10th Annual Winter School, hosted by the School of Innovation and Technology at The Glasgow School of Art, brings together brightest minds from across the world to apply innovative solutions to ecological challenges 

January 13, 2025


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International experts from across Europe and Asia are joining with The Glasgow School of Arts School of Innovation and Technology (S.I.T.) for the first phase of the 10th anniversary edition of the annual GSA Winter School, which runs from 13th to 17th January The second phase of the Winter School will take place, on site, at the GSA Highlands campus on the Altyre Estate at Forres in early April 2025. 

 

The Winter School is an international and cross-cultural experience aimed at undergraduate, Masters and PhD students from around the world. This annual event brings together students and professors of design, engineering, computer science and social sciences to explore a contemporary challenge (combining ecological, technological and social dimensions) through an intensive project experience. 

 

This first phase features talks by design theorist John Thackara and Dr Albert Fuster  of GSA to students and faculty from across Europe, Asia and China. Participants from the GSA (Glasgow/Forres) KISD (Cologne), Elisava (Barcelona), Bratislava Academy of Fine Art & Design (Slovakia), the University of Central Asia (UCA, Kyrgyzstan) were joined by Professors and students from Central Academy of Fine Art (CAFA, Beijing), Tsinghua University (Beijing), Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art (Guangdong) and Luxun Academy of Fine Art (Shenyang).  

 

The event sees students working in various locations around Europe and Asia before coming together in early April on the GSA Highlands campus on the Altyre Estate at Forres, near Inverness. The Winter School theme is Radical Stewardship: creating the landscape of careand explores how the relationship between human beings, nature and emerging technology shapes a global conversation about life on our planet. This exciting multi-national and cross-cultural educational initiative explores how design and innovation approaches allow us to engage with the ecological challenges that we see all around us – and how we will create new ways of living that preserve our present and safeguard our future. 

 

 The Winter School is where the planet puts its brightest young minds from around the world to work. says Professor Gordon Hush, Head of The School of Innovation & Technology. 

 

 “Here the creativity, tenacity and expertise of the next generation starts working out how to deal with the huge issues facing our worldfrom forest fires, to rising sea levels, crop failures and threats to bio-diversityOnline and in the Highlands, sharing ideas, cultures and expertise this is where young people demonstrate that we can work together to make a difference, to change what it will mean to live on Planet Earth in the future.”  

 

For further information please contact press@gsa.ac.uk 

 

NOTES FOR EDITORS 

 

Images were taken during the April week of Winter School 2024.   Photo credit – Paul Campbell.

Participants in the 10th annual GSA Winter School for 2025 : 

 

Professor Irene McAra-McWilliam, Deputy Director at the Glasgow School of Art campus at Altyre Estate. 

 

International academics and experts 

Philipp Heidkamp and Laura Popplow (KISD, Germany), Soheil Ashrafi (UCA, Naryn), Marcel Bencik (AFAD, Bratislava), John Thackara, Jonathan Minchin (Ecological Interaction / IAAC, Barcelona), James Oliver (RMIT, Melbourne), Henry Birt (University of Manchester), and Carol Elkovich (CCA, San Francisco). 

 

The School of Innovation and Technology: 

Gordon Hush, Albert Fuster, Gabby Morris, Simon Beeson, Chris Hand, Lisa McDonald, Paul Smith, Lydia Stewart, Mafalda Moreira, Rachel Naysmith, Marianne Mc Innes, Michaela Gleed. 

 

The Glasgow School of Art Rural Lab 

Gina Wall, Clare Devaney, Charlotte Stoney. 

About The Glasgow School of Art

 

The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is internationally recognised as one of Europe’s leading independent university-level institutions for education and research in the visual creative disciplines. Our studio-based, specialist, practice-led teaching, learning and research draw talented individuals with a shared passion for visual culture and creative production from all over the world.

 

Originally founded in 1845 as one of the first Government Schools of Design, the School’s history can be traced back to 1753 and the establishment of the Foulis Academy delivering a European-style art education. Today, the GSA is an international community of over 3500 students and staff across architecture, design, digital, fine art and innovation in our campuses in Glasgow and Altyre (in the Scottish Highlands) and a thriving Open Studio programme delivering non-degree provision to over 1500 students annually.

 

About the School of Innovation and Technology (S.I.T.) 

The School of Innovation and Technology’s (SIT) explores future opportunities for innovation by considering alternative ways of living in the present.  S.I.T. aims to integrate social and technological innovations in a way that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries within art and science and examine complex questions in fields such as healthcare, education, technology and pressingly within the context of the climate/ecology crisis. 

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Images taken during the April week of Winter School 2024 - photo credit Paul Campbell.
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Images taken during the April week of Winter School 2024 by Paul Campbell.