The idea for the app emerged when students from the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology noticed how many valuable university events were slipping under their radar. This observation became the impulse to create PWr Now – an application developed by students for students, gathering all events from Wrocław University of Science and Technology.

PWr Now is an event calendar, but also a tool that integrates the academic community and opens space for initiatives that have so far remained largely unnoticed. The main goal of the application is clear: to gather all information about events from the entire university in one place and connect students from different faculties.

– We want to show students that Wrocław University of Science and Technology is not only about the most well-known initiatives and student research clubs. There are also smaller ones that are rarely heard of, but which organise interesting events. The point is for everyone to find something for themselves – something beyond just studies – says one of the app’s authors, Zofia Kukuła.

For now, events are added manually by the application team, who independently search for information. Ultimately, the developers would like event organisers to be able to publish events themselves in PWr Now. Push notifications are also an important feature of the app, informing users about new initiatives.

– We conducted a survey and students clearly said they would like to receive push notifications about new events. We can see that when they appear, users actually click on them – notes Igor Lis.

In the app, all events therefore go into a single feed, and users receive notifications about new initiatives – which, as the team notes, clearly increases engagement and the number of clicks.

In PWr Now, students can find, among other things, parties and social events, trips, lectures, courses, hackathons, sports events, fairs, and recruitment information. Users can also like specific events, save them for later, and connect with friends to more easily plan joint participation.

The project started at the beginning of the semester as a simple website. Today, PWr Now is a fully fledged application that has been operating for just one month and is already seeing growth in the number of users.

– We have over 400 active users and around 600 downloads in total. That’s quite rapid growth. The feedback is also positive. People say they actually use PWr Now – even members of the Student Government, who are usually very up to date – says team member Daria Jurewicz.

The creators of the app are students from the same year of the Systems Engineering programme at the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology. Each of them is responsible for a different area, from programming and graphic design to promotion. The team that worked on the current version of the application consists of:

• Michał Mendzelewski – Systems Engineering, 3rd semester,
• Igor Lis – Systems Engineering, 3rd semester,
• Jakub Królak – Systems Engineering, 3rd semester,
• Zofia Kukuła – Systems Engineering, 3rd semester,
• Michał Kulig – Systems Engineering, 3rd semester,
• Daria Jurewicz – Systems Engineering, 3rd semester,
• Adrian Szefer – Opole University, graphic designer.

The creators are actively promoting the application. They attend events, talk directly with students, and are active on social media. In particular, they are focusing on promoting the app on TikTok.

Events can also be submitted directly to PWr Now by contacting the team through the application, via email (pwrnow.kontakt@gmail.com), or through social media.

The team members also encourage students to get in touch with suggestions regarding the application.

More about the application can be found on the website.