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Department of Informatics
Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences

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Knowledge Exchange Projects


This scheme sees students work with partners in industry to solve real-world challenges in computer science, AI and data.

Through Knowledge Exchange Projects (KEPs), final-year undergraduate and master’s students develop innovative technology solutions for private and public sector organisations.  
 
Any organisation can propose a project for students to work on, under the guidance of academic supervisors. KEPs enable partners to fast-track innovation by collaborating with students and academics, providing students with valuable experience of working on real challenges faced by businesses, enhancing their skillset and employability. 

Low-risk innovation

Six months tackling a challenge

No cost

How the programme works

Since 2022, our students have delivered over 90 KEPs to a broad range of organisations, from SME to large corporations. 
 
Every year, partner organisations submit project proposals to King's, which are developed into full briefs with input from Informatics academics. Each brief is assigned to up to five students, depending on their skills and passions. The students dedicate six months to developing a solution, including developing new software, code or prototypes, fully supervised by our experts. 
 
The partner organisation will make any essential software and data available to us prior to the project start date. They also attend a kick-off meeting and two additional supervision sessions. They are encouraged to attend further supervisory meetings and provide feedback on the project outputs to ensure all parties get the most out of the collaboration. 
 
We collect KEP proposals year-round, with deadlines outlined below. 

Key dates

UndergraduatePostgraduate
Propose by April Propose by September
Students work October to March (300 hours) Students work January to June (600 hours)

Further information

  • Developing natural language processing (NLP) dashboards to make data analysis accessible to non-technical employees.
  • Finetuning AI models to create a career support chatbot which made course recommendations to users of a company's reskilling platform.
  • Creating an adventure game which integrated with a training platform, to make it more engaging to users.
  • Designing an optimisation system using two advanced algorithms, to manage complex task scheduling.

  • Gain insights into questions you lack resources or time to explore
  • Leverage students' specialist skills and expertise for your business
  • Develop mentoring or coaching skills within your team
  • Validate ideas through research and detailed analysis
  • Test models and approaches to sharpen your competitive advantage
  • Extend capabilities with minimal cost and disruption
  • Identify top graduates for future hiring potential

  • Apply academic knowledge to real-world business challenges
  • Develop skills for work like problem-solving, teamwork, and communication
  • Expand networks by connecting with professionals and potential employers
  • Boost employability by designing solutions to current industry needs
  • Receive mentorship from industry experts
  • Explore careers through exposure to different sectors

Data: Should a project require it, we can arrange for a data transfer and non-disclosure agreement to be put in place.

Intellectual property (IP) considerations are governed by King’s IP code of practice which grants our students with the IP to their project.

Partners are provided with a copy of the student’s project outputs for feedback purposes and if the partner is interested in developing or commercialising the work, King’s can assist with advice and documentation.

Publicity: We welcome the opportunity to publicise our knowledge exchange activities and with your agreement will share details of the completed projects in newsletters and press releases.

If you’re an organisation with a challenge for our students, propose a project by completing the online proposal form. If you’d like to learn more or discuss your project idea, contact us using the details above.

 

What our partners said

 

 

                              IBM logo

Knowledge Exchange Projects enable us to apply trusted methods - with students who are also exploring State of the Art methods to rethink challenges in a completely new way. I've enjoyed exploring new ways of solving business challenges with a fresh approach."

John McNamara, Master Inventor at IBM

 

                             Terranova 150x26

Engaging in meetings with fellow students and the tutor has been truly inspiring and incredibly beneficial. It provides a valuable opportunity to exchange knowledge and create a positive impact on everyone involved."

Lucio Machetti, R&D Manager, Line Solution Architect at Terranova

 

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