Education
MDes programmes
Design & Innovation for Sustainability MDes/PgDip/PgCert
The Master of Design (MDes) Design & Innovation for Sustainability is offered on both a full and part-time basis.
Suitable for a wide range of disciplines, a Design or Engineering background is not essential; the important considerations are a passion for sustainable development and a desire to think expansively in order to engage with Sustainable agendas.
The course takes you on to a range of positions where a knowledge, and experience of Design, Innovation, Sustainability and management are essential attributes to engaging in new and emergent agendas. The course provides essential attributes in reframing and expanding the ways individuals and organisations think about Sustainability through a design-driven approach.
You will be taught by a wide range of subject specialists at Cranfield University and from outside the University, who draw on their research expertise and industrial to provide stimulating and relevant input to your learning experience.
—Course Description
Design & Innovation for Sustainability is the consideration of environmental, social and economic impacts of products, services and systems through the application of design-driven thinking. The course addresses the engagement of design-driven thinking with business and social agendas for sustainable development. It is about re-thinking and re-engaging with existing paradigms to stimulate new futures. Uniquely it does this through a focus on the multiple perspectives of Design, Management, Engineering and Science and their engagement with innovation and sustainability. Students are asked to pose questions in relation to the global context of design, consumption & production. Sustainable solutions and interventions, in response to these issues, are then explored and interrogated.
Students are introduced to eco-design tools, design-driven thinking tools and methods of developing project and programme strategies. This equips students with requisite technical knowledge and skill to achieve more sustainable interventions. This course encourages design-driven thinking and innovation through first hand experiences from business, engineering and design perspectives. This heightened awareness of other disciplines provides students with the capability to apply design thinking across disciplinary boundaries in industry.
"C4D named one of the world's best design school by BusinessWeek"
—Course Structure
The MDes comprises eight one-week assessed modules, a group project and an individual project. Students undertaking the Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) complete the eight modules and the group project. Postgraduate Certificate (PgCert) students complete six modules.
—Connections to Industry
Group Project - The group project provides students with the opportunity to take responsibility for a consultancy-type project, with an industrial partner while working under academic supervision. It addresses a real life challenge in Design and Innovation and develops students’ engagement with Sustainability through the development of organisational, management and teamwork skills. For part-time students, a negotiated individual project usually replaces the group project.
Individual Project - The individual project provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to carry out independent research, think and work in an original way, contribute to knowledge and overcome genuine problems in Design and Innovation for Sustainability. Many of the projects are supported by external organisations.
Entry Requirements:
Candidates must possess, or be expected to achieve, a 1st or 2nd class UK Honours degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline. Other relevant qualifications, together with significant experience, may be considered.
Further course information and application details are available at:
