Opportunities to collaborate with SETsquared universities

A number of brilliant student project programmes are now open for submissions. These are a great way to bring fresh thinking into your organisation, test ideas you don’t have capacity for, and connect with future talent. Here are some of the opportunities available:

University of Bath – Group Design & Business Project (2025–2026)

Multidisciplinary teams of Mechanical and Electronic & Electrical Engineering students working together on real-world challenges. Projects run Feb–May 2026 with academic support and access to facilities.

Find out more here

University of Bristol – Innovation & Entrepreneurship projects

Free student-led research and problem-solving for businesses, NGOs, charities, start-ups and SMEs. Projects take place Spring 2026 and provide insight, capacity, and unexpected perspectives.

Contact: Dave Jarman

Find out more here

University of Bristol – Data Science & FinTech projects

MSc students tackling big data and machine learning challenges. Organisations can provide real or synthetic datasets to work on broad technical or business problems.

Faculty of Science and Engineering, Spring 2026.

Contact: Sophie Causon-Wood

Find out more here

University of Southampton – Student Innovation Projects (2025–2026)

Four-week projects tackling business challenges such as customer growth, sustainability, employee engagement, and more. No cost to employers. Projects run Oct 2025–Mar 2026.

More info: [https://bit.ly/3qqwgCC](https://bit.ly/3qqwgCC) or email [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

Find out more here

University of Surrey – Product-market Research project (2025)

MSc student teams collaborate with startups to improve product-market fit for a prototype. Outcomes can include market re-segmentation, new product features, or business models for scaling. Runs Oct–Dec 2025.

Find out more: [https://www.surrey.ac.uk/product-market-research](https://www.surrey.ac.uk/product-market-research)

These programmes are free to join, give students invaluable experience, and can provide your organisation with fresh ideas, new approaches, and connections to talented future employees.

If you’ve got a challenge that could benefit from a student team, now’s the time to get involved.