“I advocate a Human-Centric Approach to Sustainability” Jannik Schüürmann’s expertise spans neuroscience, applied psychology, and business information systems. He has joined the CSCP as a Project Manager, with a focus on designing and implementing behaviour change interventions that promote sustainable practices. In this interview, he talks about the moments and experiences that shaped his career and life, and discusses the motivations that drive his work today. Thinking back, what defined the first years of your career path? Sustainability wasn’t always the conscious driver in my life, at least not at first. My early curiosity was much more “hands-on”: as a teenager, I took computers apart, compared components, and helped people in online forums put together the right setup. That interest naturally led me to study Business Information Systems. And honestly, it was also driven by where I come from: I grew up in a working-class environment, and choosing a path that I thought promised stability and a secure future mattered to me. How did your interest evolve from technology to people? My focus shifted over time. I was still fascinated by technology, but less by the hardware itself and more by the people it is built for. I found myself increasingly drawn to questions like: Why do people decide the way they do? What shapes behaviour in everyday life? What makes change feel possible for some and overwhelming for others? In consulting, I gradually moved away from IT topics and toward the “human side” of transformation. A particularly formative step was working at the neuroscience institute, where I got a close look at how strongly our decisions are influenced by context, emotions, and basic psychological needs. It made me realise how surprisingly simple we humans often are, much more driven by instincts and basic needs than we like to admit. Was there a moment that clarified your direction toward sustainability? Yes, the biggest shift happened after the Coronavirus pandemic. That period created space to pause and ask uncomfortable but important questions: What does the world actually need right now? Where can I contribute in a way that feels meaningful? At the same time, climate change and sustainability moved even more into the public spotlight – not just as another topic, but as the existential condition for humanity’s future. For me, that mix created clarity and momentum: this is the arena where I want to invest my energy. How do these experiences shape the work you do now? Today, I’m bringing these threads together in my research. I’m interested in how basic psychological needs influence sustainable attitudes and behavior, and how sustainability can become a relevant factor in daily decision-making processes. Not only something people agree with on paper. The question I keep coming back to is simple: how do we make sustainability part of real decisions, including the ones we make quickly, automatically, and without much reflection? Where do you see the biggest emerging challenges for sustainability right now? One area that feels nowadays especially important is the influence of AI on decision-making. Tools such as large language models and, increasingly, AI agents, are becoming everyday companions. They shape what information we see, the way we perceive problems, and which options feel reasonable. That influence is massive, and it comes with responsibility. What worries me is the broader direction we’re seeing globally: rising autocratic tendencies, and the growing power of tech oligarchies over public discourse and decision spaces. From a European perspective, this raises a very practical question: how do we find a way forward that protects European values as of democracy, human dignity and accountability, while we integrate AI into daily life? So, how do we? For me, this is where sustainability, psychology, and AI come together in a very concrete way. If AI increasingly co-pilots our choices, then sustainability cannot be an afterthought. It needs to be built into how systems support decision-making – so that we can work, collectively and responsibly, toward a good life within planetary boundaries. I advocate a human-centered approach to sustainability. This approach takes psychology seriously, acknowledges how people really behave and uses this knowledge to guide the transformation to a good life for all. For further questions, please contact Jannik Schüürmann directly.