RealWorld Lab
Partner with the University of Newcastle and help shape the next generation of professionals through RealWorld Lab, part of our Career-ready Placement Program.
We’re inviting organisations to bring a real challenge, opportunity, or idea and have a multidisciplinary student team work on it. Through a structured, nine-week program, students research, analyse, and present practical recommendations - and you gain fresh thinking on a real organisational problem.
What is RealWorld Lab?
RealWorld Lab is a group, project-based experience that connects classroom learning with meaningful real-world application. Undergraduate students form multidisciplinary teams and work on a project brief you provide, applying skills from their degrees to tackle a real challenge facing your organisation.
Student teams undertake project work on campus or remotely, with structured touchpoints throughout the program with their industry partner.
How your organisation benefits
Partnering with RealWorld Lab gives your organisation access to motivated students ready to tackle a real challenge. You will:
- Access motivated students from a wide range of undergraduate disciplines, including disciplines you may not have previously considered
- Gain new insights and perspectives on real organisational challenges
- Contribute to developing career-ready graduates
- Strengthen your connection with the University of Newcastle
How it works
The process is structured and supported from end to end. Here’s what to expect:
- Submit a project brief: Our Industry Engagement Consultants will work with you to develop a suitable project brief for your organisation.
- Brief reviewed and approved: We review your brief to ensure it’s scoped to support a multidisciplinary student team.
- Students allocated: Students nominate for projects and are allocated to ensure multidisciplinary representation.
- Challenge Launch: Attend an on-campus session where you'll pitch your project to your student team and discuss expectations and communication preferences.
- Be available throughout the program: At agreed times, provide guidance, mentoring, and feedback to your student team across the nine-week program.
- Mid-point check-in: Join a mid-program check-in with your student team, either online or in-person, to review progress and provide guidance and feedback.
- Final Presentations (RealWorld Reveal): Attend an on-campus final presentations event where students deliver their findings and recommendations. A feedback rubric will be supplied.
Where appropriate, you may also consider hosting an optional site visit at your workplace or sharing invitations to relevant networking opportunities with your student team.
About the students
RealWorld Lab student teams are multidisciplinary, drawn from undergraduate degrees across all colleges at the University of Newcastle. This means your team may include a mix of students from business and commerce, physical sciences, arts and social sciences, communication and media, mathematics, and more.
The aim of RealWorld Lab is for students to understand how their transferable skills can be applied in different professional settings. Through the experience, students develop and apply highly sought-after employability skills, including leadership, collaboration, analytical thinking, communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and consulting. Projects submitted by industry partners should be designed to support the development of these skills within a multidisciplinary team environment.
As an industry partner, you play an important role in preparing students for the world of work, while gaining value from their insights and recommendations. An added benefit is the opportunity to engage with students from disciplines you may not have previously considered.
What makes a good project?
Projects should present a genuine challenge, opportunity, or question facing your organisation - one that benefits from fresh research, analysis, and recommendations. They should be scoped to support multidisciplinary student teams and result in a clear set of practical outputs.
Some example project proposals include:
- How might we reduce waste in our supply chain while maintaining profitability?
- How might we enhance customer engagement in the digital shopping experience?
- How might we promote mental well-being among young professionals in the workplace?
- How might we design a new product or service that meets the needs of remote workers?
Not sure if your idea is a good fit? Get in touch and one of our Industry Engagement Consultants will help you shape it.
Intellectual property
Unless otherwise agreed between your organisation and the students, any intellectual property (IP) created by students during the placement will generally remain the property of the students.
If required, it is your responsibility as the industry partner to enter into a separate agreement with each student regarding IP ownership. This may involve having the student sign relevant documentation to transfer IP, typically in the form of a Deed Poll.
How to participate
Project proposals for our Midyear Session round of RealWorld Lab are now closed.
If you'd like to partner with us in a future round, we'd love to hear from you. Contact our Industry Engagement Consultants to register your interest or explore a potential project:
Chonteau Gorsevski | Deborah Dawson | Sunnefa Penning
employerengagement@newcastle.edu.au
+61 2 4921 5588 (press option 3)
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.