Learning Environment

Description and purpose 
Faculty at ITU do not spend all their time teaching; they are also active researchers taking part in research projects, collecting, and analysing data, authoring research papers, disseminating their findings at conferences and in the media, and other research activities. When teachers draw on own or ITU colleagues research in courses, students gain valuable insights into current research methods, findings and agendas and synergy between research and teaching is created.  

The IT University Research Portal contains details of the university’s research, including access to individual researcher profiles, their research output, and activities. The Research Portal also functions as database for ITU and provides access (Open Access) to full text PDF files of most publications. 

Target group 
Students, staff, anyone interested in learning more about ITU-associated research.  

More information 
The IT University Research Portal: https://pure.itu.dk/en/ 

Description and purpose 
ITU has eight labs. The labs bridge teaching and research and practice-based and research-based learning.  Several elective and mandatory courses at ITU involve labs and labs offer many opportunities for students to interact with faculty, to get project support and to get hands-on introduction to, and experience with, research equipment, methods, and techniques. The labs also host workshops, study groups, open seminars, junior researcher programmes, and other extracurricular activities. 

Target group 
Most labs offer activities for all students at ITU, check their website. 

More information 
Read more about the labs here and in other RBL cases below. 

Description and purpose 
Data Science bachelor students have a first-year project (15 ECTS) on the second semester. The overall purpose is to give the students experiences with—and insights into—key elements of the research process, not least familiarise with the Data Science project pipeline: From a domain-specific context to formulating research questions, translating them into technical problems, applying relevant techniques for an analysis, and disseminating results. In groups, the students go through full-fledged Data-science mini-projects in two separate rounds that each highlight different aspects and challenges of the data science research process. In addition, the knowledge that will be acquired during the second semester from the two concurrent courses will be incorporated and thereby added value and relevance.  

Target group 
Students from BSc in Data Science 

Description and purpose 
The course “Qualitative Research Methods and Academic Communication” (BSc in Digital Design and Interactive Technologies) aims to give students in-depth understanding of qualitative research approaches, methods, and dissemination while interacting with qualitative researchers from ITU. Students are introduced to different ITU research projects and qualitative methods, and must then define a research question, conduct a literature review, and make a study design suitable for answering their research question. They also collect the empirical data necessary for their scientific inquiries and conduct a short analysis based on their data. Through this process, they have a constructive dialogue on method and design choices with an assigned researcher from an ITU research project. They present their findings in a short scientific paper and discuss it with fellow students, teachers, and researchers from the research projects at a concluding mini conference. Some of the co-created course papers end up being published.  

Target group 
BSc students in Digital Design and Interactive Technologies

More information  
Kvalitative forskningsmetoder og akademisk formidling (Autumn 2023) (itu.dk) 

Description and purpose 
The research project is part of the programme at MSc in Computer Science and Software Design. It is intended to bridge the specialisation (KCS and KSD) or the electives (KDS) and the thesis. It offers the students a specialised and detailed focus on the sub-topics of the specialisation or elective courses to be used in the thesis. The students have an introductory on ‘how to research’ and participate in a thesis market where potential supervisors introduce current research projects and possibilities for participation.  

Target group 
Students from the programme at MSc in Computer Science, Software Design and Data Science. 

More information 
Research Project and Thesis - Computer Science Department (itu.dk) 

Description and purpose 
At ITU, final projects are supervised by an active researcher from the ITU community. External lecturers may only supervise if they provide unique knowledge needed for the project, and this requires approval from the Dean of Education. Supervision provides an excellent opportunity for connecting supervisors’ research projects and research expertise with student projects for the benefit of both parties.  

Most study programmes have bachelor project or thesis preparation events which sometimes include researchers pitching student project ideas within a specific research project or their research field. Some study programmes also send out abstracts to students describing potential student projects in faculty-initiated research projects. At GBI and KDIM they have started to send out such abstracts as part of their supervisor allocation process. In Spring 2023, this resulted in 8 bachelor projects and 12 MSc theses.    

