Global Environmental and Sustainability Studies - Daniel Mendes Jenner: Sustainable Ideas.

Even when Daniel Mendes Jenner founded a student company with classmates at grammar school, it was all about sustainability: "We built lamps out of wood and old copper pipes. We were even able to sell Prime Minister Daniel Günther a share in our company," the 20-year-old recalls. In addition, he was involved in the Courage-AG against racism and was a sponsor in the promotion of gifted students. At that time, a friend advised Daniel Mendes Jenner to think broadly about his choice of studies. The student is grateful for the advice: "At first I only wanted to study one subject, but Leuphana with its special study model fits extremely well with who I am as a person. I have diverse interests and can bring them in thanks to the choices of major and minor." In Minor, he takes Business Psychology. Students deal with psychological processes and laws. They receive a basic overview of the relevant research and application areas of business psychology as well as the fundamentals of psychological methodology.

In the major, Daniel Mendes Jenner studies Global Environmental and Sustainability Studies. In this interdisciplinary programme, students acquire basic knowledge in the social and natural sciences and can then develop their own profile in a broad elective area. In doing so, they not only deal with models and statistics, but also conduct research in the laboratory, in the field and on-site with practical partners. The internationally oriented programme is studied in English throughout.

Multilingualism is part of Daniel Mendes Jenners' identity: "My mother is from Brazil and we spoke German and Portuguese at home," explains the student. He also speaks English, French and has been learning Chinese since his school days. The languages help him to exchange ideas on an international level. Daniel Mendes Jenner is involved in various idea competitions such as the Transformathon of the German Sustainability Award: "We dealt with the topic of densification and proposed to build stilt houses over car parks to counteract the sealing of more surfaces." The process was accompanied by a construction company known for sustainability. The proposal was well received and follow-up meetings have already taken place to turn the idea into reality.

In the "Digital Seeds" competition, announced by a large Chinese tech company, he entered an idea that could make supermarkets more sustainable: "We proposed connecting owner-managed grocery shops and their customers more directly with regional farmers on a website," explains the student. Now he is supporting this year's teams as a mentor.

Daniel Mendes Jenner would like to go abroad soon. "I am very interested in Asia and would like to do an internship with a consultancy there. Sustainability is a global problem," he says. He is a scholarship holder of the Deutsche Studienstiftung and part of the China Kolleg there. But he is also involved at the local level as a spokesperson for the Studienstiftung's regional group in the Lüneburg district: "We support networking among ourselves and with the office. In addition, we motivate the scholarship holders to take advantage of the wide range of educational opportunities offered by the scholarship," reports Daniel Mendes Jenner.He likes to speak on stages and at events and can imagine combining this passion with his future profession.

What he likes about his studies is that he can combine questions of sustainability with economic topics, for example in seminars on sustainability management. He is also interested in chemistry, ecology, sustainability management and statistics. In his complementary studies, he takes courses such as Leadership Garage, where he studied digital and hybrid meetings, or chooses seminars on systemic thinking. "I benefit a lot from studying at Leuphana, because I can immediately apply what I have learned in my engagement," says Daniel Mendes Jenner.