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MDEF 02Master in Design for Emergent Futures + Thesis Project (2 year programme)

Tuition fee €28,000 per year

IAAC determines tuition fees based on passport fee status. Please make sure to select your citizenship/nationality to display the corresponding tuition fee.

Tuitoin fees do not include an enrolment deposit of 3,800€ required to secure your place in the programme after being offered an acceptance. The enrolment deposit is non-refundable.

Application fee €50 one-time
Deposit €3,800 one-time

Non refundable

More information

iaac.net/..esign-for-emergent-futures-mdef 

Overview

The Master in Design for Emergent Futures (MDEF) transforms the current state of society by turning ideas into prototypes, platforms, actions, and interventions.

Through digital fabrication, synthetic biology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), hardware design, computational thinking, blockchain and more, MDEF is dedicated to scaling the impact of maker practices, encouraging participants to reimagine how design can drive a paradigm shift toward preferred plural futures.

Organised by IAAC and ELISAVA Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, in collaboration with Fab Lab Barcelona and the Fab Academy, MDEF integrates theory and practice in a multidisciplinary approach. It pushes design beyond aesthetics to tackle complex systemic challenges with a multiscalar and hands-on methodology.
The programme is built on four pillars—Exploration, Instrumentation, Reflection, and Application—guiding students in developing a strategic vision and flexible skill set for uncertain futures. It culminates in a design intervention that addresses hyperlocal needs in Barcelona while engaging with global trends. Graduates apply their expertise across a wide range of fields, from governance and new materials to sustainable food systems.

Programme structure

MDEF offers advanced instruction in digital fabrication through collaborative courses with Fab Academy, led by Neil Gershenfeld of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms. Fab Academy is grounded in the MIT rapid prototyping course, MAS 863: How to Make (Almost) Anything, providing students with a unique, hands-on learning experience and access to cutting-edge tools through a distributed educational model.

MDEF is structured into three terms, each featuring design studios, seminars, workshops, and masterclasses with industry experts. Students also have the opportunity to participate in a research trip, with past destinations including China, Cuba, Mallorca, the Canary Islands, and France.

The program has four conceptual pillars:

Instrumentation: Students learn a modular set of maker skills and tools and how these can be used in the design process to translate their ideas into prototypes and prototypes into products. Skills include coding, digital fabrication, hardware design, synthetic biology, and computational thinking.

Exploration: Students are exposed to a set of technologies and sociocultural phenomena that have the capacity to disrupt our present understanding of society, industry, and the economy.

Reflection: Students are supported through individual and group reflection sessions to develop their own identity and skill set, knowledge, and attitude as designers.

Application: Students create design responses to explore their curiosities through innovation. They are encouraged to be creative and follow a culture of making where prototyping acts as a generator of knowledge and experimentation is crucial for problem-solving.

MDEF + Thesis Project (Two-Year)

The second year of MDEF focuses on advancing the Thesis Project initiated in the first year. Students refine their research and innovation agendas using an experimental, multiscalar approach, turning their final projects into viable platforms for academic research, business development, or contributions to open-source communities.

At the heart of the second year there’s the Thesis Project Design Workshop, which is composed by three steps each aligned with specific objectives for each quarter: Implementation, Validation, Dissemination

The Thesis Project is complemented by seminars and workshops to support the development of the thesis by deepening in the fields of Research Methodologies, Emergent Technologies and Emerging Economies. MDEF02 students can select elective courses among a great variety of seminars and workshops shared with other second-year students from IAAC masters.


To learn more about MDEF ´s academic structure, courses, faculty and career prospectus please visit our website:

Apply now! Academic year 2025/26
This is a rolling intake - applications are accepted all year round.
Studies commence
1 Oct 2025
Apply now! Academic year 2025/26
This is a rolling intake - applications are accepted all year round.
Studies commence
1 Oct 2025