Target group 
All students 

Description and purpose 
Many of the research labs at ITU host, supervise, or support student projects: 

• The DASYA lab hosts bachelor and research projects and theses focused on but not limited to DASYA group themes. DASYA researchers supervise projects from all three departments and welcome informal collabs where the themes make sense. The lab has a list with project proposals which the students can apply to and they welcome project proposals from students as well. 
• The REAL lab serves as a prototyping workshop and lab space for about 15 student projects per year (BSc, MSc) for students who have established contact through course or project work. Students engage in research-based learning that contributes directly to ITU’s research in robotics by building and programming experimental robotic prototypes.  
• IxD Lab supports and supervises students in the design and production of physical and interactive artifacts, which typically entail electronics, woodworking, laser cutting, 3D printing, etc. The lab is involved in about 100 student projects a year.  
• AIR Lab offers students a research-based learning environment. By engaging with ongoing research hosted in the Lab they can work closely together with researchers, get inspired by ongoing research projects and try out and work with technical infrastructures that are central to research. The lab hosts supervision of bachelor projects, master theses, and individual projects. 
• The Build lab offers a project data base with public and private sector data that students and researchers can use in projects as well as project support for students. 

Target group 
Many labs offer project support activities for students across study programmes at ITU, check their website. 

More information 
Read more about the labs here and in other RBL cases below. 

Description and purpose 
DISCO is short for Danish Student Cubesat Programme and is a collaboration between students from ITU, University of Southern Denmark, Aalborg University, and Aarhus University as well as private space companies. This educational project gives students the opportunity to work with science and space technology in a practical way. DISCO has been running for 3 years in close collaboration, i.e., daily communication and several workshops, between students and researchers across the participating universities. At ITU, a research assistant and a handful of thesis students have been involved in the project and have made contributions within satellite payload development, networking, machine learning and image processing, e.g., developing machine learning accelerators to support the smart filtering of images on the microcomputer of the satellite. The project has so far resulted in at least five MSc theses and the analysis of satellite data has been introduced in various courses at ITU. In April 2023, ITU students contributed to space history as the satellite DISCO-1 launched into space. The DISCO project is based in Dasya Lab. 

Target group 
Students and researchers interested in embedded machine learning in space and related subjects. 

More information 
DISCOSAT – Danish Student Cubesat Project 

Description and purpose 
ITU Climate Talks are a series of short research videos (5-8 minutes each) about the climate-related research conducted or underway at ITU by faculty members from all three ITU research departments. The Reset Magazine is another faculty-led climate initiative. The magazine offers a selection of perspectives on climate, sustainability, and twin transition agendas. The October edition of RESET explores the student role in climate emergency. With the Climate talks and the Reset Magazine, faculty associated with ITU’s Center for Climate IT invites staff, students, and the world outside ITU to engage in research-based conversations about the climate implication of IT.  

Target group 
Staff, students, and external stakeholders 

More information 
Read more about Climate Talks and Reset  

Description and purpose 
At the Generative AI (GAI) event in March 2023, the Build lab brought together around 75 students, researchers, start-ups, and industry innovators to discuss GAI and its abilities, limitations, and opportunities in business and education. The great turnout reflected the interest in discussing this rapidly evolving field across sectors and educational levels. The Build lab is an innovation lab specialised in bridging industry and academia to learn more from data. With events like this, Build Lab inspires students and researchers to work interdisciplinary and to reach out to industry partners. 

Target group 
Staff, students, and external stakeholders 

More information 
Read more about Build lab and their activities 

Description and purpose 
At ITU Coffee talks, ITU researchers introduce a certain subject or field within the realm of computer science, e.g., about artificial life, digital forensics using statistical methods, bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies from a computer scientist perspective, etc., and invite the audience for debate afterwards. As stated by the organizers: “the talks offer a unique opportunity for students to delve into academic topics with their professor in an informal environment beyond the regular classroom setting.” The talks are now for the entire ITU community but were started by a Software development student who wanted to strengthen the connection between teaching and research and create awareness among students of the research being done by the research groups in the Computer Science Department.  

