Why study at Loughborough? (with Loughborough Business School)

From student life and placements to career support in an AI-driven world. 

With insights from students, lecturers, and industry-experienced academics, we explore how Loughborough Business School brings learning to life. From placement years and internships to global opportunities such as partnerships with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), discover how the university helps students build skills that really count in today’s job market. 

We also unpack: 

• what makes Loughborough’s campus and community stand out  
• the reality of student life - halls, independence, and making friends  
• how placements and industry projects shape career paths  
• the growing role of AI and digital skills in future careers  
• the support systems available, from wellbeing to academic guidance. 

Discover Loughborough University: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/schools/business-school/?utm_source=jisc&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=lead_gen&utm_content=podbean_link&utm_term=business_school  

Undergraduate courses: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/schools/business-school/study/undergraduate/?utm_source=jisc&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=lead_gen&utm_content=podbean_link&utm_term=business_school 

Postgraduate courses:https://www.lboro.ac.uk/schools/business-school/study/masters/?utm_source=jisc&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=lead_gen&utm_content=podbean_link&utm_term=business_school 

MBA: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/schools/business-school/study/mba/?utm_source=jisc&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=lead_gen&utm_content=podbean_link&utm_term=business_school 

Research: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/schools/business-school/research-and-innovation/?utm_sourc

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
an environment where we'vegot technological change with AI, etc.

(00:04):
coming along, it's a constant challengeto make sure
that we are preparing them for the careersthat they're going to
actually experience, rather than somethingwhich is which is out of date.
Welcome to feature you,
the Student and Careers Advice podcastbrought to you by prospects.
I'm Jan Goodsell,I'm dean of business school,
and I'm also the directorof our new partnership with Massachusetts

(00:28):
Institute of Technology,which is called UK scale,
which is our supply chain and logisticsexcellence center.
my name is Sophie, and I'm a second yearinternational business student.
can you introduce the business school?
Why does it stand outagainst other universities?
Love prep businessschool has actually only existed for

(00:48):
about the last three years.
Prior to that,we were School of Business in Economics,
but we've been teaching managementsince 1971, so for over 50 years.
And what really makes a differenceis that for over 30 years,
we used to have a, placementas a monetary part of our offering.
And that's because what we've always beenreally good at,

(01:10):
unrecognized, is that it'snot just about the theory that you learn.
What you need to be able to dois turn that theory into practice,
and at the end of the day, enableour graduates to have really amazing jobs.
And that's what we're really good at.
And more to the point,we do it in a really cool way
because we're very collegiate.
One of the things that struck mewhen I came to work at Loughborough

(01:31):
is the caring nature of the staff
and the investedin the success of our students.
I think it's a spilloverfrom the sporting ethos.
And whilst you don'tnecessarily need to be in a sports team,
there's something about that camaraderiethrough sport that spills over.
And all of this is encapsulated in our,

(01:53):
our strategy
progress with purpose,where we aim to be, the first choice
business school for purposedriven people and organizations.
Yeah. Fantastic.
So did you always knowyou wanted to study business Yes.
I was stuck
between doing business with a languageand then business just on its own.
But I've always known
I want to do international businesssince I was, like, year 11.

(02:15):
And when I. The first universityI looked at.
And the first course was actuallyinternational business at Loughborough.
And, when I did languages at A-level,I was pretty sure
I want to do languages as well.
So then seeing I could do itas a module at love for university
literally was what made me want to dointernational business,
because I feel like I can still dowhat I like to do on the side,
but my main degree is internationalbusiness.

(02:37):
Yeah, amazing.
So whywhy did you come down on Loughborough?
Why did you choose Loughborough?
I chose it because it's on campus.
University, which I really like,like is a really nice community.
I feel so like safe there. Like.
And also it's love free time,like love for campus.
It's such a nice community.

(02:58):
And I like that you can actuallyeverything's more close in my family.
When I say the halls,
like I was like ten minutes awayfrom like the gym, the library.
And I was really productive.
So now I'm in the houseand you're so really close to everything.
And I really like that.
I live near like few shops.
I can just do my visualand I get my independence by being,

(03:20):
off campus since. Absolutely.
Was there ever a thought to doyou sort of come from nearby
and could you have lived at home?
And yeah, I do,I live really close to home,
but I was upuntil I got my offer accepted.
I was actually gonna live at home.
And then I decided,I just want to live in halls of fashion,
or I literally enjoyed it so much.

(03:40):
It was like the best experience.
And I feel like when you're in halls,you do make a lot of friends.
You wouldn't miss out if you lived at homebecause you get assigned to the hall.
But like, I got so much independence,I learned so much.
And I feel like like living in a messy,like uni house and flats,
like, made me, like, more tolerant
and I've gained so much life skillsfrom going to university.

(04:01):
You know, I'm not that far away from home.
I do feel like I've still gotmy own separate life from university.
Yeah, 100%. But.
And you're not a sports snob student.
You're not doing any sports.
No, but there's a lot of opportunitiesin social sports.
And I was a bit boredwhen I came to love for that.
There'd be, like, a lot of sporty people.
You'd feel a bit left out,but there's so many opportunities
in social sports as well as sports for, a you,

(04:25):
for example, like doing social sportsand like netball for your whole.
So I did a bit of thatand I played for my whole
and like trained with my whole team.That was really fun.
And I feel like I like gaineda lot from doing that.
Just like confidence and stuff.
I like working like payment, new people,making new friends as well as like
you can like hire out tennis courts,badminton courts, paddle courts.

(04:47):
And that's like me and my house do thatlike every week.
I love to do that.And I feel like you get a lot of it.
And also you can go to the gym.
There's loads of gyms around Loughboroughand you have to be super,
like go to the gym every dayto go to that, like to be.
You don't feel pressurized in the gym,you know, you might feel like
because I was a bit worriedthat like Loughborough
would be really judgybecause I go there obviously
really like sporty,but it's not like that.

(05:07):
Yeah. Oh, amazing.
So we've mentioned progress with purpose.
Can you expand on that?What is that? Yeah.
So there are thousands of business schoolsacross the world.
And when we were looking at whether or notwe should have remained as a school
of business and economicsor become a business school,
we started to look atwhat made us distinctive.

(05:30):
And as I mentioned before, there'sthis thing about collegiality.
We really do have staff that seem to care.
We're really good at, turning theory into practice.
But actually we also have
a really good balance of disciplinessuch as economics, accounting,
some finance, as well as the standardsort of business disciplines.
But if we look at the challengesthat the world is facing,

(05:51):
business can oftenbe seen as a driver of economic growth.
But at the moment, that growth is causingus to cross our planetary boundaries
and is also leading to greater and greatersocietal inequities.
Loughborough has been a signatoryof the Principles
of Responsible Management Educationsince 2016.
Over the last two yearswe've actually been, PRM champions.

(06:15):
So, that sort of idea of responsiblebusiness practices is also at our core.
And so
as we started to think aboutwhat could make as distinctive
because fundamentally, business schoolsteach pretty much the same stuff.
We really thought actually, you know,there must be a way of doing business

(06:36):
that enables us to do that in a waythat's better for the environment
and can actually, help to ideally reducessocietal inequities,
both within countriesand between countries.
And so in line with people like Ray Wirth,Daniel Susskind,
that perhaps gets us to thinkabout new models of, of growth.

(06:59):
We wanted to align with that.
And so progress with purpose is all about,as both working with organizations
that are potentially seekingto have a purpose
beyond just profit,but it's also at a more individual level.
It's about our colleagues, our staffachieving that individual purpose. And

(07:21):
as importantly, I wouldn't
say more importantly, because our staffand students are equally important,
but really ensuring that our studentsachieve their own personal purpose
and go on to develop the careersthat they really set out to do.
Speaking of careers, employability isobviously a huge factor as a huge worry.

