IU Spirit Award 2025: These dual students receive this year's innovation award
IU International University of Applied Sciences annually honours outstanding dual study projects
IU International University of Applied Sciences annually honours outstanding dual study projects.
- Anna Glaubitz from Berlin receives the jury prize for her project ‘asone’, a protection app for the prevention of violence in partnerships and homicides of women.
- Johannes Haberlah from Hamburg wins the audience award for his innovative AI application “Smart Flashcards”, which makes learning easier for students.
Erfurt, 12 March 2025. IU International University of Applied Sciences, Germany's largest university with over 130,000 students, is presenting the IU Spirit Award for the second time. The award honours outstanding student work and projects in dual studies that are particularly innovative, practice-oriented and at the cutting edge of current research. Projects from eleven different degree programmes were submitted for the IU Spirit Award 2025. These are the winners:
Anna Glaubitz from Berlin receives jury prize for her women's protection app ‘asone’
The jury prize for the IU Spirit Award 2025 goes to Anna Glaubitz. The graduate of the dual study programme in media design at the IU campus in Berlin was honoured for her app project ‘asone’, which she developed in collaboration with her practice partner femtis GmbH. The smartphone application is designed as a protective app to guard against violence in partnerships and to help prevent femicides. Every day in Germany, a woman is the victim of an attempted murder by her partner or ex-partner. Every three days, this crime is successful.
Anna Glaubitz's goal was to create an application that provides discreet support to women at risk. Disguised as a period app, a link takes those affected to the actual asone application, where they can seek help anonymously or using a name of their choice. The idea for the app includes measures to overcome previous hurdles such as language barriers or a lack of accessibility, as well as to improve mental support.
“We chose to award the prize to ‘asone’ by Anna Glaubitz because she uses her design skills to develop an innovative idea for discreet, low-threshold help, while deliberately avoiding previous hurdles for victims of domestic violence. Anna's courage in tackling such a distressing but socially highly relevant problem is impressive and we are honouring it with the jury prize,” said Prof. Dr Lisa Unterberg, jury member, professor of social work and deputy pro-rector for dual studies at IU International University of Applied Sciences.
asone should not remain just an idea, but should be brought to life in the future. Anna Glaubitz is currently looking for investors and is passionately committed to making the app available to those affected.
Learning more efficiently with AI: Johannes Haberlah from Hamburg wins the audience award for ‘Smart Flashcards’
The winner of the audience award of the IU Spirit Award 2025 is Johannes Haberlah from the dual study programme in computer science at IU campus in Hamburg. He convinced his fellow students in an online presentation of his project ‘Smart Flashcards’ and received the most votes for it.
Smart-Flashcards.com is an innovative web app that makes studying easier for students. With the help of artificial intelligence, the platform automatically creates flashcards from documents such as lecture notes. Modern spaced repetition algorithms make learning particularly effective and long-lasting. AI-generated hints also support the learning process by providing targeted food for thought. Thanks to an optimised user interface, Smart-Flashcards.com can be conveniently used on all devices – create flashcards on your laptop and continue learning in bed on your smartphone. All data, including learning progress and flashcards, are stored securely on German cloud servers. Smart-Flashcards.com is already available online and can be tested free of charge.
“Johannes Projekt is characterised by an innovative approach that combines modern algorithms with artificial intelligence and specifically integrates learning theory into its implementation. This not only enables sustainable learning, but also makes a significant difference in practice by using AI to make work noticeably easier. The innovative, practice-oriented project not only convinced us as the jury, but obviously also the audience,” said Prof. Dr Peter Neumann, chairman of the jury and professor of tourism economics at IU.
About the dual study programme at IU International University of Applied Sciences
In the dual study programme at IU International University of Applied Sciences, students gain practical experience in a company in their region alongside the theory in lectures and seminars. In the split week time model, students can directly apply and test the knowledge they have learned. They complete the theoretical part either in the traditional way on site at one of the campus locations throughout Germany, via online teaching or location-independently at the virtual campus. A high proportion of practical work experience, including within the teaching, ideally prepares students for their entry into the world of work. Further information is available at: https://www.iu.de/duales-studium/
About the IU Spirit Award
IU International University of Applied Sciences has been presenting the IU Spirit Award annually since 2024. The five-member jury currently consists of Prof. Dr Peter Neumann (Professorship of Tourism Business), Prof. Dr Hendrik Hubbertz (Professorship of Mechanical Engineering), Prof. Dr Lisa Unterberg (Professorship of Social Work), Prof. Dr Felix Wölfle (Professorship of Tourism Business) and Prof. Dr Florian Hummel (Pro-Rector of Dual Studies). Students in dual study programmes at IU have the opportunity to submit individual or group work – including across degree programmes and/or campuses – as recognition for particularly innovative, creative and practice-oriented work or projects. The audience award is selected through an online pitch. Each finalist will have the opportunity to present their project using the ‘Pecha Kucha method’, after which the audience will vote online. The IU Spirit Award is presented in honour and memory of former Vice-Rector Prof. Dr Patrick Geus as an innovation prize and is endowed with a prize money of 500 euros.
With nearly 130,000 students, IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) is the largest university in Germany. The private, state-recognised educational institution, based in Erfurt, began teaching in 2000 and now has 37 campuses. IU stands for maximum flexibility in study: whether through dual study, distance learning or on campus – students from over 160 nations tailor their educational path to suit their individual circumstances. With more than 200 degree programmes at bachelor’s, master’s and MBA level, IU imparts practical skills. Innovative learning concepts foster targeted, future-proof skills for an increasingly AI-driven world of work. A modern, digitally supported learning environment and the use of artificial intelligence enable effective, personalised learning. As a pioneer in this field, IU has developed its own digital learning companion, ‘Syntea’, which has been in use since 2023. A network of over 15,000 companies – including Motel One, Vodafone, AWO and Deutsche Bahn – makes IU a strong partner in the training of skilled workers and consistently links academic teaching with practical experience. Further information at: iu.org
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