In June 2023, thirty students from a range of year groups and subject areas, came together to work in teams to solve a real problem for a client. 

The clients: Belfast City Council, BDO, Deloitte, KPMG, Machine Eye and S3 Solutions, presented a range of interesting challenges to the students e.g.

• How Might We create a hyper-local, connected food system in Belfast city centre (with minimal carbon footprint)?
• How Might We build trust and understanding in the ability of computer vision (and more broadly AI) with businesses who are not exposed to it regularly?
• How Might We empower graduate trainees or new staff members with regard to on-the-job learning and development whilst also offering the flexibility of an agile working from home policy?

The students were facilitated over 4 days through a Design Thinking process with regular client check-ins, which culminated in a presentation of their final ideas.

This annual programme continually receives positive feedback from student participants and from clients.

Interested students - find more details about the next Real World Consultancy Programme

Interested potential clients - please contact Patricia Durkin (p.durkin@qub.ac.uk)