Design with living systems
Learn through them
Work within them
MARD is a one year, full-time Master in Regenerative Design supporting a diverse international community from creative and ecological practice. We teach situated with focus on collaborative and interdisciplinary learning. The course is designed for everyone interested in developing their practice, from students and emerging practitioners to those in the early and mid stages of their careers.
Intergenerational practice is central as it creates a space to learn with and from one another, exchange perspectives and develop new approaches together. We recruit from all fields in the creative industries as also ecological and environmental sciences, and those who have a ‘whole system’ attitude and aim to build regenerative futures situated in real-world realities.
MARD investigates ecosystems, species and complexities in order to propose a new perspective on building a thriving more-than-human world. All supported by a wealth of expertise and wide international network of practitioners, scientists, designers, and researchers working across ecology, systems, and social practices. This course support building your own knowledge and local networks to inform your practice and research.
MARD contributes to a world in which designers practice collectively within communities, making positive ecological and social change, acknowledging that we are part of a whole and living system. Through consciously connecting a new generation of regenerative practitioners into the ecosystems we are part of we are connecting practice, education and communities.
MARD positions design as a catalyst for ecological and social transformation. Grounded in the principle of interdependence, the course recognises that we are inseparable from the systems that support and shape us. Regenerative designers do not stand apart from ecosystems; they participate within them, learning from multispecies, engaging with place, and cultivating the conditions for multispecies worlds to thrive.
HOW DO WE LIVE TOGETHER AS ONE INTERDEPENDENT ECOSYSTEM?
This practice-based MA is for designers and ecologists ready to shift from observation to participation; working within ecological systems and real-world contexts through situated, hands-on practice.
Ecology is our knowledge foundation: It shapes the questions we ask, the methods we use, and how we understand place. Students develop an understanding of ecosystems as dynamic, self-organising systems, and learn to work with their complexity over time. This fosters practices that are accountable to ecological health and oriented towards long-term regenerative futures. Regenerative design is a situated responsibility, linking present action with intergenerational and multispecies wellbeing.
Multispecies thinking is central: Students are invited to reflect on multispecies thinking as an awareness of interdependence between humans and more-than-human life, and how knowledge is formed, and how we actively participate in shaping ecological and social systems. The course engages plural ways of knowing, including land-based and scientific knowledge systems, foregrounding an anti-colonial perspective and responsibility embedded in practice.
Whole systems thinking underpins practice: Students learn to build bridges, work holistically across disciplines and communities and translate between different forms of knowledge. Whole system approaches reveal diverse perspectives, needs and realities of life. Becoming attentive practitioners, graduates are equipped to work with complexity and uncertainty, and are committed to caring for more-than-human worlds, restoring biodiversity, advancing climate innovation and the thriving of life
Learning is anchored in place: Place becomes an active collaborator in the development of research, fieldwork, creative experimentation and regenerative methodologies. Students work within living contexts, building relationships and engaging directly with climate- and life-responsive practices through sustained engagement with local ecologies, communities, and environments.
From foundation to activation: Students move from ecological understanding and observation, to situated experimentation, to the development of applied regenerative interventions in real-world contexts. Throughout the year, students build their own self-directed practice through independent, practice-based research, collaborating across disciplines and contexts while engaging directly with the relationships and dynamics of place. This process supports the development of original work grounded in lived ecological and social conditions
Unit 1 Living Systems Principles
Unit 2 Multispecies Lab
Unit 3 Living Systems Collaborations
Unit 4 Hybrid Research Station
Unit 5 Activated Ecologies: Design for Regenerative Futures
MARD was, until 2025, an online MA and has grown into a living network of regenerative designers from around the world.
We centre place and plural practice. Our work is rooted in London, while connected through a hybrid and online network that brings together practitioners, perspectives and voices from across the world.
Sessions take place in place and in practice, alongside international connective online sessions that open out to wider perspectives and bring the voices of our regenerative community into the work.
MARD is a place for regenerative practice, shared learning and international connection, grounded in place, while working across cultures, contexts and geographies.
MARD staff connects design, ecology and anthropology and is supported by a wide living system network of practitioners, creative industry and researchers from around the world, contributing, challenging and informing our course.
Courseleader
Judith van den Boom
Lecturer in Ecology
Dr. Barbara Smith
Director of Maison/0
Prof. Carole Collet
External Examinar
Kara de los Reyes
MARD is supported by a wide network of guest lecturers:
AK/OK, Saurabh Aurora, Ambika Aiyadurai, Elza Berzina, Ersin Han Ersin, Britta Boyer, C.RA.F.T. Emily Luce x Rodney Sayers, Debojyoti Das, Adib Dada, Design Justice Network, Kate Fletcher, Alastair Fuad-Luke, Michael French, Pippa Gillingham, Andy Goldring, Cynthia Hathaway, Claudy Jongstra, Theun Karelse, Rob Kesseler, KNOCKvologan, Klaas Kuitenbrouwer, Bas Kools, Rolf Killius, Ilga Leimanis, Ronan Lee, Mahaneela, Rianne Makkink, Daniel Michalik, Yasmine Ostendorf-Rodríguez, Kara de los Reyes, John Ridpath, Jessica Riquetti, Studio Parsons & Charlesworth, Caroline Till, Oscar Tomico, Phil Stevenson, Anne Vaandrager, Himanshu Verma, Sanne Visser as other others in and outside of CSM with MA courses connecting fields and learning spaces.
MARD students bring their knowledge and situated practices into activations, learning from cultural, designerly and scientific approaches, connecting plural views and building a mature and interdisciplinary community of practice.
Join MARD
Join OUR ECOSYSTEM
1 Granary Square
King's Cross
London
N1C 4AA
Contact email
j.vandenboom@csm.arts.ac.uk
Applications for 26/27 please visit the CSM website
OPEN DAYS
In-person > 11 November @ CSM
Online > 18 November 4pm
Please book via the CSM website
Other online events will follow
Click here to visit the MARD course page at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London
This website shows a selection of projects and student work but does not cover our full educational program. The purpose of the website is to give platform to a selection of content. As you will read on this website we have an extensive network of MARD contributors whom are not all featured with their lecture, workshop or project. For more information on our full educational content and course handbook please visit CSM website here or visit Instagram for more details and daily life of our course.
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