Forums with FiF

Public lectures

As the name implies, forums are intended for the public. A topic of public interest is presented and discussed in a lecture, sometimes accompanied by a discussion.

FiF Forum 2025: "Mental illness – ways out of the crisis. An information event for people affected and interested parties.

on 26 June | Wilhelm-Köhler-Saal of TU Darmstadt | 10:00 to 14:00

With lecture by Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Thomas Fuchs on the topic “Fast, faster, too fast. Overstraining, burnout, and depression”.

In addition to the lecture by Mr. Fuchs, the event will include a subsequent panel discussion and an exhibition of TU offers on the topic. The target group are all status groups at TU Darmstadt from science, administration, and students.

Good health, both physical and mental, is essential for being able to work and study well and successfully. The importance of mental health is often underestimated as it is not always visible. Symptoms such as exhaustion, sleep disorders or irritability can develop gradually and lead to serious illness if not recognized and treated in time.

It is important to talk openly about these issues and to raise awareness that mental illness should be taken just as seriously as physical illness. Seeking support and taking care of your own mental health is an essential step.

Aim of the event

The FiF event aims to help remove the stigma from the topic, including in university contexts, and to provide information about the topic, its connections and possible answers in the best sense of the word. It also offers opportunities for encounters and exchanges – for all status groups at TU Darmstadt from science and administration.

Registration

When? Thursday, 26 June 2025, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Where? Wilhelm-Köhler-Saal, Building S1|03 Room 283, Hochschulstraße 1

Registration at eveeno (opens in new tab)

https://eveeno.com/207837172

In memoriam Felix Hill (1983-2024)

Felix Hill was a young, highly talented AI researcher. He received his doctorate from the University of Cambridge and most recently worked for several years as an internationally esteemed senior researcher in one of the best research departments – Google DeepMind in London. On 5 December 2024, he took his own life, having been increasingly affected by mental health issues, depression and psychosis since 2023. The texts he left behind speak openly of loneliness, fear, isolation and also of enormous pressure. Serious mental health issues correlate with drug and alcohol abuse, which leads to unbearable psychosis and ultimately to the decision to take one's own life.

In the texts he left behind, Felix Hill explicitly expressed the wish that his story be told – not for its own sake, but to encourage others facing similar problems to seek help and advice in good time. We take Felix Hill at his word and honour his memory by making these texts publicly available as part of this FiF forum.

Felix Hill has already formulated the aim of this event:

…“Returning to the question of mental health, one thing I hope to do by sharing my story is to reduce stigma and generally further the progressive evolution of society in a small way. Not long ago people were embarrassed to have cancer. In Humans of AI I tried to raise this a bit with Druv Batra, but I wasn’t brave enough to do it properly. Maybe we can use some of my savings to get the message out further. I’m ashamed of many things, but I’m not ashamed of my illness, and it would be nice to build a world where nobody is.”…

Felix Hill
Felix Hill

On mental health, psychedelics and life

….“If you are a leader in any field, public or private, please remember that a kind and supportive environment is a way to make your organization stronger and better, not weaker.”…

…“I also want it to be very clear that none what has happened to me did so because I felt ‘under pressure’ from professional responsibilities. My professional life, doing research, was never anything except the most incredible joy. Pressures I felt were the consequence of me not allowing myself to find peace with what I was achieving, comparing to others, always wanting to be better. Ambition is a double-edged sword, and a fine balance to strike. I knew this (I had devoured a lot of Buddhism and Stoicism), but I didn’t find the right balance. Nothing external could have fixed that particular problem.”…

…“Returning to the question of mental health, one thing I hope to do by sharing my story is to reduce stigma and generally further the progressive evolution of society in a small way. Not long ago people were embarrassed to have cancer. In Humans of AI I tried to raise this a bit with Druv Batra, but I wasn’t brave enough to do it properly. Maybe we can use some of my savings to get the message out further. I’m ashamed of many things, but I’m not ashamed of my illness, and it would be nice to build a world where nobody is.”…

