News
FamilyCare@LMU
12 May 2025
Interview with Prof. Dr. Francesca Biagini, Vice President for International Affairs and Diversity, on the Diversity Initiative 2025: FamilyCare@LMU
© LMU
Professor Biagini, LMU is launching its new diversity initiative in the summer semester of 2025 under the title FamilyCare@LMU. What is behind this title?
Francesca Biagini: This year's FamilyCare@LMU initiative is a seamless continuation of our previous commitment to living an inclusive and diverse community at LMU. Specifically, we want to show that family responsibility is an issue that affects each one of us - regardless of age, life model or role within the university. It is not just about traditional family constellations, but also about the variety of care responsibilities that our LMU members take on - for example for children, for older family members or in some cases for colleagues who need help. The aim of the initiative is to make these challenges visible and expand support services. At the same time, we want to raise awareness of the fact that family responsibility must not remain an individual balancing act but must be seen as a structural issue.
What social developments have prompted the initiative?
Francesca Biagini: The demands placed on families have changed significantly in recent years. We are observing a profound change - be it demographic, or due to political and ecological crises or to new ways of living together. Digitalization, particularly through social media, is also having an impact on family structures and forms of communication. There are many different family models, and they all bring their own unique challenges. We want to reflect this reality more strongly at LMU and at the same time promote resilience and mutual support.
We want to rethink “work-life balance” and take various perspectives and research findings into account.Francesca Biagini, Vice President for International Affairs and Diversity
Balance, lightness, light-heartedness and freedom - this is what the birds stand for in the logo of this year's diversity initiative “FamilyCare@LMU”.
How does FamilyCare@LMU differ from previous initiatives?
Francesca Biagini: FamilyCare@LMU is a further development of our previous initiatives WeCare@LMU and Belonging@LMU. While WeCare addresses health-related well-being and Belonging focuses on a sense of belonging, we want to address family needs even more specifically with this year's initiative. We want to rethink “work-life balance” and take various perspectives and research findings into account.
What can members of the LMU community look forward to?
Francesca Biagini: We have put together a calendar of events that brings together events from across LMU - from specialist lectures to workshops and exchange formats. I'm particularly looking forward to the Diversity Evening in the Seidlvilla, where we will be talking to LMU experts on the topic of “Family resilience: challenges and opportunities in the context of digitalization, sustainability and social change”. The pme Family Service, which LMU employees are probably already familiar with and with which we cooperate closely, will also be offering events on selected topics for employees and students - such as caring for relatives, mental health and balancing studies. The aim is to impart knowledge, promote exchange and highlight new approaches.
Resilience is a key concept in this initiative. It refers not only to the ability of individuals to overcome challenges, but also to the ability of organizations to adapt, learn from crises and emerge stronger.Francesca Biagini, Vice President for International Affairs and Diversity
What would you like to achieve with FamilyCare@LMU in the long term?
Francesca Biagini: We are interested in more than just one-off measures. We want to initiate a sustainable cultural change - towards a university that recognizes family responsibility and actively thinks about it. This means, for example, taking greater account of childcare and caring responsibilities in time structures. It also means promoting new forms of cooperation that enable flexibility and mutual support.
One last look ahead: what role does resilience play - not only individually, but also institutionally?
Francesca Biagini: Resilience is a key concept in this initiative. It refers not only to the ability of individuals to overcome challenges, but also to the ability of organizations to adapt, learn from crises and emerge stronger. A university like LMU in particular needs structures that enable it to deal productively with change - be it on a social, technological or personal level. FamilyCare@LMU is intended to help strengthen this resilience together - through visibility, through dialog and through support.
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