What is an industry project?
As a student undertaking a Master of Biotechnology, Master of Data Science or Master of Environmental Science, you will complete a capstone Industry Project subject as part of your course. Engage with opportunities across public/private sectors, government, and not-for-profit organisations. You will collaboratively work in teams to deliver innovative and tangible solutions to selected organisation’s ‘real-world’ business challenges, supervised by the University of Melbourne’s academic staff.
An industry project serves as a practical application of classroom learning, immersing students in a professional environment where they apply theoretical knowledge to real world scenarios. It involves undertaking a business project with clearly defined success metrics developed by students in partnership with their industry host.
What are the benefits for students?
- Access to resources in a professional setting.
- Opportunity to develop skills like teamwork, project management, problem solving, critical thinking and real-world application of academic knowledge.
- Understanding different career possibilities.
- Inventive solutions and insights from host partners.
- Constructive feedback for improvements.
What does an industry project look like?
Our partners initiate the project selection process by submitting a concise project brief. Upon project confirmation, a dedicated team of 3-5 students are assigned to each project, supported by an academic supervisor. Thorough training is provided to the teams before and during the project, ensuring the delivery of exceptional results within the stipulated timeframe.
Projects can be executed locally and/or internationally, spanning a full academic year (approximately 20 weeks). The scheduling of meetings, progress reports, and other interactions with student teams is at the discretion of the host partners, with most of the project work typically completed offsite. The culmination of the project involves the submission of a comprehensive final report and presentation.
Biotechnology projects
As a final year Master of Biotechnology student, you have cultivated expertise in cutting-edge technologies driving emerging biotech industries. Your grasp extends to commercialization, regulation, leadership, and decision making. Engage in impactful projects spanning biological, pharmaceutical, agricultural, food and device industries.
Examples of past projects include:
- New biomaterials for a medical device.
- Market intelligence of complementary technology companies.
- Determine regulatory landscapes for new drugs.
- Business case for a microfluidic device.
An overview of the subject can be found in our handbook Industry project in Biotechnology
Data Science projects
In the final year of the Master of Data Science course, you have honed the technological prowess and analytical skills essential for navigating and extracting insights from extensive and complex data sets. Engage in projects tailored for data exploration, visualization, statistical inference, predictive and classification model building, and delve into the realms of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Examples of past projects include:
- Identifying effects of disease symptoms and environmental factors for disease prediction in agriculture.
- E-commerce data analysis for modelling customer behaviour to improve retention and user experience.
- Computer vision algorithms for identifying objects in user photographs for more efficient customer support.
- Using machine learning for predicting patient outcomes.
- Solving floor space allocation as a large-scale optimisation problem.
- Improving Australia's pollen forecast using a machine learning approach.
- Lifetime alcohol consumption trends to inform policy.
An overview of the subject is available in our handbook which is split into two parts, Data Science Pt 1 and Data Science Pt 2.
Environmental Science projects
As final year Environmental Science student, you have cultivated skills in analysis, communication, environmental risk assessment and problem-solving. Your expertise uniquely positions you for engaging projects focused on addressing challenges related to natural resource, climate change and energy and data/GIS environmental modelling.
Examples of past projects include:
- Exploring the impact of human-induced environmental change on ecosystem health.
- Human biomonitoring of exposure to persistent environmental pollutants.
- Developing an environmental assessment methodology for water quality.
- Mapping environmental contaminants.
- Creating and analysing surveys to provide sustainability recommendations to Victorian businesses.
An overview of the subject is available in our handbook which is split into two parts, Environmental Science Pt 1 and Environmental Science Pt 2.