News

04. December 2024

Work more efficiently digitally

The GAT Institute hosted a meeting to promote healthy and efficient digital working conditions.

On September 13, 2024, an important event with the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) took place at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. The GAT Institute on the Görlitz campus hosted this special meeting, which marked an important milestone in the collaboration to promote healthy and efficient digital working conditions.

Special mention was made of the work of the GAT Institute's Digital Stress working group, which is researching innovative AI solutions in Görlitz to overcome the challenges of the digital world of work. The group develops and tests practical approaches aimed at reducing digital stress and making everyday working life healthier. At the same time, the GAT Institute plays a key role in the further development of the BASA 4 procedure. This procedure aims to systematically promote mental health in the workplace and safeguard it in the long term. Through such projects, the institute is making a decisive contribution to ensuring that the digital world of work is not only more efficient, but also more humane and healthier. Prof. Hoff also carries out important research work in the field of digital assistance systems. His studies aim to develop technologies that make everyday life and care easier for older people - an aspect that is becoming increasingly important in an ageing society.

Prof. Schmidt's long-standing cooperation with the EU-OSHA and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), which traveled to Görlitz for the conference, also received special recognition. Since 2016, Prof. Schmidt has been responsible for the BASA procedure (Psychological Assessment of Working Conditions - Screening for Workplace Owners), which he has been continuously developing together with a BAuA employee and in cooperation with ACOEMRA GmbH. Through this holistic approach, he makes a significant contribution to health promotion and risk prevention in the workplace. The close collaboration goes back to the Ukraine, where Prof. Schmidt already cooperated with the EU-OSHA and the Polytechnic University in Odessa. The intensive exchange and cooperation at a location such as Görlitz represents a valuable opportunity to exchange knowledge and research results directly. "Sometimes the prophet comes to the mountain," commented Prof. Schmidt with a wink, as he usually travels to the various institutions himself and not the other way around.

The Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences sees the close cooperation with the EU-OSHA and the BAuA as a great benefit. This cooperation gives the university the opportunity to drive forward practice-oriented research and forward-looking developments in the areas of occupational health and safety even more strongly. This makes it possible to transfer scientific findings directly into practice and thus make the working world of tomorrow healthier and safer.

Photo: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Matthias Schmidt
Ihre Ansprechperson
Prof. Dr. rer. nat.
Matthias Schmidt
Faculty of Social Sciences
02826 Görlitz
Brückenstraße 1
Building II, Room 156
First floor
+49 3581 374-4315