Institute of Design Thinking, Entrepreneurship & Leadership

IDEAL at Habib University is an ecosystem which fosters industry-academia collaboration by transforming how we collaborate, innovate, and solve real-world issues through the power of design thinking, entrepreneurship, and leadership. At IDEAL, we believe that knowledge should flow both ways between academia and industry, where design is a shared strategic language, and where students & professionals emerge not only with skills but with criticality, confidence, and the ability to shape the systems they inhabit.

IDEAL workshop session at Habib University

What’s happening at IDEAL?

Why choose IDEAL at Habib University?

The cultural and pedagogical foundations that drive IDEAL

We consider the
social & environmental
impact of ideas

We embody
YOHSIN values

We draw on liberal arts & interdisciplinary knowledge

We pursue both technological & non-technological interventions

We build with a focus on
real-world problems

We prioritize ethics
in research, design,
and leadership

We offer contextually rooted learning

What we offer at IDEAL?

IDEAL’s ecosystem offers a rich mix of immersive workshops, hands-on trainings, courses, collaborative projects, hackathons, and thought leadership forums including talks, panels, and conferences. These offerings enable skill development, experimentation, and meaningful engagement with real-world challenges.

For industry professionals, IDEAL offers customized, one-of-a-kind training programs that build capabilities across design, leadership, and innovation. Anchored in the complex challenges participants bring from their professional contexts, these trainings adopt a systemic lens to explore context-sensitive solutions and meaningful interventions. We curate trainings tailored to professionals across all career stages, from management trainees and mid-career professionals to senior leaders and the C-suite.

DESIGN

Introduction to design thinking
Design thinking deployed for organizational challenges
Designing for the Pakistani context
Design for policy & law
UX & digital product design
Systems thinking & systemic design
Customer journey mapping and service blueprinting
Service design
Co-design and participatory design
Design for sustainability

LEADERSHIP

Building resilience in teams to address poly-crises
Building leadership insight: mindsets & approaches

For students, IDEAL offers experiential learning pathways that complement academic study and emphasize learning through practice. Through structured programs in entrepreneurship, design, and leadership, students engage with real-world challenges, collaborate with industry and community partners, and develop critical capabilities such as ethical leadership and problem-solving. These offerings are designed to support students in exploring future pathways and translating learning into the creation of real ventures and meaningful action beyond the classroom.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurship Talent Program (ETP):

Talk Series: Choosing the Startup Path
Foundational Workshops & Ideation Labs
Pitch Competition
Hackathons: Build, Test, Repeat
Mentorship: Founder Office Hours
IDEAL Capstone Catalyst

DESIGN

DesignX Programme:

IDEAL Curiosity Studio: Explore design thinking and new ideas
IDEAL Tinker Lab: Make, experiment, prototype and play
IDEAL Design & Innovation Bridge: Apply design thinking to real industry challenges
IDEAL Design for People, Place & Planet: Design solutions for complex contextual challenges
IDEAL Capstone Catalyst: Transform capstone ideas into impactful ventures via design thinking

LEADERSHIP

Emerging Leaders Fellowship

We co-created a leadership intervention with the Habib University team for my top 30 leaders within Customer Development (CD). The course was co-designed with a highly capable team at Habib University. The intent was to ensure our leaders are equipped with the tools to embed design thinking and systems thinking into solving some of the most complex challenges we face at Unilever. What I really enjoyed about the session was not just the theory part in terms of engaging with these complex problems in a very structured, holistic way but also the kind of practical solutioning that we were able to do for some of our extremely difficult challenges. Based on the quality of the output, I was amazed in terms of how much the team was able to accomplish through the guidance of some extremely skilled professionals at Habib University.

Munir Hasan

Head of Customer Development at Unilever

When we teach in traditional boxes, that’s how we start to think, that’s how we start to be acculturated. Having a physical environment that reflects the flexibility, innovativeness, and experimentation that you want to see happen in the classroom is key to unlocking that behavior in faculty and students.

SARAH STEIN GREENBERG

Executive Director, Stanford University’s d.school
Member, Board of Governors, Habib University

The world that we are headed into needs new skill sets and Habib University is doing a phenomenal job in constantly striving to identify these skills and preparing its students for the same by aligning their curriculum with the latest trends, needs, and opportunities.

UMAR AHSAN KHAN

Chief Executive Officer, Dawlance

SPACES IN IDEAL

TEAM

Manahil Huda

Assistant Director — IDEAL,
Lecturer — Communication & Design (CND)

Office Hours

Monday: 1:00–2:00 PM
Wednesday: 10:00–11:00 AM
Friday: 10:00–11:00 AM

Manahil is the Assistant Director of IDEAL and a Lecturer in the Communication & Design program. She is a service designer and design researcher with 7+ years of work experience across Italy, Canada, Morocco, Pakistan, and Turkey. She has worked on projects from diverse fields such as community spaces, fintech, mobility, healthcare, agritech and edtech. She has also taught various design courses at Habib university, Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture and Al Akhawayn University in Morocco. Her overarching research interests lie at the intersection of systems thinking & systemic design, design for social innovation and design for democracy.

Alizna Farhan

Associate — IDEAL

Office Hours

Tuesday: 2:30–3:30 PM
Thursday: 10:30–11:30 AM

Alizna is a Design Researcher with a Bachelor’s in Communication and Design and a minor in Religious Studies from Habib University. With 3+ years of experience across higher education, customer experience, and social innovation, she explores how people interact with the products, services, and systems that shape everyday life. Her work brings together research and design to unpack complex challenges and develop thoughtful, context-driven approaches to change. At IDEAL, she works across design research, service design, workshop and training facilitation, and learning experiences. She is particularly interested in connecting people, systems, and institutions to create more thoughtful, inclusive, and meaningful ways of learning.

Zahabiyah Murtaza

Trainee — IDEAL

Office Hours

Tuesday: 2:30–3:30 PM
Thursday: 10:30–11:30 AM

Zahabiyah is an interaction designer and researcher working at the intersection of technology, society, and everyday life. She has done her Bachelor’s in Communication Design from the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS), with experiences across UI/UX, service design, speculative design, and interactive experiences. At IDEAL, she works across visual, experience, and product design, while facilitating design-thinking programs, workshops and industry trainings for students, faculty, and professionals. Her work focuses on creating thoughtful systems, interactions, and learning experiences that connect people, ideas, and technology, through human-centered design.

EXPLORE POSSIBILITIES WITH IDEAL. REACH OUT TODAY!

ideal@habib.edu.pk +92 21 1110 42242 (HABIB)

FOLLOW @IDEAL

FOLLOW @HabibUniversity

#IDEALatHabib