(07:42):
How does Loughborough prepare theirstudents for their future employability.
So as I mentioned previously,
the placement has been a critical partof how we've turned theory into practice
and prepared our students,
for the outside world,however, it's not just been a placement.
You could also do a study abroad,

(08:03):
and you can do a combination of placementand study abroad.
But actually, skillsdevelopment has always
been really embedded into our curriculum.
It's, a major part of the, firstand second year
to really make sure that our students have
all of those skills that can bothhelp them get those placements.

(08:23):
And to get those, opportunities.
And we're also seeing students move awayfrom necessarily formal one year long
placements, thinking about internshipsacross, the summers.
I think
what we will ensure is that we're alwaysat the forefront
of developing those approachesto employability

(08:44):
that gives studentsthe skills that they need.
So, for instance, a more recent in,investment, we've made this in Datacamp.
So Datacamp is, an online platform
that gamifiedthe development of digital skills.
And so that's open to all of our studentsand all of our staff.
And they can essentially make sure,that they're future ready

(09:05):
with all of the digital skillsthat they need.
They get a lot of digital credentials.
And our students can use that, to help them support their assignments
just to support self-study.
But what we're seeing increasingly is
our students who are in placement,and they're perhaps being asked
to, use identicalAI in different ways to help analyze data
than those sortsof, tools really come into their own.

(09:30):
Absolutely.
can you tell us a bit
about the support systemsthat were available from the university?
Yes. So when you, like,get your place at Loughborough,
you'll be assigned to a tutor and I.
So you see your tutor like, twice
to three times a year, and you feel likea really close relationship with them.
I really like I really enjoygoing to see my tutor and, I, I,

(09:54):
you like, strugglewith, like, anxiety or like, exam worries
or like just feeling overwhelmed
with like, pressurebecause I, for example, in first year,
in the first semester,I thought I was finding that I was trying
really hard, but I'll seelike no good results from my like walk.
And I was speaking to my tutor about itand like we came up with some new plans
and like It really helped meto like, adapt to them a level.

(10:15):
So a degreebecause it's completely different.
It's not likethe content is completely different.
The way you revise, you have to like,realign your revision techniques.
I found that really useful.
Then also with exams I was found exam
like period, like really stressful,exam season, really stressful.
And I did go see the student successlike wellbeing team

(10:37):
and has in my past schoolI had like small
everything like time adjustments and likeextra time like rest breaks and stuff.
So I was worriedI wasn't gonna be able to get
that experience that helpwhen I come to Loughborough.
But literally it's
like I said, they were more helpful,like they were so nice and checking on me.
And during the week,the races are so nice.
They gave me literallyall like the arrangements.

(10:59):
They gave me more than Iliterally asked for.
And now I genuinely don't find exam seasonas stressful
as I used to bebecause of the extra support.
Like, you do not feel like the pressurethat you do during A-levels,
and that made such difference to mebecause I was
I wasn't going to go to the universitybecause of exams.
I like, really don't like exams.
And like when, likeif you have like something

(11:21):
a situation happenor like an unexpected event
and like obviouslyyou might affect your university.
So helpful and they will you getyou can apply for like
mistakes and circumstanceslike you never like
if something's happenedlike for example with anxiety and stuff
you get that extra support that you wantand need.
Like you don't feel like a numberat Loughborough,
like you do have like a really closerelationship.

(11:42):
You can build really close relationshipswith the Loughborough staff.
Yeah that's brilliant.
So do you have any additional rolesalongside your studies.
So I do a lot of to help out with,like, the business school,
like ambassadordoes my I'm like a business school
ambassador,so I help out with like the open days,
the offer holidays because I really enjoylike speaking to students

(12:04):
and giving them like adviceand like talking about scams.
Because obviouslywhen you come to love for,
you want to have as well as likea lecturers like advice like you.
Also, when I speak to the students,I really enjoy like encouraging students
to come to love Why is now an excitingtime to join Loughborough Business School?
So that was a fantastictime to join, love for business school,

(12:26):
because our entire undergraduateand postgraduate portfolios
have been refreshed to have progresswith purpose right at their core.
we have, a Principles
of Responsible Management education modulethat students do in their first year.
It's embeddedright the way through the, modules.
And then the end of the firstand second year, we have specific,

(12:47):
capstone projects around CSR, cool
results of corporate social responsibilityand, ESG.
You mentioned a partnership with MIT.
Can you expand on that?
Yeah.
So, MassachusettsInstitute of Technology, currently
the number one university in the world,
has had an expertisein supply chain through their,

(13:09):
supply chain and logistics excellencenetwork.
Today.
They've had sensors, obviously,in the mothership in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, in limboin China and in Zaragoza in Spain.
And, we have joined that network.
So we are now the UK node in the globalscale network.

(13:31):
Why that's particularly exciting.
So we host, an MSC in supply chain
where, students on that programget to go to MIT in January each year.
The scale connects, it gives them the opportunity to meet
with all of the other, scale studentsfrom around the world and also to present,

(13:54):
their initial ideasaround their capstone projects.
And as a result,they get, a diploma from MIT,
but also become affiliate alumni.
So it is a wonderful opportunityto make sure at this time, when the world
perhaps needs a slightly different wayof looking at our supply chains
to make them more resilientand sustainable.

(14:17):
And, still be productive.
It's a really, really fantastic wayto make sure
that our students are at the real leadingedge of practice.
Yeah, fantastic.
Anyone thinking about applying forwhat advice would you give them?
The advice I'd give to prospectivestudents is to take all
the opportunities offered, for example,like go to the offer holidays.

(14:40):
When you get your place, like comelike at Loughborough because it's
such a nice community and you get inso many opportunities to make new friends,
do fun activities,especially like Freshers week.
So I would take all the opportunities.
And if you do have like a offerto go to look for, just like
if you really want to go to stuff,
I just work really hardbecause it's really motivating
to get when you get the gradesand you get the offer.

(15:02):
Which were you in? I was in Royce.
And did you enjoy it?
Yeah,I when I first found out I was a rice,
I wasn't too happy because it was a sharedbathroom, like.
Yeah, shared bathrooms.
It was catered.
I didn't want that.But I literally loved it so much.
I would say moist again, there'sso much fun and holes really don't matter.
It's more about locationand feel sharing with.

(15:24):
You can get used for shared bathroompretty quickly.
Yeah I was there literally cleaning themlike every day, every other day.
It was so like clean and likeI never felt like gross or anything
I think the getting usedto the shared bathroom.
My son, he was really fussy about itall that might be worth just saying.
Don't get put offif you don't get your hall of choice.
Because I'd say that'sone of the biggest learnings.
You think it's like the end of the world.

(15:45):
They're not joking.
He's going to do somethingthat was like ridiculous.
Like, what are you feeling?
Oh my God, it's like a movie in Korea.
Parsons take me on.
I really got to Yeah. I was like,I'd rather just work for a year.
And then just being who I likedis going to make me miserable.
And what would you say to peoplewho said that?
No, I literally I'mjust so glad I was put Royce because like,
being like the locationwas like the best location ever.

(16:06):
Like being so close to him and like,I was so productive.
So tell us a bit about your offerbecause your predicted grades
were different to your entry grades. Yeah.
you shouldn't let it put you off.
Because if you do work really hard,
you can't get the gradesyou need to get into university.
Some some teachers.
My schools are a bit unsupportive,
I think, because my gradeswere obviously different and lower.

(16:27):
But you shouldn't let that put you off,because if you work really hard,
you can get the gradesyou want to get into the Fra.
And like when you got thelike golden ticket, when you apply,
when you get accepted. It's so cuteWhat do you mean?
You get a like a golden ticket. Yeah.
So when you gotif you get your offer on results
the next day,you get like a golden ticket.
So I'm like, oh, that's so cute.

(16:49):
Amazing. Well, thank you guysso much for your time today.
Thank you, thank youI know, thank you. You're amazing.
So my name is kind of a professor hereat the business school in the accounting
finance group.
But also director of studiesfor postgraduate,
programs at the, at the business school.
my name is Sage Norwood.
So I'm a postgraduate MBA student hereat Loughborough Business School.

