Over the semester, four International Security Master's student teams tackled live challenges posed by the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Transport, addressing critical issues spanning defence, security, and critical infrastructure.
Drawing on extensive stakeholder engagement – including over 120 interviews and field visits to sites such as the Defence Academy and an operational submarine – the teams worked intensively to develop actionable, innovative solutions that are now shaping thinking within government and military institutions.
The student projects tackled a diverse set of challenges.
One team proposed a secure, deployment-ready app to help women in close combat roles monitor their menstrual health and access educational support, addressing a major gender data and performance gap in the Army.
Another team focused on cultural transformation in the Royal Navy, identifying structural and interpersonal barriers to change in remote operational units and proposing practical strategies to build leadership-led engagement and organisational readiness.
A third team, working with the Department for Transport, developed a visionary communications strategy to address border congestion at Dover, proposing pre-travel biometric enrolment and the creation of a Dover Operations Centre.
Finally, a fourth team examined how to address training inefficiencies in the Navy, recommending rapid implementation of a new digital learning management capability to improve preparedness and reduce risk in high-stakes maritime operations.
Jayde Sharp, the team leader on that project reflected on the experience: "This was a great opportunity to work with the Ministry of Defence and was my first time conducting interviews with industry professionals. Working with the Royal Navy was incredibly rewarding for my team; we were treated as colleagues and our recommendations were met with genuine interest and enthusiasm.
"Overall, the process really increased my confidence and developed us as a team. This was the most challenging project I've worked on, but I would recommend this programme to anyone wishing to push themselves and reap the benefits."
All four teams produced clear, impactful recommendations grounded in user discovery and rigorous analysis. Their outputs are already feeding into real-world planning discussions across Defence and Transport, demonstrating the power of student-led innovation in addressing complex public sector problems.
The event brought together students, academic instructors, mentors, government, officials, industry partners, and representatives from Common Mission underscoring the value of interdisciplinary collaboration, agile thinking, and mission-driven education.
Find out more about the MA in International Security