Target group 
Students, teachers, and administrative staff 

More information 
Read more about ITU Coffee Talks here 

Description and purpose  
Ethos Lab hosts a Junior Researcher Programme that is open across all departments and programmes. Junior researchers are students and sometimes graduates who conduct a project in the lab formulated by their own idea and interest but within the lab’s research areas. They participate in lab meetings, disseminate their research throughout their project at lab events, via blog posts etc., and take part and responsibility in other parts of the lab community as well. The junior researcher programmes give students the opportunity to develop research skills by working independently on a project while being part of a dedicated community of researchers, lab staff and fellow students offering feedback and sparring. The Junior Researcher Programme is an extracurricular activity and the junior researchers do not earn ECTS credits for their participation. According to the Heads of Ethos Lab, this is an important aspect of the programme: the students enjoy participating in an activity without being formally assessed. They see the programme as a playground for analytical and methodological experimentation and reflection. 

ETHOS Lab was the first lab to initiate a junior researcher programme, and IxD and Air lab have since developed their own programmes 

More information  
Read more about the junior researcher programme in Ethos Lab, Air Lab and IxD lab. 

Description and purpose 
The purpose of the Lille kat events is to give students across study programmes and programming skill levels an opportunity to solve problems and improve their programming skills while hanging out with friends in a helpful and relaxed environment. As stated by the organizers: “solving a number of Kattis exercises every week turns you into a monster in basic algorithms, data structures, computational thinking, problem solving”. The selected exercises from the Kattis archive range in difficulty allowing newcomers as well as skilled programmers to have fun and learn new things.  

The events are held at ITU every two to three weeks on Friday afternoons. The events are free and includes snacks! 

Target group 
All students at ITU are welcome to join.  

More information 
Lille Kat | Social events around problem solving and programming at IT University of Copenhagen 

Name of activity 
Publishing a paper based on a student project (extra-curricular activity) 

Description and purpose 
Sometimes students pursue to make an academic publication based on work they did in their thesis or in another project. They might engage in this work encouraged by, and in collaboration with, their supervisor. Some supervisors introduce this opportunity relatively early in the supervision process when students and projects show research potential, others wait until after the exam. For students this process entails getting practical experience with academic writing, peer-review processes, and discussing and presenting papers in academic venues. They get a chance to not just familiarise themselves with state-of-art research on their selected topic, but also contribute to it themselves. This can be a rewarding learning process whether they want to pursue a research career after graduation or not. Pursuing to publish student projects is mostly related to master thesis or BSc projects but can also take place earlier in the education, for instance if project deadlines coincide with conference deadlines where small papers are accepted.  

Target group 
Mainly students doing their BSc project or MSc thesis. 

Description and purpose 
The Python Study Group is a community of people with different coding skills consisting of both students and a few staff, who are helping each other in building up coding skills in an open self-study environment. Ethos Lab facilitates the group. 

Target group 
All students at ITU are welcome to join.  

More information  
Read more about the Python Study Group   

Description and purpose 
The Blockchain Student Group invites all students from IT University with or without programming skills to participate. The aim is to create a collaborative research and learning environment across departments. During the semesters, the blockchain study group hosts blockchain speakers, organize live demonstrations and investigate potential student projects. Furthermore, students may acquire an officially approved IBM blockchain certificate through the European Blockchain Center. 

Target group 
All students at ITU are welcome to join.  

More information  
Blockchain Student Group - Student Council 

Description and purpose 
The Build Lab hosts research method activities that supplement and complement students’ courses aiming to strengthen competences in quantitative data analytics. For example, the lab hosts a series of web scraping workshops through which students can learn to acquire internet data, scope a data-based project and turning their research idea into a project through automating processes of fetching, selecting, parsing, and storing data.  

Target group 
All students are welcome 

More information  
Read more about Build lab and their activities 

Description and purpose 
The workshop purposed to make BSc and MSc students from Digital Design and Interactive Technologies aware of the research conducted at the Digital Design Department. Second, they hoped to make students curious about doing projects and theses with a researcher. Finally, the idea was to demystify what a PhD programme is and attract new PhD students.  

At the workshop, three researchers presented their newest published papers and a student presented findings from her thesis which she conducted as part of a research project. This was followed by a discussion about how students experience research and working with researchers at ITU. The workshop ended with a reception where students and researchers could informally mingle and discuss project collaboration opportunities. According to the one of the organizers. the Head of study programme from BDDIT, the workshop succeeded in sparking fruitful research debates between students and researchers.  

Target group 
Students and teachers from Digital Design and Interactive Technologies 

More information 
No more information at the moment, but the plan is to host similar workshops again soon.