Master of Arts - Material Futures
- 2 years
- Duration
- 22,175 GBP/year
- Price
- September
- Start
- June
- Deadline
- Master
- Degree
- Campus
- Format
- London / United Kingdom
- Location
Program description
The MA Material Futures programme at Central Saint Martins encourages a wholly multi-disciplinary approach to design, anticipating the future needs and challenges of the 21st century through trans-disciplinary collaboration. By working with experts and blurring the boundaries between design, science, and technology, students explore how we might live tomorrow by analysing how we live today.
Taking materiality as the starting point, the course integrates both high and low technological materials and processes, welcoming students from diverse fields like fashion, architecture, and speculative design. It combines social, scientific, political, and ecological inquiry to inform future design scenarios and research-led speculations. A core commitment is to embed UAL's Principles for Climate, Social, and Racial Justice to develop ethical material futures practices.
Program structure
- Unit 1: Material Exploration
Unit 1 serves as a creative test bed, encouraging you to experiment ambitiously by moving beyond previous disciplines and embracing new technologies, science, and design practices. It fosters innovation and critical debate, pushing you to develop sustainable concepts and proposals that engage with emerging issues shaping the future of design.
- Unit 2: Material Proposition
Unit 2 focuses on synthesizing your emerging material knowledge with your existing skills to develop a personal research project proposal and critical journal on a topical issue in material futures. You will engage with relevant experts to turn your design proposition into a tangible reality, culminating in an exhibition of your creative portfolio and research findings.
- Unit 3: Material Impact
Unit 3 is a self-initiated unit where you contextualise, construct, and launch your design proposition, focusing on its real-world impact and pertinence for the future. You will complete a critical text to situate your work within a wider context and present it at the college's annual Showcase.
Please note that if you are required to retake a unit, you must pause further study until it is passed, which may impact student loans or visa status. CSM Academic Support offers tutorials and workshops to help develop essential skills like critical thinking, research, and time management to support your progression.
Price
Tuition fee:
- 22,175 GBP per year*
*Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.
You may need to cover additional costs which are not included in your tuition fees, such as materials and equipment specific to your course.
Requirements for applicants
The standard entry requirements for this course are as follows:
- An honours degree Or an equivalent EU/international qualification
Applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered.
The course team will consider each application that demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence. This might, for example, be demonstrated by:
- Related academic or work experience
- The quality of the personal statement
- A strong academic or other professional reference
- Or a combination of these factors.
Each application will be considered on its own merit but we cannot guarantee an offer in each case.
English language requirements
- IELTS level 6.5 or above, with at least 5.5 in reading, writing, listening and speaking
About the university
The University of the Arts London (UAL) produces and encourages the creativity essential for a better future. Its colleges have been at the forefront of innovative education since 1842, creating work with a lasting impact on people and the planet, driven by curiosity, imagination, and purpose.
London is fundamental to UAL's identity, providing a vital context where the university connects and exchanges ideas with individuals from all walks of life. Globally, its creative network influences education, culture, business, and society.
Through innovative research and creative instruction, UAL's faculty and staff bring fresh perspectives to education. The university enables students to build the careers they desire by working with them at every level - from pre-degree to postgraduate, and from short courses to online learning.
UAL's colleges
Ranked second in the world for art and design, UAL comprises six distinct colleges:
- Camberwell College of Arts
- Central Saint Martins
- Chelsea College of Arts
- London College of Communication
- London College of Fashion
- Wimbledon College of Arts
Together, they form a community of creatives, innovators, trailblazers, and storytellers, united in their mission to reimagine the future.
Courses in the visual arts, animation, screen, communication, fashion, media, and performance are available at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
