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Design for Sustainability (MASc)

Find out more about our Design for Sustainability taught Master's degree at Warwick

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P-H103

MASc

1 year full-time

28 September 2026

WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group)

University of Warwick

The MASc Design for Sustainability is an interdisciplinary programme offered jointly by WMG and the department for Design Studies within the School for Cross-Faculty Studies. Benefitting from the expertise of two academic departments at Warwick, students will combine industry and commercial knowledge with holistic creativity to develop design-led, sustainable solutions to global challenges.

Innovation is the engine of growth and positive change, but building a prosperous future for the environment, society, and the economy requires sustainability to lead the way. To embed sustainable practices across our lives, businesses, and systems, we need professionals who can strategically integrate sustainability at every stage of enterprise.

This MASc prepares you with the skills, experience, and mindset to design sustainable solutions to make real impact. You will learn to apply systemic design thinking, circular and regenerative design, and emerging technologies to real-world challenges, while developing the creativity and commercial awareness needed to turn ideas into practical outcomes. Through hands-on projects with peers, academics, and industry, you will build a strong portfolio that showcases both vision and practical skills. The programme will equip you to lead sustainable transformation across sectors, within both established organisations and new ventures.

Key themes:

• Systemic and Sustainable Design: Apply the latest theories and methodologies to foster sustainable innovation, from ideation to implementation. Develop effective collaboration and problem-solving skills within interdisciplinary teams.
• Systems, Circular Economy, and Regeneration: Design for long-term resilience by understanding the interconnected ecological, social, and economic systems. Focus on waste elimination, resource loops, and the restoration of natural systems.
• Sustainable Commercialisation: Explore how enterprises can create meaningful impact. Learn strategies to align business goals with sustainable practices, promote social responsibility, and maximise positive outcomes.
• Emerging and Evolving Technologies: Stay at the forefront of innovation by exploring cutting-edge technologies and their evolution, including disruptive and displaced technologies shaping the future.

Through these key themes, this programme will support you in shaping change across the environment, society, and business.

The MASc in Design for Sustainability has been created in response to growing industrial demand for graduates who can drive sustainable, creative, and systems-based solutions in product and process design. The programme has been developed collaboratively with industrial leaders and the University of Warwick's leading design community.

Interested in this course?  

Learn more via the WMG website 

Register your interest or download our Master’s brochure 

Connect directly with the WMG Recruitment Team for more information 

This course has two components – a taught component accounting for two-thirds of your time and effort, and a research component accounting for one-third.

For the taught component, we blend synchronous and asynchronous lectures and seminars, with syndicate exercises, simulations, design sprints, workshops, studio-based teaching, personal reflective practices, and case studies. The majority of modules are taught in small classes to facilitate and encourage interaction. Others practice large-scale lectures, which are then supported by small class seminar and group activities.

Our module leaders have extensive industry experience. Guest speakers from industry also contribute regularly, bringing real-world insight into your learning experience.

In addition to your taught modules, you will undertake a major project as part of your Master's degree. This is nominally 600 hours (60 CATS points) of learning, mainly taking place during the Spring and Summer terms. You will be expected to engage regularly with your Project Supervisor and to provide progress updates and drafts of your work to an agreed schedule.

Overall, this course can accommodate 30-40 students, divided into smaller teaching groups for workshop and studio sessions.

Module delivery patterns vary, but most will be delivered in a short learning block of up to 4 weeks, allowing your focus to be on one module at a time. Each module nominally accounts for 150 hours, which includes scheduled classroom time and online sessions as well as your independent study and assessments.

The course uses a variety of assessment methods across modules. These may include reports (both topic-based and reflective), individual and group presentations and discussions, design artefacts, critical evaluation or commentary pieces, case-study exercises, simulation reports, CRITS (critical reviews), design portfolios, and business or consultancy reports.

Assessments have been designed not only to assess your achievement in meeting the course learning outcomes in an academically sound manner, but also contribute to preparing you with the requisite competencies required for employment.

Reading lists 

If you would like to view reading lists for current or previous cohorts of students, most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library on the Talis Aspire platform. 

You can search for reading lists by module title, code or convenor. Please see the modules tab of this page or the module catalogue.  

Please note that some reading lists may have restricted access or be unavailable at certain times of year due to not yet being published. If you cannot access the reading list for a particular module, please check again later or contact the module’s host department. 

Your timetable

Core modules will be allocated to students at the end of the first week of term - you will then be able to view your individual module schedule for the rest of the year via the WMG module selection system.

Modules will include scheduled classroom time and online sessions as well as your independent study and assessments, and will usually be delivered within a 4 week timeframe. Occasional classes and study skills sessions may be held at weekends or in the evenings.

As a Master's student, you are expected to manage your own time appropriately. On average, you are expected to commit 38-40 hours of study each week, in order to successfully achieve your Master’s degree.

This is a full-time postgraduate course - undergraduate term dates do not apply. Whilst there are no holidays as such, there will be no teaching scheduled when the University is officially closed for staff, during the two weeks over Christmas and New Year.

2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent) from a range of academic disciplines. This course would be particularly suitable for graduates with background in design, creative, engineering, environmental, ecological and sustainability sciences, keen to apply their skills within the context of design and engineering.

• Band A
• IELTS overall score of 6.5, minimum component scores not below 6.0

Candidates with professional experience should include their CV with their application.

Core modules are required modules that all students will complete whilst on this programme. This course covers a comprehensive range of topics designed to equip students with the essential skills and knowledge needed to excel in the field.

For Design for Sustainability (DfS) your core modules are:

Find out more and read the module descriptions for this course on WMG's websiteLink opens in a new window.