fields in the survey, even if this information is deleted during data cleaning. The results are presented anonymously, and this presentation does not allow responses to be linked to individual respondents.

The survey period ends four weeks after the survey begins. After that, you will no longer be able to view or change your responses.

“Personal data” refers to any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual (Art. 4(1) of the GDPR). Examples include: name, age, gender, mailing address, email address, phone number, or IP address.

However, there are also so-called “special categories of personal data” (Art. 9(1) GDPR). These are pieces of information that reveal, for example, a person’s ethnic origin, religious beliefs, health status, or sexual life. Such data collected in this survey is subject to enhanced legal protection.

Yes, as long as you open the survey using your access link, all previously entered responses will be saved. Please note, however, that your responses are not saved until you click “Next” or “Back” within the survey. To continue the survey at a later time, access it again using the access link you received via email. You can use the same access link to view and edit your answers as long as the survey is active and you haven’t completed it yourself. Please also make sure to follow standard security practices, such as locking your computer when you step away. Otherwise, an unauthorized person may gain access to your email inbox or the survey. That person would then also have access to your survey responses, provided you have not yet completed the survey and cookies are enabled.

No, this is no longer possible because the data cannot be linked to a specific person.

Yes, your responses are automatically saved temporarily on our survey server. To continue the survey at a later time, simply click the access link in your email again. Since it is technically impossible to link the survey link to you or your email address, please contact rptu-befragung[at]citizensforeurope.org if you lose the survey link (e.g., if you delete the email).

To ensure the survey functions properly, the open-source survey system LimeSurvey must set/store these cookies to uniquely identify your participation or session with your access link—for example, to ensure the system’s IT security. No other cookies, such as those used for analytics, are set.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the data you have entered in the survey, as long as you have not completed the survey. After you have completed the survey, you may withdraw your consent by emailing rptu-befragung[at]citizensforeurope.org and including the survey access link from your email until the end of the research project. The lawfulness of the processing of your personal data that took place prior to the withdrawal remains unaffected.

The information provided in the online questionnaire is transmitted in encrypted form via SSL/HTTPS to a virtual server set up specifically for this survey. The virtual server is hosted in an ISO-compliant Computing Center in Germany (ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certified by FOX Certification). SSL is a common encryption technology that is also used, for example, in online banking.