Partnering with Sandbox
Contribute to the development of future-ready graduates, examine exploratory projects and develop meaningful relationships and connections with leading academics at UNSW.
Academic Experts
Opportunity to contribute research expertise in addressing real-world challenges and support students in getting future-ready.
Students
Expand experience by working on real industry challenges with support from academics and professionals from the industry, cultivate transferable skills required for lifelong learning and a successful career.
Industry
Contribute to the development of future-ready students through direct input into curriculum design and active involvement in challenge-driven education and create greater visibility, and gain direct access to talented students and subject matter experts while gaining fresh perspectives and creative solutions to current problems.
Partnering with Us – 3 Simple Steps:
1) Submit a Sandbox Challenge
The starting point of a Sandbox is the identification of a meaningful problem. Industry partners are invited to propose enticing and important challenges – we are looking for challenges that would benefit from a fresh perspective and facilitate the acquisition of contemporary knowledge. The expected solutions of a challenge can take various forms, from proofs-of-concepts and information slide decks, to pitch videos and professional whitepapers.
Academics with relevant expertise will work with industry partners to scope the project, formulate requirements, and define appropriate expectations. The project will then be embedded in the appropriate course(s) as authentic assessments.
2) Engage in tripartite collaboration
We provide flexible engagement options. Our academics collaborate closely with industry partners to identify the most suitable engagement model, taking into consideration factors such as project scope and course level.
In every Sandbox, our industry partners will conduct a Project Launch session at the onset of the academic term. This session introduces the project(s) and provides relevant background information to the students, equipping them to develop the most feasible solutions. Throughout the term, academics serve as mentors to the students, leveraging their subject matter expertise to guide them towards effective solutions for the projects.
3) Celebrate the impact!
At the conclusion of a Sandbox, industry partners will review the solutions created by the students, and provide feedback to support students’ reflection and consolidation of learnings. This usually includes a formal session where students present their solutions to the industry partners and obtain feedback.
The trilateral relationship developed from the Sandbox engagement will continue to grow beyond this point. Subsequent engagement can take various forms, including a longer-term mentoring program, work-shadowing and internship opportunities, co-hosting events, new research partnerships and more. Many of our students who have completed a Sandbox course commence their careers in graduate and vacationer positions at the partner organisation.
Success stories
Suncorp
Learn about the School of Risk and Actuarial Studies with Suncorp Australia (led by Dr. Fei Huang), which engaged students from diverse backgrounds in understanding bushfire event risk across Australia.
PwC Australia
Learn about partnership between students at the School of Management (led by Dr. SJ Yang) with PWC Australia, exposing students to the intricacies of global business environment.
MetLife and Aware Super
Learn about the partnership between students at the School of Risk and Actuarial Studies (led by Dr. Kevin Liu) with MetLife and Aware Super to design better lifetime retirement income products for retirees.
- Jack Pittman
- Caroline Ng
- Michael Jacinto
- Zoe Kanginan
- Anthony Cho
“What makes a Sandbox Program different from any other projects that I have experienced was the level of access to industry professionals who are experts in their field.”
- Jack Pittman, Bachelor of Commerce/Information Systems, 2023
“The industry partnership with Ernst & Young in my cyber security Sandbox was really influential. I will be joining the company as a graduate.”
- Caroline Ng, Bachelor of Information Systems (Honours) (Co-op), 2023
“My team had an opportunity to experiment in a low-pressure environment, but still get feedback from both peers and industry partners.”
- Michael Jacinto, Bachelor of Actuarial Studies/Commerce, 2021
"Completing a Sandbox Project was enriching as it was very different to other courses. It encouraged me to be analytical and become aware of how companies operate and the complexity of cybersecurity in the digital space.
As I near the end of my degree, this project was memorable as it gave me a networking opportunity whilst also educating me about my own digital footprint.
After completing the course, my family members, friends, including myself have been more conscious about our online activity e.g., managing cookies. When I asked them about what they thought about the course, they mentioned that more courses should be designed like this where students are able to interact with companies whilst undertaking real-life experience as it is more enjoyable and sparks our interest/engagement!”
- Zoe Kanginan, Bachelor of Commerce, 2022
“Working with an actual organisation raises the stakes of the project and incentivised every member to put in extra effort to attain an outstanding result, knowing that our work would be reviewed by professionals in the industry. It also provided useful insights into the state of cybersecurity at large organisations and how we can devise strategies to elevate an organisation's cybersecurity landscape. Overall, it was an amazing learning experience.”
- Anthony Cho, Bachelor of Civil Engineering & Commerce (Information Systems), 2022
The UNSW Sandbox Program recently hosted an end-of-year (EoY) event to celebrate and share the successes of the Sandbox community over the past 3 years. As a platform, the Sandbox Program has supported the transformation of 22 existing UG and PG courses in the Business School, empowering tripartite collaborations among industry practitioners, academics, and students. Over 6,200 students have gained work-based experience through working directly with 140 industry experts from 22 leading industry partners to address 60 contemporary business and societal challenges. At the EOY event, academic and professional staff across UNSW as well as industry and student representatives gathered to reflect on the progress and discuss aspirations for the future. Six Sandbox academic champions across three Schools in the UNSW Business School presented their Sandbox implementations on the day.
In Term 3, 2022, the School of Marketing partnered on a Sandbox with Aboriginal social enterprise, Tribal Warrior. The project was for students to create Integrated Marketing Communications plans for Tribal Warrior for the relaunch onto Sydney Harbour of the historic Lady Northcott ferry. To showcase the high-quality outcomes from the students and to get feedback from Tribal Warrior, an event showcasing student work was held at the Kensington campus. The event was opened by Head of the School of Marketing, Professor Maggie Dong and was well attended by students, Tribal Warrior, the Sandbox team, and the course teaching team.
The Sandbox showcase event of ACTL4305/5305 Actuarial Data Analytic Applications, taught by Dr. Fei Huang in T3 2022, was organised at the IAG Sydney office on 9 December. The event was attended by UNSW students, academics, and industry professionals, including Senior Deputy Dean Mark Uncles and HOS Bernard Wong. Three groups of students presented their innovative solutions to address the business challenge of multi-coverage claim modelling for insurance packaged products, which highly impressed IAG senior executives and industry professionals.
Partnering with MetLife, Aware Super and The Conexus Institute, ACTL3192 challenged students to address two important industry challenges of default super fund design and financial literacy in T3 2022. The top three student groups of each challenge presented their solutions to the industry partners’ executive leadership team at two Sandbox Showcase events on how to evaluate and design MySuper default strategy (at APRA Sydney Office on 9 December) and how to engage super fund members with their life insurance to make sure they have adequate insurance for their life stage (at MetLife Sydney Office on 16 December).
The comprehensive and creative solutions proposed by students were well received by industry partners. See the Investment Magazine Article for further details on this Sandbox and what our Industry partners have to say about being involved with our Sandbox Program.
