ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2025
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 60,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2025 on 7,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 290+ campuses worldwide (less than 5%) were selected to host the 4,500+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT YANCHEN MA, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2025.
Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University | Suzhou, China | Advancing SDG 15, SDG 11 & UNAI 9
" Firstly, joining the Millennium Fellowship has allowed me to meet more like-minded peers, which greatly encouraged me and made me realize that I am not a lone but a creator with a strong foundation of strength and support. Secondly, through this program, I can receive guidance and advice from experienced mentors, which will quickly enrich my knowledge and enable me to more effectively implement sustainability concepts in the community while absorbing a wealth of constructive feedback. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: XJTLU Biodiversity-Friendly Campus Construction
Our project is based at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) in Suzhou Industrial Park, China—a rapidly urbanizing area where biodiversity is declining due to excessive development. On campus, birds frequently collide with glass buildings, and green spaces lack ecological diversity. Stray cats (not considered wildlife) dominate, further disrupting the local ecosystem. To address these issues, we’re: 1) Preventing bird collisions by applying anti-bird collision stickers to high-risk windows. 2) Collecting bird collision data on all campus buildings to identify hotspots. 3) Using infrared cameras to study wildlife distribution (excluding birds and insects, which are monitored separately). 4)Building an XJTLU campus network to promote biodiversity awareness and action among students. Our goal is to make XJTLU a model for urban biodiversity conservation while inspiring long-term ecological stewardship.
About the Millennium Fellow
Yanchen Ma is a cheerful, vibrant and resilient year three student majored in environmental science in Xi'an Jiaotong - Liverpool University. She is passionate about protecting the biodiversity to keep the balance of ecological chain and cares about every vivid lives in her community which makes she feel strongly connected to the mother nature. She hope raise the awareness for protecting biodiversity of local community and build up a sustainable campus through her project. In the future, Yanchen Ma is looking for more further opportunities of achieving UN's sustainable goals by starting with a ordinary but important and urgent entry point.
