Promotion: sustainable design solutions, projects that explore the future of smart mobility, textile circularity and mycelium packaging are among the strategic initiatives set up by Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) in Budapest, Hungary.

MOME aims to answer some of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century through "design-based learning, research and applied mastery".

The university offers a diverse range of courses, from pre-degree and undergraduate to postgraduate and short courses in 18 subjects, including four English-based Master's degrees in animation, design, interaction design and photography.

The university's recently overhauled campus includes three main areas – an academy, a technology park and an innovation centre – which are intended to increase the university's research and innovation output.

In recent years, MOME has also changed its operations model, introducing new international education programmes and setting up interdisciplinary research groups and strategic initiatives.

"MOME's unique mix of education, creation, research, innovation, and technology provides an opportunity for the operation of a particular creative ecosystem that is unlike any other university of its kind," the university said.

The university's educational structure includes various fields of design, including the Design Institute, Institute of Architecture, Media Institute and Institute for Theoretical Studies.

Its Innovation Centre conducts design-focused and interdisciplinary research and projects across five main fields, including material research, data storytelling, sustainable industry, interaction and immersion, and social design. Each field is represented by a separate hub.

For example, the sustainable industry hub explores better ways to design, build and manufacture. One of its current projects includes research around mycelium packaging to help reduce plastic pollution.

The material research hub runs projects such as the Conscious Textile Group, which explores ways to use post-production textiles circularly.

The social design hub's FRUSKA research project and workshop series are intended to empower disadvantaged women across Hungary by teaching them how to design and make everyday items.

The interaction and immersion hub has created an interactive 3D VR healing garden that is designed to promote rest and relaxation in health settings, while the data storytelling hub has developed new ways to make collected data visible, such as 3D-printed data sculptures and augmented reality (AR) applications.

As part of its commitment to addressing social and ecological needs, in 2022 MOME announced that it would become the first net carbon-neutral higher education institution in Hungary by 2030.

The green transition will affect every area of the university's operations, from improving the efficiency of energy consumption and waste reduction to introducing paperless administrative processes.

Called MOME Zero, the initiative includes active involvement in off-campus climate protection projects such as forest planting.

Working in collaboration with forest engineers and environmental protection professionals, the university is developing and managing new forests over an area of 50 hectares to neutralise its emissions in the future.

Named after the Hungarian painter, photographer and Bauhaus professor László Moholy-Nagy, MOME has a faculty of 250 experienced professionals and scholars, and a student body of 450 undergraduate, 300 graduate-level and 60 doctoral students.

The MOME campus has 23,000 square meters of buildings and 15,000 square meters of public parks and was completed in 2019.

The university is currently looking for a rector to join its team in Budapest, Hungary, who will direct the university's three-tier (BA, MA, PhD/DLA) education, non-degree education, research and innovation and other creative and scientific activities.

To learn more about the university's courses and its Innovation Centre, visit its website.

Partnership content

This video was created by Dezeen for Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.