(17:10):
So I've been working in
international education for over a decadebefore I stepped into this journey.
So I decided thatI want to take a shift in my career
and give myself, for the readyfor the professional world.
So yeah, here I am,Why did you choose Loughborough.
What attracted you to the MBA here.
to start work Loughborough isthat would like the business school.
So I wanted to do an MBAfrom a triple accredited business school

(17:34):
and the communityor the environment here in the campus.
So I've been to UK before.
I've met, I've been to at least of tenplus universities.
I visited a lot of universities hereand I think Loughborough
stood out a most to mebecause the campus is so lively.
Yeah, to be in a campus where, you know,the students are so active

(17:54):
and and to study in a campus like thatwith, with an outstanding facilities
and the triple accredited business schooland the program, I mean, the program
is also curated in such a way that,you know, you get that global exposure.
There is a lot of value addition,a lot of things,
in global network, or global network.
And I
there are a lot of talks, a lot of careersupport that's embedded into the program.

(18:18):
So that basically prompted me to chooseLoughborough.
how do you ensure that students areprepared for future careers?
Really great question.
In an environment where we've gottechnological change with AI, etc.
coming along, it's a constant challengeto make sure
that we are preparing them for the careersthat they're going to

(18:38):
actually experience, rather than somethingwhich is which is out of date.
So, a few things that go onoutside of the core content.
As I mentioned before, the core content
that we have designed and embeddedin the program reflects where we think
the career challengesof the future, will be.
But we don't just stop at that.

(19:00):
Most of our programswill have professional
skills embedded in it in whatever wayis appropriate for that discipline.
But then we've got the extracurricular,career support.
So we have an excellent careers function.
So special, specialist careers advisors.
And they are they are really amazing.

(19:21):
But also as faculty,I think what we want to do
is give that that disciplinespecific career support.
So is our guest speakers.
Is it talks is it preparing students fortechnical interviews, assessment centers?
We do all of that,
including me personally,but I know lots of the faculty.
Faculty do.

(19:41):
And in addition,talking to students about their careers
and what the future might look likein recognition of the fact
that none of us know ultimately how thingslike I will play out.
But having those debates and discussionsto give students more confidence
about what are the different scenariosthat might that might play out.

(20:03):
And so it's very much frontand center of what we offer.
And, I don't know if you have anyany thoughts on experience.
Yeah, yeah.
So, so we had this professionaldevelopment sessions on every Wednesdays
and even in the classrooms, like,you know, the debate
and discussions over AI or the real worldaspects.
It's not like just the lecturesthat happens here.

(20:25):
So there are group discussions,there are debates and, you know,
working on projects inside the classroomwhere we debate over things like,
which is happening, right nowin the industry.
So which it gives us and gives usthat confidence, like Professor concert
like gives us that confidence that,you know, we can face the real world
while AI is prominent, and AI is taking over.

(20:49):
What difference does it makefor us to be in that real world as well?
So, it's kind of you know, it's amazingthe kind of, curriculum that we have here.
It's constantly updating, I would say,like, it's, it's it's updating us.
The industry updates, too,which is amazing that we get to experience
that real world situationsin the classroom,

(21:10):
which is kind ofit gives us for the real world, better.
And what I would sayis, it's a university,
so we need to accept, we need to celebratethe fact that we all go to cover theory.
We are going to cover frameworks.
We want to give you the knowledgethat's not just going to be out of date,
because it's, these frameworksand these theories are persistence.

(21:32):
And they last many, many years. Yes.
And actually just following on from that.
So one of the things, to mentionas many of the faculty I've worked
in, industry as well as being very well
qualified academically, and indeedwe love sharing that knowledge
that's representedthat's to, to the MBA class careers
in banking and finance,which is my particular area.

(21:55):
And we do a fantastic session kindof talking about as an MBA student, you,
how can you think about making progressin a career in finance?
And we do similar thingfor our postgraduate students, as well.
Amazing, fantastic.
So why should studentscome to Loughborough?
So if you want to join a communitywhere it is not enormous

(22:17):
class sizes,it is, a postgraduate community.
You will make friends,you will get to know people.
You will get to know faculty.
We celebrate that.
We don't want to be a massive, postgraduate community.
We're very happybeing at right size in that way.
So that idea of a friendly, small community is very important.

(22:38):
Secondly,this idea of applying knowledge, it's
in our ethos from undergraduateright up to postgraduate and beyond,
in our offering,we're always really thinking about the end
point in terms of industry,in terms of opportunities for employment.
And we spend a lot of timehelping our students

(22:59):
think about their careers, planning themand really
supporting them in the in those efforts.
And I think that the third thingis trying to ensure
we give you some real world experienceand a postgraduate degree.
That's not easybecause you're not here for that long.
So we've now in builtkind of really practical,
work experience projectsin all of our offerings.

(23:23):
And, and we,we don't really want to offer those.
We want to make sure they are
really excellent offerings,including all the surrounding support
that students are givenas well as the actual project itself.
So there's some of the things I couldmention.
Other things like really lovely faculty.
Yeah, let's do this.
I shall resist.
But ultimately I think there's some of thethe key points

(23:45):
and I haven't even mentioned the,the campus. Right.
Because but I'll leave that to anotheranother question that you have.
You want to take in any of the workexperience, and not yet severe.
We have the consulting project upcoming.
So that would be ideally in June. July.
We would start working on thatfrom June, July.
So that's that's one amazingpart of the MBA program

(24:07):
where we get to tackle the real worldsolutions for a business organization.
So, that's somethingwhich is quite admirable,
embedded into the MBA programthat do I am on a one year pathway.
So in that one yearI get to do a lot of things
along with working on a real worldindustry problem, which is amazing.
Yeah.
And for the two yearpathway students, yes,

(24:27):
there is an internship embeddedas part of the program,
which also helps them to,you know, get the real world experience,
while graduating itself.
Yeah, you sort of onebig community of sort of post grads.
Do you integrate yourselfwith other year groups?
I've been on one student,the International
International Student Experience trip.
Yeah, I get to see some of them.

(24:48):
And and during the Christmas celebration,I guess.
Yeah, we get to interactwith a lot of other year groups as well.
Yeah. Oh that's brilliant.
The social life there. Yes. Yes.
The social life is really good.
the International Student experience teamas well, they organize a lot of events.
So I get to experience only one until now.
But they do organize a lot of events,which is,
which is really goodfor the international student

(25:09):
to experience the campus, get alongwith other international students,
get to know the place.
So which is amazing, I think. Yeah.
So the Industry Experience project,can you tell us a bit about that?
Yeah, of course it's the genesis of thiswas when we were looking at postgraduate
programs across the business school,and we were thinking about

(25:31):
how can we embed some work experienceinto these programs in an efficient way,
that reflects the fact that studentswants to get some experience.
But the fact isthat we're under quite a compressed time
because you have to finish your degreeand within the year.
So we developed an industryexperience product project offering,

(25:54):
and there's various aspects to it.
So one is, is that we,we run a full one day
consulting conference to get our studentsready for their, projects.
So it's everythingfrom what frameworks might use.
How can you present,well, in front of a company?

(26:14):
How are you going to organize your team?
Who's working on the project?
We've got consultants come in and say,this is how you should deal with
with a consulting challenge.
So really trying to get studentsinto mini consultants.
Further industry experience project.
Ahead of going out there.
But all the time respecting the ideathat it's within the discipline.

(26:37):
So we've got the
accounting and finance project,we got the international business, etc.
whatever subject you are studying.
And the ultimate objective
is to have students workwith a UK company on a live project.
The real problem that they're facing,
and I hope,that students are as excited as we are.

(26:58):
But at and over the interest, definitely,
with definitely a CV of attended 2or 3 sessions
for the Industry Experience projectone was led by Professor Ken itself.
So, we get to know thatwe will get to know about the projects,
the real world,the companies and different disciplines.
Like, Professor Ken said, like

(27:18):
the international business or strategyor different, different projects.
And we get to pitch for them as well,which is good.
So we can pick the projectthat we want to choose and pitch for them.
And we have a consulting conference dayin June, supposedly to happen in June,
where we get to learn more about it andstart working on the real world project.
So I think that's amazing.

