Connecting Students, Academia and Industry

Purpose : SICSA actively promotes collaboration between external organisations and the academic and student community in Scotland. Several undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Scottish Institutions offer opportunities for engagement with external partners creating a stimulating academic community and cultivating an innovative and entrepreneurial culture for future practitioners in the sector dealing with real world examples.

Various opportunities are available for external partners who wish to connect with academics and students by delivering guest lectures, workshops and project ideas, fostering the development of new ideas and collaborative culture in the sector.

Institution: Edinburgh Napier University
Contact: Dr Petra Leimich
Email: P.Leimich@napier.ac.uk
Name of the course: Scripting for Cybersecurity and Networks
Description of the course: This is a fairly introductory Python programming course with a focus on applications in cybersecurity and related areas. It is delivered exclusively to students in cybersec and networking courses. It is a second year course and compulsory for direct entrants in third year.
How external partners can contribute: We would like to incorporate guest lecture/s with real world examples with Python used in cybersec.
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry,Public sector

Institution: Edinburgh Napier University
Contact: Dr Petra Leimich
Email: P.Leimich@napier.ac.uk
Name of the course: Digital Forensics (CSN08111/08411)
Description of the course: Introductory Digital Forensics module. Compulsory for 2nd year students in Cybersecurity & Forensics and optional for criminology students and other computing courses.
How external partners can contribute: We would like to incorporate guest lecture/s with real world Digital forensics use (and/or incident response).
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry,Public sector,Other higher education institutions,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)

Institution: Robert Gordon University
Contact: Dr Mark Zarb
Email: m.zarb@rgu.ac.uk
Name of the course: Interdisciplinary Team Project
Description of the course: Introducing principles and techniques involved in working as part of an interdisciplinary team. The course aims to provide students with a knowledge of project management methodology, preparing them to critically manage and run a full development lifecycle.
How external partners can contribute: We would like to invite external clients to provide project briefs and work with students in an agile lifecycle. Students will develop a MVP over the course of the semester. The client is expected to be present for at least 3 contact points (the start of each 2-week sprint).
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry,Public sector,Other higher education institutions,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)

Institution: Robert Gordon University
Contact: Dr Hatem Ahriz
Email: h.ahriz@rgu.ac.uk
Name of the course: MSc Cyber Security
Description of the course: A specialist masters course covering a wide range of topics in cyber security.
How external partners can contribute: We would like to invite industry partners to deliver seminars, guest lectures, workshops, meetup presentations, placements, projects, sponsorship and hackathons.
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry,Public sector,Other higher education institutions,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)

Institution: University of Aberdeen
Contact: Dr Bruce Scharlau
Email: b.scharlau@abdn.ac.uk
Name of the course: Project in Information Technology
Description of the course: The Project in Information Technology is a group project where you will work with a number of fellow students to build an application for an external client. We are now in our 11th year of working this way.
How external partners can contribute: The client proposes a prototype application for the student team of 4-6 students to build over a twelve-week period.
Type of organisation: Other private industry,Public sector,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)

Institution: University of Aberdeen
Contact: Dr Dewei Yi (MSc AI Programme Director)
Email: dewei.yi@abdn.ac.uk
Name of the course: MSc AI Project
Description of the course: This course provides students of our MSc in AI programme with the opportunity to develop their own AI research project, under the supervision of a member of staff. Typical projects include extending, improving or adapting existing AI (and Machine/Deep Learning) theories or techniques to solve different problems, comparing competing techniques or tools to solve a particular problem, and so on. Students will improve their problem-solving and communication skills, as well as broaden, deepen and consolidate knowledge obtained in other components of the degree.  
How external partners can contribute: We would like to introduce guest lectures, mentoring, placements and external clients in the project, including provision of datasets for developing approaches useful to industry.
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry,Public sector,Other higher education institutions,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises),Other

Institution: University of Dundee
Contact: Dr Karen Petrie
Email: K.Petrie@dundee.ac.uk
Name of the course: Games Programming
Description of the course: A third year core module that teaches software engineering skills through the medium of games. By the end of the module each student has designed and coded their own game. 
How external partners can contribute: External partners are invited to deliver guest lectures and review students’ ideas for games. 
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry

Institution: University of Dundee
Contact: Dr Craig Ramsay
Email: c.d.ramsay@dundee.ac.uk
Name of the course: Object-oriented analysis and design (AC22004 ) 
Description of the course: This is a Level 2 module. The aim of the module is to provide a solid foundation in object-oriented analysis and design practices and principles, and which will enable students to produce professional, high quality specifications and designs for a software system using the Unified Modeling Language (UML). The learning outcomes of the module are as follows: to comprehend and apply software design principles, practices and notations; to apply methods of software requirements specification that conform to accepted industry practices; to demonstrate awareness of software security issues during the software analysis and design process; to formulate and depict structural designs for a software system; to formulate and depict behavioral designs for a software system; to critically evaluate the quality of a software design against known design principles and quality characteristics.  
How external partners can contribute: External partners are invited to deliver guest lectures particularly from industry sectors that make heavier use of detailed software specifications and designs, such as those who use model-driven approaches; modelling in the development of real-time or embedded systems; modelling in the design of apps or games. Engagement with an external collaborator to suggest and work on student projects is welcomed. 
Type of organisation: Software industry

