The first post-Covid GRP (Software Engineering Group Projects) Open Day was held on Wednesday, April 19. This time, in another first, it was held in the new library's multifunction rooms. The 19 software engineering teams, comprising the entire Part I cohort (Year 3) of Computer Science's two undergraduate degrees, had been working all year on a variety of projects. The projects this year included augmented reality education games, digital twins implementations, health analytics applications, RoboMaster simulators, ... and many more.

GRP is a year-long module, and provides students with a unique opportunity to --- within the safety of the UNNC CS curriculum ---explore working as team on a realistic project, often with real stakeholders and challenging deliverables. More than anything else in the curriculum, this module challenges students to overcome fears and prejudices associated with working with others, leading to experiences in forming effective teams. In many ways, it is one of the most demanding modules, and yet, as often reflected by former GRP students, it is one of the most engaging and rewarding. Alumni have even reported on how their actual GRP experience was a key decider in landing their first graduate jobs!

As Professor Dave Towey, convenor for the GRP module, has said: "GRP is one of my favourite modules, in terms of how impactful it is on our students. I enjoy seeing them at the start of the year, with their worries, and lack of experience ... and then watching them grow, and develop into teams of problem-solving software engineers. They face and overcome challenges throughout the year, often without really being aware of how they are growing. Then, at Open Day, seeing the fruits of all their work: It really is an incredible event."

Professor Towey wanted to thank all the colleagues who helped make this Open Day so successful, including from Faculty Office, Library, Estates, and Computer Science. He also acknowledged the hard work of the students, throughout the year, and especially for the Open Day.