As an employer and industry expert, there are many opportunities for you to work with us in educating the next generation of graduates. We are interested in collaborative working relationships that see benefits for all parties: businesses, ourselves, and our students.
We have a range of support options which can assist with your recruitment and training needs or for the delivery of specific operational and strategic projects:
With now more than 700 computer science students housed in the state-of-the-art Tech Hub with lots of opportunities for you to engage, attract new talent, and raise your organisation’s profile on campus. We have some of the highest levels of graduate employability and this comes from the quality of our taught degrees, the extracurricular opportunities made available to students, the support given during students’ career searches, and by facilitating good employer links.
We are committed to making it as easy as possible for all employers to spot and recruit our talented students and graduates. We offer various opportunities for employers to raise their profile on campus with our students, achieved in a number of ways:
Free advertisement of placement and job vacancies through our recruitment portal and social media.
Hosting an annual computing careers fair, which is free to attend.
Providing live challenges and briefs for our modules.
Organising guest speaking slots from visiting organisations.
Placements and graduate opportunities
We encourage all students to actively gain work experience whilst studying with us. For the students, the aim is to build, develop and apply their skills as acquired through their degree to improve their employment prospects once they graduate. For companies getting involved this is an opportunity to shape the next generation of programmers, analysts and computer scientists in general. We are interested in hearing from you if you can offer any of the following:
internships
easter/summer placements
12 month sandwich placements
graduate opportunities.
The best time to advertise a sandwich placement vacancy is between October and May.
If you would like to be involved, please get in touch with Lindsey Donnelly:
We are always open to organisations who would like to talk about specific topics related to their industry, current challenges, trends and prevalent technologies. Many employers do this to increase their profile with our students as a way of attracting high-quality graduates.
There is a wide variety of opportunities for employers to engage and support academic studies including:
live project work
subject-specific dissertation support
simulations
keynote speakers – technical and employability
If you would like to be involved, please get in touch with Lindsey Donnelly:
Our Employer Advisory Panel is comprised from expert advisers from a cross-section of computing disciplines and aims to share knowledge and insight into industry trends, skills demanded and graduate employability. The panel will consider and advise the department on the current and future development of academic programmes on issues including employability, enterprise, skills and knowledge.
Membership of the panel is also an opportunity for external organisations to find out about and access resources available through the University such as:
placement schemes
funding opportunities
collaborative enterprise initiatives.
If you would like to be involved, please get in touch with Lindsey Donnelly:
Knowledge transfer through collaborative projects and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) give private sector organisations the opportunity to tap into knowledge and research within the University to tackle key strategic projects and challenges.
KTPs are supported through grant funding provided by Innovate UK. SMEs in particular are eligible for up to two thirds of the costs of the KTP supported by grant funding. KTPs can last between 6 to 36 months during which the knowledge is transferred from the University into the business via one or more graduate level associates, employed for the life of the project to deliver its aims.
Innovate UK’s priority is to fund KTP projects which demonstrate the potential for: a high level of innovation, economic and/or societal impact, a challenge for all the participants. They have a number of ‘priority’ areas which they are looking to support. From this list of priority areas our research specialisms can support projects which cover:
digital technologies
emerging technologies
creative industries
security and healthcare – assisted living
data analysis and visualisation
artificial intelligence and robotics
machine learning and systems automation.
The benefits include:
Access to highly qualified people to lead and deliver new projects.
An opportunity to develop innovative solutions to help your business grow.
Increased competitive advantage.
Improved performance and business operations.
Increased profitability.
Although the benefits of KTPs vary from project to project, the latest information provided by Innovate UK indicates that businesses, on average, realise:
An increase of more than £240,000 in annual pre-tax profits.
Creation of two new permanent positions within the company.
Existing staff receive an increase in skills and capacity.
