Professor Michael Ramage, Sidney Fellow, Director of Cambridge’s Centre for Natural Material Innovation, and Deputy Head of the University’s Department of Architecture, has led the development of a brand-new undergraduate course at the University that will form an exciting fusion between the arts and science.
The new four-year course will launch from 2024 to bring together architecture, engineering and materials science into a degree that will tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges, such as delivering carbon net zero.
Students will get to enjoy studio work to develop their practical skills whilst being taught courses in the humanities, social and natural sciences, and maths, and will graduate from the course with a Master of Design (MDes).
Professor Michael Ramage commented: “It’s pioneering – we’re merging the arts and sciences under the umbrella of creativity and design, and constructing the course to be as open and interesting as possible.
“We don’t know of any other single degree course that brings these three subjects together like this. Pressing challenges – such as achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and reaching sustainable development for all – are likely to be addressed directly as design challenges, rather than as separate mathematical or engineering challenges.
“They don’t fit into a neat academic box; unlocking creativity requires collaboration and knowledge across a variety of disciplines.
“We know there is general interest among students to apply their education to global grand challenges, and particularly sustainability challenges, which can be met through design. But it’s very hard to study across disciplines… That’s why we’ve had to design the degree from scratch.”
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