Design for Health & Wellbeing

Key Facts

Staff

Programme Overview

How to Apply

Institution Name: GSA
Institution Code: G43
UCAS Code: HW73

Award

BDes/MDes Design for Health and Wellbeing. All GSA degree programmes are validated by the University of Glasgow. Established in 1451, the University of Glasgow is a member of the prestigious Russell Group of leading UK research universities and a founder member of Universitas 21, an international grouping of universities dedicated to setting worldwide standards for higher education.

Assessment

Coursework, essays, practical design projects. Formative assessments take place at key points throughout the year with summative assessments at the end of each course.

Glasgow Clyde College Associate Student Scheme
This programme participates in the scheme supporting year 2 entry to selected programmes at the GSA - find out more here.

Facilities
Studio environment with social spaces. IT facilities, rapid prototyping, plastic, wood and metalworking facility allowing 3D - physical prototypes designs to be tested, both functionally and aesthetically. Students also have access to other departmental workshops.

Indicative Additional Costs
Individual departments levy material fees as indicated on this page. You should budget for each year of your programme of study and should allow for costs over and above your fees and maintenance, particularly if expensive materials or projects are chosen.

Graduate Destinations include
Innovation School graduates go on to work in a variety of different roles for a diverse mix of employers and organisations, including the NHS, Social Care, third sector, Scottish/UK Government, Google, Facebook, Intel and the BBC. Others continue into further study or set up their own businesses. They are particularly sought after by health and social care providers, charities, local councils and government, as they are well equipped to develop and implement transformative processes that can improve how these organisations operate.

Programme Leader

Tutors

Programme Overview

BDes/MDes Design for Health and Wellbeing at the GSA's School of Innovation and Technology provides a unique, future-focused perspective on the role of design in shaping individual, collective, societal and planetary health and wellbeing. If we want to live in a healthy world and be well, we must design and create the conditions under which this becomes possible, for our society and our ecosystem. To this end, the BDes and integrated MDes programme covers a broad spectrum of design-led innovation practices associated with organisational, systemic and social change as they relate to the domain of Health and Wellbeing. This includes design of products, interactions, services, experiences, systems and strategies. The programme shares many classes and projects with BDes/MEDes Product Design, particularly in the early years. This equips students with a diverse range of contemporary design skills, methods and approaches – with a key difference being the focus on how we apply these to explore and create new ways of living to promote health and wellbeing for people and planet.

Students will explore complex social, ethical, environmental, political and technological issues as the focal points for design projects. The programme goes beyond a conception of medical, physical or psychological health to ask – instead – how might we reimagine ‘health’ and ‘wellbeing,’ and what will this mean to us in a world shaped by social, environmental and technological change? How can design help us to explore and consider these changes in the world, and how will it help us imagine our response? You will work beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries and engage with specialist expertise from other domains, such as science, medicine, ecology, technology and politics, to create future visions of our health and wellbeing. As a result of this approach, our graduates will have a unique professional and transdisciplinary perspective that prepares them for a diverse range of creative opportunities and career destinations.

Through a combination of studio-based learning, project-based exploration of ideas and work placements, you will acquire a wide range of visualisation, prototyping and communication skills. You will learn how to apply research methods and analytical skills to identify needs, synthesise opportunities for change, and to design outcomes with citizens, professionals, organisations and governments. The programme offers opportunities for student placements as well as the possibility to participate in live projects with independent, public and third-sector organisations – supporting our graduates to shape their future careers and design practice through creative and collaborative working across diverse contexts to drive real-world impact.