IPSA was founded in Aachen by a few RWTH students. Today, our team consists of students from various disciplines and locations. Most of us have been abroad ourselves and would have appreciated a network like IPSA to help with organizing our stay. Especially with annoying tasks like finding housing, getting a residence permit, and other formalities, personal tips can ease the preparations. That’s why we came together to bring IPSA to life.

We are a young initiative with the goal of collecting and preserving valuable insider knowledge from stays abroad. After months of research and the stay itself, lasting experiences remain that, in our opinion, are shared too little. Our network gives students the opportunity to directly connect with former 'outgoings' and exchange knowledge more easily.

Leander

is the chairman of IPSA and has been abroad frequently since the organization’s founding — just like the IPSA motto. After a semester abroad at the University of California, Davis, he did an internship at ETH Zurich and completed his master's at Stanford University in California. He also spent three months in India for another internship.

Max

is our vice chairman, founding member, and has been with IPSA for three years. Max studied physics at RWTH and spent a year abroad at UC Berkeley in California from 2021 to 2022. There, he realized how much one can benefit from the experiences of other students. He is still raving about the great time and the lasting connections he made during his semester abroad. You’ll find him in our network as a guide. What he enjoys most about IPSA is working with other motivated students who are passionate about international connections.

Lukas

is IPSA’s treasurer and a founding member. During his computer science studies at RWTH, he spent two semesters abroad. In 2022, he studied at Aalto University in Finland. The following year, he was at UCSB in Santa Barbara, California. In his free time, he enjoys surfing and sailing.

Julia

studied energy engineering and has been part of IPSA since the beginning. She gained international experience in France and the USA, which allowed her to form friendships around the world and build international networks. These experiences showed her how valuable such opportunities are, not just for her personally, but also for future outgoings. That has been her motivation to co-found IPSA. What she enjoys most is being part of a motivated team, developing new projects together, and successfully implementing them.

Marcel

is one of the founding members of IPSA. He studied energy engineering and is our driving force in the IT field. As part of his studies, he completed semesters abroad in the USA and Taiwan. Now, he wants to help simplify the preparations so more people are encouraged to go abroad.

Julietta

is studying industrial engineering with a focus on textile technology at RWTH. In 2022, she did an Erasmus program at Politecnico di Milano. There, she received support from an IPSA buddy herself. Afterward, she decided it wasn’t enough just to become an IPSA guide—she wanted to get more involved. Currently, she’s inspired by other IPSA members and their international experiences when thinking about her next destination abroad.