Take part in real business projects and showcase your talents.
Live Briefs are a part of most undergraduate courses at ARU. They're a great opportunity to put what you're learning into action, and gain valuable experience.
All our Live Briefs are real-life challenges presented by employers. This means you'll be working with professionals, and learning about the culture and working practices of a particular industry.
Through working on Live Briefs you can:
By applying your knowledge to real-life challenges, you'll gain practical experience to add to your CV.
Your Live Brief experience is also a great thing to talk about during interviews for jobs and placements.
The Live Brief was a fantastic experience – it allowed me to present my findings to further a real project, so this was a very educational experience for me. Thank you very much for the opportunity!
Bobby Nkem-Ike, BSc (Hons) Business Management studentHere are just a few examples of Live Brief projects. You can read more here.
BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering students and construction company Willmott Dixon worked together on a Live Brief to generate new design proposals for a footbridge crossing the River Chelmer near ARU’s Chelmsford campus.
Students carried out in-depth analysis of factors influencing design options, including cost, aesthetics, material choice, construction type, local soil and geology, environmental impact, and resistance to flood risk. They presented their design proposal options to Richard Davidson, Director of New Business at Willmott Dixon, who provided detailed professional feedback.
Willmott Dixon Director, Richard Davidson told us: “It’s been really exciting for us as an employer to see the dynamism the students have brought to the Live Brief. Some of the solutions they’ve proposed are as good as, and in some cases better, than my colleagues [could produce].”
BSc (Hons) Medical Science students taking the second-year module Fundamentals of Epidemiology participated in a Live Brief with Norfolk County Council.
Tim Winters, Head of Public Health Information (PHI) at Norfolk County Council, asked the students to use publicly available data to understand the local health system and investigate differences between areas, disease trends and populations, and to suggest improvements to help the Council target resources and reduce inequalities.
Tim said: “The students’ fresh eyes on the problem provided a valuable different perspective, and will help our PHI team as they contribute to determining priorities in our regional cancer workstream.”
BA (Hons) Illustration students worked closely with Cambridge University Botanic Garden to produce designs for the Botanic Garden’s educational resources.
Dr Chantal Helm, who coordinates the Botanic Garden’s learning activities, said: “We were very impressed with the work the students produced – some of it was so good we asked the student to help us deliver another project as a paid freelance illustrator.”