Congratulations to the MA Graduates of 2026

On 26 June 2026, DAE graduates in sundresses, linen shirts and other light summer clothes posed for photographs with parents, grandparents, partners and friends gathered outside Parktheatre. Bouquets were passed between families, drinks and bottles of water were carried everywhere, and guests searched for patches of shade as temperatures reached around 34°C. One graduate held flowers in one hand while a finger on the other was wrapped in a bandage – graduation battle scars.

With approximately 200 graduates, tutors, staff and family members attending, the graduation ceremony was held at the larger, cooler Parktheater rather than at the Academy, where the heat and lack of air conditioning would have made hosting such a large group difficult. Inside, graduates and families sat on the theatre's enormous yellow-carpeted stairs, so softly padded that they felt almost like rows of cushions.

Ilse Meulendijks, Head of the MA Programme, began by joking that this was DAE's "hottest cohort ever". She went on to speak about the care and empathy shown by the graduates in their projects. Each student, she said, had drawn attention to something they had noticed in the world and made it clearer for others to see.

Director Raf de Keninck then spoke about the purpose of a Master's education. He described it as a time to slow down, look more carefully and reconsider what design can mean.

"You have not only made designs; you have developed positions," he told the graduates, whose work explores technology, ecology, identity, care, community, power and the future. "Design does not begin with an answer, but with the courage to take a question seriously."

"Design does not begin with an answer, but with the courage to take a question seriously." 

– Raf de Keninck, Director of DAE

De Keninck also reflected on the difficult world the graduates are entering. Design cannot solve everything, he said, but it can reveal what is hidden, challenge systems and create room for imagination, care and change.

The heads of the five Master's departments then addressed their graduating classes.

Afaina de Jong, Head of Contextual Design, spoke about students arriving in Eindhoven from different countries and disciplines. During the programme, they learned to connect personal interests with wider historical, social and ecological subjects through materials, film, performance and storytelling.

Nadine Botha, Head of Social Design, thanked the people behind every project, including those who had provided meals, rooms, childcare, proofreading, money, patience and encouragement. She explained that Social Design has no single fixed definition because each group of students shapes it differently. Calling this group of graduates "hope punks", she praised their belief that today's social, environmental and technological challenges are not fixed, asserting that design can help imagine better ways of living together.

From Information Design's Head, Marco Ferrari, we heard about projects grounded in political honesty and close observation. Through films, books, installations, language and images, he explained that the students had examined systems and events that otherwise remain hidden or difficult to understand.

Patricia Reed, head of the Critical Inquiry Lab, celebrated the support shown between the department's 14 graduates. She said that helping one another had strengthened their individual work. Reed ended with advice from the journals of sci-fi writer Octavia Butler: "Strive always, in all ways, at all times, always for intensity."

Daniel van der Velden, who co-leads Geo—Design with Vinca Kruk as Metahaven, described education as a process that changes students and tutors alike. Beyond technical and research skills, he said, the graduation project's drew on "feeling more and understanding more".

Lucas Geiger and Flora Goulj spoke on behalf of the graduating class. They thanked tutors, coordinators, workshop assistants, staff, friends and families, and recalled emergency group-chat requests, early-morning waits for workshop access and evenings spent together after long days.

The freedom to develop a practice can bring pressure and uncertainty, they reflected of their future, but the community formed at DAE meant that graduates do not have to work out what comes next alone. "Until now we have been classmates, friends. Tomorrow we become colleagues.

"Until now we have been classmates, friends. Tomorrow we become colleagues."

Lucas Geiger and Flora Gouljm, graduating students

Before the awards, Ilse invited the programme coordinators onto the stage. She praised the way they work together, noticing what might go wrong and keeping the programmes running smoothly. Cum Laude distinctions and Best Thesis awards followed, while the winner of the Gijs Bakker Award will be announced during Dutch Design Week in October.

Graduates then gathered in their departments to sign their diplomas. Contextual Design, Critical Inquiry Lab, Geo—Design, Information Design and Social Design formed groups around separate tables as classmates cheered, posed for photographs and celebrated with tutors and families. The formal speeches gave way to signatures, flowers, embraces, drinks and repeated attempts to fit entire classes into one photograph. Congratulations to all!