Institution: University of Dundee
Contact: Dr Craig Ramsay
Email: c.d.ramsay@dundee.ac.uk
Name of the course: Multi-paradigm programming and data structures (AC21008 ) 
Description of the course: This is a level 2 module. The aim of the module is to provide students with experience of developing software in the C and C++ programming languages through the exploration of various Data Structures such as stacks, queues, trees, and hash tables. Time complexity and Big O notation is also discussed.
How external partners can contribute: Guest lectures are invited from industry partners about usage and practices for languages such as C and C++. Additional topics that would be of interest include code optimization, coding standards, the application of advanced data structures.
Type of organisation: Software industry

Institution: University of Dundee
Contact: Dr Craig Ramsay
Email: c.d.ramsay@dundee.ac.uk
Name of the course: Individual Project (AC40001) 
Description of the course: This is a level 4 / final year module. The aim of the individual project is to provide students with an opportunity to complete an independent software development project of their own which is the culmination of their years of study and relevant to their future career plans. A typical project will contain all stages of the software development life-cycle and will be designed for usability. Students are responsible for the technical aspects and day-to-day management of their project whilst an Academic supervisor is there to provide guidance and advice and to monitor their progress. In some cases, an external client or customer may input to the project too. The following, subject-specific, practical and intellectual skills and attributes are engaged: experience in researching, analysing, specifying, designing, coding, testing and evaluating an end product that addresses a research need, an Academic need, a business need, and/or a personal need (e.g. development of products around the student’s own interests and which may include games, sporting apps, health or fitness apps, virtual reality, augmented reality, and so on). Students gain experience in producing a practical solution to a real problem using a disciplined approach to software creation.
How external partners can contribute: External partners are invited to act as clients or customers for student projects. Students can engage with external companies and organizations who have a novel or research-based area of technology that they wish to explore. Examples include  working with a charity that wants to explore the potential for an app for them or their members or an organisation that wishes to explore the potential for virtual reality in engaging with people or resources or the use of a new technology. Any suggestions will be included in the list of projects for students to chose. In order for the projects to be viable, certain criteria should be fulfilled (e.g. meeting academic requirements for degree award and classification; sufficient depth in the project for students to demonstrate technical achievements and wider skills). 
Type of organisation: Public sector,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)

Institution: University of Dundee
Contact: Dr Michael Crabb
Email: m.z.crabb@dundee.ac.uk
Name of the course: Agile Software Development
Description of the course: 3rd Year Students are tasked with carrying out a short (2 week) development project split into 2 sprints. Students are placed in groups of 5-7 people and asked to work using scrum methods.
How external partners can contribute: We invite ideas/data to be given to students for projects. Collaborations are expected to include 2 /3 meetings with students: the 1st meeting at the start of the project to give a brief and answer questions and the 2nd meeting at the end of sprints in order to give feedback to students on work completed.
Type of organisation: Software industry,Public sector,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)

Institution: University of Edinburgh
Contact: Prof Stuart Anderson
Email: soa@staffmail.ed.ac.uk
Name of the course: Professional Issues
Description of the course: There are many commercial, engineering and professional issues, complementary to the necessary scientific knowledge and technical skills, that impinge on the work of the computing professional. The Professional Issues course aims to provide a general awareness of these issues and to cover some of them in depth. The course will involve lectures from members of staff and visitors and directed reading.
How external partners can contribute: We would like to invite guest lectures.
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry,Public sector,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)

Institution: University of Glasgow
Contact: Dr Jeremy Singer
Email: Jeremy.Singer@glasgow.ac.uk
Name of the course: Functional Programming (COMPSCI4021)
Description of the course: Introduction to Functional Programming in Haskell.
How external partners can contribute: We would like to invite guest lectures / video presentations.
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry,Public sector,Other higher education institutions,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)

Institution: University of Glasgow
Contact: Dr Tim Storer
Email: Timothy.Storer@glasgow.ac.uk
Name of the course: Team Project 3
Description of the course: Students are organised into teams of 4-6 and work for an external (to the School) customer throughout the course on a desired software product of some form.
How external partners can contribute: Proposals are advertised over the summer prior to the start of the course (Twitter, FB, SICSA, University Comms, ScotlandIS etc). Selected proposals are allocated two teams of students and are asked to commit ~45 hours of time to working with the students. Some of this time is allocated to the kick-off day and ‘customer days’ when the teams are required to provide a update on project progress to the customer (5 during the same course). Other times should be agreed with the students. One constraint is that students are assumed to own the IP (specifically copyright) to the software they produce, so licencing must be agreed between customer and team (open source licensing is a common solution).
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry,Public sector,Other higher education institutions,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)

