2024/25 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

LUBS5551M Problem Hacking for the Ministry of Defence

15 creditsClass Size: 30

Module manager: Richard Tunstall
Email: r.tunstall@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

Module replaces

LUBS5550M

This module is not approved as an Elective

Module summary

This is a highly interactive module that provides students with the opportunity to work with the Ministry of Defence and Intelligence Community to better address the nation’s emerging threats and security challenges. The applied module has student teams engage directly with complex, real world problems proposed by UK government sponsors, co-ordinated by the social enterprise, Common Mission.It is important to bear in mind that this module aims to simulate what start-ups and entrepreneurship is like in the real world: the need to take conceptually-sound decisions amidst uncertainty, challenging deadlines, and often conflicting input. As a result students are expected to attend all classes and work actively with their student team conducting real-world research every week to be able to progress. This will result in an intensive experience in a highly active and real-world engaged module.This module is based on a flipped classroom model which aims to maximise student engagement during class time. You are required to watch or attend the weekly lecture and to prepare for each class by reading/viewing the recommended resources. The information in the weekly lectures and readings will allow you to complete their interviews and present the insights the teaching team will expect in presentations. Recognising the workload for the class, we have selected short items for this reading/viewing list and have added ‘further resources’ for those who are interested in looking into some areas in more depth. Students should expect to devote 1-2 hours per week to this preparation. In addition to this, you will spend a significant amount of time conducting interviews related to your project. Every week the student team will identify, contact and conduct a minimum of ten interviews with real members of organisations focused on a specific part of the “Mission Model Canvas”; a visual tool and framework Hacking for Defense developed to rapidly test hypotheses against solutions for government issues. Learning activities include:- Preparation for weekly classes - Weekly lectures and reading/viewing - Ten interviews per week (per team) - Weekly Team presentationsBecause of the nature of this module, which requires working with the government sponsor of your assigned problem and gathering primary data on it, this module involves a significant time commitment. In addition to classroom time, the module’s demands include engagement with the lecture and other resources, course reading and an average of 10 hours of interviews per week per student team. You will also need to be available for one session of interview training as well as team meetings. It is important to remember that the aims and learning objectives of this module are focussed on developing a set of skills that you will be able to apply in a variety of professions, not on the development of substantive knowledge in a particular area. All of the problems assigned to students are curated by Common Mission (H4MoD) and by the academic module tutors to ensure that they provide the scope needed for the module, and that they match the student skills. Note that the number of students on the module is limited. Once you sign up for the module, you are making a commitment to the government agencies that are sponsoring problems for the module as well as to your fellow team members. Dropping out is unfair to your fellow students who did not get into the module and also appears unprofessional to the government sponsors involved. Any student who joins this module is agreeing to make the time necessary to fulfil the module’s requirements. You are welcome to ask any questions of the module coordinator by email in advance. Students of all nationalities are welcome on the module. It is possible, however, that due to the concerns of government sponsors, not all students will be eligible to work on all problems offered, depending on nationality.

Objectives

Problem Hacking for the Ministry of Defence is an interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial module that provides you with the opportunity to work with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Intelligence Community (IC) to better address the nation’s emerging threats and security challenges. The module is an applied one that sees students form teams to engage directly with complex, real world problems proposed by UK government sponsors.

In the module, you will be assigned to a student team and an MoD/IC problem, and then be provided with a range of relevant methodological tools and techniques. As the module progresses, student teams will be required to discover and validate customer needs and to continually build iterative prototypes to test whether you have understood the problem and your developing solution. Teams take a hands-on approach requiring close engagement with actual military, Ministry of Defence and other government agency end-users, using their real-world challenges.

The goal, within the constraints of a classroom and a limited amount of time, is to give you a framework to test solution hypotheses using a start-up model while creating all of the pressures and demands of the real world in an early-stage innovation in a large organisation. The class is designed to give you the experience of working as a team and turning an idea into a solution for real-world problems facing the Ministry of Defence and Intelligence Community.

It is important to bear in mind that this module aims to simulate what start-ups and intra-corporate entrepreneurship (intrapreneurship) is like in the real world: the need to take conceptually-sound decisions amidst uncertainty, challenging deadlines, and often conflicting input.

This course is led by University of Leeds faculty and supported through a partnership with the social enterprise Common Mission, who liaise between the University and Ministry of Defence to support the module, student teams and faculty. In the UK, Hacking for Ministry of Defence (H4MoD) is funded by the Ministry of Defence. The module is based on the Hacking for Defense™ (H4D) programme initially developed at Stanford University (http://hacking4defense.stanford.edu) which is an education initiative sponsored by the U.S. Defense Accelerator, and National Security Innovation Network (NSIN).

Learning outcomes
Upon completion of this module students will be able to:

1. Critically apply Lean Start-up principles to real-world national security and defence problems and develop and test hypotheses;
2. Critically apply understanding of the UK defence and intelligence community to recognise and interpret complex problems and formulate responses and solutions;
3. Identify, critically assess and explain a complex problem using specialised and empirically-based knowledge;
4. Appraise and critically assess complex material from a wide body of literature, and exercise independent judgment in how it is used:
5. Coordinate a team and critically reflect on their role in an interdisciplinary team and appraise their strengths and weaknesses as team members.

Skills outcomes
Skills Outcomes

- provide students with deep knowledge and understanding of some of the most pressing challenges facing the UK defence and intelligence community
- provide students with insights into the constraints and opportunities facing UK government as it seeks to address these challenges
- equip students with a range of methodological tools focused around Lean Start-up principles that can be applied to real-world problems
- provide high quality experiential learning by working on a real-world problem
- provide students with the means to critically assess the value and relevance of methodological tools as they relate to specific problems
- help students develop a repeatable model for problem-solving that can be used in a range of other contexts

Students will learn a range of general and employability skills

Syllabus

As an indicative list, the topics covered in this module will include:

1. Customer discovery
2. Understanding beneficiaries and stakeholders
3. Developing a value proposition
4. Developing product fit
5. Developing targets and outcomes
6. Developing buy in & support
7. Project deployment
8. Mapping activities, Resources & Partners
9. Developing budgets & operating plans
10. Reflections

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Workshop	10	2.50	25.00
Lecture	10	1.00	10.00
Independent online learning hours			15.00
Private study hours			100.00
Total Contact hours			35.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			150.00

Private study

Independent Learning:
Completion of assessment task = 52 hours
Follow-up work = 34 hours
Preparation for scheduled sessions = 19 hours

Independent Online Learning
Pre-recorded lectures and online materials = 15 hours

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Weekly progress presentations
- Preparing a weekly iteration of the Mission Model Canvas, including the final Mission Model Canvas
- Weekly Reflective Journal

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1,500 word individual reflective essay	50.00
Presentation	Group presentation	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Resit for the module will be 100% by 3,000 word essay.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 16/08/2024 11:44:42

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