National College of Art and Design MSc Medical Device Design
National College of Art and Design

National College of Art and Design

MSc Medical Device Design

Dublin, Ireland

MSc

1 year

English

Full time

Sep 2026

EUR 8,100 *

On-Campus

* €16,500 non-EU/international fee

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Key Summary

About: The MSc in Medical Device Design at The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) is 1-year, full-time programme emphasizing human-centered innovation. With Trinity College Dublin, it combines taught modules and studio projects in dedicated studio with clinical and industry partners on briefs. NCAD offered 2 Postgrad Futures Scholarships 2024: full and half EU tuition bursaries.

Career Outcomes: Graduates enter medical device industry, design practices, or PhD research. Alumni work with Design Partners, Cook Medical, Dyson. Programme builds skills in design, human factors, prototyping and regulatory awareness, preparing students for roles in design, R&D, regulatory affairs, user research, entrepreneurship.

The MSc in Medical Device Design is a 1-year, full-time, studio-based programme which emphasizes human-centred innovation. Graduates from creative and technical disciplines study side-by-side in a design studio working in collaboration with clinical and industry partners. There were 2 Postgrad Futures Scholarships 2024 available for 2 students starting in Sept 2024, based on academic merit. One is a full EU tuition fee bursary and the other is half an EU tuition fee bursary.

What to Expect

The MSc in Medical Device Design is a one-year full-time taught master's delivered in NCAD in conjunction with TCD. The course is based in a dedicated Medical Device Design Studio on the NCAD campus. The programme consists of a combination of taught modules and studio-based project work. Basic Medical Science is taught at TCD, while modules covering Research Methods, Human Factors, and Fundamentals of Medical Device Design are delivered at NCAD. Bioinstrumentation is provided by the team of the Medical Physics Department at St James’s Hospital. Fundamentals of Medical Device Design modules cover diverse topics from the History of Medicine to Biomechanics and Biomaterials. In parallel with the taught modules, a series of studio-based projects are run at NCAD in conjunction with industrial and clinical partners. Industry partners include US multinationals with a base in Ireland along with Irish start-up companies.

In all cases, the design briefs are on live industry projects on which the companies are working. Students present their work to engineers and scientists from the companies at the research, concept and final design stages. This is a great opportunity for students to produce significant work in a real-world product design and development environment. Feedback from industry, tutors and practitioners is an invaluable part of the learning process.

The creative, collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of medical device design is emphasised. Students from different disciplines share their research in the early stages of each project. Each student generates their concepts and final designs, learning how to generate creative ideas and how to analyse and validate them in an iterative cycle of analysis and synthesis. This is all done in a supportive studio environment where peer-to-peer learning is facilitated.