In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, academic collaboration is a key driver of innovation and interdisciplinary growth. Yet, students at Southern University College (SUC) face significant barriers to engaging in meaningful research partnerships—ranging from limited access to suitable platforms to difficulties in finding peers with shared academic interests. Existing tools like GitHub, Chegg, and Moodle offer fragmented solutions that lack the specificity, security, and collaborative structure needed for campus-wide scholarly engagement.
To address these gaps, this project introduces UniScholars Nexus, a centralized, AI-enhanced academic research and collaboration platform tailored exclusively for SUC students. Designed to foster cross-faculty interaction, the platform enables users to upload, browse, and collaborate on academic projects while maintaining strict academic integrity standards. It incorporates role-based access control to safeguard content, and integrates AI tools to summarize research submissions and generate searchable tags—dramatically reducing the time required to locate relevant academic materials.
UniScholars Nexus is more than a repository; it’s a dynamic ecosystem that encourages peer-to-peer learning, project co-creation, and scholarly exchange. By streamlining access to academic resources and facilitating secure collaboration, the platform empowers students to develop critical research skills and contribute meaningfully to SUC’s academic community. Ultimately, UniScholars Nexus aims to transform the way students engage with research—making it more accessible, secure, and inspiring.

Invention Technical Description

UniScholars Nexus is a secure, web-based academic collaboration platform developed specifically for Southern University College students. It is built to support the sharing, discovery, and co-development of academic research across faculties, with a strong emphasis on data protection, content moderation, and intelligent search.
Core Technologies
- Frontend: Vue.js for responsive, modular user interfaces.
- Backend: Laravel framework for robust API development and database management.
- Database: MySQL for structured storage of user profiles, research documents, and metadata.
- AI Integration: OpenAI GPT API for auto-summarization and intelligent tagging of uploaded content.
Key Features
- Role-Based Access Control: Ensures only verified SUC students and graduates can upload or download content, preserving academic integrity.
- AI-Powered Summarization: Automatically extracts key points from uploaded documents and generates searchable tags to improve discoverability.
- Collaboration Hub: Students can initiate or join research projects, filtered by academic interest, faculty, or topic.
- Moderation System: Admin dashboard for content review, violation tracking, and enforcement of SUC’s academic standards.
Platform Scope
- Accessible via desktop and mobile browsers.
- English-language interface tailored to SUC’s academic norms.
- Excludes real-time editing tools (e.g., Google Docs) and external plagiarism checkers (e.g., Turnitin) in this phase.
Evaluation Strategy
- Surveys and interviews with SUC students to assess usability, collaboration effectiveness, and search performance.
- Comparative analysis with existing platforms (GitHub, Chegg, Moodle) to highlight improvements in security, relevance, and accessibility.
UniScholars Nexus is a purpose-built solution to unify SUC’s academic community, enabling students to showcase their work, find collaborators, and engage in meaningful research—all within a secure and intelligent digital environment.

Demostration/ Presentation Video

Poster/ Broucher/ Invention Photo