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Master's
MASc in Education Futures

Gain the interdisciplinary tools, learning science and confidence to understand, lead and reimagine the future of learning.

Education is being asked to do more than ever before

with systems that no longer fit the world we’re in.

From climate breakdown and the rise of AI to inequality, burnout, and outdated institutional models, education systems are under strain. Incremental reform isn’t enough.

The MASc in Education Futures is for educators and learning leaders who want to understand education as a complex system and learn how to change it.

Combining systems thinking, learning science, innovative practice, interdisciplinary methods, and a personalised capstone, the programme helps you redesign learning across institutions, organisations, and communities.

If education is being turned on its head, this is where you learn how to lead within that complexity.

Key information

Build the systems thinking, learning science, and interdisciplinary tools to redesign education for a changing world.

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QUALIFICATION

Master's degree (MASc)

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start date

September 2026

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Duration

2 years

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Fees

£7,000 / year

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Location

Remote-first

On campus intensives once per term.

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Time

8-10 hours per week

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Whether you want to lead change, redesign learning, or reimagine what education could be, this degree gives you the space, rigour, and community to do it well.

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qualitative skills
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Quantitative methods
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small group coaching
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synthesis and application
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focus on what's relevant to you
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tackle problems that matter
Education core

The Education Core helps you understand education as a system: what it is for, how it works, why it has been so hard to change, and what it would take to redesign it.

You’ll explore how people learn, how institutions evolve, and how decisions about pedagogy, assessment, and leadership shape real outcomes. Through case studies of cutting-edge practice, including responses to climate challenges, digital change, and AI, you’ll see how education can be designed differently in practice.

The focus is on building the insight and confidence to design, lead, and evaluate meaningful change in real-world education contexts.

Interdisciplinary methods

Alongside the Education Core, you’ll take shared interdisciplinary methods, studying alongside students from other MASc programmes. This is a central part of the degree: learning with people from different backgrounds exposes you to new ways of thinking and makes interdisciplinarity real, not theoretical.

The methods modules are designed to stretch you beyond your comfort zone and build range, combining data science and coding, analysis of language and visual media, and tools for working with complexity and uncertainty.

As a Master of Arts and Science, the programme emphasises scientific rigour, giving you robust methods you can use to pursue a genuine interdisciplinary, self-directed project.

Making it relevant to you

The Capstone is a self-directed project focused on an education challenge you care about. You’ll apply the tools, methods, and perspectives from the degree to produce a substantial piece of work, either a dissertation or a practice-based output such as a policy, strategy, or learning design. It’s designed to be a calling card for your next step.

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education in transition

Why now

Education systems are under growing strain. They were never designed for today’s interconnected climate, social, political, and economic challenges, or for technologies like AI, which are reshaping how knowledge, assessment, and expertise work.
Together, these pressures point to a deeper metacrisis of meaning, purpose, and values.

At the same time, institutions face pressure to innovate, prove impact, and support people through constant change.

The part-time MASc in Education Futures brings together psychology, technology, policy, culture, and design to help you step back, understand education as a complex system, and build the insight and tools to lead meaningful change, not just manage within outdated models.

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Why LIS?

Challenging education, drawn from experience

The London Interdisciplinary School was founded to challenge how universities work and to design an education fit for the complexity of today’s world.

As the first UK higher education institution in 60 years to open with its own degree-awarding powers, we’ve been shaking up education from day one. Our BASc and MASc graduates are confident, adaptable, and prepared for modern work, with employers already seeing the value of this approach.

For a master's degree focused on education, leadership, and transformation, The London Interdisciplinary School offers not just a place to study it, but acts as a living example of how it can be done differently — and better.

Learning at LIS is:

Interdisciplinary, experiential, and systems-led.

Bold enough to challenge the 20th century norms and assumptions.

Grounded in networks and relationships.

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WHAT YOU'LL LEarn

The curriculum

This master's is designed to foster ‘big-picture’ thinking about education futures while also building skills that you can apply in your current practice.

