Welcome to the Meet our Sustainability Scholars blog!

The Sustainability Scholars are international students that were awarded the DMU Sustainability Scholarship. Our scholars are from all across the world and are extremely passionate about the Sustainable Development Goals and sustainability. The scholars sat down with Dennis (Learning for Sustainability Frontrunner) to answer a few questions to get to know them better. Here’s our first scholar, Exiba! 

 

Dennis: Hey Exiba! It’s so good to meet you! Can you tell me a little about yourself? 

Exiba: Hey Dennis! I’m Exiba Shaji and I’m from India. I completed Bachelors in Fashion Technology from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala.  I’m a person who loves to have friends to hang out in a fantasy world with my friends. Late night parties and hanging out with my besties are my most favourite moments. I am very attached to my family as well as friends. I enjoy learning new things from others in different fields, reading and planting. I like to do eco-friendly task like vegetation. I try to cultivate my own vegetables in my home country to decrease the intake of chemical content. Thats it, this is me 🙂 

 

Dennis: We are actually quite similar as I love to plant my own vegetables as well! How have you been settling in to DMU & the UK? 

Exiba: I’ve been here in the UK for about 1 month. It’s been a struggle for me to capture new places, new living styles and so on. But it is very interesting for me. The very first day at DMU was very interesting and it is one of my happiest moments in my life because it has been one of my dreams to study in the UK. The first time that I came to the university, I got lost on the way back home, because I didn’t have the debit card that was needed for the bus. However, I was able to use google maps and take a nice walk home which was quite refreshing and adventurous. 

Dennis: Wow! I remember my first day on campus. I was very cold, but it was a memorable experience! As a sustainability scholar, you are passionate about the SDGs. Can you tell me why you are interested in the SDGs and sustainability? 

Exiba: I’m a fashion designer and I was made aware of the many issues that the fashion industry faces. For example, there is a huge utilization of water and animals. A plethora of animals were killed for leather and other purpose. It made me very sad to learn about the cruelty towards animals and also towards Mother Earth.  It’s our responsibility to keep our ecosystem and living beings lively. I’ve been trying to do my part to protect the earth as sustainably as I can. I started following the sustainable lifestyle from the day I realized the issues that plague the environment. I know of the many environmental issues that are happening around me and I want to take part in activities that can help save the environment. It is my goal to explore the different areas of sustainability and ensure I play my part in promoting the SDGs.

Dennis: So as a fashion designer, how can the SGD’s assist you in your career development?

Exiba: Learning more and educating my peers is the first step in developing a motivated and socially conscious workforce. I learned that it is important to educate others, before you can create any change any change in the world, you must first change the way you look at the world. It’s a world told by Mahatma Gandhi. Through that process we can learn new things in our life from our own surroundings. Change the mindset towards the problems and issues that we met in our day-to-day life. 

Dennis: Educating our peers on the SDGs is very important. I definitely agree that it is the first step to change the world. Speaking about the world and making changes, if you had one wish that you could only use on sustainability & the SDGs, what would it be?

Exiba: I definitely would choose to educate children and the less educated people. I believe that everything starts with literacy. If we care more about educating others about pressing sustainability matters, it will help to reduce sustainability issues and help the earth to be a better place. The change in our mindset should be the main thing that’s involved in solving these issues. I wish that we change our mindset through education as this would definitely help solve the problems we face worldwide.

Dennis: Wow! Education is definitely important, and I couldn’t agree more. Thank you for taking the time out to speak to me. It was a pleasure learning more about you. 

 

For more information about the DMU Sustainability Scholarship, please contact the Sustainability Team at sustainablility@dmu.ac.uk. Don’t forget to follow us on all our social media sites @SustainableDMU.