On October 31, 2025, the Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Art together with the Design Specialization of the Faculty of Visual Arts and Design from Iași are organizing a workshop dedicated to developing ideas for a speculative design project inspired by the real world.

Led by David Kester from the British design studio Optimistic Futures, participants will learn and experiment with design thinking methods.

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The Co-Lab workshop explores questions related to creative collaboration in a world where technology plays a central role.

David Kester is Co-Founder of the design studio Optimistic Futures. Over a thirty-year design career, he has worked with global businesses, governments, and the third sector to turn systemic challenges into innovative products and services. As CEO of the UK Design Council, he worked with four governments designing citizen-centred services and shaped the first economic report on the role of design to the UK Treasury. In healthcare, David led NHS projects on infection control, emergency services and dementia care. Through his own design studio, he has initiated social and environmental innovation projects. These include: a global system to reduce single-use plastics in supply chains run by SAP; a Design Lab on workforce integration for the Mayor of London; and the Urban Hack schools project to grow a future generation of social designers. David recently co-authored a book with leading business academic Professor Jeanne Liedtka on designing and running business experiments. Other previous roles include: leading the international design and advertising awards, D&AD; non-executive directorship at arts publisher, Thames & Hudson; Council member of the Royal College of Art. David is an Hon Professor at Warwick Business School, an Hon Fellow at the Royal College of Art and Falmouth College of Art, and holds an Hon MA from the University for the Creative Arts.

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Coordinators:
PhD. Lecturer Alexandra Ghioc
PhD. Assoc. Prof. Silviu Buraga
PhD. Assoc. Prof. Loredana Gașpar
PhD. Assistant Mihai Gâdei
PhD. Assistant Andrei Lazăr

Workshop organized within the project International Promotion of UNAGE Iași in the Digital Environment and Consolidation of European Values in Art Education through Collaborations with Partner Institutions, funded by The National Council for Financing Higher Education in Romania through the Institutional Development Fund CNFIS-FDI-2025-0300. Project director: PhD. Prof. Cristian Nae