Certificate in Speculative Design Futures
Delivery Mode
hybrid
Start Date
2026-09-12
End Date
2027-04-07
Level
EFQ Level 7 / NFQ Level 9
Fee
€1 100
ECTS
10
Overview
What does the future hold for us all? Well, instead of wondering, why not design it? The course is suitable for designers and creatives practitioners from all disciplines interested in designing a positive future for all (people and planet). The course will equip you with futures thinking literacy and the practical speculative design skills needed to engage critically with the uncertainty and complexity of wicked problems that exist in our world today. From the urgency of climate change, and pervasive new technologies, to the precarity of peace and the search for tolerance and inclusion, the need for creative and concrete alternative visions of our futures must be envisaged. Dates + Times 12.09.26 9.30am – 4pm On Campus 21.10.26 7pm – 9pm Online 14.11.26 9.30am – 4pm On Campus 09.12.26 7pm – 9pm Online 16.01.27 9.30am – 4pm On Campus 10.02.27 7pm – 9pm Online 03.03.27 7pm – 9pm Online 07.04.27 6.30pm – 9pm Online
What You'll Learn
Course content will include: • Introduction to Speculative Design, approaches, philosophies and case studies • Defining speculative goals and values • Scoping a speculative design futures project • Speculative and Critical Design principles • Futures research • Design Fiction principles • Mapping time and systems • World building • Emotional design • Experimental design prototypes • Participatory group exercises and charette • Project presentations
Requirements
Undergraduate qualification of 2nd Class Honours or higher at Honours Degree level in design or a related discipline. Applicants may also be considered provided that they can demonstrate Honours Degree equivalence, which can be verified through our RPL [recognition of prior learning] process.