To gain a degree in the UK you must pass a certain number of credits in each year of the degree. Each module is given a credit, which you are awarded when you pass each module at assessment.

*The content of our modules is subject to change and approval as we revise our modules each year depending on student feedback and developments in the field.

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lead faculty
Dr Ash Brockwell

Ash is an interdisciplinary academic, consultant, and visual artist who holds a PhD in Education for Sustainability from Wageningen University, as well as master's degrees in Biochemistry (University of Oxford) and Environmental Anthropology (University of Kent). He has contributed to over 30 publications (many in a previous name) across diverse disciplines, including education, sustainability, program evaluation, design, and healthcare. Ash is an External Examiner at Black Mountains College and was the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning consultant for the 'Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures' (TESF) Network Plus. Teaching science in schools showed him, first-hand, the limitations of existing educational approaches and the need to rethink how learning works.

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building a community of educators

Who are you?

The LIS MASc in Education Futures aims to bring together people shaping learning across sectors who are ready to rethink education and lead meaningful change within it.

If you’re asking not just “How do I improve what I’m doing?” but “How do I lead what’s coming?” this course is for you.

You might be…

An education leader in transition

  • A teacher, school leader, consultant, or policy professional
  • Ready to move into leadership, strategy, or system-level roles
  • Looking for frameworks, confidence, and credibility to lead change masters in education leadership

An innovative educator or practice shaper

  • A teacher, learning designer, or education technologist
  • Curious about how learning really works
  • Seeking an interdisciplinary degree that combines theory with practice

A learning or impact leader beyond the classroom

  • Working in organisations, charities, or cultural institutions
  • Designing learning, training, coaching, or public engagement
  • Wanting deeper insight into learning, change, and impact
The LIS approach is supported by our network of leading organisations
Google LogoLinkedin LogoTransport For London LogoGreenpeace LogoNesta LogoCabinet Office Logo
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Careers

Careers and development

Our careers offering for master’s students revolves around three key pillars:

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The LIS Network
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Hands-on workshops with industry pioneers
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One-to-one careers support
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modes of study

Study without stepping away

That’s why this programme is designed for people who want to keep working while they learn. The structure allows you to apply ideas directly to your role, bringing real challenges into the classroom and taking practical tools straight back into your organisation.

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Part-time, online

Designed for people that have other commitments and/or want to continue to work alongside study. For those that don’t want to regularly commute or live in London.

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2 years to complete
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8-10 hrs per week
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On campus intensives once per term
Your interdisciplinary faculty
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Dr James Carney
MASc Programme Director

James is a computational linguist who uses artificial intelligence to understand the relationship between cognition and culture. He is especially interested in the intersection between interpretive, computational, and experimental methods of inquiry. His research has been funded by the Wellcome Trust, the European Commission, and Innovate UK. Previous to coming to LIS, James worked in Brunel University London, Lancaster University, and the University of Oxford (where he held a Junior Research Fellowship). He is also founding director of Texture AI, a data science company that has had the BBC, Google, ITV, Reach PLC, the UK Cabinet Office and other leading organisations as clients.

She/Her

María Angélica Madero
Associate MASc Programme Director

María Angélica is an artist, curator, and researcher who has exhibited in numerous cities including Los Angeles, London, Bogota, and South Corea. She has an MA in Art from the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL and a further MA in Philosophy and Critical Theory from Kingston. She’s finishing her PhD in Philosophy, Art and Critical Thought at EGS. She was Head of Art in Colombia from 2015-2020.

Dr Cristian Constantinescu
Assistant Professor

Cristian is an interdisciplinary academic whose interests span analytic philosophy, ethics, cognitive science, neuroaesthetics and music psychology. Cristian has a BA/MA from the University of Bucharest, a BPhil from the University of Oxford, an MSc from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he was a scholar of the Trinity College Isaac Newton Trust. Before joining LIS in April 2025, Cristian was a philosophy lecturer in the School of History, Social Sciences and Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London.

