The future of work came into focus as business students presented their thoughts and findings to a multinational digital communications technology company.

Students from Lancaster University Management School (LUMS)’s MSc Digital Business, Innovation and Management programme, and from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) MSc Digital Collaboration programme, worked together on a Virtual Collaboration Project sponsored by Cisco.

The globally dispersed project brought students from different nations, universities and Master programmes to work in teams examining the impact of digitalisation on work and organisations.

The team of Hadia Hassan, Jack Goh Wei Jie, Tingzhen Zhang, Hanna Vodopic, Emma Ju Blix and Thomas Selliseth were voted the winners for their work looking at whether home working should continue.

Professor Niki Panteli, Professor of Digital Business in the Department of Management Science in LUMS, led the initiative at Lancaster, with Dr Knut A Strand and Dr Tor Atle Hjeltnes at NTNU.

She said: “I have been very pleased with all the students who took part in the project. They all worked with diligence and professionalism.

“I am sure that the experiences and the learning they gained from this collaborative project will be important assets as they develop their own careers in our increasingly digitised, remote/hybrid and virtual workplaces.”

All students who took part received a certificate of attendance, and prizes were given to the winners.

CISCO’s representatives were impressed by the work of the student teams. David Beisly said of the winners: “The information was presented in a very engaging, relevant manner which made it very easy for people to relate to. The research showed an in-depth understanding of the challenges and solutions to the current situation facing the industry today, which made it very topical. Overall, it was an impressive presentation, factually presented and highlighting current industry challenges.”

Colleague Amanda Price added: “One of the hardest things is to get a message across clearly and simply. It is even harder to have your audience put themselves in the scenario or mindset you wish them to empathise with, but the winning team nailed it.

“Each well thought out scenario was fabulous, each one like a mini-episode of roleplay – so professional and well executed. I understood the message so well and I am finding ways to use the mini-episodes in my work.”