MA Responsible Innovation
Option for Placement Year
Option for Study Abroad
Option for Placement Year
Option for Study Abroad
Please note that whilst we are accepting applications, this course is subject to validation.
If you’re fed-up with the way things are or the way they’re going and you want to create more hopeful futures, this course is for you, whatever your background.
You might be fed-up with wasteful lifestyles, unfair systems, cultural intolerance, harmful production and consumption cycles, who gets a say and who doesn’t, and how data is shaping our lives. On this course you will learn about these issues and many more as you undertake types of designing that aim to make positive change.
If you believe that we can change things for the better, that bright ideas and hard work can positively change lives, then this course is for you.
The knowledge and practices of different types of design, informed by social sciences, economics, politics and emerging science underpin this course. Your day-to-day will include design-led innovation, design activism, social design, relational design and participatory design channelled towards navigating the complex and tricky transitions faced by communities, enterprises, and institutions as we move towards new ecological, technological, social and political realities.
If you want to learn from world-leading experts and with real-world organisations, this course is also for you.
This is a highly practical course - you will learn through working on a range of projects with real communities, enterprises, and institutions exploring futures and their consequences. You’ll be taught by leading academics from across the disciplines. Working in multidisciplinary teams with your peers and alongside professionals from partner organisations, this Master’s course will help prepare you for future employment using design as a tool for responsible innovation and change.
Academics at Northumbria have been leading research and discourse in Responsible Innovation since 2010. Responsible Design is a core value of the School of Design, Arts and Creative Industries.
Research Power - Art and Design at Northumbria is ranked 4th in the UK for research power (REF, 2021). This is a rise of 6 places compared to 2014.
Top 20 University - Art & Design at Northumbria is ranked 17th in the UK by the Complete University Guide for 2024, rising 4 places since last year.
Northumbria University is the largest provider of postgraduate taught education in the North East and the 9th largest provider in the UK. *HEIDI PLUS Student FPE 2022/23
Applicants should normally have:
A minimum of a 2:2 honours degree in any discipline. Applicants with appropriate work experience and/or a relevant professional qualification will be considered.
International qualifications:
If you have studied a non UK qualification, you can see how your qualifications compare to the standard entry criteria, by selecting the country that you received the qualification in, from our country pages. Visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/yourcountry
English language requirements:
International applicants are required to have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 with 5.5 in each component (or approved equivalent*).
*The university accepts a large number of UK and International Qualifications in place of IELTS. You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades you will need in our English Language section. Visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/englishqualifications
Full UK Fee: £9,700
Full International Fee: £19,350
Scholarships and Discounts
ADDITIONAL COSTS
There are no Additional Costs
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The School of Design, Arts and Creative Industries is a leading centre for supporting and energising creative practice and academic study. Our inter-disciplinary research and experiential education is committed to the betterment of people, place, cultures, and societies. Our programmes are defined by the way we collaborate with communities, industry, and external partners to inform curriculum, your learning and contribute to wider society.
With the rapid pace of change across sectors, we can’t know with any certainty what the jobs of the future will be. What we do know is... those who learn how to learn fast and how to apply what they learn, will be the ones who are best placed for the workplaces of the future.
By studying on this course, you will join an active community of researchers and practitioners committed to social justice and ‘more-than-human' priorities. You will develop creative research skills which will allow you to access, understand and synthesise emerging, ground-breaking new knowledge and translate this to support your design innovation projects. Through distinct design principles and practices, you will be prepared to meet the rapid pace of change, appreciate the value of plurality and confidently adapt to the dynamic shifts within society and industry.
As a graduate of the course, your CV will list strategic, responsible innovation and research projects that you have undertaken with a wide range of organisations from micro-charities to global corporations. You will be given opportunities to meet, and work with employers and employees and to build your own professional network. You will be supported to define your professional value and understand the range of roles and the impact that you can have within different kinds of organisations.
The practical nature and future-focus of the Responsible Innovation Masters course, means that upon graduation you will be ready for employment, entrepreneurship or doctoral research within many areas, such as: private, public and third sector design-led innovation, service design, social design, design for policy and many other areas where future-focused, responsible and creative action are called for.
This course was called 'Multidisciplinary Innovation' prior to 2024.
Our Master’s students are often heard talking about the creative freedom within the School of Design, Art and Creative Industries, and how they are always encouraged to critically develop their ideas, no matter how radical or transformative they might be. Your portfolio will be a perfect place to encapsulate that and represent some of the exciting, unusual, and impactful projects that you work on over the year.
You will be taught by a breadth of world-leading experts; practitioners, researchers and educators. Their expertise includes product and service design, social design, social innovation, enterprise, social entrepreneurship, public health, public policy and global development. By sharing their expertise, they will help you shape your own future through the course.
You will work in a dynamic studio environment, akin to a professional creative agency setting. This brings together students, researchers and partners in a collaborative space, a place for exploration of big challenges, and co-creation of better solutions.
Based at our City Campus, our studios are located close to tutor offices, the library and digital commons. The studios are equipped to support creative, flexible and collaborative working. They are technologically equipped, include white panel walls for project mapping, and contain an abundant supply of post-its and sharpies... All you need to bring is your imagination and commitment (and maybe a laptop).
All information is accurate at the time of sharing.
Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.
Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.
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