6 Aug 2026
NCAD
20 ECTS
AD472PD
€2,200 or €440*
The programme works directly with an urban embedded novel ecology of the NCAD FIELD site. This taskscape acts as an outdoor classroom, a site for nature connection, commoning and a testing site for multi-species futures. Connecting to the site and its seasonal activity, nature/culture connections are explored and enacted allowing learners to expand their research, creative making and critical thinking skills in meaningful and liveable ways.
A grounding in the social, political, economic and historical issues that frame ecologies of the surroundings site are explored. Through the Diploma Programme practitioners will expand, develop and question their practices using the NCAD FIELD as a testing site and shared learning space. The programme supports a range of creative approaches and interdisciplinary art and design practitioners that wish to connect and work in the space of critical ecologies and expanded environments.
Learners aiming to evolve as artists, curators, activists, designers and cultural producers will be supported, giving them the tools, networks and knowledge to confidently work in this interdisciplinary field.
Established and emergent artists, curators, activists, designers, makers, cultural producers, ecologists, scientists, architects, landscape architects, social workers, policy makers, biodiversity and sustainability officers, educators, horticulturalists, active citizenship, citizen scientists, lifelong learning
Dates:
Principles: Sep 3, 10, 17, 24
Collaborations: Oct 8, 15, 22, 29
Practices: Feb 25, Mar 4, 11, 18
Capstone: May 27, Jun 3, 10, 17
As part of a suite of programmes that make up the Creative Futures offer at NCAD, the Professional Diploma in Art and Ecology seeks to provide a scholarly framework for students who wish to study specific, connected aspects of creative disciplines and themes within a leading art and design college setting.
Many aspects of the suite of programmes will be delivered in collaboration with partners from the Creative Sector and in addition, a number of programme sessions will have a public dimension, allowing us to invite other interested parties from the fields of contemporary creative practice and scholarship to join our conversations and creative activities.
Successive modules allow students to develop their practice, their professional, technical and organisational skills and their knowledge and application of critical contexts.
Modes of learning will include field work, lectures, seminars and workshops along with cross-disciplinary conversations and collaborations. A key focus is on the productive intersection points where creative practices meet scientific, legal and social policy debates, to manifest outcomes that catalyse progress.
Learners will learn through material delivered in advance of each session prescribing group work and also individual initiative.
This diploma lays the foundation for further study at Masters and Phd level.
The programme is designed to meet the needs of the creative sector within and beyond Ireland. As such, the constituent awards explicitly address key requirements identified in extensive discussions and research undertaken with industry partners and representative bodies such as the Arts Council of Ireland, Design and Crafts Council of Ireland and Institute of Designers in Ireland, and findings from government and sectoral reports.
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.
Applicants who have not been educated through English must show proof of achieving IELTS 6.5 (with a minimum of 6 in the writing section on the Academic Version) or an equivalent score in another accepted test.
Art and Ecology alumni exhibit in ‘Earthbound Tales’
Karen Bowett, Dervla Clarke + Jamie Lemoine (POND Studios), Estibaliz Errazquin and Melissa O’Brien.
Part of the 2025 Brigit: Dublin City Celebrating Women and mark the launch of our Sustainability Policy, Pallas Projects/Studios are pleased to present Earthbound Tales, curated by Cristina Nicotra.
What does it mean to be native or non-native? What is nature, or natural?
Earthbound Tales explores these questions.
The exhibition is inspired by the intricate relationships between the wider ecology of humans and non-humans that we are enmeshed with despite our urban life. It is an invitation for the community to discover and observe the inextricable assemblage of the novel, native, and almost-native-at-this-point ecologies in our landscape. It is an opportunity to feel the alternative time and space of these inhabitants with curiosity.
There is a fee of €2200 (or €440 with LFS) for this programme.
100% payment is required upfront at registration from the LFS recipients.
Apply via Springboard
Programme Contact
CFA coordinator Joanna Crawley crawleyj@staff.ncad.ie
Admissions Contact
postgraduate@ncad.ie
01 636 4200
Creative Futures Academy are delighted to be awarded significant Micro-credential Learner Fee Subsidy (LFS) to support learners attending our future-focused courses in both the National College of Art & Design and the Institute of Art Design + Technology, Dun Laoghaire.
All applicants interested in the LFS must first apply through springboardcourses.ie and received provisional offer.
Applicants then register for the programme via NCAD.
Please see eligibility criteria HERE.
Register: Before applying for a course you must register on the springboardcourses.ie website and log-in. To do this browse to “Register” in the top-right of the page and enter a valid email address and a password. Once you register you will be sent an activation email to the email address you entered. You must open this email and click the “Activate Now” link to activate your account. You can then log-in.
On the homepage, click on Search Courses. When you have found a course which you are interested in, click on More Details. If you would like to apply to the course, click on Apply Now.
The application process involves five steps.
After you have applied to a course or courses or have saved an application, when you go to your Name in the top right-hand side of the screen, you will see a dropdown menu. There you will see Applications.
Here, you will see the Status of your applications. If you have saved an application but not submitted it, it will be a ‘Draft’. If you have submitted it, it will say ‘Submitted’. A submitted application cannot be re-submitted or edited.
