A student team representing the University of Warsaw won the second price in the 4EU+ Urban Health Case Challenge. UHCC was organised to address the many urban changes concerning health and demographic transformation in our growing urban environments. Due to the pandemic, the event took place online.
On 23rd-27th November, the 4EU+ University Alliance and the School of Global Health at the University of Copenhagen hosted the first-ever 4EU+ Urban Health Case Challenge (UHCC). The 14 teams from eight European cities competed to come up with the best solution to the challenge on community resilience in times of COVID-19. The first price went to Team 12 from Sorbonne University, the second price to Team 2 from the University of Warsaw and third price to Team 7 from Uppsala University.
The competition aimed to strengthen the university students’ competencies and commitment to solving real-world problems through practical, theoretical, innovative and interdisciplinary learning. Also, the participants got the opportunity to engage in a highly topical case from the real world. Due to the worldwide COVID-19 crisis, the task this year was:
- In your city, design a community intervention that strengthens resilience among vulnerable populations to overcome negative implications of COVID-19 preventive measures.
Teams comprised students with various disciplines and from different programmes at Heidelberg University, Charles University, University of Milan, Sorbonne University, University of Warsaw, University of Copenhagen, Uppsala University, and Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Each university had representations of two student teams. UW was represented by Team 2 and Team 10.
The UHCC winners
The UHCC jury announced the UHCC winners:
- 1st place: Team 12
- 2nd place: Team 2
- 3rd place: Team 7
Team 12 from Sorbonne University came up with their solution “HealthKit” – a box composed of everything patients and doctors need for an efficient online consultation, with the purpose offering a better and safer medical teleconsultation. The UHCC jury announced this solution as best.
The second place went to the University of Warsaw Team 2, composed of students: Andrzej Krasnodębski, Weronika Caban, Michał Żebrowski, Agnieszka Chmura, and Marta Brewer, that presented their solution “ALLOTMENTal Health”. Their project was an intervention for the citizens of Warsaw, focusing on senior citizens, that uses the available infrastructure to create additional green space for safe human interaction, to combat social isolation and increase the amount of green space, available in Warsaw.
Team 7 from Uppsala University presented their project “Grand-Pal System” – a buddy-system in Uppsala city, in which students are teamed up with an elderly to initially establish a communication channel and in the long-term arrange meet-ups to combat social isolation and loneliness among elderly in Uppsala.
Another UW team, Team 10, presented its solution “Parkfulness” – a combination of park and mindfulness. UW students created their project based on mental health research conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. It aimed to gain psychological balance, overcome stress and stay close to nature.
