Reflexive Design Project

Course manual 2025/2026

Course content

Are you ready to engage with some of the world's most pressing ‘wicked’ food challenges? Go beyond traditional learning and work towards developing solutions that could contribute to meaningful change. You will be trained to become an innovative thinker, one who doesn’t just seek quick fixes but dives deep into complex problems with an open and inquisitive mind. To do this, you’ll learn to work with the Reflexive Design Method—an iterative approach that uses complexity and systems thinking to develop creative strategies for real-world challenges. In a group project, you’ll turn theory into action by designing and testing small-scale interventions to explore their potential impact. Whether successful or requiring further adjustment, each step of this process will help you better understand the complexities involved and the potential pathways to progress. This experience will prepare you to contribute meaningfully to addressing complex issues, equipping you with the skills and mindset of an impact maker and problem-solver.

Reflexive Design Project builds on the questions related to the food issue that are also central to various other courses in the Future Earth and Future Society track. You will work through several steps to develop an intervention for one of these pressing food issues, the steps are: 1) analysing the system, 2) identifying leverage points, 3) creating an intervention, and 4) taking action. The first step is to analyse the system, aiming for a thorough understanding of the problem. Each of you will write an individual (disciplinary) problem analysis, which will later be combined and summarised in the Action Plan. Once you have analysed the system, you start step 2 in which you identify leverage points. To understand both the anticipated and unanticipated consequences of these leverage points, you will interview a stakeholder and write an individual position paper that describes the stance from that stakeholder on the proposed leverage points. With an understanding of the leverage points, you can then begin step 3) creating the intervention. The first three steps result in the first graded assignment: an Action Plan. January is action time! After the action-phase, you will critically evaluate the intervention and present your findings during a final symposium.

As this course aims not only to contribute to the transition towards a sustainable food system but also to foster your personal growth, you will develop an open mindset and enhance your collaboration skills. You are therefore also asked to do reflections of your learning throughout the course and build an individual portfolio.

Study materials

Literature

• Selected passages from books that were used earlier in the curriculum:

  • Meadows, D. (2008) Thinking in Systems. A Primer, White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing.
    • Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System, Ch 6, p. 145-165.

Syllabus

• Relevant material will be made available on Canvas, such as:

  • Tromp, C. (2018). Design Thinking and the Policy Cycle, from: (ibid.) Wicked Philosophy. Philosophy of Science and Vision Development for Complex Problems, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, p. 87-89.
  • Lawson, B. (2006) Problems, solutions and the design process, Part of Chapter 7 from ibid.: How Designers Think. The Design Process Demystified, Amsterdam/Boston etc: Elsevier, pp. 120-126.
  • And more.
  • Students who have a deficiency in systems thinking can repair this gap in their knowledge by reading this useful Guidebook: Metabolic (2018) Using Systems Thinking to Transform Society, Report in commission of WWF, downloadable via https://www.metabolic.nl/news/using-systems-thinking-to-transform-society-a-guidebook/

Practical training material

• Tools for Design and Systems Thinking will be provided during the workgroups, often in the form of exercises, the result of which can be incorporated in the Assignments for the Reflexive Design Project.

Other

• Knowledge clips that help explain key concepts of the course.

Objectives

• Use a range of tools from the realm of design thinking to come up with smart solutions for a selected food (or related) issue.
• Use earlier acquired system skills and methods, particularly making a system analysis, identifying system traps and selecting leverage points for effective interventions, and incorporate those with complexity and design thinking in their project.
• Bring together disciplinary knowledge and skills to come up with the best possible solutions for a selected food (or related) issue.
• Define and analyze complex issues from an interdisciplinary perspective.
• Anticipate foreseen and unforeseen consequences of proposed social and ecological interventions in the chosen problem field.
• Critically reflect on the potential impact of proposed social and ecological interventions in the chosen problem field.
• Combine critical thinking, problem-solving and collaboration skills to try and find solutions for complex problems.
• Demonstrate their scientific professional attitude by acting critically, open and with integrity.
• Apply collaboration skills through working in interdisciplinary teams.
• Reflect on their collaboration skills and the group process, and draw up a plan for improvement.
• Describe the potential contribution of AI with regard to finding sustainable food solutions.

Teaching methods

• Self-study
• Working independently on e.g. a project or thesis
• Supervision/feedback meeting
• Knowledge clips
• Work groups
• Seminar
• Presentation/symposium

In the Reflexive Design Project online and offline work forms are combined to create a stimulating learning environment. We start with a Pressure Cooker, where in a time span of 6 hours you are guided through the most important steps in the process. There are several explanatory knowledge clips available on Canvas that introduce you to important concepts in the course, such as:

• Complex, Wicked Problems.
• The Design Method (including Systems and Complexity Thinking).
• Reflexive thinking.

