Professional Diploma in Circular by Design

This course creates a stage for the exploration of the complex issues around fashion, textile design and product design, to interrogate and provoke sustainable systemic change.

About the Programme

The circular economy requires the redesign of everything - from materials, to products, to services, to systems. This course provides the methodology, tools, practice and theory for learners to design a different future for the sector.

Integrating a network of international organisations, charities and companies who are making change happen, this pathway supports embodied learning to encourage acting, as well as making and thinking. Learners connect the materials, the production, the practices and systems to opportunities for rethinking and reforming.

The role of the designer in the circular economy is of paramount importance, as is the integration of circular economy principles into design practice and thinking.

This course supports learners to fabricate critical and vital dialogues It creates the stage for new attitudes, knowledge and skill sets which will shape the future.

Who is it for?

The Professional Diploma would create a perfect foundation for anyone who want to build a deep and nuanced understanding of sustainability and circularity and practically apply that knowledge to their own practice.

The programme seek to prepare students, from the broadest range of creative backgrounds, with the practical and theoretical means to develop contemporary design practice and theory within a

specialist award, while benefitting from a broader interdisciplinary creative discourse and

community of practice.

What will I study? 

The programme encourages participants to integrate research, creative practice and contemporarymethods, theory and contexts. It promotes the application of knowledge to design practice, policy-making, and addressing ecological and social challenges across interconnected systems.

Through a combination of taught seminars, workshops, and independent study, participants will be invited to question and critique consumption and purpose and explore alternative methods for designing, producing, selling, using, and disposing at the end of the value chain.

Using their own design practice, research, and experience as a guide, participants will develop a critical perspective on the local and global challenges that industry faces, and begin to shape and articulate their unique roles within it as change makers.

Through live, industry-informed projects, participants will have the opportunity to collaborate with peers and external partners, such as designers, retailers, manufacturers, circular innovators, social enterprises, and local councils. These collaborations aim to innovate and test new circular systems, tools, products, and services.

Successive modules allow participants to develop their specialist practice, their professional,
technical and organisational skills and their knowledge and application of critical contexts to:


● EXPAND creative thinking to support a change of perspective across and beyond the sector.
● CONNECT with social and cultural change to create impact.
● BUILD sustainable communities of interest that grow without discipline.
● INCUBATE agile creative practitioners, businesses and organisations that can change the social, cultural and economic worlds.
● POSITION change from a communication and content led place.
● ALIGN learning and teaching to a change-led view of the world, society, economies and sectors in and beyond Ireland.
● ENGAGE with emerging technology, tools and practices to create continual change in the creative sector.

Timetable

This Professional Diploma is running from September 2025 until January 2026.

Learners are required to commit +20hrs per week to successfully complete the programme. Learning hours per week vary, but typically, learners can expect up to 1 day per week (7-8 hrs on Tuesdays) of contact time, and the remaining time (10-12 hours) will consist of individual and self-led work and study.

The programme will be delivered through a blended model, with both online and offline learning, to accommodate a diverse group of learners. Types of learning and teaching methods include lectures, seminars, masterclasses, workshops, small group presentations and tutorials. In general, learners will be expected to be on the NCAD campus for in-person delivery, once every three weeks.

The professional Diploma culminates in Capstone Project in which students undertake a project that demonstrates learners' knowledge of creative circular practices and theories.

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.

Candidates may be required to pass a qualifying examination set by the relevant department before being accepted to a Masters degree programme. Attendance at selected undergraduate lecture courses at NCAD, together with related written work may be prescribed.

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.

Essential Supporting Documentation

  • A statement framing your reasons for applying to the programme, i.e. how attending the above selected course will benefit you and your practice  (500 words)
  • A recent CV
  • Certified transcripts of previous programmes followed
  • Certified copies of degree/ certificates and/or other appropriate third level qualifications bearing the official stamp of the institution.

Find out more HERE

The Professional Diploma aims to prepare graduates for careers in the textiles and fashion industry, independent circular design consultancy, start-up ventures, creative practice and academic research.

You will have the foundational knowledge, skills, and attitude to develop and implement novel circular design and business model concepts.

With the skills to develop circular design solutions related to material and product innovation and systems and service innovation, graduates have a wide range of local and global opportunities available to them. Potential career pathways for graduates include:

  • Innovation manager
  • CSR / sustainability manager
  • Product Designer or Product Manager
  • Material Sourcing Manager
  • Supply Chain Manager
  • Supply Chain Planner/Buyer
  • Business consultant or project manager


Graduates are also supported to progress to MA Circular by Design and then PhD level.

Adminstration Team:

Dr Joanna Crawley - Funding and Timetabel Queries - crawleyj@ncad.ie

Camille Rocca - Admission Queries - postgraduate@ncad.ie

There is no application fee for the Programme.

The programme fee is €2200

50% of the fee has to be paid upon registration (unless availing of the CCI Skillnet partnership rate). 

For information on tuition fees please follow this link.

Applications open soon

Funding

NCAD with Creative Futures Academy is delighted to collaborate with Cultural & Creative Industries (CCI) Skillnet to offer a special partnership rate of €1250 for qualifying candidates, which includes those resident in the Republic of Ireland and not already in receipt of a bursary, grant aid or a scholarship for this course and not participating in a CE scheme or in receipt of Unemployment Benefit.

This Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet programme is co-funded by the Government of Ireland & the European Union. www.eufunds.ie

How to apply for the partnership rate?

Application steps

  1. Apply to the programme by clicking on the yellow button above
  2. Complete the Special Category Data Participant Questionnaire 
  3. Fill out the Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet membership application form 
  4. If your CCIS Membership application is successful, you will be notified and given access to the CFA/NCAD Course application link if you have not already applied via the CFA/NCAD website.
  5. If your NCAD Course Application is successful you will be notified by NCAD and given access to a CCIS Registration/Payment Link.