UM Alumni Sustainability Community
Welcome to the page of the UM Alumni Sustainability Community! In 2020 a committee was founded to create a global community for sustainability, including students, staff and alumni alike! As sustainability is a global concern that touches all of us, we aim to engage our community in a truly international manner. Together, we can share knowledge and inspiration in order to take meaningful action to combat climate change.
Why do we exist?
The UM Alumni Sustainability Committee is aiming to establish a community of UM students, staff and alumni members on the topic of sustainability. Our goal is to connect members of the Maastricht University community to share knowledge regarding, and takeaction towards, long term sustainable change.
We do this by connection people, organizing events and keeping our community informed on (opportunities) for advancing sustainability within and outside of UM.
What are we doing?
- Organize a minimum of four (alumni) events a year focussed on different sustainability topics
- Keep our community informed on sustainability in UM
- Connect people from all over the world on the topic to facilitate knowledge and opportunity sharing
- Highlight new opportunities for getting involved in sustainability within and outside of UM!
- Our activities will primarily be online, so you can join from wherever in the world you find yourself at that moment!
Who are we?
Carolin Gorzelitz - Chair
Hey, I'm Caro, the president of the UM Alumni Sustainability Community. I have a long relationship with Maastricht University (UM) as I studied there for my Bachelor and Master and later on also worked as an Academic Tutor for the School of Business and Economics (SBE). I love that at UM various people from different backgrounds, levels of expertise and nationalities interact and exchange ideas in a friendly environment. It is this dynamic that I also want to create with the UM Alumni Sustainability Community. Sustainability is something that concerns all of us regardless of where we come from or what we do in our lives. However, we might have different experiences with the topic or are impacted by it in different ways. Let's not keep these insights to ourselves but share knowledge and best practices with each other to instigate action towards climate change and other sustainability-related concerns.
If you want to know more about the UM Alumni Sustainability Community, feel free to reach out at any time! :)
Daniel Waters – Vice chair/Secretary
I graduated from Maastricht University in 2019 with an MSc in Economics and Strategy in Emerging Markets, and now work as an economist at Radboud University in the Centre for Analytical Modelling. While my PhD research topics of universal basic income, academia in sub-Saharan Africa, and healthy democracies are connected to sustainability, my involvement in the UM Alumni Sustainability Community allows me to focus on my interest in sustainability much more explicitly. Within sustainability, I am particularly interested in the evaluation and implementation of practices combatting climate change.
Noëlle Krans - Communications
Hi there! My name is Noëlle and I am a soon-to-be alumna from the Master of Globalization and Development at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. I am involved in various sustainability circles at UM: I work at the Green Office and organize the first revised edition of the sustainability week in 2022. Sustainability has been part of my activities and daily life for a while now. That’s why I find it exciting – and highly necessary – to see that this topic is being tackled by more and more students and organizations. I would love to bring those communities closer together to facilitate an even stronger force for sustainable changes within and outside the university!
If you want to know more about Sustainability at UM or the UM Alumni Sustainability Community, don’t be afraid to reach out!
Fabian Groven - Events
I am Fabian Groven, a former bachelor and master student of Maastricht University. After a break in my “academic career”, I also obtained a PhD in Maastricht. I started my PhD next to my job at Arion, a medium-sized medical company. One of my responsibilities at Arion is sustainability, a topic that I personally added to our strategic agenda. Currently, sustainability is one of Arion’s corporate values and Arion is recognized for being sustainable, in economic, ecological and social terms. I joined the UM Alumni Sustainability Community team because of my personal interest (I tried/use solar panels, toothpaste mints, soap bars, recycled jeans …), and professional interest in sustainability. Furthermore, I seem to struggle saying good bye to the UM. By joining the team, I am close to the sustainable fire. As an engagement officer, my goal for the community is to facilitate students, staff and alumni to actively contribute to a sustainable future together. Sustainability requires collaboration and the UM can and should play an active part!
Andreea Pafaluta - events
I am an UM alumna with an interest in finding new ways to create systems value by applying and combining various sustainability frameworks. My passion for sustainability started after I graduated from UM. With a BA in European Studies and MA in Politics and Society, I was drawn to major societal questions, which let me see the strong relationship between ecological and societal sustainability and many of today’s challenges. As a Senior Business Sustainability Analyst at B Lab, I assist B Corps on their journey to use the power of business to redefine success by meeting rigorous standards of sustainability performance, accountability, and transparency. Being part of the UM Alumni Sustainability Community allows me to stay connected with current and former students who are passionate about advancing the sustainability agenda in various shapes and forms, at university, at work, and at home.
Jonas Vetter – Events
My name is Jonas Vetter, vice-chair of the Climate Activist Network at Maastricht University. Alongside other organizations, such as Innbetween & UM's Green Office, I assist in coordinating and participating in panel discussions, workshops, and events regarding topics of social responsibility & climate justice at both UM and Maastricht. As typically, a collaboration of resources and contacts provides a catalyst for creativity and options, my passion is connecting people toward shared sustainability efforts. For this reason, I believe the sustainability community provides a valuable opportunity to bring together and engage all members of UM under a unified umbrella and achieve these purposes of collaboration. Specifically, as a member of the committee and a student myself, my goal is to coordinate the relations of the student body within the alumni and UM ecosystem whilst providing a fluid channel of knowledge and teachings valuable for all students, staff and alumni.
