Sharjah: A team of students from American University of Sharjah (AUS) won the first place at the Dubai Health Authority Health Hack 2019 for creating an application that aims to assist people with depression and anxiety. The team is currently working with the Dubai Health Authority to make it a reality.
The AUS team bagged the first prize of AED 60,000 for the development and design of the mobile application— Mindspire, which aims to help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety through a personalized recommendation system. It provides users with periodic screening of their mental state and identifies possible symptoms.
“The application is designed with a focus on anonymity and minimal user intervention. This is done through the combination of non-intrusive analysis as well as very few active inputs from the user. The user needs to only input their age, gender and interest in participation,” said Vikram Sakkia, a computer engineering student at AUS.
The focus of the competition was to create solutions for people of determination to empower them. The team had to develop a prototype within 30 hours in the first round of the competition. Once the team reached the semi-finals, they were given a month to develop the application and functions.
“This competition helped us understand some of the difficulties people with mental and physical challenges go through, the stigma associated with their conditions and the power of technology to change their lives. We had also sought the opinions of therapists and experts in the field to make sure our application would meet the needs of the intended audience. We were able to put the technical skills we learnt from university into practice, which helped us further our own abilities as well,” said Sakkia.
He added: “The biggest challenge when overcoming a mental health issue is to enable the users to overcome the social stigma associated with it. Our application was designed to bridge the gap between people who have the symptoms and professional healthcare providers. Having come first in the competition, we are now working with Dubai Health Authority to make this application a reality.”
Commenting on the importance of the students’ participation in such events, Dr. Fadi Aloul, Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering said:
“We encourage our students to participate in such competitions and we are very proud of this win, which is a testimony to the caliber of students we have at the university. These competitions are important because they allow the students to develop their soft skills while at the same time engaging and collaborating with the industry.”
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For more information, please contact:
Farid Alvie, Content Manager,
Strategic Communications and Marketing,
American University of Sharjah,
+971 6 515 2210,
falvie@aus.edu
About AUS
American University of Sharjah (AUS) was founded in 1997 by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Sharjah. Sheikh Sultan articulated his vision of a distinctive institution against the backdrop of Islamic history and in the context of the aspirations and needs of contemporary society in the UAE and the Gulf region.
Firmly grounded in principles of meritocracy and with a strong reputation for academic excellence, AUS has come to represent the very best in teaching and research, accredited internationally and recognized by employers the world over for creating graduates equipped with the knowledge, skills and drive to lead in the 21st century.
AUS values learners not driven only by academic success, but by those that embrace our dynamic campus life and embody our ideals of openness, tolerance and respect. This combination of academic excellence and community spirit ensures AUS is filled with world-class faculty and students, poised to become the innovators, thinkers, contributors and leaders of tomorrow.
About Centena Group:
Centena Group is a UAE-based multinational conglomerate offering diversified solutions in the fields of marine electronics, industrial automation, life & analytical sciences, identification and security and educational training systems.
Headed by its Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Raghunath, Centena Group operates with a core mission to be ahead of times by providing the latest technology solutions to its clients and exceeding customer expectations by innovative and adaptive engineering practices.
An associate of the Centena Group, ATLAB is a technology-based learning solutions company that is focused on providing innovative educational training systems and laboratory equipment to educational institutions, technical universities and industrial (vocational) training centres. The company is a pioneer in delivering STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) solutions to classrooms.
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