The Red Thread of Sustainability - Summer School 2026
10 ECTS | July 2026 | Denmark | Language: English
The Red Thread Summer School is part of the Horizon Europe project CRAFT-IT4SD (2024-26) and offered in partnership with Herning Municipality, Sustainable Herning (Bæredygtig Herning), and VIA Design & Business. The course combines international perspectives on textile, fashion, and sustainability with hands-on engagement in a historically important Danish textile region.
Course Overview
The summer school takes place in a former textile hub and addresses the urgent global challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and the transition towards sustainable production and consumption. Participants explore:
- Design for the planet and for nature
- Rights to reuse, repair, and recycle, locally and internationally
- Creative intersections between digital and green transitions
- Sustainable placemaking and urban development
- Participatory design, audience, and citizen engagement
- European and global textile and fashion strategies
The course emphasizes how crafts, culture, and creativity can contribute to sustainable local ecosystems and how participants can develop actionable recommendations for local partners, including institutions, businesses, and community projects.
Learning Approach
The summer school combines:
- Online preparatory sessions (July 1-3) introducing theory, design thinking, and co-creation methods, with recommended readings and discussions.
- Two weeks on-site in Herning (July 6-17) focused on co-creation, fieldwork, prototyping, and presenting solutions or interventions to real-world sustainability challenges.
Teaching methods include lectures, workshops, collaborative projects, field studies, and interactions with local stakeholders. The program integrates sustainable design theory, craft techniques, industrial heritage, urban placemaking, and cross-sector innovation.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
Knowledge
- Relate theoretical and analytical approaches to sustainable and regenerative design, participatory design, and user/citizen engagement.
- Apply key theoretical and methodological approaches introduced during the course.
- Critically reflect on their own work and the work of others in relation to course discussions.
Skills
- Co-create, conceptualize, test, prototype, and present solutions or interventions through a structured design process.
- Discuss course themes in English in an academic context.
Competences
- Reflect on their role as a researcher and innovator in an interdisciplinary, mission-driven environment.
- Participate constructively in cross-cultural learning collaborations.
- Compare their own degree program’s academic profile with broader perspectives in the humanities.
Course Structure
- Online Introduction: July 1-3, 2026
- On-site Summer School in Herning: July 6-17, 2026
- Examination: Take-home portfolio submitted by July 31, 2026
The assessment portfolio can include individual or group-based assignments, including written, oral, and product-based work. Maximum portfolio lengths depend on the number of participants per group (1–6 students).
Practical Information
- Credits: 10 ECTS
- Level: Bachelor
- Language of Instruction: English
- Maximum Participants: 30 (10 seats reserved for international exchange students from AU partner universities)
- Course Type: Summer University / Internationalisation Elective
Apply now and secure your spot here.