Paul Acheson, software engineering student at Queen's University Belfast and AppCamp winner
The Queen’s University Belfast software engineering student behind Vacci-Nations, an app packed with important health information for travellers, has been crowned winner of AppCamp.
AppCamp is an annual app development challenge created by Kainos for university undergraduates. It offers students the chance to receive guidance and mentoring from the technology company as they build and launch apps for Apple’s App Store.
This year’s competition attracted more than 100 applications from students throughout the UK and Ireland, and just 11 were selected to participate in the competition last June. The theme was healthcare and five students with the most innovative app ideas were then given the opportunity to develop them over the summer.
Finalists included diabetes app Beta-Betes, Memory Manager for sufferers of Alzheimer’s, and Acystant and CF Buddy for cystic fibrosis patients. But it was Queen’s student Paul Acheson that trumped them all. His iPhone app Vacci-Nations is packed with vital health information for those travelling abroad, including the vaccinations required when visiting certain countries or regions.
“Vacci-Nations provides users with access to relevant, up-to-date and, most importantly, accurate health information,” said Acheson. “The app pulls its data from credible sources, meaning the user can be confident that the information they get from it is trustworthy.”
Acheson has been awarded an iPad mini and AR Drone 2.0 quadcopter, and has also been invited to run this year’s AppCamp during the summer. Registration is now open for AppCamp 2013 and there are also plans to launch an AppCamp in London later this year.
