Academic biography

Dr Fernández López is currently an Assistant Professor in Education for Sustainable Futures in the School of STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies. Manuel’s chief interests lie in the intersection between education and society and in the emergence of sustainable futures in education for well-being; and have been interdisciplinary over the last fifteen years, through working in academic disciplines such as Engineering, Philosophical Practice, and Social Psychology (PhD). He has co-coordinated and co-designed the content of a module on the doctoral program in Education (Futures thinking and Futures Studies) and co-coordinated and lectured in Education, Sustainability, Citizenship and Climate change in the same program.

Prior to joining DCU, Manuel has resided and worked outside Spain for more than eleven years, and developed and worked in projects across Europe, Latin America and Africa: concretely in Cuba, Ireland and UK, Norway, Spain, Seychelles, and Mexico. In Norway, he was awarded funding for the study of long-term thinking for the green economy (EEA) at the Centre for Ecological Economics and Ethics, where he contributed to gather further research funding and also lectured in areas of forward-thinking areas of inquiry and sustainable development management.

Manuel has lectured at postgraduate level for five years to future technology teachers at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Society and Education, and Innovation), and supervised numerous postgraduate research projects in education, developing emergent and pioneering practices in the area of future studies and education. He has also been a lecturer in Responsible Communication in the area of Social Responsibility at the Open University of Catalonia.

His commitment to the integration of innovative futures thinking methods in education through participatory approaches aims at the transformation of communities. This is reflected in various key projects he has developed and the related publications. He also worked as a secondary school teacher, and within this context served as well in VET and was also contracted in the education of disadvantaged students and youth at risk. Manuel has collaborated with United Nations (UNFCCC) on futures thinking for resilience in the context of climate change. He is currently the co-director of the RCE Dublin - UN University Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) in Education for Sustainable Development.

Requests for supervision or collaboration/consultancy should be directed to manuel.fernandezlopez@dcu.ie.