Dr Niccolò Pescetelli
Associate Professor

Niccolo is a behavioural and data scientist. He has a DPhil in experimental psychology from the University of Oxford and previously worked at the MIT Media Lab and the Max Planck Institute. Niccolo’s work in collective intelligence investigates how people and machines work in groups and how collectives can be smarter than individuals. Applications of his research inform how to design better collaboration platforms and governance tools. Niccolo is also the co-founder and Chief Scientist of PSi (https://psi.tech), a collective intelligence platform to rapidly host and analyse online conversations among hundreds of people.

Dr Bronwyn Tarr
Associate Professor

Bronwyn is a human behavioural scientist interested in the evolution of social behaviours, particularly music and dance. She completed her DPhil (PhD) at the University of Oxford and has continued her research in evolutionary anthropology and psychology there.

Dr Anson Cheung
Associate Professor

Anson is a theoretical physicist specialising in condensed matter and complex systems. Passionate about problem-solving pedagogy, he is a British Physics Olympiad trustee with secondary school management experience.

Dr Adam Kenny
Assistant Professor, Associate BASc Programme Director

Adam is a quantitative anthropologist: he applies data science tools and open research practices to better understand human behaviour and its evolution. He convened under- and post-graduate courses in the human sciences at the University of Oxford, where he was Departmental Lecturer in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, and he taught data science skills across Oxford as a qualified data and software instructor. He holds a BA in Natural Sciences (University of Cambridge), MSc in Human Evolution and Behaviour (UCL), and a DPhil in Anthropology (University of Oxford), alongside a PGCE in Secondary Science.

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Dr Amelia Peterson
MBA Programme Director

Amelia is a social scientist and policy expert leading the development of LIS' new MBA. Previously Head of Learning and Teaching, she shaped LIS’ curriculum and institutional design. A Harvard PhD graduate and Inequality and Social Policy Scholar, she has worked with the OECD, Brookings Institution, and Innovation Unit on global education policy. She is also part of Rethinking Assessment, contributing to curriculum reform in the UK, Australia, and Canada.

Waqās Ahmed
Assistant Professor

Waqās is the author of the internationally acclaimed book The Polymath (Wiley 2019) and founder of the DaVinci Network. He has edited several volumes for international organisations such as the UNESCO Universal Declaration of Cultural Diversity book (2022). He holds a BSc in Economics (SOAS) and postgraduate degrees in International History (LSE) and Neuroscience (King's College London). Waqas has been Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge and Visiting Fellow at the Open University Business School, with research interests including comparative theology, non-Western art, cognitive flexibility and interdisciplinary leadership. Outside of academia, he has been a diplomatic journalist, charity director and entrepreneur.

Dr Mattia Gallotti
Associate Professor

Mattia is a philosopher and the Editor-in-Chief of Interdisciplinary Science Reviews. Previously Head of Research and Development at LIS, he led on faculty development and academic growth. Prior to joining LIS, Mattia lectured on social philosophy at LSE and managed a programme on the human mind at the University of London. A graduate of Bocconi, LSE, and the University of Exeter, he held fellowships at Columbia University and the Jean Nicod Institute in Paris.

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Duncan Austin
Assistant Professor

Duncan has had a nearly 3-decade career in environmental economics and sustainable finance, across academic, non-profit and for-profit institutions. After obtaining an MSc in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics (UCL), he spent 8 years as an environmental economist at World Resources Institute in Washington D.C. He then returned to London to act as an investment partner at a leading sustainable investment firm for 15 years. He now writes and lectures on systems thinking and sustainability issues.

