TALKS & CLIENTS
Leyla is frequently invited to share her knowledge and enthusiasm for designing a more sustainable, circular and regenerative future at events all over the world. She has presented both at prestigious conferences and for major corporations and organizations like the United Nations, as well as at not-for-profits and smaller events to support widespread positive impact.
Leyla is admired for energetic, humorous and inspirational keynote talks and interactive workshops on sustainability, design, the circular economy, systems thinking and creative change-making.
Photo credit - Meeli Küttim
Her unique communication style helps people think differently about the planet and our role within it. She is a master of designing highly-engaging interactions that ignite any audience.
Talk topics include: Disruptive Design, Advancing the Circular Economy, Sustainable Futures, Circular Systems Design, Positive Future Design, Disrupting Education, Systems Thinking, Designing the Future Now, Systems Change, Sustainable Business Transformation, and Sustainable Design, to name a few. Leyla custom builds all her talks for each client, ensuring a unique and tailored keynote experience for your audience.
CONFERENCE KEYNOTES
RSA: Royal Society of the Arts, London, July, 2023
Home Economics Institute, Brisbane, August, 2023
ALCAS Life Cycle Assessment Conference, Gold Coast, July, 2023
Australian Circular Economy Conference, Sydney, July, 2023
World Circular Economy Forum, Helsinki, May 2023
Munich Creative Business Week, Munich, May, 2023
World Design Capital Valencia, Design Policy Conference, November, 2022
Service Design Global Conference, Copenhagen, October, 2022
Brain Bar, Budapest, 2022
New European Bauhaus Festival, Brussels, June, 2022
UX-LX, Lisbon, May 2022
From Business to Buttons, Stockholm, Sweden, May, 2022
IIDA NY Leaders Breakfast, New York, USA, May, 2022
Jakobstad, Finland, Online, May, 2022
IDEC, Online, March, 2022
Business Council for Sustainable Development, Portugal, December, 2021
Shared Services Forum UK, 2021, Online, November, 2021
Design Council, Design for Planet Festival, Dundee, November, 2021
COP26, Glasgow, October, 2021
TechBBQ, Compenhagen, 2021
Mind the Product, Barbican, London, 2021
Digodium Talks, Online, 2021
Adobe Summit, Online, 2021
DataFest, DATA Lab Scotland, Online, 2021
Y-Oslo, Oslo, Norway, Online, 2021
Sustainable Communities, Sarasota, USA, Online, 2021
SITRA Finish Innovation Fund, Finland, Online, 2021
EIMID, Castelo Branco, Portugal, Online, 2020
Design Talks Business Summit, Poland, Online, 2020
Industrial Designers Association America (IDSA), Online, 2020
Carbon Footprint Summit, Poland, Online, 2020
Conference on World Affairs, Bolder, Colorado, 2019
USGBC Greenbuild, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2019
House of Beautiful Business, Lisbon, Portugal, November, 2019
Change the Change Conference, San Sebastian, Spain, 2019
CECE Summit, Brussels, Belgium, 2019
United Nations Environment Assembly: UNEA-4, Nairobi, Kenya, March, 2019
AMEXCAP, Mexico City, Mexico, 2019
Cidade Mais, Porto, Portugal, 2019
Me Convention, Frankfurt, Germany, 2019
Swiss Energy & Climate Summit, Bern, Switzerland, 2018
Waste Management Sustainability Forum, Arizona, USA, 2018
TOCCertified, 2018, Brussels, Belgium
Amuse UX Conference, Budapest, Hungry, 2018
Zero Waste Conference, Vancouver, Canada, 2018
Interaction 18, Lyon, France, 2018
Sustpack, Chicago. USA, 2018
Global Outlook Conference, Oslo, Norway, 2018
Planning Institute of Australia Annual Conference, Perth, Australia, 2018
Circular Economy Hotspot, Glasgow, Scotland, 2018
Circular Design Forum, Berlin, Germany, 2018
Space 10: Made in Space, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2017
Cradle to Cradle Congress, Freiburg, Germany, 2017
The Conference, Malmo, Sweden, 2017
United Nations, PAGE Ministerial Conference, Berlin, Germany, 2017
FixFest, London, United Kingdom, 2017
SIKT, Kristiansand, Norway, 2017
Solutions to Climate Change, Huelva, Spain, 2017
Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy Congress, Stuttgart, Germany, 2017
One Young World Summit, Arizona, USA, 2016
Big Ideas, Hosted by Amcor at Interpack, 2016
Light City, Baltimore, USA, 2016
Summit @Powder Mountain, Utah, USA, 2016
Greenup, Dominican Republic, 2016
Giflex Congress, Italy, 2016
TEDactive, Whistler, Canada, 2016
SIVA Conference, Norway, 2015
AIGA National Conference, Philadelphia, USA, 2014
Recycling Council of British Columbia (RCBC), Vancouver, Canada, 2014
Epicentro Festival of Social Innovation, Guadalajara, Mexico, 2014
Australian Packaging Covenant ThinkTank, Sydney, Australia, 2014
Innovation and Sustainability for Consumer Packaging Conference, Seoul, South Korea, 2013
TED Conference, Longbeach, California, USA, 2013
Bonier GRID, Stockholm, Sweden, 2013
Green Leaders Summit, Sydney, Australia, 2013
Closing Keynote @ UX-LX, Lisbon, 2022
CORPORATE CLIENTS