Institution: University of St Andrews
Contact: Dr David Harris-Birtill
Email: dcchb@st-andrews.ac.uk
Name of the course: User-Centred Interaction Design (CS5042) 
Description of the course: This module focuses on methodologies in interaction design that are at the core of current practice for user interface design and engineering. The aims of the module are to (1) provide students a theoretical and hands-on experience with current design methodologies, (2) introduce students to the vocabulary and philosophy of interaction design, and (3) allow students to experience multidisciplinary design work.  
How external partners can contribute: External partners can propose projects that involve interface design problems/challenges for students to work on throughout the term. Students will conduct a contextual inquiry to research the project/problem context and engage in a design process (including low- and high-fidelity prototyping) leading to the presentation of two distinct interface design solutions to the problem at the end of the semester. Students will be in touch with partners (at least 3-4 times) to keep them in the loop and gather feedback on design ideas. In particular at the beginning of the project, partners should provide resources to students that are relevant to help understand and shape the project.
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry,Public sector,Other higher education institutions,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)

Institution: University of Stirling

Contact: Dr Savi Maharaj
Email: savitri.maharaj@stir.ac.uk
Name of the course: Software Engineering II
Description of the course: This is an honour level third-year module running in semester 6. Students learn about software implementation in the large, with a group implementation project; software project management; and formal methods for specification.
How external partners can contribute: External partners are invited to deliver guest lecture/s covering how software engineering is done at an external company. The speakers could also talk about available roles and recruitment processes. Site visit opportunities would also be welcome.
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry,Public sector,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)

Institution: University of Stirling
Contact: Dr Andrea Bracciali
Email: andrea.bracciali@stir.ac.uk 
Name of the course: Blockchain technologies
Description of the course: An overview on blockchain technologies cryptocurrencies smart contracts and applications in fintech. MSc dissertations on Fintech in collaboration with industry are also possible.
How external partners can contribute: External partners are invited to deliver talks, engage in projects and final year dissertations. A more structured engagement in the teaching process at an advisory capacity is also possible.  
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry,Public sector,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)

Institution: University of Stirling
Contact: Dr Andrea Bracciali
Email: andrea.bracciali@stir.ac.uk 
Name of the course: Concurrency and Distributed Systems
Description of the course: A practical introduction to concurrency and distributed systems to UGs. Final year projects are also possible.
How external partners can contribute: Examples, requirements, small projects or final year dissertation. Invited talks to students, if suitable.
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry,Public sector,Other higher education institutions,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)

Institution: University of Strathclyde
Contact: Mr William Wallace
Email: w.wallace@strath.ac.uk
Name of the course: Software Engineering (CS993) 
Description of the course: This module teaches software engineering to students studying our MSc Software Development. It aims to be very practical, focusing on the skills and knowledge that will be needed by the graduates on starting a new job as a Software Engineer.
How external partners can contribute: We would like to organise weekly “Fireside Chats” with external partners where they are interviewed about how software engineering is done in their organization. External partner are not expected to prepare any materials for the presentation. We are very open that this is a recruitment opportunity, so as well as software engineering we will discuss the working environment, organizational culture, how to apply, etc. Depending on the guest, this can be a general software engineering chat, or can be focused on a specific aspect of software engineering such as requirements capture or testing. We would aim to synchronize the specific chats with lectures about those topics. The questions can be discussed with the external partner ahead of the fireside chat.
Type of organisation: Software industry,Other private industry,Public sector

Institution: University of the Highlands and Islands
Contact: Dr Malcolm Clark
Email: malcolm.clark.moray@uhi.ac.uk
Name of the course: BSc Computing (software and networking) and BSc Interactive Media
Description of the course: BSc Computing has software and networking pathways, which primarily use Cisco, AWS and Azure. In software we use Java and Python. In AI/Machine Learning, we use Google AI, Weka & Tensorflow. The BSc Interactive Media use Unity for Gaming, 3DS MAX animation modelling, audio and sound production, special effects on Adobe SFW, filming, motion capture and immersive technologies, e.g., HTC Vive and Oculus).
How external partners can contribute: We would like to invite external partners for guest lectures, collaboration and engagement on remote projects for networking, software, gaming, student projects for team and dissertations.
Type of organisation: Software industry, Other private industry, e.g., KTP opportunities. Public sector, Other higher education institutions,Third sector (including charities and social enterprises).

Institution: Abertay University
Contact: Dr Iain Donald
Email: i.donald@abertay.ac.uk
Name of the course: Professional Project
Description of the course: Students work together on an interactive media project as part of a multidisciplinary team for a client-set brief. The module has resulted in students winning awards in Game4Health, Microsoft’s Imagine Cup and the Serious Play Awards.
How external partners can contribute: We would invite companies interested in exploring games or interactive media to set a creative brief.
Type of organisation: Open to any interested in Games and Interactive Media, including Game Developers, Software Industry, Other Private Industry, Public Sector, Other Higher Education Institutions, Third sector (including charities and social enterprises)


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