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Isaiah Wellington-Lynn
Assistant Professor, Lead of Integration and Synthesis Coaching

Isaiah is an award-winning polymathic creative scholar from Stratford, East London, passionate about belonging, education, and creative expression. His interdisciplinary career spans academia, investment management, law, venture capital, technology, and branding. Recipient of the inaugural Amos Polymath Award in 2021, Isaiah joined LIS in 2019, where he teaches anthropology, design, ethnography, and ethics, while leading the undergraduate and master’s coaching programmes. He completed his undergraduate degree at UCL, LSE, and Harvard, and is currently pursuing a government-funded PhD in anthropology at Oxford, exploring belonging and social mobility among diverse students. Isaiah has collaborated with organisations such as Adobe, Cambridge University, Depop, Airbnb, Hachette, the British Royal Family, and the NHS, and works as a writer, speaker, curator, consultant, and creative strategist.

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Dr James Everest
Assistant Professor

James in an intellectual historian who has published on aspects of seventeenth-century intellectual culture. Before gaining a PhD in History, he completed an undergraduate degree in languages and a Master’s degree in English Literature. Before joining LIS, he taught on interdisciplinary degree programmes at UCL and the University of Birmingham.

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Kirill Delikatnyi
Marketing Events Officer

Kirill is a graduate of LIS: he completed the MASc full-time programme in the summer of 2025. He is interested in how we can build adaptive education systems flexible to global shifts. Prior to joining LIS, he completed a BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience at the University of Bristol, studying the effects of psychedelic compounds on stress. At LIS, he developed a tool for monitoring and counter-acting state-sponsored disinformation surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kirill’s love for the LIS community and belief in its mission motivated him to join the Admissions & Recruitment team as Marketing Events Officer.

Your interdisciplinary faculty
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Prof Stephen Tuck
BASc Course Director, LIS Academic Director

Stephen studies how movements, ideas and institutions have shaped society in the USA and Britain, with a particular focus on race, religion, protest and community history. Before joining LIS as Academic Director and BASc Programme Director, he was Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford and was the founding director of Oxford's interdisciplinary research centre in the humanities. His books include We Ain’t What We Ought to Be: The Black Freedom Struggle from Emancipation to Obama and The Night Malcolm X Spoke at the Oxford Union: A Transatlantic Story of Antiracist Protest. At LIS, he brings an interdisciplinary approach and a passion for connecting past and present struggles for justice.

Dr Adam Kenny
Assistant Professor, Associate BASc Programme Director

Adam is a quantitative anthropologist: he applies data science tools and open research practices to better understand human behaviour and its evolution. He convened under- and post-graduate courses in the human sciences at the University of Oxford, where he was Departmental Lecturer in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, and he taught data science skills across Oxford as a qualified data and software instructor. He holds a BA in Natural Sciences (University of Cambridge), MSc in Human Evolution and Behaviour (UCL), and a DPhil in Anthropology (University of Oxford), alongside a PGCE in Secondary Science.

Dr Anson Cheung
Associate Professor

Anson is a theoretical physicist specialising in condensed matter and complex systems. Passionate about problem-solving pedagogy, he is a British Physics Olympiad trustee with secondary school management experience.

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Dr Ash Brockwell
Associate Professor

Ash is an interdisciplinary academic, consultant, and visual artist with an MBiochem in Biochemistry, MSc Environmental Anthropology, and a PhD in Sustainability Education. He has contributed to over 30 publications (most of them in a previous name) in diverse disciplines, including evaluation and program planning, healthcare, biodiversity management, design, and sustainability.

Dr Bronwyn Tarr
Associate Professor

Bronwyn is a human behavioural scientist interested in the evolution of social behaviours, particularly music and dance. She completed her DPhil (PhD) at the University of Oxford and has continued her research in evolutionary anthropology and psychology there.

She/Her

Dr Amelia Peterson
MBA Programme Director

Amelia is a social scientist and policy expert leading the development of LIS' new MBA. Previously Head of Learning and Teaching, she shaped LIS’ curriculum and institutional design. A Harvard PhD graduate and Inequality and Social Policy Scholar, she has worked with the OECD, Brookings Institution, and Innovation Unit on global education policy. She is also part of Rethinking Assessment, contributing to curriculum reform in the UK, Australia, and Canada.

