About this module
In this module the participants will get familiar with the term of sustainability. They will get introduced to bio-design and how design is related to circular economy. They will be able to understand what it means to grow design for start-ups and companies along the ethics of care. The sessions will cover a series of activities for participants to engage with the topic and develop their critical thinking on the area.
About the facilitator
Dr Carolina Ramirez-Figueroa is an architect, designer and researcher born and bred in Mexico City and now based in London. Carolina’s research focuses on the intersection of design and living systems. She is a Senior Lecturer at Information Experience Design (IED) at The Royal College of Art and Associate Lecturer at Interdisciplinary Studios at the MA in Biodesign at University of the Arts London.
Prior to joining IED, Carolina led the Design Futures pathway at the Design Products programme (RCA) which looked at imagining and delivering possible futures to challenge and provoke discourses of future technological, social, cultural, political, economic and environmental issues.
She has also taught at the Research Cluster in Biospatial Design at the Bartlett School of Architecture, which investigates the potential for biologically augmented architecture and materials that contributes to sustainable, resilient and healthy cities. Carolina has also worked at the School of Architecture at Newcastle University, where she co-tutored the Experimental Architecture studio and ran design briefs around Interaction Design, Programming for Design and Design for Living Technologies.
Carolina’s research explores the challenges and opportunities found when living systems are understood as a form of matter for design. She is interested in understanding the cultures, practices, tools and economies of working and designing with living systems. Her PhD thesis, Bio-material probes: design engagements with living systems, proposes a creative exploration methodology based on direct engagements which helps to articulate a sense of ethics and care across species.
Carolina has collaborated with a number of artists, designers and scientists. She has exhibited and participated in different art and design venues around the world including Helsinki, Edinburgh, Brussels, Montreal, Taipei and Tokyo and, more recently, at the Barbican Centre in London as part of the exhibition Biological Buildings and at the Festival of the Mind in Sheffield.