U.S. Students Head to Copenhagen for Hands-On Sustainability Internships

Students Selected for 2026 Scan Design Foundation Sustainability Internships in Copenhagen

A new cohort of U.S. students has been chosen for the 2026 Scan Design Foundation Environmental Sustainability internship program, organized in partnership with CIEE. The program places students in Copenhagen, Denmark, for a period of practical work and learning focused on sustainable design, urban planning and community resilience. The selection marks an opportunity for young people to learn abroad while contributing to real projects in a city known for its green policies and design-driven approach to climate challenges.

What makes this announcement notable is the program’s mix of classroom-style orientation with hands-on placements. Students will not just observe sustainable systems — they will join teams making decisions about transport, building design, energy use and public space. For participants, the experience is billed as career-shaping: a chance to add practical, international work to a resume while seeing how policy, design and technology come together in a high-performing green city.

How the Internships Work: Time, Support and What Interns Will Do

The internships are structured as multi-week placements in Copenhagen during 2026. Participants receive financial support to reduce barriers to international work: the program covers significant costs such as housing and travel and provides a living stipend to help with day-to-day expenses while abroad. Orientation and ongoing support are run by CIEE, which manages logistics and local partnerships.

Host placements vary across sectors. Interns are matched with Danish companies, municipal offices, non-profits and research groups that work on areas like low-carbon buildings, sustainable materials, urban water management and active transportation. Day-to-day work could include project research, community outreach, design support, data collection, or planning assistance — depending on the host and the student’s skill set.

The practical focus is clear: students are expected to produce tangible deliverables that their host organizations can use. That makes the internships different from short study tours or classroom visits. Interns return with a portfolio of work, contacts in Europe, and practical experience in sustainability projects at the city scale.

Representative Profiles: The Mix of Backgrounds Heading to Denmark

The selected group includes students from a range of academic paths, reflecting how sustainability work draws on many skills. Examples of participant profiles include a civil engineering student interested in stormwater systems, an urban planning major focused on bike infrastructure, an architecture student exploring adaptive reuse of older buildings, and an environmental science undergraduate studying community resilience to heat waves.

These are not all design majors. Several students bring backgrounds in public policy, economics, or environmental studies, which the program values for tasks like stakeholder engagement and program evaluation. The cohort also reflects a variety of campuses — public and private universities, large and small — which helps bring different perspectives to the Danish hosts.

Students commonly say they expect to learn how policy and design get translated into real projects, and how local communities are involved in shaping outcomes. The program’s emphasis on cross-disciplinary teamwork means participants will work with people from different fields, mirroring how sustainability work happens in most professional settings.

Why CIEE and the Scan Design Foundation Chose Copenhagen — and What the Program Aims to Achieve

Copenhagen has been a frequent choice for sustainability training because the city has long invested in low-carbon transport, energy-efficient buildings and public space design. For an internship focused on environmental design and policy, the city offers living examples of systems many students study in theory.

The partnership between CIEE and the Scan Design Foundation aims to give students exposure to those systems while supporting Danish organizations with fresh ideas and additional hands. Program goals include building practical skills for participants, strengthening international exchange in design and sustainability, and creating measurable outputs for host communities, such as reports, design prototypes or pilot project input.

Organizers also emphasize longer-term benefits: alumni who return to the U.S. and take leadership roles in local government, design firms or non-profits, and who can apply lessons learned in Copenhagen to American projects. The program is presented as both educational and civic-minded — a two-way exchange that benefits students and host communities.

How to Follow the Program and Future Application Details

Students interested in future cohorts should monitor announcements from CIEE and the Scan Design Foundation. Application windows, eligibility rules and selection timelines are set by the organizations and typically posted on their sites when the next round opens. The program usually looks for applicants with a clear interest in sustainability and some relevant academic or practical experience.

For those tracking career impact, past participants report that the internships help open doors to jobs in design firms, municipal planning offices, and sustainability teams at corporations and non-profits. The program also maintains alumni connections that can lead to networking and collaboration after the internship ends. For press or partnership inquiries, contact information is available through the organizers’ communications offices.

Sources

• prnewswire.com