Case studies
Insight 3 & the Centre for Data Analysis and Representation
Capture, analysis and visualisation of multiple data streams from multiple devices
Challenge
Utilising research expertise from Edge Hill University’s Centre for Data Analysis and Representation, this 24-month KTP was designed to develop a holistic software framework that integrates multiple data capture devices, reporting and analysing data from a variety of sources.
Solution
The project needs to develop a framework that captures high volumes of data from multiple sources and include standardised protocols for device integration. The main technical output from the KTP is the implementation of the web-based framework including data visualisation tools and device management functionality. By employing innovative approaches to: compile, analyse and represent received data, meaningful intelligence can be presented back to customers and users to inform planning and decision-making processes . The partnership team will work closely with Bi3’s suppliers and customers to capture and understand the requirements by continually refining the system, using a rapid application development approach.
Benefits
For Bi3, this project opens significant new opportunities to generate the revenue. Bi3 will be able to offer bespoke solutions to their customers, providing accurate intelligence and customer insights. The KTP will also strengthen Bi3’s relationships with suppliers by developing the middleware to support new devices released to the market. The knowledge transferred will build software development capacity in house, embed a project culture and result in an upskilling of staff across the organisation.
The benefits for Edge Hill University are the output of publications and impact case studies from the research. The Centre for Data Analysis and Representation at the University is involved in a number of related research projects, particularly in managing large, real-time data sets. For the associate, this KTP takes place in a high-tempo, rewarding commercial environment where they will experience agile software development using market-leading technology. They will experience working with stakeholders of both a technical and non-technical background, including: suppliers, customers, academics, engineers and business development professionals.
“The KTP will give us an opportunity to really develop our existing image monitoring and reporting software and further build internal capacity in this area. We’re looking forward to a successful partnership with CeDAR and the University.”
Glen Higson, Managing Director, Bi3
Company overview
Bi3 supply security and customer intelligence solutions based on the latest technology available in:
video analytics
people counting
facial recognition
access control devices
queue management,
facial marketing,
digital and network storage.
Fairbanks Environmental and the Centre for Data Analysis and Representation
Analysing and visualising large data sets to guide analysts through investigation best practice.
Challenge
Capturing expertise from Edge Hill University’s Centre for Data Analysis and Representation, this project was designed to improve efficiencies within the workflow of Fairbanks’ analysts. Although Fairbanks have systems to evolve their own data accuracy, the business growth presents key challenges in being able to efficiently analyse and visualise the data itself.
Solution
Using innovative approaches to utilising and presenting data to both users and management, workflows were streamlined and significant efficiencies realised. The key technical challenges in the system analysis and the data model capture the procedures and the analysis of workplace practices. This determines the most effective models for storing, representing and processing data. The major technical output was the design and implementation of the user interface. This stage was critical and required a great deal of innovation in how data in the system was visualised for different user groups.
Benefits
For Fairbanks, the primary benefit is in the workload optimisation of the analysts. More accurate and consistent diagnostics used in discrepancy investigations, improved efficiencies. As a result, significant amount of existing resources was reallocated to work with new customers. Fairbanks have experienced a significant growth of the customer base in recent years and this project will enable that trend to continue by achieving greater economies of scale. The benefit to the University in this project is the output of publications from findings of the research. These findings constitute impact case studies and Edge Hill University are currently undertaking a number of research projects in the area of data analysis and representation, handling large, real-time data sets. For the associate, they have been given the opportunity to work in a demanding, yet rewarding, commercial environment. They have experienced software development in a rigorous and high-tempo environment, using market leading technology.
“Partnering with the academic team gave us an opportunity to greatly improve the meaningfulness of the data our analysts receive. We knew the value of undertaking the project from the outset, but the anticipated benefits of the KTP are being realised much sooner than expected.”
Steve Jones, Fairbanks’ Managing Director
Company overview
Fairbanks is the global leader in providing independent specialist wetstock monitoring and management services to the petrol retail industry. Fairbanks offers a variety of wetstock services to make running a forecourt easier and more profitable.
To get involved, please get in touch with Michael Boyle:
