Eighteen months, part-time, around a full career. You choose the problem, you work it with an advisor who backs your thinking, and you finish with something your organisation, community, or your own business can use.
Starts 24 September 2026.
Work is shifting as AI and emerging technology change how organisations create value. MTF is for experienced professionals ready to move past technical awareness into the fluency to lead through that change without losing their footing.
MTF strengthens your pathway into AI adoption, digital transformation, innovation, strategy, policy, and change leadership, in business, government, iwi, Pacific, and community contexts. You become:
Someone who connects emerging technology to real human needs and strategic goals
Someone who leads change instead of just responding to it
Someone who tests and experiments instead of waiting to feel ready
Part of a community doing the same hard thinking you are
The people teaching you have led technology change inside real organisations.
Claudio leads the Master of Technological Futures at academyEX. He has spent two decades working at the edge of AI, XR and digital innovation, from directing AUT's AppLab to founding MappLab, his own reality-capture and digital-twin venture. He holds a PhD in Science and Technology Education from the University of Waikato and has published 26 peer-reviewed papers cited over 1,200 times. His focus: technology that earns its place because it means something to the people learning with it.
Paula has spent 15 years inside the world's most complex digital transformations, from large international NGOs to global businesses, working across 10 countries in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Back in Aotearoa, she turned that experience into a research focus on cyber, privacy, and online risk, asking how non-technical people can actually protect themselves in a world built by engineers. At academyEX she teaches the practical side of AI and security that most courses skip: what actually goes wrong, and what to do about it.
Felix has spent 20 years in the gap between where organisations want to go and where they actually end up, and he's built a reputation for closing it fast. A senior lecturer and innovation coach at academyEX, he runs Agentic AI bootcamps, AI hackathons, and hands-on design sprints that produce outcomes teams can act on the next day, not the next quarter. Whether he's helping a corporate team adopt AI or building TheFuturesSchool for the next generation, Felix's approach is the same: less theory, more doing.
Mahsa is one of New Zealand's most decorated AI experts, and she's built her career making sure the benefits reach everyone, not just those already in the room. An Associate Professor at AUT with over 80 published papers, she chairs the AI Forum NZ and represents New Zealand at UNESCO as its Communication and Information Commissioner. She founded She Sharp to bring more women and girls into tech, is a Fulbright Scholar, and a three-time New Zealander of the Year finalist. When Masha talks about AI, the country listens.
From the scoping stage, you are matched one-to-one with an advisor who guides your research and your workplace project the whole way through.
Matched to your sector and your challenge
Meets with you through planning and implementation
Helps turn your project into something your organisation can use
"We had weekly meetings, sometimes two or three times a week, and he was always available to answer questions. His clear direction and consistent follow-up kept me on track." - UG, recent graduate.
Three phases, one throughline: a real challenge in your own industry. You do not just study technological change, you lead a piece of it and produce the evidence.
Weekly sessions led by people already leading in their fields, teaching from the work they're doing right now. You work through AI, blockchain, and human-centred design, then apply business thinking and ethics to real challenges, whether you've already spotted yours or you're still looking. No coding required, just the judgement built from years leading teams and projects.
Define the challenge you'll tackle, with guides who push you toward the problem that actually matters to your organisation right now. You leave phase two with it scoped and ready to build.
You lead your applied research project, building something real for the change you want to make: a prototype, a framework, a report, a demo. A dedicated advisor matched to your industry stays alongside you the whole way, from planning through delivery. This is what goes in front of your board, your CEO, your next employer, or the business you're building.
By the end, you can do this:
Every graduate leaves with a research master’s and a real prototype behind them.
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2026 intakes: up to $17,675 NZD (incl. GST)
2027 intakes: up to $18,550 NZD (incl. GST)
2026 intakes: up to $44,880 NZD (incl. GST)
2027 intakes: up to $46,995 NZD (incl. GST)
T&Cs apply. Check our FAQs for details.
Payment options and scholarships are available to help ease the financial commitment of studying.
