As we mark the one-year anniversary of a pioneering SLaTE funded project at the MarTech Laboratory, we are thrilled to share the remarkable experiences and achievements that have significantly shaped our past year. The funding allowed us to engage our student led ‘#6SCommunity’ in new and novel ways as well as supporting the creation of new digital marketing opportunities across our campuses and through our lab partner institution at Liverpool John Moores University. Our interim project report (see link below to download), is filled with unique initiatives and collaborations and showcases the laboratory’s dedication to fostering innovation, enhancing employability and bridging the gap between academia and industry.
Highlighting Key Milestones:
- Empowering Future Marketers: With 483 students certified in the last 3 years, we’re equipping the next generation with industry accredited skills.
Strengthening Industry Ties: Our 40+ collaborations with leading enterprises, sustainability/social good projects and startups, have paved the way for a hands-on learning experience. - Sparking Innovation through a ‘Thinkathon’: Unleashing creativity through 100+ students and stakeholders in a fun collaboration, we’ve turned 300 ideas into 151 actionable outcomes, setting the stage for future lab endeavours.
- Enhanced Learning Pathways: Our comprehensive certification pathways have reached 600 students, offering them unique extra-curricular opportunities to up-skill in Digital Marketing.
- Exploring the Future with AI: Through engaging events, we’ve explored AI’s transformative role in digital marketing, drawing a diverse audience from students to industry partners across our campuses and through partners also.
- Micro Internships: Our ‘MarTech Connectors’ (the students leading projects) gained insight and understanding of both running events and agency type work through delivering a variety of digital marketing related projects in their time at the lab.
The above highlights are just a summary of some key experiences. The report delves deeper into the MarTech Laboratory’s wider impact on student experience, showcasing a commitment to advancing digital marketing education and practice at Ulster University and beyond. It shares some of the testimonials of those involved as well as delving more deeply into the reach and impact of the previous year’s activities as well as the value extracted by students.
We invite academics, industry professionals, and students to download the full report and explore the detailed outcomes of our programme to date.
It has been an honour to work with the students and research team as well as the industry partners who have made this such an excellent experience on campus. If you have ideas or a will to explore how you can contribute to or benefit from the work of the MarTech Laboratory, please get in touch with the lab’s Principal Investigator, Dr John Bustard.