(27:40):
And the feedback we got last year,one of the most exciting thing is we got
feedback from companiessaying how impressed
they were with the Loughborough studentsworking on these projects.
And of course, we got great feedbackfrom our students in the past
that they really enjoyed the experience,but it makes us very proud to think
that companiesare listening to our students thoughts

(28:02):
and being really impressed by them.
That gives us a lot of reassurancethat we're doing something right.
Yeah, absolutely So you've workedwith organizations such as Barclays.
How has your industry experience helpedyou and impacted the way that you prepare
and teach students?
I think it's particularly pertinentbecause,
it allows you having join in that workexperience allows you

(28:26):
to bring real case studies,but also anecdotes into the classroom.
And students love stories.
They love storieswhere they can see what you're teaching
is relevant to the real world.
And you can give examples of where it wasit was applied.
So one aspect is in my disciplineteaching the idea that I can draw
on that real world experience,and it does allow you to

(28:49):
to have a lot of credibility
with students, and createa kind of nice energetic atmosphere.
But I think the second thingthat I would, drawn from
that experienceis preparing people for careers
and helping prepare studentsfrom all disciplines in careers
and sharing with themmy career in industry, what lessons

(29:10):
I learned that I wish I had knownat the earlier part of my career,
that I can helpstudents fill in those gaps.
And so, for example, I did a talk to the MBA students, and really,
most of that was drawnon my work experience
and trying to help themthink about their careers
and learning from the things I did welland the things where I didn't do so well.

(29:32):
I made mistakesand hopefully that will help.
Yes, that was absolutelyhelpful. We all enjoyed it.
We did have to say, yeah.
Yeah.
So the thing is like,
we are blessed with faculties like that.
So who, who have been in the industryfor quite long and then became an academy,
then came into the academics.

(29:53):
So we get to know what they teach inthe classroom is connected
with the real world problemor the real world experience.
The way they share the problem,the the way they teach
is connected with the real worldexperience that they had.
So that is kind ofsomething that we can take.
So we can,you know, connect with that much better
than, than just taking an academicor just learning something by textbook,

(30:17):
but rather they teach us in a way that,you know, it's connected
with what they experienced.
So which is which is amazing.
And, Professor Cohen,we only had one session from him, and he
literally rocked it.
That's very nice.

(30:38):
I kind of related to that is,you know, helping students with cover
letters and CVS and interview practiceand assessment centers.
I ran many of thosewhen I was in, in banking.
And it's really exciting to help peopleat the early stages of their career,
or mid career after MBA studentsto to make that progress

(31:01):
because there's so many challengesfor young people out there,
and it's the hold on peoplewho have experience
to to support them and to help them inany way we can, particularly the friendly
your small communitylike we have as a Loughborough Yeah.
So, as part of the MBA,we get, the professional development
is embedded in our course,which is nice because we don't have to go

(31:22):
behind the career networks team or,you know, get get that experience.
Rather, it's embeddedas part of the module itself,
the professional development.
So every Wednesday we havethe professional development session.
So either it will be a talk from the industry leaders like a second
or someone from outside of the universityor there are a lot of you know,

(31:42):
we had one session where thethe academic or the career networks
team came in and spoke about the servicesthat they offer.
And every other week,one week was about the assessments,
how the, the assessmentstakes place at the workplace.
So it's kind of a corpus.
I mean, from the start of the program,by the time the program ends.

(32:03):
So we get equipped with all these,you know, professional aspects,
and develop us into,ready for the real world.
for any prospective students,for anyone that's never been here,
what is it like stepping on to campusfor the first time?
What's the experienceat Loughborough like?
So I'll tell you aboutwhen I first arrived in Loughborough.

(32:24):
So I arrived late, in fact, to,I got my results.
I was late to start my studies here,so I arrived two weeks late,
so, I've been to London,I've been to Nottingham,
I've been to some of the other citiesin the UK earlier.
So it was my first time in the, Loughborough.
So the town is pretty quiet.
But as soon as I steppedinside the university it was different.

(32:47):
So it is so lively.
Someone is always running aroundthe campus.
There are a lot of activities.
The campus is so lively,
so someone who want to experiencethat, it's it's an amazing place to be.
And the business school, the support thatI received, even though I arrived late.
So the support I received fromthe business school was amazing.
So do I could easily, you know, integrateinto the program, though.

(33:10):
I arrived 1 or 2 weeks late.
So, maybe in a week's time.
I didn't even realize that arrived late.
So the support that I got from herewas amazing.
So, and the business school therea lot of a lot of support
that the MBA students especially get,I guess.
I'm not sure about the other your groupsof other MSC programs, but MBA students.

(33:30):
Well, I would say we are pampered.
We get free coffee, we get free biscuits.
Pretty good too.
you know, we canwe have access to everything.
So we have amazing
faculties, amazing team membersto support us for anything that we need.
But and yeah, that support is amazing.

(33:52):
I would say.
It's interesting.
Although I didn't arrive as a studentwhen I arrived here
to do my job interview.
But then when I, when I joined,and I was previously at a city
based university, so very different vibe,very different here.
And like one of the thingsI really noticed, I tend to

(34:12):
get in very early and, you know,if you get in at 8:00 in the morning,
the rugby pitches are full of peopletraining, the hockey pitches, etc.
and it gives us both the energyand vibe to the whole place,
which is very, very unique.
And it is like it's own small,town of itself
because it's got everything restaurantson, it's got, you know,

(34:34):
medical support and game,whatever you want.
And it's, it's an amazing place.
And there's nothing
I love more than I need a half hourto work, just walk the campus.
It's fantastic.
So I really enjoy that aspectof working here.
I think students, I can tellthey really enjoy it too.
Absolutely.
Off camera up before about,stumbling upon a hockey match. Yes.

(34:59):
it was a really lovely,warm March evening.
Okay. That's quite unusual.Yeah. So the weather in love.
And, we
were doing a walk in meeting,taking advantage of the late evening.
So, on the weekend,you know, a lot of noise in the distance.
And we walked towards it,and there was a hockey match happening.
It was Loughborough against a neighbor,Nottingham.

(35:21):
And there were thousands of people, students at this match.
It was an incredible atmosphere.
It was really, really exciting game.
And I think that's a very unique thing.
I can't imagine any other UK universityreally where you come across that and,
and I think the students are goingto be on campus or living nearby.
You get to experience a lot of yeah,that is

(35:43):
that is a very uniqueand energizing experience.
And it's gorgeous.
I walked onto the campus yesterday
and there's buildings from what I learnedearlier to be from 1909.
Yeah.And in the middle it's really lovely.
That's true.
We're lucky too. Yeah. To be here.
Yes. We're.
fantastic.
Well, thank you so much for your timetoday.

(36:03):
Pleasure. Okay.
My name is Albert Atom.
I'm a university, teacher.
And also an impact focused researcher,in the business school.
So my research predominantly focuses on
how you can use academic knowledgeto have real world impact.
So really sits at the intersectionbetween research policy and outcomes.

(36:27):
So a lot of what I do focuses on. Okay.
Then how do we make surethat the research output,
leads to real world changes in societies.
And I do this on an international level.
So these are sort of local communities,organizations
and also working with governmentsand international organizations

(36:52):
to deliver impact.
Yeah.
So, Kristen Coombs, I'm professor of information systems,
at the business school.
I'm also the associate deanfor research and innovation.
So in terms of the broader leadershiprole, it's very much about creating
sort of an excellent research environmentfor our colleagues like Albert.
To really make a differenceto their research.

(37:12):
So what we want to do as a school and as a university is translate
our research into real world impact,make sure we can we can affect
the lives of people, translateour research into practice.
And it, you know, aligns very much with,the school's progress with purpose
strategy,around sort of thinking beyond profit,

(37:32):
because this is morewhat we as, as researchers
and as academics are interested in,
but I think it resonates morewith what society is looking towards
and sort of engaging with,because there's a recognition
that actuallywe need to be mindful of the planet.
We need to be mindful of sortof the implications for people
within it, the lived experiencesand building through that.