…“Since I first had depression in 2006, preventing anything of this nature became one of my life’s goals. That’s what drew me to the Vipassana course, to Buddhism, to yoga, to marathons. Thanks to the amazing love, support, experiences and opportunities that my friends provided me, we got from 20 to 38, and those were 18 incredibly happy years (as you can see from the highlights). I didn’t get to 80, and I didn’t achieve my dream of having a family of our own, but apart from that we did pretty well. The only truly bit I’d change is the last 18 months.”…

…“The only way that I could have been able to prevent this is by not taking ketamine.”…

…“Thank you for reading and thank you for everything, everyone, from the bottom of my heart. Make the most of the world. I was fortunate to see quite a lot of it, and it’s an incredible place. Keep tabs on your ambition, be kind even if you are drunk and don’t take ketamine without a doctor. If you are having difficulties, talk to someone. Alcohol, drugs, mental illness or just grief. If you are feeling suicidal, please, for your friends and family, try all of the help that I tried, however hard it feels. Even endure the pain of hospital, at least once. Hospital itself is an even greater hell, but telling professionals how you are feeling may be worth the risk. Keep talking and keep going. These things work for a lot of people, and you don’t know they won’t work for you until you have tried”…

Felix Hill 2024: On mental health, psychedelics and life

Felix Hill, Oct 2024: 200Bn Weights of Responsibility – The Stress of Working in Modern AI

reddit: Felix Hill has died

Lecture and participants of the discussion

The event will address the following questions: How is the subject viewed from a scientific perspective? How are phenomena of mental illness perceived and how do they manifest themselves? How can problems be responded to with concrete offers of help? What specific help and counselling services are available at TU Darmstadt?

Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Thomas Fuchs – Professor at the University Hospital Heidelberg Sektion Phänomenologische Psychopathologie und Psychotherapie (opens in new tab) and Director of the Tagesklinik Blankenburg. (opens in new tab)

Lecture on the topic: ‘Fast, faster, too fast. Excessive demands, burn-out and depression’.

Professor Fuchs' lecture will be followed by a panel discussion in which the following people will take part:

  • Nadine Balzter – Head of Student Health Management at TU Darmstadt
  • Dr. Donya Gilan – Psychological Director of the Transcultural Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic at the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre, Mainz
  • Prof. Dr. Iryna Gurevych – Professor at the Department of Computer Science LOEWE-Zentrum DYNAMIC & Ubiquitous Knowledge Processing (UKP) Lab
  • Prof. Dr. Felix Kühnle – Professor at the Department of Human Sciences, Sociology of Sport
  • Dipl.-Soz. Frauke Spreckels – Head of the Counselling Centre for Employees BuB at TU Darmstadt

The event will be moderated by Dr Claudia Becker.

