Expeditions require the existance of a code of conduct, that is adapted to their special requirements.
You can find the Code of Conduct - Expeditions here:
When you are going to be part of an expedition with RV Polarstern you will have to fill the Expedition Interface System - EIS with your personal information, travel details and freight. Additionally, you will also have to acknowledge that you have read and understood the Code of Conduct and accompanying documents before the expedition start. Compliance with the code is requirement for your participation.
Persons of trust
To make sure that expedition participants have the possibility to personally talk to persons of trust, two ombudspersons have to be appointed for each expedition. One ombudsperson will be appointed before the expedition by the chief scientist, the second ombudsperson is elected on board at the start of the expedition. Ideally, the two persons of trust should be one female and one male, but if the election results in both being of the same gender, then that is also fine.
The reason that one ombudsperson is designated in advance of the expedition is so that the ombudsperson then has the opportunity to prepare appropriately for this task. The person elected on board is elected by the community, but does not necessarily have any kind of prior knowledge. However, this is not necessarily a disadvantage or an obstacle, since the experts mentioned below are always available to assist the ombudspersons on board.
Ombuds persons have to be other than the chief scientist him- or herself and participants need to have the possibility to talk to them in private.
The appointed persons of trust do not necessarily need to have a special training, as this is not always feasible for expedition participants, but briefings will be carried out beforehand and trainings will be offered whenever possible in the course of the expedition preparation. If they request for help they are free to contact Katharina Kramer (katharina.kramer@awi.de; +49(471)4831-2252) from AWI directorate’s office, who are in charge of complaints with regards to the General Act on Equal Treatment.
Our scientific coordinator for Polarstern, Ingo Schewe, is member of the conflict management team and staff council chair. In cases of conflicts you can also contact him (ingo.schewe@awi.de; 0049 471 48311737).
Complaint Office:
https://www.awi.de/en/work-study/awi-as-an-employer/information-on-employment/complaint-office.html
Conflict Management Information:
Accompanying documents
Several related documents and policies accompany the code:
The code also refers to the following two documents:
Safeguarding good scientific practice
Guidelines for responsible science at AWI