Many of our courses include within their curriculum opportunities for industry live brief projects. These are projects set by a business for students to problem-solve and produce professional outcomes to a deadline. Examples of recent industry partners include Thinking Juice and BA (Hons) Graphic Design, Foster and Partners and BA (Hons) Modelmaking, RNLI and BA (Hons) Fashion, and Sling Studio and BA (Hons) Textiles.

Live brief projects usually take place within the first academic term and can be arranged by contacting our Knowledge Exchange team. In addition, we run an annual challenge AUB24 which turns the university into a creative agency for 24 hours. Previous collaborators have included Bestival, Larmer Tree Festival, Jimmy’s Iced Coffee, Virgin Startup and the RNLI.

Our research staff and technicians are also able to deliver consultation and technical services to industry under our Knowledge Exchange programmes. Recently, this has included environmental site audits from the AUB Architecture team for the RNLI Design out Drowning challenge and technical Fashion support in soft goods manufacturing for RNLI International. For more information on research consultation projects, please contact the Knowledge Exchange team.

We offer placements and internships for students and also an industry secondment scheme for our staff to work with business on live projects.

We also offer access to our workshop for businesses looking to prototype and test their designs. We have a range of capabilities from wood, metal and resin studios, through to digital fabrication (CNC, SLS additive printing, laser cutting) and spray room finishing processes. For more information on access to our workshop facilities, please contact Lucy Devall.