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Develop a partnership with UCL

Develop a partnership with UCL


Building industry partnerships


UCL Computer Science Department values its partnerships with not only the tech industry but the health sector, local government, research institutions, businesses from other industries, local schools and charities. Our Industry partnerships not only enable us to progress our teaching and research efforts, they address the cutting-edge problems and challenges we’re presented with. They also provide students of all levels with a unique learning experience in how to apply their research and build solutions. In return we’re able to demonstrate impactful results of the collaboration to our partners, providing them with valuable new insights as to how they can best use computing technology.


How we manage our industry partnerships


The strategic alliances team sits at the centre of the computer science department. Their key focus is to build and manage successful long-term partnerships with industry. Forging strong, engaging relations with industry is integral to both the learning experience of our students and the success of the department as a whole. The strategic alliances team proactively works with companies of various sizes from a wide variety of sectors. The team has a strongly believes the partnerships they facilitate are crucial to delivering impact, amplifying initiatives and scaling innovation within computer science.


Start the Conversation


Partnerships come in all shapes and sizes and forming a partnership can be inherently complex. The strategic alliances team uses industry techniques to ensure each partnership is built on shared objectives and follows an agreed action plan. If you are interested in forming a partnership with the computer science department please feel welcome to contact the strategic alliances team: cs.strategicalliancesteam@ucl.ac.uk.


Different Ways You Can Partner with Us


  • Student Prizes:

Rewarding our students in recognition and appreciation of their hard work is very important to the department. We have events throughout the year where we award prizes. We invite partners to sponsor prizes for outstanding student achievements, such as top grades in individual or group projects, hackathons, competitions, events and early research career visibility including publishing papers. Student prizes are a great way for partners to obtain brand exposure with our students. Our minimum prize sponsorship is £500 per year with prizes taking the form of cheques, awards, or digital gifts. 

We also provide our partners with the opportunity to sponsor bursaries for students who participate in international competitions and pay for conference fees for students publishing papers.

Computer hardware such as Apple iMac, AirBook and iPhone
  • Event Sponsorship:

We host a multitude of events for our students and research groups on an annual basis. Microsoft for example, has been an enthusiastic supporter of our students and has partnered with us to host numerous events. We have run several Imagine Cup UK competitions here at UCL as well as the largest Data Science Hackathon in Europe. We continually pool resources for our students from the latest technology releases.

In 2015 we hosted a visit from the Microsoft Azure team in support of our Industry Exchange Network Programme. Since then we have made a wide range of Microsoft’s resources available for our students to use in their project work, including Azure accounts, Surface tablets, guest lectures and even early access release to hardware.

Many other companies have also been involved in supporting and sponsoring our student and research events. For example, our VR (Virtual Reality) Club invites graphics and interaction companies to support new system launches and to demonstrate the latest advances in Mixed Reality. We also have access to bookable spaces where we can host events and presentations in collaboration with our partners, such as our financial computing lab, our 3D graphics lab and our lecture halls.

Young man working on a laptop at a mass event
  • Donations:

UCL Computer Science is a registered charity and we partner with organisations that are looking to support programmes of activities with our students and outreach. We welcome donations from our current and prospective partners.

Young girl wearing MS Windows logo sweater presenting in a classroom for a group of people
  • Student Sponsorship:

Our term time engagement with industry is managed within our Industry Exchange Network (IXN) Programme. In addition to IXN we have multiple opportunities for students to work out of term time with sponsorships from companies:

  • A year in industry degree programme (where an undergraduate student undertakes an assessed 12 month paid internship)
  • Summer industry and research projects
  • Graduate training courses 
  • PhD sponsorships
  • CDTs
  • MScs

Couple of Oriental looking students working in a computer cluster room
  • Equipment Sponsorship (Technology Transfer):

If your organisation would like to explore new ways of using the hardware and software technologies currently provided to your customers, we’d be happy to discuss opportunities for our students to be involved (via our outreach with industry initiatives). At UCL we aim to provide our students with access to Visual Studio Team Services, Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS accounts, IBM Watson and more. 

A variety of our student teaching labs such as our Virtual Environments Laboratory (CAVE) with access to HoloLens 2.0, are currently supported by major organisations. Other examples of this include our 3D lab with 3D printing connectivity and our 300-user cluster virtual lab that students can use remotely. 

We maintain a continuous cycle of developer device refreshes, phones, wearables, tablets, programmable part sand IoT kits. Our equipment is also often used for teaching and outreach projects with schools, charities and healthcare groups.

Student using virtual reality equipment
  • Tech Talks:

With the constant evolution of the computer science landscape we are keen for our students to interact with industry professionals whenever possible. The Computer Science Department hosts an annual “Tech Talks” series across October and November where industry professionals are invited to speak to our students on new areas of technology. This is then followed by a short question and answer session.

Our Tech Talks are designed to help students maximise their employability, learn about current trends, opportunities and challenges within the world of technology, and most importantly, gain a deeper understanding of how the skills taught at UCL can be transferred to the real world. They also give employers the opportunity to tap into the next generation of computer science talent when they are considering their career paths.

If you wish to participate in the Tech Talks series please contact the Strategic Alliances Team: cs.strategicalliancesteam@ucl.ac.uk.

Lecture theatre filled with students