Academicus Ideas Competition: All awardees since 2002

Submitted by: Natalie Huhn (student)

Bicycle self-help repair shop on campus for students and employees to support sustainable mobility.

Submitted by: Nina Schwanke (student)

Study night for collaborative course-related preparation for math exams.

Submitted by: Friederike Schubert (student)

Support offers for students with special needs at the start of studies.

Submitted by: Nicole Stöger and Felizitas Piller (Students)

Proposals to enable collaborative learning and work for all students outdoors .

Submitted by: Ipek Tuncel (Student)

Community tables in the dining halls are designed to promote student exchange and networking.

Submitted by: Alexander Farr (student)

Proposal to embed approaches to address and strengthen mindfulness and the ability to reflect even more consistently in TUM's courses.

Submitted by: Alexander Farr (student)

An idea how to facilitate and strengthen networking opportunities for TUM students and alumni around the globe by visualizing their current location online. 

Two submissions share a common prize for their proposals to digitally direct streams of visitors and minimize waiting periods:

• TUM Barometer, submitted by Habib Sellami (student)
• Queue Tracking, submitted by Katrin Geigenberger (student)

Submitted by: Daniel Auer (staff member)

A proposal to add tags with qr codes to lecture halls and seminar rooms, enabling students and staff to quickly and directly report malfunctioning infrastructure.

Submitted by: Simiam Ghan (staff member)

Impulse to create spaces for music as catalyst to enrich the cultural life and atmosphere at TUM.

Submitted by: Daniel Auer (student)

Creating a plattform for students to provide and exchange information about apartments and other housing opportunities. 

Submitted by: Johann Kollmannsberger (staff member)

Designing and creating a movable storage unit for chalk and other utensils used in a lecture room.  

Three submissions share a common prize for their shared impulse to raise awareness for stress and psychological strain within the student community: 

• Mind out!, submitted by Viviana Ghiglione (staff member): Initiating a campaign to collect data about psychological stress experienced by students and staff to create a basis for appropriate preventive measures. 

• DeStress Students, submitted by Dr. Helena Stöckle (staff member): Extending and developing offers for support and counseling specifically for students dealing with psychological illnesses or intense stress.

• Meditation and You, submitted by Anirban De (alumnus): Creating more awareness for stressful situations in everyday university life as well as providing useful information and strategies to alleviate the strain. 

# Read more about How we can improve the wellbeing in academia in our TUMteaching Blog

Submitted by: Julia Scharf (student)

Provision of a portable table for wheelchair users to be placed on the back row lecture halls of the TUM which are not yet otherwise accessible, provided at the service center for disabled and chronically ill students.

Submitted by: Martina Knapp (student)

Providing an overview of all learning locations for students of the TUM, combined with a classification (silent place of learning, learning place for groups etc.) and suggestions of methods for successful (joint) learning.

Submitted by: Anja Quindeau (staff member)

Promotion of health-conscious behavior in everyday life at the TUM through humorously designed signs dealing with calorie consumption or positive effects on the cardiovascular system in suitable places such as stairs, elevators etc.

Submitted by: Annika Kreil (student)

A virtual platform to exchange and evaluate learning materials - by students, for students.

Submitted by: Victor Movileanu (student)

Processing acquired knowledge to improve the central source of knowledge online.

Submitted by: Arno Buchner (staff member)

An idea on how to identify, contact and support those who struggle during their studies.

Submitted by: Valeria Bopp, Andreas Heimrath, Andreas Notz, Dimitri Reisler (students)

A tool to improve the capacities of TUMonline when it comes to planning your studies.

Submitted by: Anastasios Dimas (student)

An online plattform visualizing complex course material.

Submitted by: Florian Rödler (student)

Digital tool to facilitate the creation of student learning groups and student-tutor couples.

Submitted by: Diana Beyerlein (student)

A guide through the diverse scholarships, stipends and grants available to students including a manual on how to best apply.

Submitted by: Johannes Pecher, David Duczek (students)

Digital tools to facilitate the creation of student learning groups and student-tutor couples.

Submitted by: Jun Chen, Sonja Kargl, Thomas Stauber, Maximilian Wübken (students)

This app helps students to find free study spaces in the university libraries. It provides smartphone users with an overview of all the libraries and displays the number of seats currently available in each one. If a library is already full, it gives suggestions for other libraries nearby.

Submitted by: Michael Hoch (staff member)

Bike service stations are to be installed at various locations around TUM. The service stations are equipped with compressors and adaptors for various valve types, as well as tools and other practical instruments needed to carry out quick repairs and maintenance work.

Submitted by: Monika Ecker (student)

All library users are given a parking disc when they enter the library, and they are asked to set the time on the disc if and when they wish to leave the desk to take a break. If the parking time has run out before users return, their desk space can be given to other people. 

Submitted by: Michael Heilwig (staff member)

A student publishing house is to be established at TUM, allowing for projects, term papers and theses which receive top marks to be published. 

Submitted by: Sebastian Malack (student)

The TUM logo can be clearly seen at the Garching Campus on Google Earth.

Submitted by: Michael Fink (student)

All members of TUM, from students and members of staff to university alumni, can take part in a charity run. A sponsor donates a certain amount of money for each kilometre run to social projects. 

Submitted by: Christian Cyron (staff member)

The previously existing system which allowed students to evaluate the quality of the teaching they received is to be extended to cover services provided to students around the university. In this way, TUM hopes to make long-term quality improvements in this area too.

