About this training

Complex problems don’t yield to a single approach. Build your comprehensive toolkit of creative and participatory methods for systems-shifting design.

This program brings together co-design and participatory practice, systems thinking, human-centred and strategic design, and social innovation — and the judgement to know which a situation calls for.

This course is for practitioners who want to select and apply a variety of tools, not go through another high-level introduction. Over three months you will build a working toolkit of participatory and systemic methods and apply them, session by session, to a live challenge — strategic problem-scoping, systems mapping, discovery, power-sharing and inclusive engagement.

You finish holding a design and engagement plan you can take back to work, and the judgement to discern genuine collaboration from token consultation.

Previously offered as 'Methods Lab for Systemic Co-Design' and before that, ‘Principles into Practice’, this program has been reshaped and tightened in response to participant feedback.

Why do this course?

Most training in this field explains the philosophy. Some provides an overview of the process and occasionally you get some inspiring case studies. This course gives you not only the methods but supports you to practise them, building your skillset, toolkit and network.

Each session takes one principle of systemic co-design practice, demonstrates the methods that bring it to life, then lets you immediately apply them on a demonstration project. You leave each session with something built, not merely something noted.

What you’ll gain

• A toolkit of methods you know how to use, not just recognise

• A practical design and engagement plan for a real challenge, ready to implement on a project or take to your organisation

• Confidence to judge when co-design is appropriate, and to say when it isn't

• Language and evidence to advocate for participatory practice where you work

• A cohort of peers working on the same problems

What past participants have valued most

• Hands-on pair and group work that consolidates the learning

• The mix of formats: video, reading, reflection, live sessions

• Real-world case studies from experienced practitioners

• Connection with other people doing this work

• The supportive, inclusive learning environment
  

How is it delivered?

Three months of online learning. Six live three-hour sessions, fortnightly, with a self-paced week between each. There is a short break every hour. More than half of each session is you completing activities, not watching.

The practice project

You’ll join a team of around four participants to work on one of three briefs — rural healthcare access,  climate resilience in coastal communities, or affordable housing for young people — or on a real project one of you brings.

The project builds across the six sessions: purpose and problem statement, system map, discovery approach, participation plan, power analysis, facilitation techniques. There is no requirement to meet your team outside the live sessions, unless you want extra practice time.

Each self-paced week includes

• Pre-recorded video, including exclusive content from invited guests

• A reading or case study from real-world practice

• Workbook activity that feeds the next live session

• Reflection prompts to link course content with your own practice

Everything included

• Six live three-hour sessions with Emma Blomkamp

• Program workbook, downloadable and editable

• Summary slides and downloadable resources for every session

• Searchable resource repository

• Private Slack channel to connect with the cohort

• Completion certificate (digital badge for LinkedIn)

• Invitation to the alumni network, with ongoing resource hub access

Available as an add-on: individual coaching, bookable during or after the program.