University of Cape Town: Three University Students Became Winners of the Your Move Contest
The All-Russian contest “Your Move” of the presidential platform “Russia – Land of Opportunities” has come to an end: the names of 200 winners have been announced. Among them are three students of Ural Federal University: Polina Popinova, Sofia Lagokha and Evgenia Petrova. They won awards in the amount of 1 million rubles, which can be spent on training, launching a startup or improving their living conditions.
Today, December 9, 18 finalists of the competition from Ural Federal University had a solemn meeting with the administration of the university, where the participants were congratulated, and also offered support measures for the implementation of their projects.
“We met here to thank you for your activism, you brought out your best qualities and represented the university at the highest level. But we also want to offer you support to implement your winning projects. For example, through the Ural Federal University Endowment Fund or through the funds of various programs. We are ready to do our best for you,” said Victor Koksharov, the rector of the university.
At the meeting, the finalists presented their projects and talked about the final competition.
“It was a real stress test, because a whole project had to be developed in just three days. The team consisted of eight people, they were formed randomly from different universities. On the spot, we worked through the project from the idea to a minimal viable product. While we were working, we were constantly observed by the examiners. It showed how flexible I can be and focus on winning,” said Polina Popinova.
Polina’s Green Roof Project is in the field of urbanism and architecture. As part of the team, she looked at how a green roof could be made for the university buildings in the country.
“My project is about creating a digital environment for students with gamification elements. This is a mobile application with a universal scheme for each of the universities. Students need to know more about ecology, improving it in their hometown and region. We plan to implement a system of motivation that will include special events and incentives from universities,” said Sofia Lagokha.
Evgenia’s project deals with an important topic: the social security of universities.
“As we studied the topic, my team and I noticed that faculty members wrote that they didn’t know how to behave in critical threat situations. So we decided to create a platform that would help foster a culture of safety in teachers,” Evgenia said.
Cases will be published on the platform, in the development of which students will also participate. Faculty members will be awarded points for solving the cases, and those who score the most points at the regional level will receive a financial reward.
UrFU, which was among the top 50 universities that sent the largest number of participants to the “Your Move” contest finals, will also receive a grant of 2.5 million rubles, which can be used to develop the university.
More than 560,000 students of higher education institutions from all over the country (1,064 students from Ural Federal University) applied to take part in the first All-Russian contest “Your Move”. 1,000 students from 76 regions of the Russian Federation made it to the finals.