External Collaborations & Professional Conduct
Some CACoM projects involve clinicians, researchers, or industry partners. These collaborations can be an extraordinary opportunity – offering access to real data, specialized expertise, and professional mentorship. However, they also come with responsibilities: you represent both TUM – and by extension, the course leadership – in every interaction.
Why Collaborations Matter
Working with external experts gives you:
- Access to authentic problems and real-world data.
- Feedback from professionals who understand the clinical or industrial context.
- Opportunities for long-term cooperation, internships, or thesis topics.
Teams who approach collaborations professionally often produce some of the most impactful projects in CACoM.
Dual-Edged Sword
Collaborations are rewarding, but if mishandled, they can strain professional relationships or jeopardize project outcomes.
They require maturity, reliability, and clear communication.
Excellent collaboration conduct can strengthen your evaluation under Professionalism & Independence,
while poor or unprofessional behavior can reduce your score in the same category.
If a collaborator withdraws due to unprofessional conduct, your project may need to be restructured — and could be graded as incomplete.
Expectations for Professional Conduct
✅ Do:
- Communicate clearly, respectfully, and promptly.
- Confirm meetings and show up on time — or cancel early if you can't.
- Send concise summaries after key discussions (minutes or recap emails).
- Follow agreed schedules and deliverables.
- Listen to feedback — even if you disagree, respond constructively.
- Always include CACoM course instructors in CC on your email exchanges with collaborators.
- Inform instructors immediately if a collaboration becomes unresponsive or confusing.
🚫 Don't:
- Ignore messages or delay replies for days.
- Overpromise what you can deliver or commit to unrealistic deadlines.
- Argue or dismiss expert feedback defensively.
- Share partner-provided data or materials outside the group.
- Publish or present partner-related results without their explicit consent.
Think of collaborators as temporary team supervisors — your behavior should match that level of professionalism.
Project Ownership and Boundaries
While collaboration partners may offer ideas or data, your project remains academically independent. You are responsible for defining the computational aspects, maintaining scientific rigor, and ensuring reproducibility.
If a partner proposes something outside CACoM's scope (e.g., purely product-oriented development), discuss it with instructors before committing.
A Note for Collaborators
Over the years, CACoM has welcomed many external partners — from clinicians to companies to researchers. Some work closely with the course leadership (e.g., curating topics with Martin Daumer), while others participate more independently.
For students, the key point is:
It is ultimately CACoM that evaluates your work — not the external collaborator.
Of course, the collaborator's feedback matters and is considered in grading, but you must still meet all CACoM requirements:
- Your topic must be formally approved by CACoM staff.
- You cannot “work incognito” all semester and then suddenly appear with a finished app or prototype.
- If you work on proprietary components, only the parts that are visible and shareable with CACoM instructors can be graded.
- You are welcome to build valuable tools, but if your entire work remains proprietary, we can't evaluate it — and you risk failing the course.
To be clear: if you truly invented a revolutionary tool that saves lives but can't be shared — congratulations! 🎉
But within CACoM, grading depends on transparency and reproducibility, not the magnitude of your external impact.
Confidentiality and IP
Collaborations sometimes involve confidential or proprietary information.
In such cases:
- Treat all shared materials as confidential, even if no NDA is signed.
- Do not include proprietary details in public repositories or presentations.
- Mention in your report that your project includes restricted components (see Data Privacy Policy).
- Respect all partner-provided rules on data sharing, authorship, or acknowledgment.
Transparency with instructors protects you.
If you're unsure whether something can be shared, ask before posting or presenting it publicly.
Communication Style
| Scenario | Good Practice | Bad Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduling meetings | Be flexible — coordinate within your team so at least one or two members can attend whenever the collaborator is available. | Expecting the collaborator to adapt to your schedule or insisting on limited time slots. |
| Follow-up after meeting | Send 3–4 bullet points summarizing key takeaways. | Disappear and wait for the collaborator to remind you. |
| Receiving feedback | Thank them, note changes, and follow up once implemented. | Ignore comments or defend every point. |
| Delays | Inform them early, with a new timeline. | Stay silent until the deadline passes. |
Professional communication is one of the easiest ways to distinguish an excellent team.
If Things Go Wrong
If communication breaks down or the collaboration takes an unexpected turn:
- Contact the course instructors immediately. Don't try to fix major misunderstandings alone.
- Keep written records (emails, notes) of all key exchanges.
- Be honest — we'd rather help you early than repair things later.
Collaborations are meant to enrich your project, not create stress or uncertainty.
Quick Checklist
- Collaboration partner treated as a professional contact.
- Communication timely, polite, and consistent.
- CACoM instructors included in CC on emails.
- Proprietary information kept private.
- Project visible and assessable by CACoM instructors.
- Problems reported early to instructors.