(37:53):
So my enjoyable sort of leadership role
as an associatedean is creating that environment.
So we can we canwe can flourish in that regard.
From my own personal researchpoint of view,
I look at the business benefitsof artificial intelligence.
So again, much like Albert looking forso there's those translatable impacts
into sort of businessesand organizations really.

(38:15):
So that's what I'm interested in. Amazing.
So looking at those real world impactsand how we're impacting society,
can either of you expand on like a recentor something that you've done, Yeah.
So particularly over the last five years,I would say,
I've been doing a lot of work,in Africa.
So a great example is the projectthat we did in Ethiopia.

(38:39):
I was working with an international NGO
called Amref and also, the government,
and we were using the outcomesof my research
to help unemployed youth to get, digital skills training
so that they can enter the globalgig economy, workforce.
It was amassive project actually funded by USAID.

(39:01):
At its peak, it reached 2 millionunemployed youth in Ethiopia.
The part of the project that, my team was working
on was arounddigital skills and capacity building.
So that had an impactdirectly on about 45,000
youth staff in Ethiopia, training them,helping them build up their sort of,

(39:22):
the learning materialsusing the research that I had done.
So it was really great to go backand see that some of these, unemployed
youthare now they're no longer unemployed.
They've got jobs.
One of their key stakeholderswas helping the unemployed youth
with Microfinancing as well.
So using the knowledge gainedfrom the research and then applying it

(39:44):
in their own businesses, I think was, waswhat was really, really good, outcome.
And just recently, another project thatI've been working on is with Girl Effect.
So Girl Effectis another international NGO.
This one was in Tanzania.
So we used the outcomes of my research.
And what we did is, we trainedthe leadership team at Google Effect,

(40:08):
and they were able to use that knowledgeon a current project that they're doing,
in the northern partof Tanzania called Arusha.
They're working with,disadvantaged women and helping them with
economictraining so that they can start businesses
in some sort of underprivileged,communities out there.

(40:29):
So one thing I love about doing impactresearch
and having the freedom that we do atLoughborough is you can have a great idea,
you can go and deliver it,and then you have the freedom
and the capacity to go back and see thatindeed, it's made a real world difference.

(40:49):
Just one that just came to my mind.
So the one that I really, really,really impacted on me
personally is I was workingwith, some charities in Kenya,
in some of the big slumsin, in, in Nairobi.
And, they wanted to use my research to train

(41:09):
women that had sufferedfrom gender based violence.
So we I went into the slums,
and we did a training for themin like a metal box.
Essentially, it didn't have electricity.
So it's great thingthat, you know, changed my laptop.
And, they were able to use that training,
to get microfinancingand to start up little businesses.

(41:32):
So there was one woman that we visitedin, she started selling eggs, boiled eggs.
It it sounds very small,but she was able to grow
that, businessand send her children to school.
Yeah.
So we went to visit herat her little stall in the slums.
She had about two children.I think she was a teenager.
And it was just empoweringto see that research.

(41:56):
The output can change livesand is changing lives.
And I think for me, workingat Loughborough
and being able to have those experiencesreally does, enrich my experience
and also the experience of my students,
because I told them these stories,I was like, wow.
And I showed them the pictures.
They're like, wow, you were there. Yeah.

(42:18):
That's cool.
You know, and that's something that for me
personally, is thisyou know, what crisp is talking about?
Progress with purpose.
What what we do.
So, yeah,that's something that just kept my mind.
So, yes, it's a great example.
It's a really nice.It's like I'm from I think
the, the, the contrast we have.
So with, with some of the workthat colleagues do across the, the school

(42:43):
is that we go from, from that exampleand then translate into the types of work
that, professor Tom Jacksonand any other professor
in Hodgkinson are doing arounddigital decarbonization.
And you relate that to sort ofstarting up a small business in that case,
and just sitting somebody sort of offsubsistence.
Really. Yeah.
And then we got other researchers who arelooking at sort of the global impact

(43:06):
of using technologyand what that means for the carbon
footprintthat we are all generating whenever we do,
you know, get excited by a particular memeor whatever that's taking place
that's going viral and usingAI to generate some sort of image, the
the amount of energy that is used,when you put that into it

(43:26):
and just creating it,I think, oh, this is a bit of fun.
And, and it's a two minute. Oh, great,I can post it.
Everyone has a laugh.
And so yeah, that, that actually usedan awful lot of energy.
Yeah. Just to create that image.
And we just don't think about itin that way.
So that work is really powerful.
And then workingwith sort of international policy makers
to kind ofget that message around, actually,
we need to think about

(43:46):
our digital footprint,
especially when we're using thingslike equipment technologies
and, and artificial intelligencebecause they're becoming normal.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. You know, in our daily lives.
Yeah, absolutely.
So staying with AI,what's the positive side of that.
How are we using it to sort of improvelives, tackle global challenges.

(44:11):
Let's go down the nice route.
Not the not the meme route.
I think it offers huge potential.
Yeah.
In terms of sort of actuallymaking our lives easier, sort
of accelerating progresstowards drug discovery.
There was a lot of work aroundinterestingly,
during Covid, we had a real pressure on.

(44:34):
So actually,
could we come up with a, you know,a vaccination, a solution to sort of,
the world essentiallyto get us out of the situation we were in.
And there was a real challenge of,actually, can we turn to I, we use it.
And at that point in time,what was evident was
kind of the potentialwas there in our in our capabilities.
But what we weren't set up for is, our data structures,

(44:58):
the organization of our data,the cleanliness, because AI lives of data,
it requires data to getit moving and so forth. And
it was kind of, well,we can, but we're not quite there yet.
We're not ready.
And it kind of illustrates the situationthat, you know, heck, we might have
something like that in again in the futureor some sort of challenging problem.

(45:19):
And they could, you know, acceleratethe way we can move towards it.
There's an awful lot of debateat the moment around
research and innovation, around workingwhere the boundaries of AI,
how we use it in termsthe methods, can we trust it?
It's challenging because of the sort ofwe need the explainability,
and the work around thatand having having that connection.
And I think that that'sone of the big challenges with

(45:41):
it is because it'svery much operating in the black box.
Yeah.
And there's very clever researchersin computer science at Loughborough
and, and more broadlysort of trying to wrestle
with these problemsand help with the explainability. But
the hope is that it can save installingit can make things easier there.
It's still the simple task.
We see itjust playing around with the likes of UBC

(46:01):
and some of the things that there aresome tasks can do extremely well already.
There are also real pitfalls with it
because you have to double check inand really learn around it.
So I think one of the aspectsthat we're starting to get
a better handle on,and I think is really important for the
for society more broadly,but especially for students
coming into this, this, this learningenvironment is actually building

(46:24):
up your artificial intelligence literacyso you can really discern
what you're looking at.
We need to be sortof the challenging images that you see.
And so you don't, you know,they aren't designed to get you to react.
And so it's having that awareness,having building the skill sets.
I think this starts actuallywith very young age. Yeah.

(46:46):
To actually
normalize the behavior that we just don'ttake what we see for granted.
We don't assume it's the truth.
Because it's so easy to create thingsthat are so, so accurate that,
so it's got huge potential and real,you know, we can really accelerate things,
but it's, balanceand understanding a point
where it's boundaries areI think we really we need to focus.
Yeah, absolutely.

(47:08):
Yeah.
From my research, the two projectsthat we're actually doing at the moment.
So my, previous research projecton healthcare digitalization,
one of the outcomes is we're workingwith a local, company in Africa,
and we're trying to develop an AI powered,healthcare connectivity.

