8 weeks
10 (Level 9 Award)
6 Jun 2025
IADT
10
HCI Subsidy Funding Available
€1,100 or €550*
What does the future hold for us all? Well, instead of wondering, why not design it?
The Certificate in Speculative Design Futures is a new course 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.
Our course will provide you with a set of critical thinking and making tools that will enable you to confront futures design challenges with confidence.
During the course, you will:
Course content will include:
You will be assessed through class participation and two assignments:
(independent learning 50 hours approx.)
The course will be delivered on a blended format as follows:
| Dates | Time | Delivery |
| Saturday – 27.09.25 | 9.30am – 4pm | On Campus |
| Wednesday – 22.10.25 | 7pm – 9pm | Online |
| Saturday – 29.11.25 | 9.30am – 4pm | On Campus |
| Wednesday – 10.12.25 | 7pm – 9pm | Online |
| Saturday – 17.01.26 | 9.30am – 4pm | On Campus |
| Wednesday – 11.02.26 | 7pm – 9pm | Online |
| Wednesday – 04.03.26 | 7pm – 9pm | Online |
| Wednesday – 18.03.26 | 6.30pm – 9pm | Online |
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.
You will need to have a laptop and Adobe Creative Suite.
Applications are open for 2025/2026. Please apply HERE
As part of the application, you will be required to provide a CV with details of:
Please note:
IADT operates a rolling admissions policy for graduate taught courses, with decisions issued in 4 weeks after a submitted and complete application is received. An application is incomplete until you provide all required items on the checklist (including the application fee, if applicable).
Generally, courses will remain open to applications until all places are filled.
Fees for this course in 2025/2026 are €550, subsidised by the Higher Education Authority’s Human Capital Initiative. Check your eligibility and read about the documents you will be required to submit HERE
Fees for those who do not meet the eligibility criteria above are €1,100.
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@IADT scholarship application form HERE
Please email any queries to Elena Somoza, IADT Creative Futures Academy Co-ordinator, at iadt@creativefutures.ie
Applicants to this course are eligible for Human Capital Initiative HCI Pillar 3 Micro-Credentials Subsidy funding. The subsidy for this course is 50% of the total course costs for eligible learners. Terms & Conditions apply.
“The Speculative Design Futures course at CFA at IADT offers a great balance of theory and practice. I gained a strong foundation in speculative design and the course project allowed me to put that knowledge into action. One of the most rewarding aspects was collaborating with the team from diverse backgrounds. I learned just as much from them as from the course itself. It was a very inspiring experience.”
Freddie Sukprasong
Senior Product Designer, DeepL
