5XÉçÇøÊÓƵ

The Role of Design in the Circular Economy (H7098)

15 credits, Level 6

Autumn teaching

This course introduces you to the circular economy and the designer’s role within the complex system that makes up this future-proofing way of working and living. From material selection, to reuse, repair, renting, redistribution, international legislation, the sharing economy, new business models and more, this module equips you with a wide-ranging knowledge that is highly desired by employers in all sectors.

Within each session, we will look at a different area and work collaboratively on tasks to understand how design fits within the circular economy, and what it means for us in the future of our careers.

Being a designer comes with a huge responsibility – understanding how we can not only develop products that are fit for a changing future, but understand systems design, developing business models, transparent supply chains, responsible uses of materials and so much more, we can ensure we are creating items with the highest consideration for circularity.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 33 hours of contact time and about 117 hours of independent study. The 5XÉçÇøÊÓƵ may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.