(47:28):
And, so one of the one of the findings from the research
was how disconnected the healthcareecosystem is.
And so we were thinking abouthow can we develop something
that allows healthcare workersand healthcare users to have access
to a platformthat they can get accurate, healthcare

(47:49):
information, particularly informationin their local environment?
And Crispin will know my current,
impact project,academic skills for students.
So, that is something that,you know, we're we're doing it right now.
And that project, just about a month
ago, we, we we decided thathaving an AI in the back end,

(48:11):
will really enhancethe platform set up that platform is,
providing academic skills for studentsbefore they come to university.
And what we want to do iswe want to use the AI to provide tailored
feedback on their academic skillsso that they can get individualized
insights into where they currently arebefore they come to university.

(48:34):
And now give them some,some leeway to prepare.
And. Okay, then these are my strengths.
These are areasthat I might have to improve on.
So prior to coming to university,they already know this.
So, there's just little ways that where
I've been trying to use AI very recently.
But as Crispin said, you know, it's a it'srelatively new technology.

(48:56):
No one really knows where it's going.
I mean, even though they say they do,but they don't.
And I think as a university,we are constantly with the department,
constantly thinking, okay, in
how how do we leverage this technologyfor our students,
how do we informed them about it, and alsohow do we integrate it
into the sort of researchthat we're doing?

(49:16):
So the project you just mentionedis that the Ghana based project.
I have two Ghana based projects.
Actually.
So the first one was the healthcare digitalization project.
So that was a projectthat we started about five years ago.
And it started off with, one caseexample of a teaching hospital

(49:36):
in the northern part of Ghanawhere we did research with them.
And the the issue was,you know, in emerging economies,
there's lots of technology, butthey're not being utilized effectively.
And we wanted to find out what was goingon within within that context.
So through the research,we were able to find out that
a lot of healthcare workersand healthcare leaders were scared

(49:59):
of using technology because they feltwas going to take their jobs.
That was the messagethey'd been hearing from social media.
And so we were able to identify that.
And then what we then did was to develop,capacity building
and training for healthcare workersand healthcare users.
And we implemented that in the hospital.
And then we brought togethera multidisciplinary team,

(50:22):
from all levels of the hospitalto develop
their first ever healthcaredigitalization policy.
I shared it with some colleagues hereat Loughborough.
They gave us some really good insights.
And now, the hospital has implementedthat policy and they're using it.
So the feedback we got, just beforeChristmas was they're now doing more

(50:44):
training on healthcare digitalization,which they've never done before.
They're now integrating, digital technologies
that they already had,but they weren't used, using it.
And one of the things that I trainwas able to communicate was how digital
technologies can have a massive impacton job quality and care quality.

(51:04):
The narrative wasit only benefited care quality,
and it didn't do much for the job quality,but we were able to demonstrate to them
that, indeed it does.
So that was a really great project.
And what subsequently happenedwas that the government of Ghana picked it
up, which led to themcoming to Loughborough
last year for, a visit.

(51:24):
They signed an MoU with the university.
And really it's,it was in recognition of the,
you know, the impact that we havea, you know, internationally.
And now we're working with themon, on the subsequent digitalization
and academic skills project.
So the first research project led to thecurrent research project that we're doing.

(51:50):
And so I think when you have real worldimpact, things come out of it.
Unexpected things.
When I study that project, I didn't know,
you know, ministerswill be coming to visit Loughborough.
And, you know, it was subsequentlylead to this new project, which is,
you know, a massive scale.
So I think that is one of the benefitsof working at the business school,

(52:14):
this idea that you can come up with,great idea,
you can implement it,it has rewards and you get support.
You really get support.
You know, I can send an email out to,
you know,someone and, you know, have an idea
which haven't been tested yet, but youget the support to bring it to fruition.

(52:35):
And I think that's a really, a powerful thing to have at a,
at an academic institution.
Yeah, absolutely. That's so exciting.
Yeah, it was really cool.
That's good.
Yeah.
To have the delegationcome to that connection.
And that's amazing.
how do you ensure technology benefitspeople, not just organizations?

(52:58):
I think you mentioned that earlier.
Do you want to explore that a bit more?Yeah.
So let me give you one example of, a piece of work that I'm currently doing.
So I've got, a collaborative research project,
with a colleague in computer science,professor Georgina Cosmo.
And we're working with a company, based in London that,

(53:19):
provide consultants consulting support forthe many organizations that it's doing.
Transformation.
So any sort of change, transformation, newproject, I.T system going
in, you name it,they're trying to do that.
And you talk about the difference
between actually, how can we supportorganizations versus people and make you
you know, we're not just focusing onwhat organizations are people.
Fundamentallyand anything what this project does

(53:42):
and any sort of change project,this is all about trying to figure out
how can we support consultantsso that when you're doing
complex change in an organization,which is stressful,
for everybody involved, and thankfully,these things are not straightforward,
how can you make sure that the change goeswell?
And how can you predict where it's going?
Well, so what we're doing with,with the organization is essentially

(54:05):
trying to use AI to predict the flightpath of a complex project.
So the project managers, the the peopleinvolved can all have sleepless.
I'm not,
Sleep well at night.
So it goes through so it's niceand smoothly, but essentially work out.
Actually, it'sbeen like a plane in the air.

(54:26):
How is it going to land?
Are we going to hit turbulence.
So we're going to have problemsalong the way.
And can we predict it and therefore canwe make adjustments in advance to do so?
And one of the really nice things aroundthat is it's it's all about trying to help
both the consultants themselvesmake better decisions
and therefore get more job satisfactionand feel like they can help the clients
and help more clientsin a more effective way.

(54:48):
It's about helping.
But the organization itself sort of think,
okay,we get more benefits and value out of it,
but it's also helping the change managers.
It's about helping the users.
It's the workers,the job design changing and making sure
they're all progressingin a more positive way.
So I think one of the nice thingsaround that project
and what we're enjoying aroundit, is just understanding

(55:09):
that we're trying to make the changein human behavior so more successful.
We're trying to get thatthat sort of engagement on side
and using AI and this sort of it'snot it's not easy to replace your jobs.
It's it's here to complement and,
and all that and make and essentiallymake our experiences better.
But thinking from a, from businessmanagement perspective,

(55:31):
from a business school,
because an awful lot of our work is focused in that, that aspect
and makingso the UK plc more effective and,
and that's one of the, the requirementsof the project is actually it needs to,
you know, be successful.It needs to promote the company.
We want it to succeed in that regardbecause that benefits people, employees.

(55:51):
And so
Yeah.
And then I, I suppose we've touched on it.
But how does the school's researchenvironment create opportunities
for students to learn from and engagewith the cutting edge work.
So you've spoken a little bit aboutthe projects that they're able to do.
Is there anything else that you wantedto mention in that respect?
Okay.

(56:12):
I think, you know, we advocate
for research led, teaching,
you know, and I teach of at all levelswithin the university and,
the content I put out therefrom the real world case examples
from my own research,being able to show students data

(56:34):
that we've collected, how we collected it,the methodology, being able to.
So when I was doingone of the research projects that I did,
we recorded YouTube videos,for the healthcare workers
and the healthcare leaders,capacity building.
And what I decided to doafter the project was
I uploaded the videoson the learn page for the students.

(56:56):
So I told the students about the project
and actually the contentdirectly fed into the module.
So they wereable to go and watch those YouTube videos,
which enrich their learning,but also gave them that real world insight
into the sorts of things that we do.
So I think I as you, as with your updatingand developing content,

(57:17):
you're always thinking, how can I bring inreal world examples from my research?
How can I, next students see that,you know, some of the differences between
theoretical perspectives and real world,
lived realities of, doing research.
And one of the things I also like to do isI like to tell students

(57:38):
about where the research went wrong.
And, one of the things I often do isI show them my I keep a reflective log
whenever I go out into work,and I and I, and I read extracts
of that reflective log to them, and Iexplain the thought processes behind that.
Where mistakes were made in the research,how, you know, we,

(57:58):
we overcame that and what we did inand I let them discuss it.
What would you have done.
How would you have dealtin this sort of situation?
And they find that really enrichingbecause,
obviously you've got the theoreticalcontent from the academic literature,
but they also want real worldcase examples,
but they love to have case examplesfrom the person to the content.

