Mariel Sousa holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, Culture and Management from Zeppelin University. She has also worked for bonify, a fintech start-up, which sparked her interest in international affairs, economics and innovation. During her studies at the Hertie School she took up a position at the Hertie Foundation, helping with the project “Hertie Innovationskolleg” where she did communication work and consulting. She also assisted with the project “Deutscher Integrationspreis” by helping to evaluate what motivates people to support crowdfunding initiatives. She also took part in an exchange semester at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy in Toronto, where she took courses on the Sustainable Development Goals, the political economy of Taiwan and economic development and innovation. Her thesis on public innovation labs was motivated by her work at the Innovationskolleg.
Master’s thesis title
Measuring the impact of public innovation labs: A comparative case study of labs in Berlin