Running a project

Given that most projects are likely to be relatively short and that students should be building minimum viable products in non-business critical areas, we hope that this need not be an issue.

Our main requirement is that the students can use the collateral produced to showcase their ability to:

● Academic staff as part of the assessment for their degree

● Potential future employers or placement providers

● Potential applicants to the programme on Open Days

Our default position is that the outputs from projects are open source so they can also be used to promote the Academy and the benefits of studying with us to prospective future students and potential new industry partners. You should assume that the source code will be put on GitHub and that the students will post about it on LinkedIn.

For the longer large team and MSc projects, where there may be any commercial sensitivity, project sponsors may have the opportunity to edit any artefacts before release or to place a bar on access for a short period of time after the project has finished. The University has a standard Collaboration Agreement which covers Intellectual Property (IP) and confidentiality. This can be used where there may be a need to protect commercial interests. However, this needs to be raised and discussed with the Academy team beforehand, as we need to make students aware of this requirement in the project proposals before they start work on the project.

The default position is that the software produced during the project is open source so that students can showcase their skills to potential employers. The code is usually stored on a private repository until the students choose to make it public. Project sponsors will be given access to this open-source code at the end of the project phase.

We cannot provide any hosting, maintenance or support following project completion.

Our students typically work on projects in two-week cycles, so this would mean that you need to provide at least two people who will play the role of a “client” meeting the students fortnightly. This person will know the problem to be solved and constraints that apply but would be relatively agnostic as to the solution.

Meetings are conducted face-to-face, facilitated by an academic supervisor, but could be held remotely in exceptional circumstances. However, we still anticipate fortnightly meetings, with other interactions as and when appropriate. This last point is important as we encourage our students to work in small steps, gather feedback frequently, and adjust their plans accordingly. Both you and the students will benefit from frequent engagement.

Finally, we emphasise these are students working on projects, so there is a risk some individuals or teams might fail. However, typically, projects will have more than one team on a project.

Sadly, we are unable to take on every project that is proposed to us, however we select projects that best fit the learning outcomes required.

Reasons that projects may not be selected include:

• They are time-sensitive and cannot be undertaken at the correct time.
• They are business-critical or designated for direct commercial gain.
• They are too dependent on a particular technology that the students are either not familiar with, cannot not be learnt in the time allowed, or is not feasible from software logistics or licencing perspectives.
• The subject does not align with the curriculum or the learning outcomes of the programme or modules.
• We have simply had too many fantastic proposals and can only run a certain number throughout the year! If this is the case, your proposal may be held for students to consider and choose from a list of potential projects during the course of the academic year

If we are not in a position to undertake a particular project at the NSA during this year, then it may be suitable:

• To undertake it in a future academic year
• For one of our Computer Science (BSc) students to work as a final year project
• For an individual project, either under our Data Science Academy or another MSc programme within the School of Computer Science & Informatics that one our students can undertake for their dissertation

Other ways you can still be involved with the students include:

• Employment opportunities (internships, placements, graduate roles)
• Guest lectures/talks (including module-specific and Lunch ‘n’ Learns)
• Mentoring
• Sponsorship (graduation prizes, kit/tech, spaces)
• Shaping the curriculum (in an external advisory capacity)

We invite proposals for student projects from organisations just before the start of the new academic year. This is typically around late summer, with a deadline for submissions in mid-September. This is usually via an online form from which we collate all the submissions to assess where within the curriculum they fit best.

Deadline

The deadline for projects for the 2025-2026 academic year is 15 September 2025. We regret that it is unlikely we will be able to accept proposals after this date due to the turnaround and processing time of allocating project proposals to the programme cohorts.

Submitting

Ideas can be submitted using this online form: Submit NSA project proposal

We will aim to get back to organisations on the outcome of their submission by the end of October.

Process and timeline

Discussing ideas and examples of projects

We have two events throughout the year for you to be able to discuss ideas with staff and see previous projects that students have worked on:

NSA Showcase (April)
A showcase of our final year students’ large team projects.

NSA Projects Networking & MSc Showcase (August)
Launch of our call-for-projects for the next academic year, and a showcase of our MSc students’ major projects.

Register for 2025

If you would like to discuss an idea or the process more broadly, please contact NSA@cardiff.ac.uk.