Eina begins the 2026–2027 academic year with new initiatives that engage with some of the debates, practices and key figures shaping contemporary design and creative practice.
The new educational programmes, activities and cultural initiatives reinforce a vision of design that brings together education, research, experimentation and creative practice within a single ecosystem.
New and updated educational programmes
Eina’s Continuing Education department is expanding its offering with new programmes for professionals and creatives seeking to develop their practice and anticipate the challenges of a constantly changing environment.
What sets these programmes apart is the professionals who lead them: established figures in their fields who bring the challenges, tools and processes of their everyday practice directly into the classroom. Moving beyond conventional approaches, the aim is to foster critical thinking, encourage experimentation and develop new ways of working in a sector undergoing profound transformation.
The new offering complements Eina’s established Master’s and Postgraduate programmes and includes new Advanced Studies Programmes — such as Strategic Design for Transformation, led by Laura Laguna — alongside new specialised courses such as Collectible Design, coordinated by Francisco Jaramillo and Andrés Peñuela; Food Design, taught by Martí Guixé; Research Through Art, with Andrea Soto; Transition Design with Oscar Guayabero and Anna Villagordo, and Taming Light, with Antoni Arola. Two intensive courses, Motion Design and Figma and Claude, will also take place in the spring.
The new academic year also brings changes to the university centre’s teaching team. Xavier Palouzié takes on the role of Head of Graphic Design, while Dr Clara Mallart joins as Head of Research. The Bachelor in Design also welcomes new teaching staff: Daniel Castro Marcoval, Guillem Celada Prior, Guillem Comas Adroe, Marcelo De Medeiros Cuenca, Tono Magrans Recasens, Laura Massot Navarro, Marc Ribas Garriga, Arnau Salvadó Marlés and Fortià Subiranas Viver.
These new perspectives and experiences strengthen Eina’s position as a learning environment where practice, research and experimentation take centre stage.
Research as a space for shared knowledge
The European competitive research project Situated Creative Practices for the Pluriverse (SIT-PLU), launched last academic year, continues to explore the role of art and design in addressing contemporary ecosocial challenges. Through creative practices rooted in specific places, the project proposes new ways of thinking about and transforming shared environments. Within this framework, Eina is using Collserola as a research setting, in connection with the Eina Collserola Living Lab, to rethink the relationships between creativity, community and landscape.
An ever-evolving Eina, connected to the city’s creative community
Eina promotes cross-disciplinary creative practices that transform the spaces and environments in which they take place. Its activities extend beyond the classroom and across the city, building partnerships with leading institutions such as the Museu del Disseny, CCCB, Filmoteca de Catalunya, Hangar, Museu Tàpies and MACBA.
In collaboration with MACBA, Eina will inaugurate the exhibition Aurèlia Muñoz. Beings on 5 November, as part of the Aurèlia Muñoz Centenary, an initiative organised by MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and curated by einaidea.
Eina strengthens its role as an active participant in Barcelona’s artistic, cultural and business life, expanding its network of partnerships with leading festivals, events and companies. These collaborations go beyond the classroom and become real-world projects, with students taking centre stage. They offer opportunities to put talent into practice, explore new professional contexts and actively engage with the city’s creative community.
This connection takes shape through some of Barcelona’s most prominent events, including Festival MIRA, Llum BCN, Blanc! Festival, Design Market, Barcelona Dibuixa, CSIO and 48h Open House. It is also reflected in partnerships with the restaurant Disfrutar and brands such as CUPRA, Camper, iGuzzini, Mobles 114, Breinco, Kaleos Eyewear, Mango, Ametller Origen, IKEA and Simon, as well as industry organisations such as the Lighting Cluster and La Capell. With the latter, Eina is launching an initiative this year that takes a step from the classroom into the marketplace: bringing products designed by students and alumni of the Bachelor’s Degree in Design to the shops of some of Barcelona’s leading museums.
At the same time, Eina is strengthening its ties with associations and foundations to develop projects that combine education with social commitment, working with organisations such as Acció Palestina, Fundacions Ferrer, Fundació Finestres and Banc Sabadell Foundation.
This reach also extends internationally through initiatives such as DIFRACTA '26, a new festival taking place on 20 and 21 November that will bring quantum physics, art, design and philosophy into dialogue to challenge the ways we understand reality. Organised by Eina Obra, the Barcelona Hub of Art, Science and Technology (HacTe) and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), with the support of Puig and the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology – Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the festival will bring together professionals from around the world in a space for exchange and experimentation. Talks, laboratories and artistic interventions will open up new perspectives on the connections between the quantum paradigm and contemporary approaches to research and creative practice.
Meanwhile, Ambushes, the artistic interventions promoted by einaidea, will continue to showcase the perspectives and practices of internationally renowned artists such as Tere Recarens, Ludovica Carbotta and Itziar Okariz, among others. In 2027, einaidea will also continue PERI\FERAL, a post-urban studies programme that takes Barcelona’s periphery as a space for research and experimentation through art, architecture and contemporary thought.
With a continued focus on homegrown talent, Eina will host one of its most eagerly anticipated events of the year on 18 November: the fourth edition of Eina Plataforma, a meeting point open to its entire community, including students, teaching staff, alumni and professionals. The event will feature public presentations and round-table discussions, providing a space to share experiences, compare working methods and sources of inspiration, debate the future of design and explore the challenges of entering the professional world.
Cultivating Judgement in the Age of IAG: The Theme of Eina’s Opening Event
Under the title Cultivating Judgement in the Age of IAG: The Contribution of Design, Lluís Nacenta, Isabelita Virtual and Pancho Tolchinsky shared their perspectives on the ability to discern, interpret and make decisions. The discussion championed design as more than simply producing outcomes, highlighting its role as a practice capable of questioning and giving meaning to what we create.
The discussion took the concept of IAG as its starting point, exploring an approach that challenges the global, decentralised logic of digital infrastructures and recognises forms of intelligence that emerge from bodies, territories and communities. This perspective resonates with Eina’s tradition of critical and interdisciplinary thinking and its commitment to using design to imagine more democratic, collaborative and emancipatory ways of engaging with technology.
The event, held on 20 October, formed part of the OFF BDW programme of Barcelona Design Week 2026 and can be watched again at this link.
These reflections will continue through a new programme of research and debate on artificial intelligence, coordinated by the management of the University Centre, with the support of the Banc Sabadell Foundation.