the cdrc masters research dissertation programme - call for sponsors
TRANSCRIPT
• The programme gives companies the opportunity to invite a masters student to undertake a research project for them
• Students usually carry out the research at their universities with the support of their university supervisors
• Students and supervisors will be invited to an academic conference in October 2017
• The completed dissertations are entered into a cash prize competition (£500, £250 & 250) funded by the CDRC
Summary
Students (2012-16)
• Sponsor companies delegate one member of staff to act as an industry supervisor for the student to correspond with
• Sponsors will be required to select an appropriate student from a small number of applicants forwarded by the CDRC
• Students and their industry supervisors usually hold a small number progress meetings during the research phase
• Sponsors are asked to provide the student with a £500 bursary, and also fund travel expenses upon successful project completion
Industry Sponsors
• Sponsor• Projects may address important horizon-
scanning questions• High impact case studies for universities• Positive implications for postgraduate
student recruitment
• Student• A unique opportunity to work with an
industrial partner• First hand research experience in applied
problem-solving• (Often) an opportunity to work with private
retail data
Incentives
• Industry representatives are invited to propose research topics for prospective students to undertake for them
• All projects must involve data on consumers or the retail sector• This can include open source data
• Guidance and submission instructions can be found on the CDRC website www.cdrc.ac.uk/retail-masters
Topics
Academic research can explore• New Data• New Techniques• New Problems
Research Opportunities
Grouped words after implementing distributed representation of words, with the means from Gaussian Mixture Models (Eirini Milaiou, 2016)
Outputs
Short examples of previous projects are available online www.cdrc.ac.uk/retail-masters/archive
Academic Conference
All participants involved in the programme are invited to an annual academic conference• The conference is attended by a mixture of business
representatives and academics• The focus of the event is consumer data• Students present posters of their research• The three cash prizes are awarded
The Demographics Users Group Conference 2016The Royal Society, London
Projects proposed by industry representatives
Projects advertised to Masters students on the CDRC website
Industry representatives meet with candidates to select an appropriate student
Research takes place
Dissertations are submitted
Conference
Timeline for 2017
Dec 2016
Jan 2017
Jan - Apr
May - Aug
Sep 2017
Oct 2017
• Visit www.cdrc.ac.uk/retail-masters and read the Information for Retailers page
• You can also download a short project proposal form from the webpage
To participate
A network graph showing the Bluetooth passenger flows between bus stops (Daniel Stockdale, 2016)
• Projects should be problem focused and involve either retail data or data pertaining to consumers
• Deadline for project proposals is Friday 9
December 2016
To participate
Step 1Think of a project a
Masters student could help you with
Step 2Fill the project proposal
form and email it to [email protected]
Step 3Review the CVs and cover letters from selected student applicants
forwarded by the CDRC
Step 4Arrange a meeting with the best student(s) to
select a candidate
Step 5Hold occasional steering
meetings with the selected student between May and
August
Boots: Senior Portfolio Analyst, Space and Location Planning"Had a good time working with the student. He was particularly good at taking on board not only the overall research objective, but also my specific requirement that he deliver us a working algorithm that we could use and develop further (which he has done)! He kept in regular communication throughout, and was confident to question and challenge when necessary. Have to say he's also very entertaining“
Tesco: Community Plan Manager, Tesco.com"I would definitely say the relationship has been very useful.
For my own project, it was very productive to have a dedicated researcher to do the legwork and bring academic rigour and investigative ability to the knotty and overwritten realm of making a business case for green.
The partnership also had the benefits of educating the student in the corporate world and the different needs and drivers within that arena. A win-win for both sides."
Feedback(1)
Local Data Company: Director"Working with the UCL student was a great experience. The student took responsibility for the project and required minimal supervision. The project was completed to a high standard and clearly illustrated the capabilities of the LDC datasets. The work covered a variety of key business issues and the recommendations and results will be valuable pieces of insight.”
Sainsbury’s: Senior GIS Analyst, Property Insight & Analysis"We had a great experience working with our student, who had a fantastically professional approach and achieved a huge amount in a few short months, with an instantly useable Classification that we have implemented in many of our tools and analysis, and came to present the work to the team.
The other great aspect of the project was that she taught us a lot too!”
Feedback(2)
E.ON Energy: Senior CRM marketing analyst. Customer insight and Experience"For me personally it was a great experience to get to work with such a strong candidate with clear direction on what they wished to do and the drive to own and deliver it. A clear and well delivered piece of work.
The work undertaken covered a number of key issues and the insight produced will be valuable to the organisation.”
Feedback(3)
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Researchers• Governance• Safe resultswww.cdrc.ac.uk
www.cdrc.ac.uk/retail-masters/information-for-retailers