The highly-regarded i-Teams programme, where teams of students investigate the commercial potential of real Cambridge inventions, is running two social science projects for the first time. This reflects a general shift in focus within the social sciences, as has already happened in the fields of science and engineering, towards looking at questions of impact.
The first project looks at how to use new digital media technologies to enhance teacher training and professional development, while the second looks at how to best build collaborative networks of individuals with common interests. Both concepts will eventually use software to deliver their vision, but the focus of the i-Teams projects is who would need and use the products, what would they use them for, and why.
We are aiming to recruit mixed teams of students for these projects, to include social scientists, humanities and some scientists and engineers. The teams will work for a term with a dedicated industry mentor, looking at the commercial potential of these new ideas, and gaining hands-on skills and expertise.