The Irving Innovation Fellowship offers students graduating with GSD master’s degrees an opportunity to extend their research and discovery in design, architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture and continue contributing to the School’s pedagogy and dialogue.
Number of Fellowships: 1
Theme: Generative AI in Design Education
Description: The 2025-2026 Irving Innovation Fellowship is dedicated to exploring generative artificial intelligence and its impact on teaching and learning at the GSD. Following the rapid advance of generative AI technology, faculty, administrators, and students at Harvard Schools and universities across the world have been facing difficult questions:
- How might the skills and content in our curricula need to change to prepare students for an AI-equipped world? How might “prompt writing” become an essential component of education, and how will it change how we teach writing?
- What tasks can we afford to replace with AI capabilities, and what tasks should not be outsourced?
- How can we rethink academic integrity and the design of assignments and assessments to maximize learning and minimize inequity?
- How do we set apart “creative” work from “generative” work, especially in the world of design education?
These questions will serve as a starting point for a wide field of inquiry and concerns. The fellow will work with a team of faculty advisors to advance exploration and discourse on generative AI across disciplines, practices, and programs. While the capabilities of AI are astounding, the goal of this initiative is not to highlight what AI can do but to better understand how its impact encourages (or forces) different, novel approaches to teaching and learning.
Applicants are asked to explain how they would address the above or related questions and how they would seek to engage the GSD community in their work. We encourage various experimental and analytical approaches that may produce tangible and non-tangible outcomes as well as events and programming at the School.
While the fellowship accepts applications from graduates of all of the School’s master’s programs, a keen interest in the histories of technology and design education is desirable.