Event-accompanying exhibitors and other information

Target Group Stand Number Institution Special Note
All A1 Kunstforum TU Darmstadt With its mobile studio, the Kunstforum invites everyone to (re)discover free painting. Painting enhances concentration, has a calming effect, and stimulates feelings of happiness. It strengthens personality and social behavior.
Traveling studio
A2 LOEWE Center DYNAMIC
The Dynamic Network Approach of Mental Health to Stimulate Innovations for Interventions and Change. 		At DYNAMIC, researchers from psychology, psychiatry, statistics, and machine learning collaborate with the shared vision of better understanding mental illnesses. To this end, we use multimodal, dynamic data to individually characterize mental health issues. We primarily employ dynamic network and machine learning models and continue to develop corresponding methods.
A3 Family Service Office The Family Service Office is responsible for all members of TU Darmstadt. It designs and coordinates strategic measures for a family-friendly university, focusing on the concerns of parents, caregivers, and employees and students with additional care responsibilities. Individual concerns are always welcome.
Gender Equality at TU Darmstadt The Gender Equality Officer is a confidential contact point for all students and employees of TU Darmstadt. The Gender Equality Office develops and coordinates central offerings and measures for various target groups.
A4 University Sports Center The University Sports Center (USZ) of the Technical University of Darmstadt is a central institution offering students and employees a physically active balance to the often sedentary university routine and is active in health promotion.
A5 Higher Education Didactics Office (HDA) Specialist advice on all topics related to higher education didactics and teaching: higher education didactic training and consulting, evaluation, e-learning, key competencies, well-being and health, diversity in studies and teaching.
A6 Writing Center at the Language Center The central advisory center for academic writing offers various events on the topic “Writing for Mental Balance.”
Employees B1 Ingenium Young Researchers at TU Darmstadt is the umbrella organization for promoting early-career researchers at TU Darmstadt and advises on all non-specialist and career-related issues during the doctoral and postdoctoral phase.
For more
Welcomecentre We support international TU Darmstadt researchers as well as administrative and technical staff in providing both professional advice and practical help in non-scientific aspects of international research life in Darmstadt.
B2 Counseling Support Accompaniment (BUBB) Counseling, support, and accompaniment for all employees of TU Darmstadt on social, professional, personal issues, and in cases of conflict.
B3 Personnel and Organizational Development Counseling and support in professional or organizational change processes, coaching, team development, further training, leadership culture, dual career, job shadowing, leadership discussions.
B4 Occupational Health Management Occupational Health Management is responsible for networking central stakeholders on health topics to design needs-based health promotion for employees. We coordinate the risk assessment of psychological stress to support the development of healthy working conditions and targeted health measures. Together with Student Health Management and the University Sports Center, we are designing and planning a health center on the City Campus.
Students S1 Student Health Management betterTUgether Student Health Management analyzes the health needs of students at TU Darmstadt and, together with the betterTUgether network, further develops health-promoting offerings and study conditions. A focus is on the mental health of students. Together with Occupational Health Management and the University Sports Center, a health center is to be established on the City Campus in 2026
S2 Part-Time Study Service, Studying with Children Counseling on all questions regarding part-time studies.
S3 Representative for Students with Disabilities or Chronic Illnesses and Complaint and Improvement Management Counseling and support for students with impairments in studies and teaching, particularly advice on compensation for disadvantages & advising TU and overall striving for good study conditions for students with impairments.
no exhibitors
Additional Offers on the TU Darmstadt Websites (Selection) 		Psychotherapeutic Counseling Center (PBS) We have many years of experience in counseling student concerns, questions, and conflicts. Often, an initial conversation or a few appointments can already provide significant relief.​
TU4YOU TU4YOU sees itself as a central portal for all students for accompanying courses, seminars, workshops, training, and counseling services.​
no exhibitors
Support Facilities Outside TU Darmstadt (Selection) 		​Stube Hessen Accompanying study program for students from Africa, Asia, and Latin America in Hesse.
Help through Self-Help Providing and linking support services effectively.

We are building a competence center and a network of professional help so that people who have been sexually abused can receive counseling, referral, and support through a single address: individually and goal-oriented, quickly and free of charge.

Thomas Fuchs – Is Society Making Us Sick?

  • Interview with Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Fuchs in the SRF series ‘Sternstunde Philosophie’ (07.01.2024): ‘More and more people are complaining of exhaustion, anxiety and depression – also in view of the critical global situation. How can we better protect our psyche? And where does society need to change? Yves Bossart in conversation with psychiatrist and philosopher Thomas Fuchs.’ Interview (opens in new tab)
  • Further publications: Publications by Thomas Fuchs (opens in new tab)

Prof. Dr. Felix Kühnle

  • Article in the journal ‘Sport und Gesellschaft’ from 2018 on the topic ‘Therapeutic communication in the context of sports organisations: On the sociology of depressive disorders in elite sports’.Article (opens in new tab)
  • Article in the journal ‘Leistungssport 52. Jg. H.5, 4-9’ from 2022 on the topic ‘Depression in elite sport: sociological diagnoses’. Article (opens in new tab)

Dr. Donya Gilan

  • Article from the magazine ‘Forschung & Lehre’, issue of 7 December 2022, on the topic ‘What can be done about stress in the academic work environment?’ Article (opens in new tab)

This event is taking place in cooperation with the DYNAMIC LOEWE Centre and the Employee Advice Centre at TU Darmstadt (BUBB).

Selected FiF Forums in overview