21 Sep 2026
NCAD
5
AD477PC
10 weeks
€600
CFA at NCAD’s Professional Certificate in Creative Diversity, is a special intensive course. It equips learners with an awareness of equality, diversity, and inclusion within Design, such as the need to decolonise the discipline, while also providing the tools, methods and platforms to enact personal, professional and sectoral change.
The course is developed in partnership with DesignOpp and the Institute of Designers in Ireland. Students will gain understanding of race, racism and stereotyping and how it manifested in graphic design.
The programme consists of a series of lectures, case studies, activities, discussions and group work supported by workshops and toolkits.
You will take part in a journey designed to transform how Irish design and advertising agencies see, represent, and include minority communities. This programme is not only about learning history and understanding racism in design, but also about turning that knowledge into practical tools and outputs that can reshape your agency’s culture and campaigns. As busy leaders and creatives, you will not be asked to overhaul everything at once. Instead, you will produce two manageable but powerful theory-based outputs that make inclusion a real part of your everyday work. These outputs are designed to be realistic while still pushing your agency towards meaningful change.
Level 9 participants learn alongside a mixed cohort of third-year Fine Art and Design undergraduates, whose varied experience enriches the group, while being assessed against distinct postgraduate outcomes.
Representation is not just about who appears in campaigns, but how authentically they are portrayed and who is behind the creative process. This programme challenges you to face those realities and create new practices.
This course is for designers, creatives, and agency leaders who want to recognise unconscious bias and embed diversity across their creative practice, workplace culture, and communities. It suits practitioners in Irish design and advertising who are ready to move beyond awareness into action — reshaping how minority communities are represented and included in their work. Whether you’re looking to audit past practice, rethink future briefs, or shift agency culture, the course gives you practical tools and frameworks to drive meaningful change.
You will gain an understanding of the histories of race, racism, and exclusion in design and advertising. You will learn to recognise how representation and bias manifest in creative work and within workplaces. You will apply inclusive design frameworks to your campaigns and organisational culture. Furthermore, you will produce two selected outputs from a choice of four options, which will integrate inclusion into your agency’s future practices.
Important: These outputs are theoretical exercises; you are not expected to design or deliver a complete campaign. Your focus will be on generating ideas, frameworks, and starting points that inspire reflection and drive change.
Submission Format: All outputs should be presented in a Keynote presentation (or an equivalent slide deck) that includes your ideas, reflections, and supporting research, such as articles, reports, case studies, or references. This approach ensures that your work is both conceptual and evidence-based, making it ready for presentation at the Showcase session.
As busy agency leaders and creatives, you’re not expected to complete all four outputs in detail during this programme. Instead, you’ll choose two outputs to focus on – the ones most relevant to your agency’s needs right now. These outputs represent different ways of making change: auditing the past, embedding inclusion in future briefs, shaping agency culture, and collaborating with communities. By picking two, you’ll still make a tangible impact while keeping the workload manageable.
Remember, your outputs will be conceptual and theory-based. They’re designed to help you reflect on your practice and create ideas for change, not to produce finished campaigns.
The submission requirement is that each output must be presented as a Keynote presentation (with supporting research). Your slides should include both your ideas and references (articles, organisations, or case studies) that informed them.
| Final Session | HAND UP & Assess | |||||||||
| Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 |
| Oct/2 | Oct/9 | Oct/16 | Oct/23 | Oct/30 | Nov/6 | Nov/13 | Nov/22 | Nov/27 | Dec/4 | Dec/11 |
This course is aimed at designers and creatives who wish to recognise unconscious bias, understand and implement change and embed diversity within their social networks, communities and creative practices.
The programme seeks to provide the transversal and specialist skills to equip creative practitioners to work within existing career paths, while also forge new career and creative pathways and learning.
Educational Standard
All applicants are expected to present an approved Bachelor degree at minimum level of 2nd class honours (2.2)
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) – Applicants who do not meet the minimum academic entry requirements for admission may be considered on the basis of a recognition of previous learning whether based on prior relevant experience or other relevant credited or non credited or learning (RPL). In such cases each applicant will be considered on a case-by-case basis based on a review of the applicant’s CV and other supporting documentation.
Please contact ncad@creativefutures.ie for further information.
Qualifying Examination – In certain cases the academic team may choose to set a qualifying assignment in order to assess an applicant’s suitability for admission.
You may apply for the programme if you are currently completing your Undergraduate Degree. NCAD will review the rest of your application if necessary, we can make you a Conditional Offer. When your degree is completed and you send us final transcripts we will upgrade this to a Full Offer.
Essential Supporting Documentation
Find out more HERE
There is a fee of €600 for this programme.
Places are limited. If the course fills sooner, applications will close/go to waitlist.
CFA Scholarship:
A CFA scholarship encourages the participation of learners from sections of society that are significantly under-represented in higher education by offering one free place on all of our CFA short courses.
Find out if you are eligible to apply HERE
Fill in the CFA@NCAD scholarship application form HERE
Programme Contact
Dr Joanna Crawley – crawleyj@staff.ncad.ie
Admissions Contact
postgraduate@ncad.ie
01 636 4200
From clicking APPLY to accessing course materials
Thank you for your interest in the postgraduate courses at the National College of Art and Design.
This brief guide will help you understand what to expect from the enrollment process and how to best prepare for all necessary stages.
In the process of enrolling into a postgraduate course at NCAD you will:
We advise you to start this process no later than a week before the application deadline to gather necessary documentation and allow for any troubleshooting.
