Today's complex global challenges call for different disciplines to think and work together. Yet, working with people from various backgrounds can be difficult.

You've likely experienced the struggles of finding common ground. Conflicting perspectives, methodologies, and vocabulary often stand in the way of effective collaboration. Formulating shared goals, setting mutual expectations, and understanding everyone's ideas can be complicated.

The Shaping Responsible Futures programme will help you to overcome these challenges. You'll learn to transcend disciplinary boundaries. You'll connect science to society by collaborating with real-world stakeholders. And, you'll build confidence as a responsible change-maker.

Responsible Futuring

This course is all about proactively taking up societal challenges and designing interventions that co-shape societies for pluriversal futures. You will develop the mindset, knowledge, and skills to help transform - together with regional stakeholders - the social, environmental, and economic system. You will work in a transdisciplinary manner, connect global challenges with local actions, histories with futures, and action with reflection.

Leading Systemic Change

In this course you will follow a challenge-based approach to holistically assess complex system behaviors by examining their various complexities, including technical, human, political, resource, and environmental processes. We aim to understand how changes and various design solution alternatives impact the extended life of systems and organizations. You learn how to manage changes in the design, development, and deployment of systems.

Dutch Higher Education Award (2022)

The team of the Transdisciplinary Master-Insert ‘Shaping Responsible Futures’ is extremely proud to have received this prestigious award for educational innovation. It is an enormous recognition for the programme and proves that we have established a highly innovative educational concept that leads the way in the Netherlands in terms of combining the personal and professional development of students with societal impact.

Courses

We offer three courses:

Creative Intelligence (Q2): learn to create tools and materials to support a creative group activity (for example, a workshop), involving people (stakeholders, experts, participants) from a diversity of disciplinary backgrounds.
Responsible Futuring (Q3): learn to work in a transdisciplinary manner, connect global challenges with local actions, histories with futures, academic with societal perspectives, action with reflection, and critical modes with creative modes of thinking and design.
Leading Systemic Change (Q4): learn to holistically assess complex system behaviors by examining their various complexities, including technical, human, political, resource, and environmental processes.

Pillars

👥 Transdisciplinarity

We work with students, teachers, and stakeholders from different disciplinary backgrounds.

🌍 Real-World Challenges

Our programme is designed around the real-world challenges of our regional partners.

💪 Personal Development

We help you to define, pursue, and achieve your personal learning goals.

Testimonials

Michael Bui

"The Master-Insert taught me the importance of working in a transdisciplinary manner. Some of the projects we worked on were so complex, that our individual expertise was not sufficient to come up with novel and effective solutions; it was the synergy of our disciplines that led to the outcomes that we are proud of."

Laura Moens

"Over the years, I got a bit lost in what I wanted in life. The Shaping Responsible Futures programme helped me to get a deep insight into my own personality in relation to others. I now have a clear idea of what I personally want to develop and what kind of role I like to fulfil in teamwork."

Sefora Tunc

"I believe that the programme greatly enhanced my teamwork skills. I was lacking in aspects that I only became aware of due to the close collaboration with my peers. I became a leader, but not in the traditional sense. Because leadership is not about pointing people the right way anymore, it is about making an impact collaboratively."

Niklas Bexten

"I was already quite familiar with different fields of research working together. However, even when combined, we tend to evaluate disciplines and their findings separately. In this programme, we experienced what it really means to think about a problem holistically. We were even encouraged to merge multiple disciplines into new approaches."

Features

🧭 Self-Directed Learning
You get the freedom to pursue your own curiosity

🚀 Novel Educational Approach
You are trained in activating workshops

⭕ Learning Community
You become part of DesignLab's community

💡 Engineering, Design, & Social Sciences
You learn to transcend disciplinary boundaries

🌍 Challenge-Based Learning
You work on real-world regional challenges

💭 Feedback Focused
You receive feedback instead of grades

🔥 Transdisciplinary Front-Runner
You experience a one-of-a-kind education

🎓 Shaping Responsible Futures Certificate
You earn an official certificate