UCL STEaPP and the BSI working to support the next generation of standards makers

The partnership between STEaPP and BSI has been led by Dr Irina Brass, Lecturer in Regulation, Innovation and Public Policy and Chair of the Internet of Things Committee at the BSI. In April 2020, Dr Brass was appointed to the BSI’s Standards Policy and Strategy Committee (SPSC), the leading committee responsible for advising and reporting to the Board on the preparation of British Standards. The committee convenes stakeholders from across government, consumer associations, industry and academia to support and highlight the crucial role of standards.   

BSI recently featured STEaPP as a leading model on how to deliver standards teaching in higher education by featuring the department, and Dr Brass’s work, in two exemplar case studies. 

Teaching standards and standardization

The first, a teaching standards case study, highlights Dr Brass’s work to integrate the teaching of standards into STEaPP’s flagship Master’s of Public Administration programme, and in particular, the role standards have in underpinning responsible innovation and their use in informing policymaking. MPA candidates now use a variety of tools and resources, including BSI’s British Standards Online (BSOL) database, to develop their practical knowledge about how standards are developed and the diversity of standards found in everyday life.  

Dr Brass said: “Standards and standardization processes are often seen as the domain of technical experts, and removed from important societal issues such as consumer protection, responsible innovation and policy-making. In reality, standards matter for the next generation of decision-makers and policymakers we’re preparing at STEaPP through our teaching and research practice.”

In November 2019, Dr Brass received the award in recognition of her exceptional contribution in integrating standards and standardization into the higher education curriculum and for promoting student education projects and research around standards. The winners were announced on 21 November at the Standards Conference and Awards event in London.

Deepening BSI’s knowledge of SME needs in the IoT space

MPA students at STEaPP have the opportunity to work on a group research project as part of their studies, giving them the chance to partner with external organisations to work on real-world policy challenges. Last year, four MPA Digital Technologies and Policy candidates, led by Dr Brass, partnered with BSI to help them understand the challenges SMEs face when navigating, adopting and implementing IoT standards. 

Over the course of seven months, the team, which included Clementine Blanchier, Elizabeth Down, Anna Isabella Manghi and Jenni-Kirsty O’Brien, worked alongside colleagues from BSI to outline the project scope and carry out research. The team provided important market intelligence on the unique challenges faced by SMEs in the IoT ecosystem and used this knowledge to develop a series of recommendations that BSI could use to inform their IoT standards’ development programme.

The project was part of BSI’s Student Research Programme (SRP), in which the BSI incorporates research by master’s degree students into the standards development process and has also been featured as a case study on the BSI website.

Dr Brass said “The educational partnership with the BSI is one of the most exciting projects I’ve worked on. It is an example of the cutting-edge teaching practice and Connected Curriculum philosophy we promote at STEaPP and at UCL more broadly. The BSI team has been incredibly supportive of our students and their ambitions, making the experience valuable for everyone involved”. 

The partnership with BSI continues with this year’s MPA cohort. Five MPA candidates in Digital Technologies and Policy are working with the BSI on an existing project on the “Regulatory and Standardization Challenges of Connected and Intelligent Medical Devices”. They have already presented their project at the 2020 BSI Standards e-Conference and are looking forward to conducting research over the coming months.