Bullying, racism, stalking, sexual harassment – all of this is a serious problem in everyday life. To counteract this, students at the Technical University of Ingolstadt (THI) have developed a new application. This allows those affected to report cases of discrimination anonymously and receive tips on contact persons. The program has been available to all members of the university in the App Store since the beginning of May.
At the beginning of the project in 2020, one question arose: “How do we manage to avoid discrimination at the university?” says university president Walter Schober during a zoom call. The idea was to create a way to report cases of discrimination and possibly “uncover a number of unreported cases,” says Felix Wiegand. He studies computer science at the THI and is one of the five students who developed the app. Often one does not know whether discrimination occurs at all “and if so, how often”.
He and his four fellow campaigners spoke to the Equal Opportunities Officer and developed a design together. The five students also had to take care of data protection compliance and install security checks and encryption to prevent possible misuse.
“Respect@THI” is intended to serve as a model for anti-discrimination. It is often a thoughtless question or an insensitive choice of words that leaves others with a bad feeling, explains Yasmine Limberger, THI’s equal opportunities officer.
THI President Prof. Dr. Walter Schober (right) honored the students (from left) Charlotte Wierling, Lennart Söncksen, Julius Steck and Felix Wiegand for developing the app.
(Photo: THI)
The app offers various functions. First and foremost, it should provide information about discrimination “in order to be able to better assess the situation that has occurred,” says Wiegand, the student. Several questions should help. Various recommendations for further action are then offered and contact persons with contact details are displayed. If the data subject wishes to remain anonymous, they can report a case without having to come out.
The incident will be forwarded to the Equal Opportunities Officer. The person concerned receives advice from her and the offer to meet for a personal interview if necessary. Yasmine Limberger explains that there can be no criminal or administrative consequences, but these reports are also recorded statistically. “No report is in vain.” If cases of a species accumulated, something could also be derived from this.
The app was created as part of a talent promotion program at the university for gifted students. The project started in October 2020 and has now been completed after a year and a half. The “passionate app developer”, as Felix Wiegend describes himself, wants to continue programming applications in the future. Maybe one that goes beyond the university.