Design for Change - Micro-credential

This course is currently offered in collaboration with Creative Futures Academy (CFA). CFA is a ground-breaking partnership between: The National College of Art and Design, University College Dublin, and the Institute of Art, Design + Technology. Our tailored programmes and micro courses offer access to expertise and networks across the three leading creative institutions and our industry partners. Learn with us as we experiment, innovate and respond to change.



Our programme develops critically conscious and socially literate changemakers, who have been immersed in the thinking, skills, and experience required to facilitate current and future transitions in ethical and ecologically sustainable ways; to become pioneers and leaders in the practice.



With our partners at the Institute without Boundaries (IwB) and through real client engagement students learn to apply the transformative capacity of design through the implementation of powerful, collaborative, contemporary design skills to achieve meaningful co-created solutions which enable progressive change in individuals and communities.



The MA responds to the great challenges of the present and future; social, economic, and ecological which all require new ways of thinking and new ways of doing. Strategic, ethical, radical, just, and purposeful, this programme offers new dynamic ways of engaging with our collective challenges.



From 2024/25 there will be an opportunity to choose from one of 3 specialist pathways within the programme:

• Social Design

• Ecological Design

• Design Futures



Each student will receive the same award Masters in Design for Change but their chosen designation will be specified, e.g. MA in Design for Change: Social Design.



What will I be doing?

Employing complex problem solving and critical thinking.

Learning and practicing contemporary and emergent design methods.

Developing systemic understanding of social, economic, and ecological challenges.

Working with external partners and stakeholders (civic and industry) on live projects.

Managing and participating in local and international design workshops.

Applying emergent design methodologies to individual and group challenges.



This course is developed and delivered in collaboration with the Institute Without Boundaries / George Brown College, Canada.

Modules include:



Term 1

Interdisciplinary Research Methods

Applied Design (assessed in one of the below strands)

• Social Design

• Ecological Design

• Design Futures

Critical Design Philosophies



Term 2

Collaborative Project

Communication Design

Professional Studies



Term 3

Major Project



Travel

In term 2, there is the option for the MA students to travel to Canada to participate in the Toronto International Charrette. This is an annual Brookfield Sustainability Institute event that brings together 200 plus students, faculty, and industry experts from organisations around the world. The goal of each charrette will be for participants to design detailed project proposals that respond to the major themes of the current Institute Without Boundaries major project.

Min Entry Requirements

Undergraduate qualification of 2nd Class Honours or higher at Honours Degree level.



Applicants may be considered provided they can demonstrate Honours Degree equivalence, which can be verified through our RPL (recognition of prior learning) process.



Some prior experience in a cognate discipline is desirable.



Advanced Entry Requirements

Entry to an advanced stage of the MA Programme is available via two pathways



(i) Successful candidates of approved Access/Feeder Programmes (AFPs).

(ii) Applicants may be considered for advanced entry through a combination of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and relevant Industry Experience in the discipline area.



Please contact IADT Admissions for further information on advanced entry.

Classes take place on Wednesday evenings online (7pm – 9pm) and on Thursdays on campus (2pm – 7:30pm).



3 Semesters over 14 months



30 Credits per Semester.



Conferring for this programme takes place in March, after the final Semester

Fees IE/EU Students: €6,000

Fees International Students: €16,000

Semesters 1-2: 19th September 2024 - April 2025

Semester 3: September 2025 - January 2026

Future careers

Graduates will be prepared to work at a strategic level across a broad range of sectors. Recent graduates are employed as service designers, design researchers and design strategists in a wide variety of sectors, in Ireland and abroad; tech companies, financial services, non-for profits; government organisations and their own enterprise or consulting service.