For the first time, the School of Innovation and Technology (SIT) is presenting its GSA Postgraduate Degree Show as a public symposium! Across two days, students will present their master’s projects, inviting dialogues that move between urgent and imaginative terrains – from immersive healthcare to rural futures and digital preservation, sustainable housing, and questions of cultural access.

Join us in this landscape of ideas, meeting the postgraduate designers and innovators as they bring their projects into dialogue with a live audience. In doing so, they trace their processes and unfold pathways towards more inclusive, sustainable, and socially just presents and futures.

Alongside these presentations, we are honoured to feature two expert keynote speakers whose practices demonstrate the transformative potential of design and innovation:

Keynote on Friday 29 August

‘Beyond the Blueprint: From design practice to future possibilities’

Vinishree Solanki - Senior Service Designer, NHS Business Service Authority

Vinishree Solanki is a multidisciplinary designer working across social innovation and planet-centred design. With nearly two decades of experience spanning industrial design, service design, and co-design, she has led projects in children’s social care, youth justice, and mental health with a focus on creating inclusive, accessible and regenerative systems.

In their keynote ‘Beyond the Blueprint: From design practice to future possibilities’, Vinishree will take us on a personal journey through design for social impact, to building communities of practice and using transformational methodologies as tools for change. This talk shares insights from practice, reflections on the future of design innovation, and shares hope with the next generation of designers to expand their boundaries, imagine, and create.

Keynote on Saturday 30 August

‘Human creativity in the game industry: the next decade’

Dr Alexander Horowitz - Creative Craft Director, Electronic Arts

Dr Alexander Horowitz is a game development leader and audio specialist based in South East England. He is the Creative Craft Director at Electronic Arts' Criterion in Guildford, UK, and the Global Communications Lead for EA's accessibility ERG, ABLE. Alexander was previously the Audio Director at Criterion, the Audio Director at Improbable in London, and the Audio Lead at Studio Gobo in Brighton and Hove, contributing to Grammy Award-nominated original music.

Alexander’s credits also include Head of Audio at Imaginati Studios, the games division of Andy Serkis' Imaginarium in London, and also worked on well-known AAA games including Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA V: Online at Rockstar North, and Madden NFL 17 for Electronic Arts. Having initially trained as a composer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Alexander received a BAFTA New Talent nomination for the short film ‘Room 9’ in 2011 and graduated from the BMus (Hons) Composition programme in 2013. At the Glasgow School of Art, he graduated from the MDes Sound for the Moving Image programme in 2015 and the MSc Serious Games and Virtual Reality programme in 2016, and successfully defended his PhD in Game Development in 2022.

Involved extensively in the game development, audio, and education communities, Alexander is the Vice Chair of the Audio Engineering Society, an Appointed Council Member on the Board of the Independent Society of Musicians, a Mentor with the Audio Developer Conference, a STEM Ambassador, a Video Games Ambassador for Into Games, a Mentor for Limit Break, and an Industry Advocate for Grads in Games.

Alexander continues to write for the concert hall. Recent commissions include his new song cycle for mezzo-soprano and piano, performed at the Wigmore Hall in London and The Palm Jumeirah, Dubai.

The Programme

Friday

1000: Introduction

1020: Lauren Walsh on the Immersive Exploration of Eye Traumas

1040: Boning Yue on Comfort Through Care: Transforming the Gynae Visit

Break

1120: Priyanka Jain on Bridging the Gender Gap in Women’s Health, Period.

1140: Pooja Kumar's Becoming Again: A Guided Journey of Self-Discovery after a Fibromyalgia Diagnosis

1200: Shreya Sinha on Reimagining Museums: Making Art & Aistory Accessible to All

Break

1330: Sukriti Sharma on Accelerating Net Zero Housing in Glasgow: Retrofitting as a Critical Challenge

1350: Yasmine Rahemtulla on Sanctuary Spaces

1410: Laura Suarez Castillo on Making and Remaking Home: Latin American Narratives of Belonging and Home

Break

1450: Swapnil Bapat on Unlocking Student Potential: Applying Insights Discovery to Transform Career Guidance in Higher Education

1510: Alejandra Kerguelén Román on The Hidden Journey: Collective and Decentralised Studio Practices in Design Innovation Education

Break

1545: Keynote by Vinishree Solanki, Senior Service Designer for NHS Business Service Authority - 'Beyond the Blueprint: From Design to Future Possibilities'

Saturday

1000: Introduction

1020: Yang's Lion Dance: Make your Roar

1040: Sophie Parker on Scottish Wool as Cultural Heritage

Break

1120: Aditi Chauhan's Dear Ordinary

1140: Anagha Puthiyedath Sudhir on What's on your Plate?

1200: Ian Bownes on Food for All

Break

1330: Kayla Kaicheng Zhu on Workplace Departure: Reframing the Offboarding Experience

1350: Adrianna Pouwer on Rural Gatherings: Environments of Connections of Belonging

1410: Bailee Allen on Reclaiming the Cosmos: Fostering a Connection to the Night Sky in the Scottish Highlands and Islands

Break

1450: Purvi Prashant Patil on A Stronger Ecosystem for Independent Filmmaking in Scotland

1510: Natália Toralles Dos Santos Braga on A Night at the Cinema: Forres Through the Lens of Cinema

Break

1545: Keynote by Dr Alexander Horowitz, Creative Craft Director for Electronic Arts - ‘Human Creativity in the Game Industry: The Next Decade’

We warmly welcome you into a gathering of students, keynote speakers, staff and peers in a space for dialogue, reflection, and collaborative imagination.

About the School of Innovation and Technology (SIT):

The School of Innovation and Technology at GSA integrates design with technological and scientific knowledge to respond to the pressing challenges of our time. Our diverse community of designers, researchers, psychologists, 3D modellers, programmers, sound engineers and artists work across disciplinary boundaries to ask complex questions of healthcare, education, ecology, and digital culture. Our studio-based model fosters experimentation, collaboration, and critical thinking that aims to further activate graduates who are prepared to shape socially just and sustainable futures.

You may also be interested in…

PG Degree Show Screening (18:30 21:00, Saturday 30th September):

A one-off screening of compelling audio-visual works by the graduating students. Join us in The Vic Assembly Hall, Scott Street, to experience a diverse collection of innovative projects.

PG Degree Show Exhibition (Friday 29th August – Sunday 31st August):

Alongside the symposium and screening, explore the physical exhibition of master projects in the GSA Haldane Building, Hill Street, featuring posters, artefacts, installations and digital w

School of Innovation and Technology Postgraduate Degree Show Symposium