For Students

Designing Futures has 4 main components 

Personalised Student Experience 

A personalised student experience supported by success coaches to assist students to design their futures with a key focus on maximising their university experience; this incorporates an elective, for-credit innovative personal development module, Designing Your Life (DYL), linked with and based on this approach which has been developed by Stanford University. Contact our Student Success Coaches today! 

State of the Art Human-Centred Design Studio

A new state of the art human-centred design studio, IdeasLab, which intersects with our enterprise partners to develop curricular and co-curricular experiences that are driven by design thinking, technology-enhanced learning, curiosity, creativity and empathy. Why not call into the IdeasLab today? 

Suite of New Modules 

A new suite of modules focused on trans-disciplinary learning and action, which breaks down the traditional barriers of academic specialism, promoting innovative thinking and problem-solving across the university curriculum. Check out the wide range of new and exciting trans-disciplinary learning opportunities available to you today! 

Vertically Integrated Projects

Modelled on the approach of Georgia Institute of Technology, the introduction of vertically integrated projects (VIPs), which bring together multidisciplinary teams of staff and students to solve important research challenges in culture, enterprise and society. Check out the wide range of new and exciting VIP learning opportunities available to you today! 

How Designing Futures Supports your Development

Knowledge - Academic achievement and expertise

Designing Futures will support you to design your own personalised learning journey, and develop academic expertise that is of interest to you and also relevant to your academic degree, future learning, profession and career. Visit our Transdisciplinary Modules and VIP webpages to see the variety of new and innovative transdisciplinary, interdisciplinary and research-based modules that are available to University of Galway students through Designing Futures.

Skills  - Communication skills in a variety of contexts, styles & media

Skills like collaboration, learning effectively with and from others, and the capacity to listen actively, trust and network successfully are all highly valued by industry and the workplace, while also important for success in life generally.
Your communication and empathy skills are developed throughout the Designing Futures programme, including, for example, in the Designing Futures’ Design Your Life (DYL) Module (based on the DYL approach developed at Stanford University).Also, not only does the DYL module help to develop your empathic skills in communication and collaboration with others, it also supports your empathy towards yourself and understanding of your own interests and talents.

University of Galway has distinct, internationally-recognised expertise in empathy research and teaching; IdeasLab and Designing Futures recently launched the Empathy Lab where our students can use virtual reality and embodied technology to develop their skills in communication, collaboration and empathy. Visit the IdeasLab (located on the Concourse) to find out more and get involved!

Skills - Ability to make sense of complex information from a variety of sources

Critical thinking and the capacity to analyse and understand complex data and information are highlyvalued skills during your studies, and also for when you graduate and for life in general. Designing Futures supports you to develop your capacity for critical thinking and reflection. Across the programme, Designing Futures modules will focus on helping you to organise information and understand complex arguments while drawing together ideas, concepts and methods from different disciplines in developing creative ideas and innovative solutions to important problems and challenges in climate, culture, economy/industry, and society. Through engagement with business/industry in the Designing Futures programme, you will develop your business acumen while the use of technology, design thinking and human-centred design throughout Designing Futures will enable you to further develop your digital literacy and skills.

Skills - Creative, enterprising and resourceful

Designing Futures is a unique university programme, which combines innovative approaches to higher education, for example: transdisciplinary modules (TDMs) and vertically integrated projects (VIPs), enhanced by design-based education in the IdeasLab and Student Success Coaching, which supports you to manage and get the most from your time at University of Galway. The unique offering of modules and learning experiences available to you will support your creativity, your ability to problem-solve; your entrepreneurial thinking; and your capacity for innovative thinking.

The Designing Futures programme works closely with enterprise and industry, including nine named enterprise and societal partners: Boston Scientific, Veryan, Aerogen, Channel Mechanics, Mbryonics, SAP, Galway International Arts Festival, Rent the Runway; and Medtronic. This partnership with companies and leading regional and international enterprises and organisations ensures Designing Futures can support you to develop highly-valued creativity and entrepreneurial skills, which are essential for the world of work today and also for your future studies, and if you decide to develop your own idea for a company or enterprise.

Skills - Teamwork. Collaboration, and effective leadership

Leadership, teamwork, project management, negotiation and conflict resolution are all core skills, much sought-after by employers and industry. Beyond the workplace, they are essential for success in life. The collaborative and team-based approach that is at the heart of Designing Futures helps to ensure that you are exposed to a variety of learning experiences and scenarios that involve different configurations of teamwork, and where you will jointly lead with your peers and academic staff on developing solutions to interesting and important challenges and questions for society today. The innovative educational approach of Designing Futures, which is built into the design of the transdisciplinary and research-based modules, as well as the IdeasLab’ partnership with enterprise, supports you to develop the skills of teamwork, effective collaboration and leadership that are so essential for the world of today, and tomorrow.

Disposition - Personal Commitment to Lifelong Learning

Designing Futures supports you to develop crucial skills for the workplace but also for life outside work and your future career and personal development. These include essential dispositions such as self-awareness, resilience, curiosity, perseverance, confidence and adaptability. These skills are essential for navigating successfully the complex and challenging world of today, while also understanding and making the most of your interests and talents. In addition, Designing Futures will support you to develop ways to manage your learning, which is a very important skill for your time in university but which will also stand to you in your future career, giving you a solid foundation for any future studies and learning you will undertake.

Disposition - Valuing of ethical and professional standards, integrity, responsibility and good citizenship

Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of Designing Futures, and the programme is characterised throughout by awareness and respect for others. An inclusive attitude; understanding and assessing values, rights and responsibilities; making ethical decisions; and work ethic are promoted across the Designing Futures programme. Modules employ inclusive teaching and learning methods and through design thinking, universal design for learning, collaborative learning and human-centred design, Designing Futures’ modules focus on developing innovative ideas, solutions and technologies for all. In addition, the student-centred approach of the Student Success Coaching and interactive technology of the Empathy Lab promote inclusion and diversity through empathy.

Disposition - Appreciation of the importance of place, identity and culture in a global context

Designing Futures is informed and underpinned by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and relevant Irish and international research and policy.
A key focus of the programme is to ‘think global, act local’, developing global citizenship while highlighting the importance of sustainability, cultural awareness and ethical and sustainable living. Designing Futures’ modules focus on key, pressing issues for the world today, including in climate and society. Through engagement with the Designing Futures programme, you will develop critical skills in tackling the major challenges facing our world today.