 What is explained in the clips and accompanying literature is part of the compulsory materials and forms part of the knowledge that will be tested in the exam. The concepts explained in the clips and literature will not be further addressed in the work groups, unless you still have pressing questions about certain key issues.

The regular meetings in the Reflexive Design Project take the form of 4-hour work group sessions. Based on the evaluations of last years, we changed the set-up of the working groups. To stimulate face to face group work, the central aim of the work group sessions is to work together with your team and exchange the findings between teams (as you are working on the same topic). In the work groups, there are mini-lectures, Q&As with experts on the topic you will be working on, and we offer active work forms to prepare you for the various steps that you need to take during the process. We support you in making the assignments and there are ample opportunities for feedback from your peers and teacher. We will provide you with plenty tools, including those from the design kit, to support you in that process.

There is a strict attendance rule for the work groups: if you’ve missed more than two work groups, your attendance at work groups will be graded with NAP (Not Attended or Present). This results in exclusion from the course. If for any reason you are going to miss a work group, you must inform your work group teacher in advance by sending an e-mail to announce your anticipated absence.

 Note: Not preparing for the work groups and missing deadlines to send in assignments will lead to exclusion from the work groups. If this happens more than twice you will be excluded from the course.

The course schedule will be published and kept updated at www.datanose.nl.

Learning activities

Attendance

Additional requirements for this course:

There is a strict attendance rule for the work groups.  During the workgroups learning goals 9 and 10 are applied and assessed. The guidance and exercises during the workgroups also ensure that the other learning objectives can be achieved. These are tested in the exam, portfolio, presentation and action plan. If you’ve missed more than two work groups, your attendance at work groups will be graded with NAP (Not Attended or Present).This results in exclusion from the course. If for any reason you are going to miss a work group, you must inform your work group teacher in advance by sending an e-mail to announce your anticipated absence.

Note: Not preparing for the work groups and missing deadlines to send in assignments will lead to exclusion from the work groups. If this happens more than twice you will be excluded from the course.

The course schedule will be published and kept updated at www.datanose.nl.

Assessment

Assessment diagram

Inspection of assessed work

Up to 20 working days after the announcement of the results students have the right of inspection of their work (all forms of assessment). You can request a copy of your work by e-mailing your work group teacher or the course coordinator. See email addresses below.

Assignments

Action Plan

The Action Plan is a written group report, with the deadline being Friday, 12th December 2025, and includes (further details on Canvas):

• A group problem analysis, including a description of the system trap that seems to be involved and a visualization in the form of a system map, concept map or causal loop diagram.
• A description of selected leverage point and designed Intervention, including an indication of which underlying process(es) are targeted and what impact you aim for.
• Roadmap for the action phase, in which a detailed plan is presented for testing your designed intervention in January.

Evaluation

The Evaluation takes the form of an oral group presentation in which the team evaluates the results of the project and reflects on its (un)intended effects. Important assessment criteria are furthermore the quality of explanation of the goals and effects of the chosen intervention, originality and recommendations for further research.

Portfolio

The portfolio consists of multiple individual assignments that are uploaded in your portfolio.  The portfolio is pass/fail. 

You can find detailed instructions on each portfolio assignment on Canvas.

 Exam

You can bring all group and portfolio assignments to the exam. We also provide the literature that you need to answer the questions. Detailed instructions about the exam can be found on Canvas. You can only enter the exam if all portfolio assignments are handed in on time on Canvas.

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Additional information

We vinden het belangrijk dat je je op de UvA en bij Future Planet Studies veilig voelt. Krijg je onverhoopt te maken met ongewenst gedrag of voel je je onveilig, dan kun je terecht bij verschillende personen. Je melding wordt altijd vertrouwelijk behandeld. Kijk op onze website voor meer informatie over waar en bij wie je terecht kunt.

It is important that everyone feels safe at the UvA and Future Planet Studies. We are committed to provide social safety and we offer various forms of support for people experiencing inappropriate or unsafe situations. Consult the UvA website or Future Planet Studies Canvas page for more information and contact info.

Last year's student feedback

In order to provide students some insight how we use the feedback of student evaluations to enhance the quality of education, we decided to include the table below in all course guides.

Contact information

Coordinator

• dr. Coyan Tromp

The work group teachers are:

Lieke Mulder: l.l.mulder@uva.nl

Jaap Rothuizen: j.v.rothuizen@uva.nl

Lilian Kingma: l.c.kingma@uva.nl