Industry supervised MSc & Undergraduate projects
Supporting our students by offering mentoring of industry projects provides real-world context and accelerates our student's understanding of engineering in a professional environment.
The Electronic and Electrical Engineering Industry eXchange Network (EEE-IXN)
As a department, Electronic and Electrical Engineering (EEE) continues to promote greater engagement between industry and our students, along with departmental industry engagement at large. Following the success and learnings of the UCL Computer Science Department’s IXN (Industry eXchange Network), now an internationally exported methodology (Mohamedally & Roberts, 2013), we have developed an IXN methodology as a scalable and well developed approach to offering projects from industry to students as part of our established project modules.
We aim to expose students to industry, allowing them to explore real-world problems and insights into ‘what it is like to be an engineer in industry’.
The EEE-IXN exposes industry partners to our cohort of talented students and provides partners with a low investment opportunity to creatively explore problems and projects that are of interest but low criticality and may otherwise not be explored.
The EEE-IXN should act as a route to engagement between industry partners and UCL EEE, brokering new connections between academics and industry researchers and allowing the organic development of new collaborations.
Mentoring a EEE-IXN project
We invite industry partners who have the capacity and ability to mentor a EEE student project to propose project ideas. Details on EEE-IXN project requirements and the level of commitment can be found below. If you would like to discuss any element of this please reach out to our Strategic Alliance Director, Dr Rob Thompson.
Industry Partner's journey
1.
Industry Partners (InPs) provide a proposed project brief aligned with the EEE-IXN taxonomy framework.
This will be reviewed by the module lead and matched with an academic supervisor.
2.
Meeting of industry mentor and academic supervisor, joined by EEE Strategic Alliance Director.
In this meeting, technical aspects of the project can be discussed and agreed.
3.
Industry Mentor and project student meet to discuss brief and expectations.
The student has 2 weeks to confirm to undertake the project. Following this, project agreements will be signed.
4.
Student undertakes preparatory work and reading.
Minimal engagement from industry.
5.
Project duration, the student undertakes the project.
During this period regular technical meetings should occur between the student and industry mentor.
6.
Industry Mentor attends University presentation.
This is followed by a handover where the student will provide a detailed explanation of the design and technical work.
What does a EEE-IXN project look like?
When considering to propose a project for a EEE student we have some aspects common to all projects, and other principles aligned with the EEE-IXN methodology:
Fundamentals of a EEE student project
All projects will:
- Apply principles of research design to an identified question, allow the student to select an appropriate methodology and be able to justify their approach.
- Allow students to apply, demonstrate and solidify skills and knowledge they have gained through their studies.
Students are expected to undertake work that has elements of originality, though there is no expectation to make new contributions to knowledge. Undergraduate projects will focus more on the application of knowledge and skills, whereas MSc projects will have a greater element of exploration.
Fundamentals of the EEE-IXN
The EEE-IXN aims to support students in undertaking the core requirements of their student project while receiving the benefits of undertaking this with industry context and supervision. To achieve this the EEE-IXN applies the following principles.
- EEE-IXN project students are provided with an academic supervisor (department based) and a technical mentor (industry-based).
- Industry partners supply project briefs that are aligned with a taxonomy, defined below, that defines the technical area and application area of the project.
- Students interested in undertaking a project with industry complete a “Motivation tracking” form that assesses their interest in technical areas, application areas, and their previous experience and knowledge.
- Students are assigned IXN projects based on their motivation tracking form submission. The assignment of students is undertaken solely by UCL and will consider any prerequisites and desired skills stated by the industry partner in the project brief submission.
- Regular meetings (weekly or fortnightly) should be held between the technical mentor and the students, with the students taking the initiative to arrange calls and document the results. Most meetings are expected to be virtual.
- The academic supervisor will monitor the progress of students and project; they should ensure academic progression of the project.
- Both the industry technical mentor and university supervisor should attend the final project presentations.
- As well as academic and course-required project outputs the student should provide a hand-over document to the industry mentor that includes the final report along with a walk-through of any code, designs, or hardware. The industry mentor may request the student provides a presentation to industry colleagues.
- Formal assessment is always undertaken by academic staff following the relevant assessment regulations for the project module as specified by the university. IXN hosts and mentors can be asked for feedback, which can be used to inform the marking, but are not involved in the formal assessment process.
