Human-Centered Design Training Opportunities

The UW ALACRITY Center maintains this list of training opportunities for investigators seeking to learn more about human-centered design (HCD) overall or its specific application to health. We do not have experience with all listed opportunities, and so we recommend looking further into potential opportunities before committing to them.

To decide what training may be most appropriate for your situation, consider:

  • your learning goals – experience with the whole process? learning a specific skill? adapting skills you have to health?
  • how you plan to apply HCD – will you be doing the methods directly, or is your goal to gain familiarity to work best with designers?
  • available resources – including time and fiscal resources

Our guidance on developing grant proposals that include HCD includes pointers that can help assess necessary skills and who might do different parts of the design work, which could inform choices of what training to pursue.

If you know trainings we should list here, please let us know.

Workshops and Classes

ResourceTypeHealth specific?Asynchronous?Notes
UW ALACRITY Center Grantwriting BootcampSeries of virtual workshopsYesSynchronousFocuses on developing NIH grants that use the DDBT approach
CuriosityTankVirtual or in-person workshopsNoAsynchronous or synchronous optionsUser experience research
NIH mHealth Training InstituteVirtual and in-person workshopDigital healthAsynchronous and synchronous componentsAims to build expertise in methods, including HCD, for digital health research
Acumen Academy’s Introduction to Human-Centered DesignVirtual free courseNoAsynchronous Focuses on IDEO.org’s HCD approach
Interaction Design Foundation User Experience CoursesVirtualNoAsynchronous Many online courses offered on topics such as user experience, human-computer interaction, usability, design thinking, and AI
eCornell Human-Centered Design EssentialsVirtual courseNoSynchronousFocuses on human-computer interaction
UCSF Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics Human-Centered DesignVirtual courseYesSynchronousProject-based course that covers the intersection of implementation science and HCD
Harvard Medical School Design Theory for Health Care SolutionsIn-person two-day courseYesSynchronousApplying design thinking for health innovation using an AI assistant
Harvard Business School Design Thinking and InnovationVirtual courseNoAsynchronous Applying design thinking for business challenges. Includes cohort project.
Johns Hopkins Social Behavior Change Learning Central Applying Human-Centered Design to Improve Nutrition ProgrammingVirtual free courseYesAsynchronous Applying HCD to behavior change
Power to Decide Human-Centered Design in Reproductive HealthVirtual free courseYesAsynchronous Using design thinking for sexual and reproductive well-being interventions
Institute of Equitable Design and Justice Equity by Design ImmersiveIn-person workshopNoSynchronousEquity-centered co-design
Institute of Equitable Design and Justice Re/Designing Trust in Action LabsIn-person workshopNoSynchronousStrategies for designing with communities and building community trust
Institute of Equitable Design and Justice Equity-Centered Community Design™: From Awareness to ActionVirtual courseNoAsynchronous Self-paced course on how to use their equity-centered community design framework

Certificate Programs

ResourceTypeHealth specific?Asynchronous?Notes
University of Washington Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering Graduate Certificate in User Centered DesignFive in-person coursesNoSynchronousIncludes courses on user-centered design and usability studies
University of Washington Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering Graduate Certificate in Human Centered Artificial IntelligenceFour in-person coursesNoSynchronousDesign of AI-driven innovations
eCornell User Experience Design CertificateSix virtual coursesNoSynchronousIncludes overview course on human-centered design based on human-computer interaction and, user research, and usability
Google User Experience Design CertificateEight virtual coursesNoAsynchronous Training on user experience methods including usability studies, creating wireframes and prototypes, and using AI
Colorado State University Human-Centered Design Thinking Graduate CertificateThree virtual coursesNoSynchronousFocuses only on design thinking
Johns Hopkins University Executive Certificate in Design Thinking for InnovationThree virtual coursesNoSynchronousFocuses only on design thinking
IDEO Foundations in Design Thinking CertificateTwo virtual coursesNoSynchronousFocuses on IDEO’s design thinking approach
IDEO AI x Design Thinking CertificateOne virtual courseNoSynchronousFocuses on IDEO’s design thinking approach and using AI tools as part of the design process
LUMA Institute Human-Centered Design Practitioner CertificateVirtual courses and coaching sessionsNoSynchronousThree month program in the LUMA design thinking approach

Guides and Toolkits

ResourceTypeHealth specific?Notes
UNICEF HCD ToolkitWorkbook, presentation kits, and training-of-trainer materialsYesFocuses on designing solutions for children
Design for Health’s Design Decisions GuideGuideYesConsiderations when deciding to use design in global health
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition HCD ToolkitGuidesYesAdapting design thinking for nutrition-sensitive social protection
IDEO.org Field Guide for Human-Centered DesignGuideYesFocuses on design thinking for the social sector and includes methods and case studies
Stanford d.school ToolsGuidesNoSeries of design method summaries and case studies