Postgraduate Enterprise Summer School

PESS gives postgraduate researchers the opportunity to apply their knowledge and expertise to a real life challenge, develop new skills, learn about business development, collaborate with fellow researchers from a variety of disciplines and compete to create the best innovative solution.

Alongside a comprehensive programme of interactive professional skills training sessions, participants meet their client (the industry partner), undertake research and develop proposals to address the organisation’s requirements. On the final day each team presents their findings to a panel which includes the organisation’s representative/s.

The course provides top quality training alongside a fantastic opportunity to work on real strategic issues. No previous experience is required and participants from all subject areas are welcome.

2019 participant quote

"This was a thoroughly challenging but enjoyable week that allowed me to gain new skill sets, while solidifying others, and importantly teaching me how to showcase these skills in future career applications. It therefore covered a lot of the qualities within Vitae’s Researcher Development Framework and was all in all a very valuable experience".

• Are you a postgraduate researcher looking to enhance your personal and professional development?
• Do you want to gain enterprise skills which can give you the edge in any career, whether it's private enterprise, academia or third sector?
• Do you want the opportunity to gain transferable skills to take your research and future career forward?
• Do you want to give 'consultancy' a try in a safe and controlled environment?

The Postgraduate Enterprise Summer School will take place over 5 days - Monday 3 July - Friday 7 July 2023.

The programme is open to doctoral researchers from the University of Birmingham and there are a limited number of places available to doctoral researchers from other universities.

No previous experience is necessary and participants from all subject areas are welcome. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

You will need to ensure you are able to attend the full course as you will be working in teams throughout the week and your full support to your team members will be required.

FAQ: You do not need to enter the programme as a team. Please enter as an individual, you will be assigned a team on the first day of the programme and there will be plenty of opportunity to get to know the other participants.

Sessions (example timetable)

Monday - Introduction; team work training; challenge revealed by client; value proposition training; business modelling training

Tuesday - Creative problem solving training; customer analysis training; virtual site visit

Wednesday - Finance training; Career impact workshop

Thursday - Presentation and pitching skills training

Friday - Pitching competition followed by feedback, awards and closing remarks

• The week’s training is intensive and you will be required to attend approx. 9am - 5pm every day. We strongly advise that you avoid making other commitments during this week (early mornings or evenings) so that you are able to gain the most from the programme.
• Please bear in mind that your team may choose to work outside of the timetabled hours. This however, is at the discretion of individuals within a team.
• The training programme outlined above is intended to give an overview of the week and is subject to amendment.

Due to the success of PESS 2018, which addressed the challenge of clean, secure, sustainable energy in partnership with Tyseley Energy Park, (read their article), interest in PESS increased, and there were two PESS programmes in 2019, one in June and one in July. The June PESS tackled Health Inequality and Genetic Disparity with industry partner Future Genetics, and the July PESS proposed deploying Connected Autonomous Vehicles to various locations for client Conigital.

Due to the pandemic there was no PESS in 2020. In 2021 PESS returned bi-modally with teams taking part on campus and online. Researchers explored how 5G technology could be utilised within the construction sector, with industry partner West Midlands 5G and 5PRING. In 2022, we welcomed the return of our first in-person event on campus with our employer partner Tyseley Energy Park returning to readdress sustainable energy solutions for Tyseley and East Birmingham.

If you have any questions about the Postgraduate Enterprise Summer School (PESS) please contact the B-Enterprising Team at benterprising@contacts.bham.ac.uk.