Student cohorts
Project duration: 6 months part time
Projects should be independent, they may be themed for groups of 2 or 3 students where each student is expected to meet the challenge with an alternative approach.
Project duration: 6 months part time
Projects should be team projects for groups of typically 4 or 5 students, each student will undertake a part of the project with elements of interdependence expected.
Project duration: 1 month preparatory work, 4 months full time
Projects should be independent, either completely individual and independent or individual elements of a larger challenge.
Outputs of an EEE-IXN project
In addition to any academic requirements student undertaking an IXN project will be expected to provide a handover to the technical mentor, this will include a copy of the final project report and a walk-through of any code, designs etc. this may be in the form of a document or meeting. The technical mentor may also ask the student to provide a presentation to colleagues.
Academic and assessment outputs
- Project proposal at the start of the project in October
- Progress reports, weekly one-page summaries
- Interim report at the half-way mark in December, 6000 words
- Presentation, typically in the form of a poster, video, or slideshow, in March
- Final report at the end of the project in March, 12000 words
- Project proposal at the start of the project in October, incl. work package allocations
- Progress reports, written by each student in November, February, and March, 1000 words
- Interim report written by the team at the half-way mark in December, 6000 words
- Final team report at the end of the project in April, 12000 words
- Team presentation, typically in the form of a poster, video, or slideshow, in May
- Preliminary report, this will include background and desk research along with a work plan and any early results. This is used to track the progress of the project and the likelihood of success. Submitted at the end of June, 5 - 10 pages
MSc dissertation (final report), approx. 50 pages. Submitted first Monday in September.
Technical areas
Projects offered by industry should align broadly with the research areas of the department to ensure good alignment with an academic supervisor. The following taxonomy of technology broadly defines the areas of work students will have competence to work in. We ask for all proposals to be matched with one or more technology areas, and one or more areas of application, this will allow us to match students to projects. (Other areas that you believe align with our work will be considered)
Semiconductor devices
Quantum Devices
Optoelectronic and laser Devices
Solar Photovoltaic devices
Sensors systems (inc. wearables)
Computer vision systems
Radar systems and applications
RF and THz systems
Optical networks and photonic systems
Wireless networks and systems
Signal Processing
TCP/IP networks and Internet protocols
Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Smart and Immersive environments
Robotics & Autonomous Systems
Connected and Autonomous Vehicles
Health and Wellbeing
Sustainability and Green Technologies
Secure and Resilient technologies
Communication networks incl. 5G
What will I need to commit to?
Requirements and expectations of the Industry Partner
To help set expectations on what mentoring a EEE-IXN project will entail below sets out the commitment of the Industry Partner.
- Companies should provide project briefs with matching Key-Words that align with the EEE-IXN taxonomy, this allows the allocation of students and matching of relevant academic supervisors.
- The company should identify staff who will work with, or mentor the student, confirming their ability to support the project for its duration. The company should have a lead contact, and in the case of team projects. a student will be designated the ‘liaison officer’ to organize meetings and disseminate information to the team.
- Companies should understand all IXN projects are Proof of Concepts, not intended for immediate deployment or to provide mission critical outputs.
- At the end of the project, students will progress to the next stage of their degree programme and will not normally be available to continue work on the project or be expected to remain in regular contact.
- Projects should not require a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). We will be unable to accommodate undergraduate projects that require NDAs, and will only consider them in exceptional circumstances for MSc projects. Any NDA will go through UCL’s legal vetting and must not interfere with assessment processes.
- It is not expected that high-value IP (Intellectual Property) will be created during a student project. IPR (Intellectually Property Rights) for outputs of work undertaken during a project will be assigned to the company through an agreement between the student and UCL.
Key dates
MSc = Masters cohort
UG = undergraduate cohorts
Project brief submission
MSc: 13th Jan 2025
UG: 30th March, 2025
Initial meeting
MSc: before 1st April, 2025
UG: before 8th October, 2025
Project duration
MSc: May 2025 - September 2025
UG: October 2025 - March 2026
Write-up and assessment
MSc: first week of September 2025
UG: March 2026 - April 2026
Contact
Thank you for your interest in mentoring a EEE-IXN project. If you would like to discuss this in more detail, please contact:
Dr Robert Thompson
Strategic Alliance Director
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
E: robert.j.thompson@ucl.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)20 3108 6258