(58:24):
And not just, hey, it went
really well, but actually this is theyou know, this is what happens.
This is how we overcome thingsand this is the output.
This is the impact.
And I think that's what inspired, the student I'll tell you about earlier
to contact me and ask me, you know, thisis something we're really interested in.
Can you help me go into this industry?
I've seen the work that you've done.

(58:44):
It appliesto what we're learning in class,
and I really want to pursuethis as a career.
As a career?
So I think
research led teaching is funnybecause it's embedded into what we do.
Business is part and parcel of what we do.
And, it makes it easierbecause you're, you know, you you're

(59:05):
you're talking from lived experience.
You're talking from things that you doevery single day.
And the students really appreciate that.
And you can see that in the engagementtypes of questions that they ask you,
the follow ups that, that, that do have,
and it also inspires students as well.
And, you know, are thinking

(59:27):
about career paths, thinking about, further education coming back.
Maybeif they do an undergrad to do a master's,
they'll come to you say,I love your research.
You know,I want to do my dissertation in this area.
I had two masters reach out to me.
They're not my students.
And they found me on the web,and they said, where?

(59:49):
We're doing a research projectwith the MD, organizational culture.
You know,we wanted to talk to you about it.
And they did a final year dissertation.
So I had a meeting with themand we discussed it.
And you know, they got back to me.
Hey, we're now we're now doing thingsdifferently based on that conversation.
So I think that creates an environmentin which students know

(01:00:12):
that academicsare actively doing research.
And they can use that researchnot just for publications,
which is really, really important,but to enrich their learning experience.
And they really value that. Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, I think so that I think it'sthe reality of, it's messy now, but,

(01:00:33):
you know, it's nice and straightforwardwhen you read it in a textbook.
Yeah, yeah, we do that and do thatand you can.
And I'm one of the key thingsyou want to do
in the classroom and
at Loughborough is very muchget that sense across, that sort of okay.
When he doesn't line up like that,what do we do?
How do we deal with, one of the things,we're hoping to do.

(01:00:55):
So, with the project,I've got, all around project management
and using AI to predict whether a projectis going to be successful or not.
Associate who's working on that?
Is a recent graduate from Loughborough.
And we're telling them that actually,this is a really useful what we want to do
is get him back into the classroombecause he's a recent graduate.

(01:01:18):
He's donehis masters here as well with us.
Learning about the complexity of itand what we're finding
in the early stage of the projectis it's not going in a straight line.
It's not going as we predictedand planned,
largely because, again,it's an AI driven project, and he requires
data and requires data available to train,the algorithm to make decisions.
And what we found fairly early onis that actually the amount of data

(01:01:40):
we were going to be drawing onis no longer available to us because of
data protection rule and instructionsand in existing contracts.
So, you know, the data is there,but you're not allowed to use it legally.
So, I mean, fair enough.
You know, we we follow the rules.
And so, you know, so thereforehow do you get around that problem?
Because, you know, you know, the solutionyou want to create,
you know, it can be really valuable,but you've got to figure out how to do it.

(01:02:04):
And and the solution we're working upis coming up with a way of generating,
synthetic data.
And so it's not actual real data,but it's data that's generated through
sort of and, a large language modelsthat would like to ChatGPT Copeland.
So, but, but based around informationthat we gathered on real world parameters.
So we talked to consults, we found outthe pinch points, we get their experiences

(01:02:26):
from leading those projectsand then use that to ask
and set a sort of set of variablesand actually ask ChatGPT
to come up with a set of datathat could approximate to that.
You get that data set, youthen go and check the results it produces
with the consultants.
Does this seem plausiblenow these that this is not real data.

(01:02:47):
This is not real company.So we get around that problem.
But it allows us to workthrough an example demonstration of
this is what the system could do.
If we can have the data from the projectsas we go through,
then you need to talk to the companieswho are joining the new change management
project and saying, would you allow usto use your data to help
train the AI systemto be able to produce this type of output,

(01:03:10):
which we think would benefit you as well,and what we want to do, and sort of
having had that experienceand we were having this conversation
and the other week with the company,the supervisors said actually, we'd love
to get the associate into the classroomalong with his managers.
And that's sort oftell this case study to our students.
This also.
But what do you do
when you don't have the datato create the wonderful AI solution?

(01:03:33):
And how do you manage that?
Because again, we just sort ofthink that that's really rich.
That's so the this is the type of this iswhere your learning really happens. Yes.
Essentially because you know, it's it'ssolving those problems and making.
Yeah. How do you get around it.
And there are ways and it's really niceworking with computer science and Georgina
because she's giving me new insightsand I'm learning from the project as well.

(01:03:55):
So it's not justa one way aspect around learning here.
So but we can learn thingsfrom our students.
They go out and exploreand have a challenge. Right. Okay. Yeah.
How do we.
Yeah. No. And we can talk through themand talk to the problem.
So that's really rewarding.
So from my perspective Yeah.
Absolutely amazing.
global collaborations.
How do they shape your researchand its impact?

(01:04:17):
I mean, this is something that we're offthe presses.
We're not doing it at the moment. So,
a while ago, actually,not that long, maybe six months ago.
I had enough of my great ideas.
And those around leadership development,you know, the business school where
when it comes to leadership,
education, we're quite good at that,you know, to say the least.

(01:04:41):
And I have an idea.
And, I pitched it to Professor Zainab, who is one of the experts here
when it comesto cross-cultural leadership.
And she liked it,and we worked on a proposal together.
And then she said, listen,
so we sent that to the dean,very quickly.
Love is really good.

(01:05:03):
But the dean then said,I want you to think bigger.
I want you to think globalabout this particular project.
Okay, great.
And then the dean actually facilitateda meeting for us to meet
with the CEO of the globalbusiness school Network, Gibson.
So we had a meeting with Dan and his team.

(01:05:24):
We pitched the idea,they really liked it as well.
But, you know, we but we worked togetherto, change the idea
and to adapt it to what we currently have.
So I think what that taught me was,you know, we have good ideas.
It's good to workwith global organizations.

(01:05:45):
Refining it.
So the current idea that we have,the current leadership program
that we're going to implementis very different from the original idea
that I came up with.
But it's better,and it's going to be more impactful
and more sustainablebecause, you know, the dean connected us
with, Gibson and Dan and his teamand were able to have,

(01:06:09):
that expertise and shaped,the current program.
So we're going to developand deliver a new leadership
development program with Gibson.
So again, as I say early to Crispin,you can come up with a great idea.
You can get a dean on board, you know,and then open doors and enable you

(01:06:33):
to work with a networks like Gibson
to deliver, projects and, and programs.
So, for me, I think that shows,
who we are as a business school.
We are, global in our, in
our, in our view of, of the world.
We are connectingwith stakeholders at all levels.

(01:06:56):
And I think we recognizethe importance of,
collaborative, programand project delivery.
And that's a really you know,if you're thinking about having impact,
that's the way to go about it.
So, that's what I would have to say.Yeah.
I think done with sort of I mean,I think about the global collaborations

(01:07:17):
that I've been part of and, and LinkedIn,one of them was thinking around
AI and actually, a projectwe did a few years ago.
Now think about, well, actually,what is it about humanity?
But we shouldn't give away to machines.
What do we need to hang on toand hold on to?
And, we did this, with a Europeannetwork of like minded academics.

