The finals of the SEA-EU Makeathon competition were held in the Croatian Science and Technology Park in Split. The event was attended by finalists of local makeathons organised earlier at SEA-EU partner universities, from Brest, Malta, Cadiz, Split and Gdańsk. Our team has won!

The competition in Split was organised on March 10-11 this year. Gdańsk was represented by a team of students from the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science, University of Gdańsk: Jakub Możejko, Kamil Schlagowski, Kamil Plewka, Kacper Budniak.

The team proposed an application and a tool called Studdy Buddy! which is a platform for support and cooperation of students in mastering the material. The project aims to counteract too many students dropping out during their first year of studies.

Our students, after many hours of preparation, stood up to compete with five other teams. The jury evaluated five-minute presentations in English. In this short time, they had to show the validity of the solution, which above all should fit into at least one of the 17 objectives of sustainable development.

Other evaluation criteria for the jury were: contribution to campus life, impact and innovation of the solution, possibility for other universities in the SEA-EU to use the solution, complementarity of the team.

The presentation itself, the so-called pitching, and time discipline were also evaluated.

A huge effort put into the preparation of the presentation brought results: the team of the University of Gdańsk stood on the podium, taking first place!

- 'We are very happy with the victory, which reassures us that the Study Buddy project is a good answer to the problems with science and broadly defined studying that students and we encounter,' - says Kacper Budniak, responsible in Studdy-Buddy! among others for marketing activities. - 'The guidelines for our activity are 4 out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals. We believe that good quality education can be the solution to a whole range of problems. We are fully committed to what we do. We share enthusiasm, a sense of community and an approach based on effective action. We are creating a place where every student will receive the help they can afford and can find themselves helping others. By standing up for what we believe in and promoting what we do we will change the environment for students to be friendly and safe.'

The students worked under the watchful eye of Izabela Disterheft from the Office of Community and Economic Relations, who ensured that the team's presentation was flawless in every aspect: content-wise, technically and on stage.

- 'I am very impressed with the work and commitment that the team put into this task. Each pitch has its own structure, but for the presentation to be perfect and interesting from the audience's point of view, it has to be rehearsed many times. In the case of our team, the task was even more difficult as four people were presenting it. I was happy to see how the students implemented the suggestions, how with every meeting they worked better and better, with great determination, consistently and carefully to convey the idea of the Studdy Buddy! project as well as possible!,' - says Izabela Disterheft.

But the competition itself is not everything. It is extremely important to strengthen cooperation with partner universities, to enable students to build a network of contacts abroad. This is a long-term activity, which opens up many new opportunities for both the university and its students.

Congratulations to the winning team!