Working with Communities on Business Analytics Challenges

What is this project?

We invite VCSE organisations to work in partnership with small groups of MSc Business Analytics students to co-design a mutually beneficial project around a decision-making challenge posed by the organisation. Students apply analytical and optimisation techniques to explore options and trade-offs, helping organisations use limited resources more effectively and fairly.

Benefits for partners

  • Fresh perspectives on real operational or planning challenges
  • Structured, evidence-based analysis to support internal discussions
  • No cost and a manageable time commitment
  • Contribution to student learning

Suitable challenges

Projects focus on operational or planning questions posed by your organisation. Examples include:

  • Allocating staff, volunteer time, or service slots across activities
  • Planning services under uncertainty or fluctuating demand
  • Prioritising support within limited budgets
  • Comparing alternative policies or operational approaches
  • Understanding efficiency or performance across services or sites

What students do

Students will:

  • Meet with you to co-define the challenge, aims and outputs
  • Explore and analyse different scenarios, options and assumptions for using resources and planning services
  • Reflect on ethical, social, and environmental implications
  • Provide clear findings and recommendations in a format agreed with you (e.g., report or executive summary)

All work is supervised by academic staff.

Partner expectations

We value partners’ local expertise and knowledge of their organisation, users, and community, to collaborate on a project that is truly beneficial for your organisation. We ask partners engage informally with students by sharing context, insights, and offer light-touch feedback where possible.

There is no expectation to define a project brief, provide extensive data, implement recommendations, or hold regular meetings.

Minimum partner contact points:

  1. Start of project – During this session, we will aim to establish an environment where we can effectively co-design the project with your organisation and the students to ensure the project is of benefit to you and to their learning. (w/c 18 Jan 2027)
  2. After analysis – Students will share their findings and discuss any feedback you provide (w/c 10 May 2027)

Students will incorporate feedback and share their final outputs in a format most useful to you.

Project timeline

  • Project outlines defined: end of February 2027
  • Student work period: March to April 2027
  • Final outputs shared: early May 2027

How to get involved

To express interest and submit a project question, please fill out this form. The deadline for expressions of interest is 15 November 2026. We’re happy to discuss ideas or answer questions before submitting a proposal.

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