Immersive technologies are increasingly acknowledged as powerful tools in sustainability education, capable of fostering deeper engagement and emotional resonance. This study investigates the potential of 360° VR storytelling to enhance learning through embodied knowledge, attitudinal change, and emotional awareness. Conducted within the EMOTIONAL project, the research explores a first-person narrative told from the perspective of a ceramic object rooted in Italian cultural heritage, designed to facilitate meaningful, affective learning. A hybrid assessment framework was developed and validated, combining subjective self-report tools (including attitudinal scales, semantic differential analysis, and engagement metrics) with objective physiological measures, specifically Electrodermal Activity (EDA). Sixty participants, including students and entrepreneurs, experienced the immersive narrative, and a subset underwent biometric tracking to evaluate the effectiveness of the experience. Findings show that immersive storytelling can effectively enhance emotional and cognitive engagement, producing shifts in semantic interpretation, self-perceived knowledge, and attitudes toward material culture. A convergence of high emotional engagement, embodied learning, and technology acceptance was observed, although individual differences emerged based on prior experience and disciplinary background. EDA data offered complementary insights, identifying specific moments of heightened arousal during the narrative. The study demonstrates that emotionally driven immersive narratives (supported by integrated assessment methods) can make abstract sustainability values more tangible and personally resonant, thereby fostering more reflective and relational approaches to sustainable consumption and production.

Immersive technologies are increasingly acknowledged as powerful tools in sustainability education, capable of fostering deeper engagement and emotional resonance. This study investigates the potential of 360° VR storytelling to enhance learning through embodied knowledge, attitudinal change, and emotional awareness. Conducted within the EMOTIONAL project, the research explores a first-person narrative told from the perspective of a ceramic object rooted in Italian cultural heritage, designed to facilitate meaningful, affective learning. The present study addresses the following research questions: RQ1 Can 360° VR story-living narrations effectively promote embodied learning and semantic and attitudinal shifts in the context of sustainability education? RQ2 What added insights can be gained from integrating subjective assessments with physiological measures? To this end, a hybrid assessment framework was developed and validated, combining subjective self-report tools (including attitudinal scales, semantic differential analysis, and engagement metrics) with objective physiological measures, specifically Electrodermal Activity (EDA). Sixty participants, including students and entrepreneurs, experienced the immersive narrative, and a subset underwent physiological tracking to evaluate the effectiveness of the experience. The findings show that immersive storytelling can enhance emotional and cognitive engagement, producing shifts in semantic interpretation, self-perceived knowledge, and attitudes toward material culture. A convergence of high emotional engagement, embodied learning, and technology acceptance was observed, although individual differences emerged based on prior experience and disciplinary background. EDA data offered complementary insights, identifying specific moments of heightened arousal during the narrative. The study demonstrates that emotionally driven immersive narratives (supported by integrated assessment methods) can make abstract sustainability values more tangible and personally resonant, thereby fostering more reflective and relational approaches to sustainable consumption and production.

The article describes the definition of a joint Master degree program for designers, focused on integrated skills to address the complexity of the future and to contribute to the green and digital transition of the European industrial context. Based on the application framework of the INTRIDE European project, the article presents an analysis of designers’ skills and the needs of European companies. The reflection then extends to the research methodology adopted, developing a state of the art on the European training offer on soft, digital, green skills, useful for the design of the interdisciplinary joint Master degree program. Based on the research results, authors propose the INTRIDE output as an innovative training course with integrated key competencies for designers, enhancing them as innovation triggers for SMEs in the manufacturing sector. Lastly, authors will discuss the design process carried out and will suggest a sustainable implementation of the training program designed.

The urgencies of the contemporary scenario impose on the world of design the need for complex responses; the dialogue with other disciplines becomes a fundamental planning source. In this sense, the necessity is to have an increasing need of designers capable of understanding and interacting with the hard sciences in a more conscious and complete way, in order to develop future application scenarios in every aspect of design, from materials to everyday products, up to new systemic scenarios. The contribution presents a 3CFU training experience carried out by the Design for Sustainability Laboratory (University of Florence) which had the aim of introducing students to Material Design and Biodesign. The applied methodology started from the concepts of Material Experience and Material Driven Design, including interdisciplinary skills in the design process from the early design stages. In particular, the students were led to experiment with "biotinkering" solutions with the mycelium - Pleurotus ostreatus - within a biosafety Level (BSL) 1 Lab, creating materials prototypes. In the training activities, students were provided with theoretical notions and resources relating to biology and the scientific method with the aim of combining Design and Life Sciences. From a methodological point of view, this knowledge served to provide future biodesigners with greater awareness of biotechnological processes and laboratory work. The originality and success of the Workshop consist in opening up new design horizons to future biodesigners thanks to a deep knowledge of natural processes and the possibility of consciously designing starting from the micro scale.

Creativity is an important factor for innovators. According to Eguchi and Pinheiro (2008) the basis of design is innovation because of the use creative methodol...