Master in Eco-Social Design

The Master in Eco-Social Design invites designers to rethink their role in shaping sustainable, resilient, and socially just futures. This two-year, practice-oriented, and transdisciplinary program provides an inspiring framework for designers committed to creating meaningful impact, locally and trans-locally. 

Eco-Social Design goes beyond designing eco-efficient products and services. It strives for future-viable ways of producing, consuming, and living, through supporting sustainable economies, cultures, and lifestyles. Within this framework, products, spaces, services, processes, digital applications, and transmedia communication are developed holistically, informed by social, ecological, cultural, and economic perspectives. Design becomes a catalyst for positive change, envisioning and shaping futures that care for humans, other living beings, and the planet. 

A core element of the program is close collaboration with local realities and actors. Students work together with associations, citizen initiatives, companies, municipalities, neighborhood initiatives, NGOs, and other diverse stakeholders to address concrete challenges and contribute to eco-social transformation on the territory, aiming to create tangible and lasting impact. At the same time, the program encourages a trans-local perspective: students may also choose partners and contexts in other parts of the world, developing practice-based projects that respond to diverse social, ecological, and cultural realities. This balance between local engagement and global awareness enables students to situate their work within interconnected systems and scales of transformation. 

Through working on real-world projects, complex societal challenges are approached by collaboratively designing, imagining and building concrete, sustainable practices for today and tomorrow. The program equips designers with a broad set of tools and methods, combining insights from diverse disciplines and fields such as social sciences, economics, activism, technology, and craft. This transdisciplinary approach cultivates reflective, creative, and pragmatic strategies for eco-social transformation. 

Courses offered during the program include those from Observe, Analyse & Apply, and Make & Intervene. The former covers theoretical foundations, critical perspectives, and methods from social and economic sciences. The latter centers on developing and applying creative tools and design techniques on hands-on projects.

Duration of the programme: Two years / Language: English / Early bird application: March 2–April 28, 2026 (by noon local time) / Late application (only for EU citizens): May 28–July 2, 2026 (by noon local time) / Available places: 25 EU + 10 Non-EU.