Student team named UK champions

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Airbus AI student winners

A team of master’s students from the Management School’s Operations and Supply Chain Management group have been named as UK winners of the Airbus Project Management AI Challenge 2023-2024, the first year that UK universities were invited to participate.

The four students: Umang Saxena; Pushkar Srivastava; Shubham Jain, all from MSc Project Management; and Kunal Pradhan, MSc Operations and Supply Chain Management; competed against other teams from across the UK at the Airbus facility in Broughton.

One of the winners, Umang, shared his experiences after the UK final: “The Airbus Project Management Challenge has been an incredible journey. Guided by innovation and powered by AI, we navigated through the challenges, proving that the future of project management is dynamic, adaptive, and cutting-edge. It's a testament to the strength of collaboration and the limitless possibilities when technology meets teamwork.

“Special thanks to my brilliant team members Shubham Jain, Pushkar Srivastava, and Kunal Pradhan who demonstrated exceptional skills, creativity, and resilience, and each played a crucial role in achieving this success.”

Airbus AI student participants

Director of Studies for MSc Project Management, Dr Jennifer Davies, said: "I'm delighted that our students had the opportunity to participate in the Airbus Project Management Challenge.

“This challenge served as an exceptional platform for our students to demonstrate their skills and highlighted the importance of understanding how AI influences project management methodologies. Engaging with a company renowned for its innovation and engineering excellence, provided a fantastic chance to delve into this evolving field. I am extremely proud of all our participants and thrilled that the 'AI Aviators' were named UK winners."

The UK champions continued to compete against students from France, Germany, and Spain in the international final. Despite a strong performance they narrowly missed out to another team on the day, coming second overall in the Global competition.

Congratulations to all our students who participated in the competition and represented the School and the University so impressively.

Find out more about our 2024-25 master’s courses and the opportunities to enhance your studies on our website.