“Hacking for Security, as well as providing our students with exceptional teamwork and problem-solving skills for modern agile businesses, also gives them the opportunity to work on real global security challenges. Working with UK MoD and Common Mission Project to source globally relevant challenges allows the course to support both UK MoD’s global presence as well as our student’s international background.” Module lead, Dr Gareth Tear

When Lila Ghosh began her master’s programme at King's College in London, she was drawn to H4MoD, the academic programme that is helping to solve national security problems at speed, because of the opportunity to work with actual stakeholders within the Ministry of Defense. She was returning to school after a long period in the workforce, and while excited to be in academia again, she really wanted to maintain a level of practical engagement. For her, the opportunity to engage with real-world problems and create tangible solutions couldn’t be ignored. Little did she know that her decision to pursue H4MoD would define her career and help position her as a leading innovator by the time she completed her degree.

The nation’s emerging threats and security challenges are being tackled by University of Portsmouth computing students, as part of a course to address complex real-world problems.

We caught up with Wing Commander Mike Burt to talk through his experience of being a Problem Sponsor on H4MoD. He recently sponsored a problem at the War Studies Department, King’s College London, looking at the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) recruitment process. His team’s solution will provide the RAF with a tangible way to measure the effect of the £15 million per year they spend on marketing, outreach and engagement activities to attract new recruits.

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) has a way to monitor and analyse their carbon assets in order to help the MoD reach their Net Zero emissions target thanks to the work of a Hacking for MoD (H4MoD) student team from Cardiff University called Team DIO.

A Hacking for MoD team from King’s College London, Department of War Studies, that helped the Royal Air Force (RAF) find a more efficient way to communicate across its departments has created a startup to do the same for businesses scaling up.

A student team at Newcastle University Business School has devised a solution for helping the Ministry of Defence (MoD) achieve its mandate of Net Zero by 2050, as a part of the inaugural “Hacking for Sustainability” course at the University of Newcastle.

We caught up with Flight Lieutenant Peter Kennedy to talk through his experience of being a problem sponsor on H4MoD. He recently sponsored a Hacking for Ministry of Defence (H4MoD) problem at the War Studies Department, King’s College London looking at multi-domain operational planning. His team came up with a solution that will enable planners to collaborate more effectively across multiple locations.

‘H4MoD is by far the most rewarding course I have taken in my four years in higher education. The most exciting thing about the experience was having the unique opportunity to interview dozens of MoD stakeholders, knowing that your research could have a real-world impact in solving a national security problem’. Daniel Ben-Shaul, H4MoD Student.

Last week we caught up with one of our Problem Sponsors, Lt Col James Ashworth, Commanding Officer of 2 YORKS, currently the Army’s only Enhanced Light Force Battalion and, as announced under the Integrated Review, the Army’s future Prototype Warfighting and Experimentation Battalion. Lt Col Ashworth recently sponsored a Hacking for Ministry of Defence (H4MoD) problem at the Defence Studies Department, King’s College London looking at how to measure the “capability” of an Army Battalion.  His team developed a solution, now being implemented, that will allow him to measure the extent to which a £160 million capability investment has yielded a more capable fighting force. 

We caught up with one of our Problem Sponsors, Chief Petty Officer Steven Reilly, who recently sponsored a problem at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London around how to speed up Royal Navy Repair efforts.  He explained how the student team he worked with devised a solution that will save maintenance engineers one to two hours each day.

We caught up with one of our Problem Sponsors, Lieutenant Colonel Justin Stein, who recently co-sponsored a problem at Imperial College London. We wanted to hear first hand about his experience working with a student team.

Dr Ali Hawks recently had a chance to interview Wg Cdr Keri Spencer Thomas on the role H4MoD plays in Defence innovation. This was originally published on the MoD’s Defence Connect intranet 20 April 2021.

‘H4MoD is not just about providing students with dynamic, hands-on, practical experience of putting skills and knowledge acquired in the classroom into solving real-life problems affecting government, it also demonstrates a commitment to public service on the part of there students, helping to improve systems and functions at the heart of the MoD.’ Professor Wyn Bowen, Head of School of Security Studies, King’s College London.

‘This module was the hallmark of my MA. Most of the lessons and skills that I gained through my MA – and that will remain within me over the long term – stemmed from this module. To my eyes, this module is what justified my master’s degree’. Alicia Rémont Ospina, Co-founder Ox Intel.

The Common Mission Project is expanding its effort to foster mission-driven entrepreneurship next month with the launch of a new academic class – Hacking for Sustainability, the first-of-its-kind course dedicated to solving problems related to climate change and sustainability.

“Our strategic objective across H4MoD, to include the Defence Academy and other university courses, is to develop the talent of mission-driven entrepreneurs to solve the UK’s toughest national security and defence problems at pace.” - Dr. Alison Hawks, Common Mission Project Executive Director

We challenge the academic “solution first” problem-solving framework as it reduces your chances of success in entrepreneurship. There is no point trying to solve a problem if it’s not the ACTUAL problem that needs solving, especially not in the defence and security industry. This has been a very acute lesson for my co-founders and I during these 3+ years of our startup, Synbiosys.

So, you have a great idea... what are you going to do about it? As a military officer undertaking the Advanced Command and Staff Course at the UK’s Defence Academy, electing to be part of one of the first UK courses provided an opportunity to learn Lean Start Up methodology whilst solving a real-world Defence problem. The journey was exciting, hugely rewarding and testing – and I am a better officer for it. 

Over the course of H4MoD, we learned to apply Lean Startup methods to a real-world national security problem with our UK government sponsor, RAF Leeming. Over the 10-week program, we conducted extensive outreach to understand and validate our problem, speaking to over 80 prospective customers and stakeholders, and designed a minimum viable product (MVP).