Antya Waegemann's Redesigned Rape Kit Wins Fast Company's Worldchanging Awards

We’ve shared a lot of great news about alumnus Antya Waegemann’s success with her thesis project, WHEN NO ONE BELIEVES YOU: Redesigning the Rape Kit and Responses to Sexual Assault.

But just this morning, it was announced that her RN Advocate Kit has won the Student Category of this year’s annual Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Awards!

Here’s are the first couple paragraphs from FastCo’s writeup on the project:

When a sexual assault survivor goes to an emergency room to get a rape kit, they could be there for 2 hours—or for 10. They’ll most likely be paired with a nurse who has has never administered a rape kit before (many hospitals don’t even have Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, who are specially trained to help survivors, on staff), let alone been trained in how to properly handle criminal evidence. The nurse must work through the up-to 15 steps involved, each with its own often complicated instructions for how to collect and store the evidence swabbed from the person’s body or scraped from under their nails. The whole time, the survivor is often in the dark about what will happen to them next. At a time when victims are seeking help, and when nurses want to help them, the process can make everyone feel helpless.

When Antya Waegemann first heard about the rape kit backlog—both in terms of unsubmitted and untested rape kits—she thought, “This has to be a design problem.” When she looked into what rape kits exactly are, that design problem became even more obvious. Waegemann, a product designer who got her master’s at the School of Visual Arts, set out to redesign the rape kit as part of her studies. Called RN Advocate, or RNA, the redesigned kit and corresponding app is the winner in the students category of Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Awards.

And a bit more about the awards from FastCo's website:

Every year, Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards honor the businesses and organizations driving change in the world. This year, as the escalating crises of the coronavirus and economic collapse continue, the bold ideas we feature here seem more vital than ever. This year, we received nearly 3,000 entries, an all-time record. The 26 winners and hundreds of other finalists—selected by a roster of experts from the worlds of social entrepreneurship, philanthropy, venture capital, activism, and beyond—represent the kind of innovative thinking that will help us recover and rebuild.

There are tons of amazing projects in the awards program; check out the finalists in the Student Category, there are some incredible projects. Congratulations Antya!