Enter what the Hero SVG says - SUPER IMPORTANT
Community and industry organizations are doing more with less. Growing needs, limited funding, and constrained capacity can make it difficult to dedicate time and resources to projects that could strengthen the organization, develop new ideas, or create greater impact.
Alan Shepard Summer Residency 2027 (From May 10, 2027 to July 30, 2027)
Partner with Concordia to Explore a Challenge That Matters to Your Organization
The Residency is a full-time, three-month collaboration between a partnered organization and an interdisciplinary team of Concordia students.
This is more than a student placement or consulting engagement. It is a reciprocal learning and innovation partnership. Organizations bring their knowledge, experience, context, and understanding of the challenge. Students bring curiosity, creativity, diverse perspectives, and emerging expertise. District 3 brings in community and network of faculty, researchers, and entrepreneurs with specialized knowledge.
What you can expect
Through the partnership, your organization can gain:
- Additional capacity and dedicated support to research, develop, test, or prototype an idea, opportunity, or challenge that you may not otherwise have the time or resources to explore;
- A tangible project outcome tailored to your organization’s needs and priorities;
- Fresh perspectives from interdisciplinary student teams, along with access to relevant expertise and networks across Concordia and D3’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
At the same time, students gain intensive, hands-on experience working with a real organization and navigating the complexity of real-world challenges.
How it works
1
Bring us a challenge
The work starts with your organization and your needs. Bring us a challenge, opportunity, priority, or idea that you would like to explore. You don't need to have a fully developed project proposal.
2
Shape the project together
The D3 team works with you to understand the context, define the scope, and identify the expertise needed. If selected, the project-scoping process requires approximately 7 hours of your organization's time: an initial call, a field visit and staff interviews, and a final call to review the project brief.
3
Work with an interdisciplinary student team
Three senior undergraduate or graduate students are selected and matched to your project based on their skills, academic backgrounds, interests, and potential contribution. Teams work full-time for 12 weeks, supported by D3, faculty, researchers, entrepreneurs, and practitioners as needed.
4
Collaborate and shape the outcome
Organizations remain active partners throughout the residency, providing context, feedback, and access to relevant staff and resources. Students move through four phases: problem scoping → prototyping → prototype validation → solution development and documentation.
What we'll ask of you
Your organization will designate a point of contact to coordinate with the student team and help connect them with relevant staff and resources. The team will meet with someone from your organization for up to 1 hour per week over approximately 10 weeks. This responsibility does not need to fall on one person and can be shared across the organization based on the project's needs.
Overall, we estimate a total time commitment of approximately 40 hours across the organization from project scoping through the end of the residency.
Tell us a about the challenge, opportunity, or idea you would like to explore.
Residency@district3.coInterested in exploring a challenge with us?
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