Dr James Carney
MASc Programme Director

James is a computational linguist who uses artificial intelligence to understand the relationship between cognition and culture. He is especially interested in the intersection between interpretive, computational, and experimental methods of inquiry. His research has been funded by the Wellcome Trust, the European Commission, and Innovate UK. Previous to coming to LIS, James worked in Brunel University London, Lancaster University, and the University of Oxford (where he held a Junior Research Fellowship). He is also founding director of Texture AI, a data science company that has had the BBC, Google, ITV, Reach PLC, the UK Cabinet Office and other leading organisations as clients.

Dr Mattia Gallotti
Associate Professor

Mattia is a philosopher and the Editor-in-Chief of Interdisciplinary Science Reviews. Previously Head of Research and Development at LIS, he led on faculty development and academic growth. Prior to joining LIS, Mattia lectured on social philosophy at LSE and managed a programme on the human mind at the University of London. A graduate of Bocconi, LSE, and the University of Exeter, he held fellowships at Columbia University and the Jean Nicod Institute in Paris.

He/Him

Dr James Everest
Assistant Professor

James in an intellectual historian who has published on aspects of seventeenth-century intellectual culture. Before gaining a PhD in History, he completed an undergraduate degree in languages and a Master’s degree in English Literature. Before joining LIS, he taught on interdisciplinary degree programmes at UCL and the University of Birmingham.

She/Her

María Angélica Madero
Associate MASc Programme Director

María Angélica is an artist, curator, and researcher who has exhibited in numerous cities including Los Angeles, London, Bogota, and South Corea. She has an MA in Art from the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL and a further MA in Philosophy and Critical Theory from Kingston. She’s finishing her PhD in Philosophy, Art and Critical Thought at EGS. She was Head of Art in Colombia from 2015-2020.

Waqās Ahmed
Assistant Professor

Waqās is the author of the internationally acclaimed book The Polymath (Wiley 2019) and founder of the DaVinci Network. He has edited several volumes for international organisations such as the UNESCO Universal Declaration of Cultural Diversity book (2022). He holds a BSc in Economics (SOAS) and postgraduate degrees in International History (LSE) and Neuroscience (King's College London). Waqas has been Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge and Visiting Fellow at the Open University Business School, with research interests including comparative theology, non-Western art, cognitive flexibility and interdisciplinary leadership. Outside of academia, he has been a diplomatic journalist, charity director and entrepreneur.

He/Him

Isaiah Wellington-Lynn
Assistant Professor, Lead of Integration and Synthesis Coaching

Isaiah is an award-winning polymathic creative scholar from Stratford, East London, passionate about belonging, education, and creative expression. His interdisciplinary career spans academia, investment management, law, venture capital, technology, and branding. Recipient of the inaugural Amos Polymath Award in 2021, Isaiah joined LIS in 2019, where he teaches anthropology, design, ethnography, and ethics, while leading the undergraduate and master’s coaching programmes. He completed his undergraduate degree at UCL, LSE, and Harvard, and is currently pursuing a government-funded PhD in anthropology at Oxford, exploring belonging and social mobility among diverse students. Isaiah has collaborated with organisations such as Adobe, Cambridge University, Depop, Airbnb, Hachette, the British Royal Family, and the NHS, and works as a writer, speaker, curator, consultant, and creative strategist.

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Fees and funding

Finance

These are the fees for the 2026/27 academic year.

Find out more about our master's course fees, financing options, and support available through bursaries and grants.

Learn more
Fees
home students
part-time
£7,000 / a year for two years
International Students
part-time
£7,000 / a year for two years

How to apply

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Applications opened

February 2026

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Applications considered on a rolling basis

until we fill places on the course

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term begins

September 2026

Applications to our master’s degrees are considered on a rolling basis. We will continue to accept applications until we fill places on the degree. In order to secure a place on the course, we’d encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.

Master's Online Information Session
Thursday, February 5, 2026
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
The interdisciplinary methods LIS equips you with to tackle the complex, real-world problems that matter to you.