Press release, St. Gallen, November 28, 2024
The winners of the first Umantis HR Student Awards have been announced. The competition culminated in a furious final.
St. Gallen, November 27, 2024 - The Umantis HR Student Award 2024 culminated yesterday at the Hotel Einstein in St. Gallen. Five university graduates presented their theses to a high-caliber jury and a large audience of experts.
The winners
The winner of the evening was Isabelle Kunert from Koblenz University of Applied Sciences with her Master's thesis on "Accessibility of career websites - status quo in theory and practice". Second place went to Leonie Mertens from DHBW Stuttgart with her analysis "Artificial intelligence in the recruiting process", while Friederike Lindauer from Brandenburg University of Applied Sciences came third with her thesis "Learning from Failure Culture - A novel approach for effective workplace training". Max Bulenda from Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences was awarded third place with his bachelor's thesis "Burnout or not? Assessing the affect of digital employee resiliance on work stress" and, last but not least, Kevin Steinbrugger from the University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna came fourth with his study "Effect of gamification models with digital achievements on employee motivation".
Captivating keynote and exciting pitches
In the middle of the event, Axel Singler, CEO of Abacus Umantis, inspired the audience with his keynote speech. He took the audience of around 100 on a journey through the history and into the future of HR. The top 5 finalists then presented their thesis to the jury on the big stage. It came down to an exciting pitch. Mischa Hollenstein (CSMO) and Philipp Bösch (Head of Sales Consulting) also led through the evening in a very entertaining manner. "It was a great honor to accompany these young talents. We are very excited to see how they will move the HR world in the future," summarizes Mischa Hollenstein.
The jury members
The Umantis HR Student Award 2024 attracted a high-caliber jury made up of renowned personalities from the worlds of business and science. The members of the business jury included Elke Berger, Head of HR at Raiffeisenbank NÖ-Wien, Erestina Januzi, Head of People Operations at Zurich Airport, Erwin Stickling, publisher of the magazine Personalwirtschaft and Adrian Stuber, Head of HR at BKW Building Solutions. Academics involved included Simone Kauffeld, Head of the Chair of Work, Organizational and Social Psychology at TU Braunschweig, Matthias Mölleney, Head of the Center for HR Management & Leadership HWZ, Patrick Müller, Dean of Studies & Academic Director at Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, Barbara Aeschlimann, Managing Director ZGP, and Katrin Winkler, Professor of Human Resources Management, Leadership, Personnel Development and Knowledge Management at Kempten University of Applied Sciences.
Attractive prize money and funding
The winners can look forward to a total prize money of CHF 20,000. Their work will also be advertised on the Abacus Umantis digital platforms to attract the attention of potential employers. All five will have the exclusive opportunity to be included in the Abacus Umantis Talent Pool. Koblenz University of Applied Sciences will also benefit: Isabelle Kunert's victory means that the university will receive an additional CHF 20,000 in research funding.
Evening full of successes and an atmospheric finale
Incidentally, the event not only offered academic highlights, but also brilliant entertainment. After the presentations, all attendees were able to relax at an elegant gala dinner. The evening ended with an exuberant after-show party.
Cooperation with Human Resources and HR Today
The success of this event was also due to the cooperation between Abacus Umantis and its partners Personalwirtschaft and HR Today. All in all, the Umantis HR Student Award sends out a strong signal for the promotion of young talent in the HR industry and offers a valuable platform for exchange between graduates and experts.
Umantis is the HR competence center of the Abacus Group based in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Founded in 2000 as a spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) and the University of St. Gallen (HSG), Umantis stands for HR innovation and solutions with real impact. The Abacus Umantis portfolio covers all value-adding and administrative HR processes from a single source and in a fully integrated manner. The company pursues a three-dimensional approach with the finely tuned interplay of technology (software), people (employees) and organization (company) and stands personally and approachably behind every project success with progressive methodological expertise.