(01:07:39):
We got 40 experts in the room,or focusing on that
from ten different countries.
Really thinking around,
where are the boundaries,what are the aspects we could look at?
And we looked around topicssuch as common conflict.
We looked at wellbeing,we looked at attention.
And we'd sort of see how sort of,you know, we're seeing new stories

(01:08:00):
breaking now around actually, the addictive nature of some technologies,
and, and how they monopolize our attention.
Everything's trying to capture our,you know, get our eyeballs on it,
with clickbait and so forth.
So we werewe were looking at those aspects of it
and the principlesthat came through around
actually where the boundarieswas, was always

(01:08:20):
sort of keeping the human in the loop,
making sure we have the explainabilityof decision making around that,
but also the human having being maintainedin terms of critiquing
how and when we use AI, where are theboundaries for AI and having that.
So sort of that was that was a niceglobal project that was kind of doing

(01:08:41):
the thought leadership piece to sort ofgive us some boundaries.
Actually, these are the thingswe have to hang on to, to retain
oversight and, and ensure the AI works
the good and you it,it has real potential in many, many ways.
And we can't ignore,
those many applications of itfor good and ill,

(01:09:06):
and they go through it andtherefore are having that sort of regular.
But it has to be done.
The sort of a principal level,
because each use case is so detailsand so different.
If you don't, if
you can have it in the principle in thatthat's the only probably practical way to
to have a legal mechanism to control,
it is to have principles that we canthen testing courts

(01:09:28):
and sort of say, actually know,is this in line with the principle of, of,
of looking out,making sure we got decision making power?
Because at the momentit's running so fast.
You know, I was struggling to keep up withlegislation, can't keep on.
So it's reallythe only practical way forward.
So that was nice because it gave usa very much a European view.

(01:09:49):
And you do see that contrastbetween a European view versus a US view?
And so for, around how we should useAI and when the boundaries.
Yeah.
That's so interesting.
why should students come to Loughborough?
I think a lot when I was doing open daysand engaging
with students and presenting them,

(01:10:09):
I always used to feel likesort of actually,
the first thing I would sayis, or personally, in terms
of making a decision,why should you come to LA for if at all
possible, come to look actually come oncampus, see the see the campus live.
It's very nice.
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, it just gives youthat feel of actually what it's like.
And I do think in terms of that decisionmaking, there's both a logic
and a heart and, engines to make sense.

(01:10:30):
So there was this thinkingand what's this thinking?
And how do you feel around it?
And I think for a lot of students,when they come onto campus the first time,
they get a sense like, yes,I can see myself here.
And then you sort of say, well, actually,which course are you interested in?
An underline it with that dimension?
So I think that's one aspect when it comes
to the business schoolspecifically around that.
We've got,
excellent sort of staff and colleaguesaround in terms of delivering that.

(01:10:54):
We talk very much about deliveringsort of a real world experience, getting
that practical impact into the classroomand having sort of tangible sort of,
detailed cases where you've actually seenour businesses are run.
You experience that.
We have various courses around
giving practical experience,like on trading platforms,
if you're interested in financial tradingand get into that aspects as well

(01:11:16):
as you get a lot of experiencein the classroom and building through.
But I think the other aspect thatI always felt really made a difference
for our students was how integral theplacement year and year and industry is.
Because I've seen my duties over, overmany years
come through the first and second yearand they're getting up to speed.

(01:11:36):
And then when they go out and industry
and many of themwill come back and refer to me.
So that'swhere my real, real learning happen.
And that's where I'm pretty sure I didwhat I needed to do and those dimensions.
And that makes such a differencebecause it as well as putting, you know,
theory and practice understanding it,it's actually just being in the workplace.

(01:11:57):
Understand the dynamicsof how you do a job.
Appreciating those sort of challenges,the importance of normal time
being having time to arrange meetingsall the all the silly,
you know, the little things.
But it just getting that embeddedin your mindset
for when you come back into the finalyear, you've got the knowledge,

(01:12:17):
you've got the work experience,you still do.
You seen how it works,you seen how it doesn't work.
Excuse me saying earlier
this up, things get messy thatdid you know, it's completely different.
They can then bring that intotheir assignments and their assessments.
So you're the the abilityto perform the best, in your final year,
which is where you actually are highestwaiting for marks.

(01:12:37):
And this is, this is this is place.
But they're so well placedthen to go on and beyond
and moveinto the sort of the workplace and,
and choose what they want to do,and shape in that regard.
So I think it's very muchthe learning experience.
So I think it's that combination of why,
why come to Loughboroughif I come back to it?
It's a wonderful experience on campus.

(01:12:58):
It's a really nice time.
You make wonderful friends.
You get that engagement and support.
You get that connection with thethe academic calling to help
you navigate you through thosethat that learning period.
But then with an eye on that, sadly,you will leave,
but you will leave to go onand do great things
and you'll still be part of the family.
But you need to,you know, you're going beyond that.

(01:13:19):
You're so well placed to sort of reallyaccelerate your career step into that
first job, but do it confidently,and do it in a way that's okay.
I've got, you know, I'm
gradually growing and developing, I'm doing it with my friends.
And then you can then you can progressand and keep that network going.
It's actually going to keep youfrom networking going through.

(01:13:41):
So I think there's all it'sthat combination
of the different elementscoming together in the journey.
Thanks. It'ssuch a such a rich experience.
I remember
the first time I came onto the campus,I was like, this feels like a university.
Does it?
That's what, you know, and I think students also show
that I'm a placement tutor, and actuallyhave meetings with my students this week.

(01:14:04):
And one of the thingsabout being a placement tutor
is you get to talk to the line managersof our students
and the feedback about, you know, we knowwhen we've got a Loughborough student
that that that is a common theme, you know, from really large multinationals
all the way down to small tech startups,

(01:14:25):
sometimes have students that go abroad.
One went to Germany, one was in India,one went to South Africa.
The feedback is always consistent.
There's something about studyingat Loughborough that managers recognize
because they get studentsfrom a lot of universities.
I remember talking to,
and this is a recurrent theme to studentsthat have come back from placement.

(01:14:47):
And one of the things they told me is,when I came back
from placement,I treat my final year like a job.
I come in at 9 or 10
and I stay till about five, and I go homeand my grades are getting better off.
The what I've learned on placementis actually helping me
finish off strong in the final year,
and it's also helping me to get postdoc,

(01:15:10):
or I mean, post-grad schemes and to go.
So I had a meeting with oneof my final year students who was in.
She initially wantedto go into one industry all her life.
She came on placement, went into thatindustry and realized she didn't like it.
She wanted to pivot somewhere else.
And I was like, there'sno better insight than that, right?

(01:15:34):
Sometimes, you know, theoreticallyyou think, oh, this is what I want to do.
But coming to Loughboroughallows you to test that in reality.
And and there's nothing betterthan coming out of and saying, yes, okay.
It is, but actually what about it'snot you've had that experience
and she was able to not only realizethat wasn't what she wanted to do,

(01:15:54):
but she found her true passion, and italigned with her with her skill set.
And she found it, you know,and she just adapted to it.
And so we had a meeting with herline manager.
We moved her to a different department.
And you know, she came back and fired.
We loved it.
And they gave her a job offer. Went.
Yeah.
So it these are the sorts of livedrealities that our students have.

(01:16:19):
And, it's really niceto be part of that journey with them,
to see them grow from first year,
to when they graduatewith that, real world,
placement experience in the world of workis becoming more competitive.
There's not as many jobs around.
So, a loss per student differentiatesthemselves not just by coming to,

(01:16:41):
you know, a great university,but also having that placement experience
that,you know, really does bolster their CV.
So when you're entering into the worldof work, these days, in a line managers
that I'm talking to thatthey're looking for,
what do you bring asa, as a, as an individual.

(01:17:02):
So your ability to say, I did really wellacademically, but I went on placement
and these are the transferable skillsthat I can bring to your organization.
This is what I did on placement.
This this was my end of year project.
And this is how I think it can helpor benefit your organization.
Managers like to hear that.

(01:17:22):
And I think, our university equipsstudents to be able
to confidently communicatethat to potential, employers.
And, I think the success rates,I don't know what the statistics are,
but from my placement students,it seems, is very high.
And, you know, so if you're thinkingabout why come to Loughborough?

(01:17:44):
I think it'snot just a great university experience,
but we really do intentionallyset you up for a real world of work.
And I think that's that's crucial in thecurrent context that we find ourselves in.
Yeah. Amazing.
Well thank you so much for your timetoday. Great.
Thank you. Thank you very much.

(01:18:06):
She.