Ombudsperson for science

Are external or previously published contributions correctly cited in the academic thesis, and are their sources correctly and completely indicated? Do all contributing authors appear on the submitted publication and only these authors? Or do you have doubts? According to the German Research Foundation (DFG), every scientific institution, including the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and its institutes, should appoint an ombudsperson to ensure good scientific practice and scientific integrity.

At Fraunhofer FOKUS, the scientific ombudsperson Dr. Armin Wolf is available to all Fraunhofer employees for questions and conflicts in the area of “good scientific practice“ (GWP) and offers confidential advice and support. In addition, he is involved in communicating the GWP guidelines and provides confidential and trustworthy support to scientific staff, particularly in cases of suspected scientific misconduct (e.g. plagiarism, honorary authorships, falsifications, etc.). External persons can also contact the ombudsperson with questions about scientific practice at Fraunhofer FOKUS.

Dr. Armin Wolf heads the IT4Energy Center at Fraunhofer FOKUS and has worked in science for decades as a computer scientist focusing on planning and optimization. He began his scientific career as a research assistant at the TU Berlin, where he received his doctorate with distinction. He then worked as a senior scientist at the Gesellschaft für Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung (GMD) at the Research Institute for Computer Architecture and Software Technology (FIRST). He accompanied the transition of GMD into the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and then the integration of Fraunhofer FIRST into Fraunhofer FOKUS.

The deputy ombuds person is Prof. Dr. Holger Schlingloff. He is the Chief Scientist in the business unit Quality Engineering (SQC) at Fraunhofer FOKUS and, simultaneously, a professor of Software Engineering with a focus on specification, verification, and test theory at Humboldt University in Berlin.