Jasmine Wei

Founder,
UKRAINIUM

Jasmine Wei is a youth leader, ambitious academic, actress, writer and cross-cultural musician from New Zealand. She wishes to synergise her eclectic interests and establish long-lasting circular and systemic change to the world. 

After learning about the Russo-Ukrainian war, the cruelty spurred Jasmine to act. She founded UKRAINIUM, a global non-profit organisation that now has 30+ members from 10+ countries. UKRAINIUM assists Ukraine with humanitarian aid and a blog that allows student voices to be heard across the world. The organisation aims to connect passionate youth to the current crisis in Ukraine and promote youth participation in world events. 

Finishing A-Level Psychology at 15, Jasmine continued to pursue her journey in psychology through biopsychology and addiction research. At her former high school, she noticed that much of the drug abuse issue is caused by disinformation. She immediately decided to take the matter in her own hand, reviewing 70+ studies and publishing a paper evaluating costs and benefits of non-prescribed methylphenidate use.

Jasmine wishes to facilitate cross-cultural communication through music. Starting the Guzheng at only four years old, Jasmine is an experienced Guzheng performer who has obtained a diploma from the Central Conservatory of Music. She was the host and lead player of multiple charity concerts for KidsCan and raised $3500+ over the course of two years. After immigrating to New Zealand, Jasmine was fascinated by the western music and began to learn the piano and the cello. She also won a gold award at the Kids Sing Competition and played percussion at her school’s award winning Symphony Orchestra. 

As a winner of 13 different academic excellence awards including sciences and literature, Jasmine is a keen scholar. She currently participates in the New Zealand Biology Olympiad and Chemistry Olympiad to pursue her interest in STEM. During break, Jasmine completed a summer immersion program on Nanotechnology and Material Sciences from Columbia University and developed a strong passion for physical chemistry. Jasmine would like to incorporate her knowledge of chemistry into a circular economy driven project, and convert waste into valuable resources.

In the future, Jasmine wishes to find novel solutions to climate change and global waste crisis. She would like to utilize her diverse interests and talents into solving global issues and promote international cooperation.