UniMate

Summary

Over half of young Australians, those aged 16-25, experience stress and concern due to loneliness, which increases the risk of mental health issues and sleeping problems. UniMate is a web app (soon mobile!) designed to address this issue by connecting new university students with like-minded peers and recommending relevant uni events using AI.

Through UniMate, students are encouraged to take part in campus and off-campus events, meeting new people in the process. Our business model is B2B, where we sell our white-labeled solution to campuses across Australia, so they can create a unique orientation experience and foster a connected campus community.

Background

Loneliness is a significant and growing issue among young Australians, with over 50% of 16-25 year olds reporting feelings of stress, concern, and worry about being lonely. This loneliness has a detrimental impact on the mental health and wellbeing of young people, with 82% of those experiencing loneliness reporting moderate to major impacts on their mental health, 75% experiencing mood changes, and 64% experiencing sleep problems.

The transition to university can be an especially challenging time as new students struggle to build connections and a sense of community on campus. Without adequate support and opportunities to meet like-minded peers, many students become isolated and disengaged, putting their mental health at further risk.

Existing solutions and university orientation programs often fail to effectively address the root causes of loneliness and provide students with the tools and resources they need to forge meaningful social connections. There is a clear need for a comprehensive, technology-enabled approach that can proactively connect young people, facilitate community building, and promote mental wellness on university campuses.

By addressing this critical problem, UniMate has the potential to significantly improve the overall wellbeing and university experience for a large and rapidly growing segment of the Australian population.

Our objective

The objective of UniMate is to address the high levels of loneliness and associated mental health concerns experienced by young Australians, particularly university students aged 16-25. By connecting new students with like-minded peers and recommending relevant campus events through an AI-powered mobile app, UniMate aims to:

1. Reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation among university students.
2. Improve the mental wellbeing and sleep quality of university students by mitigating the negative impacts of loneliness.
3. Foster a more connected and engaged campus community by encouraging students to participate in both on-campus and off-campus events.
4. Provide universities with a white-labeled solution that can be customized to create a unique orientation experience and help build a stronger sense of community among students.

The overarching goal is to leverage technology and data-driven event recommendations to help young university students establish meaningful connections, reduce loneliness, and support their overall mental health and social well-being.

How we built it

We utilized various tools and techniques to build the app. We utilized React.js, Vite, FastAPI, Figma as our main tool. We used a client-server architecture to separate frontend and backend.

Challenges we ran into

Deploying backend to cloud was blocked because we couldn't make a SSL certificate in time for API. So we demoed using localhost. But you can access the production site on https://unimate-ai.vercel.app/.

What's next for UniMate

We plan to create a mobile version & expand to 2 universities in the next 3 months.

Built With

• fastapi
• figma
• javascript
• python
• react