This is Block 19 (27 ECTS) on the 3+1 Integrated BSc/MSc Immersive Software Engineering and is the fifth and final block of the MSc track. It runs in the spring semester Weeks 7 to 15 (9 Weeks) and is classified as 2 2 in SITS. This is a residency that is hosted by an industry partner. This residency is a continuation of Block 18 - Resarch Project Part 1 of the applied MSc dissertation. The purpose of block 18 is to equip students with the cognitive frameworks necessary to evaluate, communicate, and exploit Research and Development through the medium of a Master's dissertation in situ. Students will have selected a topic in Block 14, identifed potential research question(s) and commenced the literature review. The literature review is substantially completed during Blocks 15 and 16, and the outlines of a research question have been agreed with the academic supervisor and an industry partner. Students will have selected an appropriate methodology, built the prototype necessary for the empirical study, and conducted experiments in an iterative manner in Block 18. In this Block, students are asked to analyse and critique their work, to complete a dissertation, prepare a draft publication, and look at opportunities for commercialisation of the prototype developed or incorporating it into the company's product roadmap.

1. Evaluating prototypes using qualitative and quantitative research methodology 2. Reflections on critical and creative thinking 3. Software Entrepreneurship: technology innovation, entrepreneurship, opportunity recognition, market analysis, financial management, intellectual property, project management and exit Strategies. 4. Financial modelling of a venture startup 5. Tools for business planning such as swimlanes, SWOT and PEST analysis, financial modelling using spreadsheets.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: - Analyse and critique the contribution of the work using critical thinking as a means of identifying the gap and the solution. - Explain the critical influencing factors for successful technology development and execution. - Develop a business plan with clear product differentiators, marketing strategy, sales and distribution channels, financial models, and project plans for a hypothetical commercialisation of the prototype. - Identify potential funding sources of funding, sales channels, and recruitment targets for a hypothetical startup - Create the business case and identify technical risks for a hypothetical incorporation of the prototype into the industry partner's portfolio - Summarise the research which they have completed in a written form that adheres to academic and professional standards, and clearly communicates creative and critical thinking. - Write a draft workshop/conference/journal paper based on the text in the dissertation. - Reflect upon, evaluate, and critique all phases of the work.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: - Organise their research. - Justify the value of their research project.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:

This block is an Immersive Software Engineering residency and introduces students to professional practice in the context of research and development. Students will remain with the same company that hosted them in Residency 5a given that both Residency 5a and Residency 5b are contiguous. While on residency, each student will have two mentors in their host company. One will be their technical mentor who will guide them through the process of writing and deploying software. The other will be their pastoral line manager who will be responsible for their overall experience. They will meet with their technical mentor every day, and their line manager once a week. It is anticipated that the time commitment from the technical mentor will be approximately 15 hours per week at the outset and decrease as the residency progresses, and that the time commitment from the line manager will be approximately 1.5 hours per week. The designated technical lead playing the role of industry mentor is vested in the prototype and stays connected with its design, implementation, and evaluation as documented in the dissertation. The industry mentor guides the student in identifying the business and technical value propositions in those phases of the lifecycle and supports the student with planning the writing phase and review of content. A second industry mentor comes into play in this block, that being the product manager who assists the student with creating the business case for a hypothetical incorporation of the prototype into an existing roadmap. The student will be given access to solutions and software architects to undertake due diligence and risk analysis from a technical perspective should the prototype be incorporated into the existing portfolio. Faculty will play a critical role in supervising and mentoring the work to ensure that the dissertation is at a standard commensurate with an MSc.It is envisaged that students will check in with their faculty supervisor at least weekly. This residency will follow Student Selected Project mode. In this model, students are taught entrepreneurship and interfacing with users. Students talk to users of their host company's product, understand their problems, and use this knowledge to design and execute product improvements. The largest work product will be documentation of their interviews with users, user research and sentiment documents, and an understanding of the internal problems faced by the team. Students should spend a planning cycle talking with users, evaluating various priorities, and understanding the mission of their team before picking a project. Residencies have specific learning outcomes that students will be evaluated against, and are normal-graded. Students will maintain a "logbook" that tracks their progress on these learning outcomes. Faculty are ultimately responsible for grading, and will issue grades based on (a) the student logbook, (b) the systematic evaluation of the quality of the prototype and pathway to commercialisation as documented in the dissertation, and (c) evaluation by industry mentor. Early detection and interventions will be in place to support students who are not achieving learning outcomes in a timely manner.