Ways to Improve Health
New seminar within the Leonardo project at RWTH Aachen University
How can students maintain their health – both during their studies and later in their professional lives? What kind of stressors do they face, and how can these be effectively addressed? These are the central questions explored in the interdisciplinary course “Wege zu mehr Gesundheit – Verhältnisse gestalten und Verhalten stärken!” (Ways to Better Health – Shaping Conditions and Strengthening Behavior), offered through the Leonardo Project at RWTH Aachen University. The seminar was developed and is jointly led by the Campus Health team and Professor Dr. Jessica Lang and Dr. Roman Pauli from the Teaching and Research Unit of Occupational Health Psychology in the Faculty of Medicine.
Founded in 2008 at the initiative of the University Senate, the Leonardo project offers students from all academic disciplines the opportunity to engage with socially relevant and global challenges. Its teaching philosophy is grounded in three core principles: interdisciplinary collaboration, critical reflection, and active student participation.
The new seminar is open to students from all fields and combines scientific foundations with hands-on learning. Its goal is to promote a holistic understanding of health. Participants reflect on their own health behaviors, analyze stress factors in their daily (student) routines, and develop ideas for creating health-promoting conditions across the university.
A Look at Real-World Challenges
The course covers foundational concepts including health, stress, and strain, and the psychophysiological mechanisms underlying stress responses. It also incorporates practical training sessions and analyses of external stressors. In addition, students learn strategies for strengthening their personal coping skills.
The seminar’s strength lies in its focus on real-life challenges: in workshop sessions, participants examine common stressors encountered in both their academic and personal lives. Based on this analysis, they develop concrete measures for situational prevention (e.g., enhancing students’ study planning and learning strategies, creating supportive learning environments) and behavioral prevention (e.g., establishing exercise routines, applying stress management techniques). At the end of the semester, students present their findings in a term paper and a poster pitch.
The outcome is a set of practice-oriented recommendations for action that benefit not only the student’s own programs of study but also the broader university community.
In this way, the seminar helps promote better health at RWTH – creating an impact that extends well beyond students’ time on campus.
– Author: Nicole Triller