Submitted by: Oliver Bauer, Fabian Keller, Jérôme Lutz und Tobias Nendel (students)

Information of interest to students and members of staff is collated centrally on an online platform and then displayed on screens across the campus for all members of TUM to see.

Submitted by: Barbara Egerer (staff member)

In the future, international students will have the opportunity of living with a host family for a certain, limited time period during their studies at TUM. This program will add a new dimension to the experiences of our international students during their studies at TUM, and should also help to foster mutual understanding and to further TUM’s internationalization strategy. (This program therefore complements existing programs which support international students at TUM.)

Submitted by: Martin Lehl (staff member)

The best Bachelor graduates across all subjects are to be given the opportunity of gaining additional interdisciplinary qualifications through participation in a specially designed program. By engaging with other disciplines and topics, participating students will be able to work on their ability to present their own research to a heterogenous public. In so doing, they should simultaneously refine their understanding of their own discipline. The competencies which the program aims to enhance have been identified as key to furthering the academic path of students both inside and outside the realm of science. 

Submitted by: Gabriele Schulze (staff member)

Designs were put forward to transform a disused cloakroom area (100m²) in the Thiersch Building into a quiet area where students can withdraw. The space should accommodate both individual work spaces and a social setting for groups. Students can use the lounge as an area to relax in between lectures and classes, to meet fellow students, or to work. 

Submitted by: Christian Deger, Stefan Schäfer (students)

Students are to receive a clear and simple brochure containing all the most important information in compact form. This should help them to deal better with the flood of information at the beginning of their studies. 

Submitted by: Tilly Fleckenstein (student)

Students, lecturers and university staff are to have the opportunity of submitting proposals and designs for sculptures in the outdoor areas of the university. This should allow new forms of encounter between art and science to emerge. 

Submitted by: Christian Briegel (student)

A means of visualizing the international relations, experiences and networks of our students. Students can enter information about their stays abroad into a world map online. They can also exchange useful tips and information about their experiences with fellow students. 

Submitted by: Dr. Ulla Weber (staff member)

With the help of modifications to the matriculation process, the email addresses of students should be registered right at the beginning of their studies in order to allow information to reach students more quickly and directly. Improving the channels of communication between TUM and its students is, in the eyes of the jury, of key importance both for the success of students’ studies and also for the ongoing development of TUM. 

Submitted by: Florian Rupp (research associate)

Lecturers from different faculties compete against other groups to develop innovative teaching concepts which they then implement. In reward for their efforts, lecturers who implement these teaching concepts in extra classes are exempt from taking the same number of scheduled teaching classes. 

Submitted by: Tobias Theel (student)

TUM students are to be given access to an online service which allows them to create business cards for themselves featuring the TUM design. This is another way of fostering a community spirit among TUM students and of encouraging them to identify with TUM. 

Submitted by: Johann Görzen (doctoral candidate)

This online energy-meter will make the current energy consumption rates of each individual department and building at TUM available for all to see. This initiative aims to appeal directly to the environmental awareness of all facilities and staff at TUM. The Jury awarded the prize to this proposal because it should help TUM to save means in a sensible manner while simultaneously contributing to the protection of the environment. 

Submitted by: Daniel Kastenholz (student)

At each of the main TUM campuses, live image transmissions of lively places at the other sites are to be projected onto freestanding walls. The jury believes that these “windows” connecting fellow students and university staff who are geographically separated from each other will make a positive and innovative contribution to community life at TUM. 

Submitted by: Dr. Eva Sandmann (staff member)

In 2006 TUM is to organize a sports competition for all students, members of staff, professors and former university members, featuring a “Triathlon for Everyone” and football matches. 

The event should promote collaboration among all participants and spectators and also encourage identification with TUM. TUM is getting ready for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and shows that it places great value on the health of its staff and students. 

Submitted by: Peter Haider (student)

Students are to be given the opportunity of creating a short personal profile for themselves online, which can then be presented to a select circle of potential employers. This system should help students of all disciplines to present themselves and their specific competencies with relative ease, and allows companies to identify and contact suitable candidates. 

Submitted by: Dr. Bernhard Schätz (research assistant)

In order to promote collaboration among the various departments, young natural scientists are soon to be given access to a platform where they can present their areas of research. Scientifically promising collaborative projects can then be targeted for support by TUM itself. The jury believes that this proposal has the potential to increase the university’s scientific competitiveness. 

Submitted by: Joanna Bauer (student)

By simply changing the order of regular service buses and peak-time support buses, it is possible to guarantee that students reach the underground on time. The jury was won over by the effectiveness – and astonishing simplicity – of this proposal. 

Submitted by: Markus Armbruster (student)

This proposal should help to simplify current processes for the benefit both of students and of the university administration. The proposed solution can be integrated into the planned SAP campus-management modal and is relatively easy to implement using the internet solution from ZOPE. 

Submitted by: Michael Rovatsos (alumnus)

This submission put forward very clever and practical ideas about how to make improvements to lectures with relative ease. The university administration will support the implementation of this proposal in each of the departments by incorporating it into a corresponding system coordinating objectives.  

Submitted by: Dr. Sohéil Asgari, Ulrich Reimann (students)

This is a very sophisticated and innovate concept which should greatly improve the university’s public image. The basic elements of the concept are an online shop and outlets at TUM university sites offering high quality merchandise for study, leisure or to give as presents. It also envisages a car-sharing model with TUM cars at the various university sites. The university administration was so impressed by this concept that it decided to incorporate it into the  fundraising campaign “Allianz für Wissen”.