UniEvent

University Event Management Platform

UniEvent is a collaborative full-stack web platform designed to centralize the discovery, organization, approval, and attendance management of university events.

The platform provides dedicated functionality for students, event organizers, and administrators, covering the complete workflow from publishing an event to participant registration and QR-based check-in.

The application interface is currently available in Romanian.

Live Application and Demonstration

Open the live application   |   Watch the complete project demonstration

The Render service may require a short startup period after being inactive.

Overview

University events are often promoted through separate communication channels such as social media, email, physical posters, and internal announcements. This makes events harder to discover and creates additional work for organizers.

UniEvent brings these activities into a single platform. Students can discover events, filter them by relevant criteria, register, save favorites, receive digital tickets, and submit feedback. Organizers can create and manage events, monitor participation, and validate attendees using QR codes.

Key Features

Students

• Account registration and email/password authentication
• Google authentication
• Event discovery, search, and filtering
• Event details, attachments, and map locations
• Event registration with participant capacity validation
• Favorite event management
• Digital tickets with unique QR codes
• Notifications and profile management
• Event reviews and ratings
• Organizer role requests

Organizers

• Dedicated organizer dashboard
• Event creation, editing, and management
• Draft, approval, publication, and rejection workflow
• Event poster and document uploads
• Location selection and external map integration
• Participant and event statistics
• QR-based ticket validation and attendee check-in

Administrators

• User and organizer request management
• Event approval and rejection
• University structure management
• Access to the Django administration interface

Application Highlights

Event Discovery and Details

Students can browse available events, search by name, apply filters, inspect event information, access attached materials, and open the event location.

Organizer Event Management

Organizers can create events, save drafts, submit events for approval, manage published events, upload promotional materials, and configure participation limits.

Statistics and QR Check-in

Each registration generates a digital ticket with a unique QR code. Organizers can scan tickets at the event entrance, validate registrations, prevent duplicate check-ins, and monitor participation statistics.

User Roles

Role	Main capabilities
Student	Discover events, register, manage favorites, access tickets and submit reviews
Organizer	Create and manage events, view statistics and validate QR tickets
Administrator	Review organizer requests, approve events and manage platform data

Technology Stack

Area	Technologies
Frontend	React, Vite, Material UI, Axios, React Router
Backend	Python, Django, Django REST Framework
Authentication	JWT, Google OAuth
Database	PostgreSQL, Neon
Media storage	Cloudinary
Maps and QR	Leaflet, OpenStreetMap, QR Code, html5-qrcode
Deployment	Render
Testing	Postman, Pytest, Playwright, OWASP ZAP
Project management	Jira, Confluence, Figma

Application Structure

UniEvent uses a separated frontend and backend architecture:

React web application
        |
        | REST API / JSON
        v
Django REST Framework
        |
        +---- Neon PostgreSQL
        |
        +---- Cloudinary media storage

The backend exposes REST endpoints for users, events, interactions, authentication, tickets, notifications, and organizer functionality. The frontend communicates with these endpoints through a configured Axios client and attaches JWT access tokens to authenticated requests.

More information about the technical decisions and development workflow is available in the development process documentation.

Documentation

Document	Description
Development Process	Requirements, technical decisions, deployment and project organization
Testing	Manual testing, automated tests, security evaluation and test commands
Team and Contributions	Team members, primary roles, and areas of coordination

Team Project

UniEvent was developed collaboratively by a five-member team. Team members contributed across backend development, frontend development, database design, UI/UX, testing, deployment, documentation, and project management.

Individual responsibilities are described in Team and Contributions.

Run Locally

View installation instructions

This section describes how to install and run UniEvent locally, primarily on Windows.

The application consists of two parts:

• Backend — Django and Python
• Frontend — React and Node.js

1. Prerequisites

Before cloning the repository, make sure the following software is installed.

Python

Python 3.10 or newer is recommended.

Check the installed version:

python --version

If Python is not installed, download it from python.org.

On Windows, enable the Add Python to PATH option during installation.

Node.js

The latest Node.js LTS version is recommended.

Check the installed versions:

node --version
npm --version

If Node.js is not installed, download it from nodejs.org and use the standard installation settings.

Database

The current version of UniEvent uses PostgreSQL. You can use a local PostgreSQL instance or a hosted PostgreSQL database such as Neon.

You will need a valid PostgreSQL connection URL.

2. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/Uni-Event/uni-event.git
cd uni-event

3. Backend Setup

Navigate to the backend directory:

cd backend

The directory should contain the requirements_new.txt file.

Create a Virtual Environment

python -m venv env

Activate the Virtual Environment

Windows PowerShell:

env\Scripts\Activate.ps1

Windows Command Prompt:

env\Scripts\activate.bat

Linux or macOS:

source env/bin/activate

If PowerShell reports that script execution is disabled, run:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned

Restart PowerShell and activate the environment again.

Install the Backend Dependencies

python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install -r requirements_new.txt

Configure the Environment

Create a file named .env inside the backend directory:

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://USER:PASSWORD@HOST:5432/DATABASE
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your_google_oauth_client_id
CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS=http://localhost:5173
CLOUDINARY_URL=cloudinary://API_KEY:API_SECRET@CLOUD_NAME

The Google OAuth and Cloudinary values are required when using their corresponding features.

Never commit the .env file or credentials to the repository.

Initialize the Database

Apply the database migrations:

python manage.py migrate

Create an Administrator Account

Creating an administrator account is recommended:

python manage.py createsuperuser

Start the Backend

python manage.py runserver

The backend will run at:

http://127.0.0.1:8000/

Available development pages include:

Django Admin:     http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/
Swagger API:      http://127.0.0.1:8000/swagger/
ReDoc API:        http://127.0.0.1:8000/redoc/

4. Frontend Setup

Open a second terminal and navigate to the frontend directory:

cd uni-event/frontend

Install the frontend dependencies:

npm install

Create a file named .env inside the frontend directory:

VITE_API_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8000

Start the frontend development server:

npm run dev

The frontend will normally run at:

http://localhost:5173/

The port may be different if port 5173 is already in use. Check the terminal for the generated address.

The authentication page should appear after opening the frontend address.

5. Starting the Project Again

After the initial installation, start the two services in separate terminals.

Backend:

cd uni-event/backend
env\Scripts\Activate.ps1
python manage.py runserver

Frontend:

cd uni-event/frontend
npm run dev

Both the backend and frontend must run simultaneously.

6. Common Problems

Python or pip Is Not Recognized

Check whether Python is available:

python --version
python -m pip --version

If it is not recognized, make sure Python was added to the system PATH.

PowerShell Blocks Virtual Environment Activation

Run:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned

Then restart PowerShell and activate the environment again.

The Frontend Displays a Blank Page

• Make sure the backend is running.
• Verify VITE_API_BASE_URL in frontend/.env.
• Open the browser developer console and check for connection errors.
• Clear the application's local storage and reload the page if an invalid authentication session was previously stored.

The Backend Does Not Start

• Make sure the virtual environment is active.
• Reinstall the dependencies from requirements_new.txt.
• Verify the DATABASE_URL value.
• Check that the PostgreSQL database is accessible.
• Run python manage.py migrate again.

7. Additional Notes

• Backend and frontend services must run simultaneously during local development.
• The local environment uses its own database and configuration.
• The publicly deployed version is available through the UniEvent live application.
• Testing setup and commands are available in the testing documentation.

Project Status

UniEvent is a functional collaborative prototype deployed for demonstration and portfolio purposes. The current version includes the primary student, organizer, and administrator workflows.