NEOLAiA

Kick-off meeting of the HR Health network 
Bielefeld University leads new network within NEOLAIA 

Working together to improve well-being in the European higher education landscape: This is the aim of the new HR Health employee network within the European University Alliance NEOLAiA. Julia Burian (Director of Health Management and Head of Academic Career and Staff Development at GrACe) is leading the network in cooperation with Janina Theismann (employee in Health Management and the Accessibility Centre) at Bielefeld University. The network has now come together for its first digital kick-off meeting. 

The new NEOLAiA network aims to establish international peer groups within the Alliance that work at the interface between HR and health management. The experts from the nine NEOLAiA universities will engage in dialogue in both digital and face-to-face formats. The focus will be on topics such as health in personnel development, especially in early career development, the further development of organisational culture and healthy working environments at universities. Employees from the administrations of NEOLAiA universities from HR development, health management and psychosocial counselling centres will come together for this purpose. The first kick-off meeting focussed on getting to know each other and jointly shaping future network work. 

To kick things off, Julia Burian and Janina Theismann gave the international partners an insight into the importance of (mental) health for all staff at Bielefeld University, how it is promoted and which structures and contact points play a role here. Two further meetings are already planned: Firstly, the Bielefeld team will present their European colleagues with the "Bielefeld questionnaire on working conditions and (mental) health at universities" as a university-specific survey instrument as well as key research findings on the health situation from nationwide surveys at universities. The UniMaps app for barrier-free navigation on campus will then be presented and questions about the possibilities of establishing it at other universities will be answered. 

In 2026, the accessibility services (ZAB) and Health Management will organise a staff week on the topics of health, inclusion and accessibility in Bielefeld. During this week, a face-to-face meeting of the HR Health Network will also take place in Bielefeld. Here, partners of the European university network - including those from Bielefeld - can get to know each other on site at Bielefeld University and network further. Funding via ERASMUS is possible. The Staff Week is expected to take place from 18-22 May 2026, further information will follow.