European Investment Bank, Brussels
HP, USA
Decathlon, France
Reckitt, Europe
American Express, Europe
OLX Group, Global
SONAE, Portugal
LinkedIn, UK
Avery Dennison, US
Sanofi, USA
BNP, Portugal
NOVA, Portugal
GFT Design, Spain
Sundberg-Ferar, USA
Adobe, USA
BMW Foundation, Germany
Arcelik, Turkey
LinkedIn, United Kingdom
Klarna, Sweden
Tommy Hilfiger, Netherlands
Unily, United Kingdom
EDP, Portugal
Siemens Industrial, Europe
FJORD, London
IKEA, Sweden
Unily, UK
Heineken, Vietnam
Would Sustainable Business Development Council (WSBDC)
SEAC, Thailand
OXFAM, Thailand
IDEO, UK
ING Direct, Australia
AUTODESK, USA
CSIRO, Australia
PRE Consultants, Netherlands
Environment Victoria, Australia
Ellen MacArthur Foundation, UK
ProChile, Chile
Citywire, UK
Google, UK
Gates Foundation, USA
AIGA, USA
BMW Designworks, USA
NN Group, Netherlands
Leyla speaking in Norway
ORGANIZATIONS
Dantia, Hunter Region, 2023
What Design Can Do, Selection Committee for f World Circual Design Competition, 2023
Carcavelos CEO Council, Nova Business School, Portugal, 2021
The Royal Court, Norway
United Nations Headquarters New York
National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Australia
Centre for Sustainability Leadership, Australia
Leadership Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Craft Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Design Forum Finland
Conclave Art for Change 21, UN, Paris, 2018
DESIGN WEEKS
European Design Awards, Estonia, 2022
Korea Design Week, 2021
Stockholm Design Week, 2020
London Design Week, 2019
Barcelona Design Week, 2018
Helsinki Design Week, 2017
Design Week Portland, 2016
Portland Design Week, 2015
Sydney Design Week, 2014
NYCxDesign, 2013
Leyla leads a workshop at Innovation & Sustainability, 2017, Korea. Image: @atlatitude.com
Change the Change Conference, 2018, Spain Pictured with Co-Executive Director of Greenpeace International, Bunny McDiarmi (left) and National Geographic oceanographer Sylvia Earle after their keynote talks.
Panel at the United Nations Partnership For Action on the Green Economy (PAGE) Ministerial Conference in Berlin, Germany
UNIVERSITIES
Minneapolis School of Art and Design, USA
Iowa State University, USA
Monash University, Australia
Swinburne University, Australia
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Australia
University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia
Canberra University, Australia
TU Delft University, Netherlands
Savannah School Art and Design (SCAD), USA
New York University, NYC
Polytechnic University Milan, Italy
KOC University, Istanbul, Turkey
School of Visual Arts, (SVA) NYC
NOVA
In-Person or Live Online, Leyla brings an incredible amount of energy, knowledge and inspiration to her audiences.
EVENT TWEETS
You can't ask for a more energising closing keynote! @LeylaAcaroglu @unschools 🤯
— Ahsan Khan (@AhsanKhan_UK) November 9, 2021
Everything is Interconnected...
We have normalised how we live with problems...
We designed ourselves into this.... We can design ourselves out!#DesignForPlanet #COP26 pic.twitter.com/pXx2OEPJZb
Rousing call to arms by @LeylaAcaroglu ends the first day of #DesignForPlanet ‘we designed ourselves into this, we can design ourselves out’ pic.twitter.com/McgaKHXAu1
— Snook (@wearesnook) November 9, 2021
"Just because we have caused damage, doesn't mean we can't repair" - @LeylaAcaroglu #DesignForPlanet
— Design Council (@designcouncil) November 9, 2021
Loved #listening to @LeylaAcaroglu on #sustainability #design and #circulareconomy at our @ssforumuk #conference this afternoon - required kick-up the proverbial butt duly received... we are all the #change - we all need to #act #now! xx https://t.co/Bgl2E18XyX
— Lisa (Hooley)Edwards (@evolve2evolve) November 10, 2021
Frankly a barnstormer of a closing act from @LeylaAcaroglu - arguing by through design we can metamorphose into butterflies and find a new way of not just doing, but being. #ItIsAllConnected #DesignForPlanet pic.twitter.com/XvyxETQLGd
— Rachel Fisher (@RachelAFisher) November 9, 2021
. @LeylaAcaroglu closed out our Mainstage Session with a story of design-led #sustainability - “The really exciting thing about sustainability, we can use it to actually solve tomorrow’s problems today”#RealizeLIVE #User2User pic.twitter.com/rOiM22aw1c
— Siemens Digital Industries Software (@siemenssoftware) May 26, 2021
.@LeylaAcaroglu is giving the first keynote of #DataFest21 and it's fascinating! Transitioning from linear systems to a more #circulareconomy has never been more important - it requires a full systems redesign pic.twitter.com/TjWm6vZYLq
— DataFest21 (@DataFest_) March 25, 2021
#Changemaker, join us for #Heräämö! Sustainability provocateur dr. @LeylaAcaroglu challenges us to think differently about how the world works: https://t.co/seJQc4rJnL #SitraLab
— Sitra (@SitraFund) November 11, 2020
"Equality is a pathway to equity." Activating Systems Change @LeylaAcaroglu 15th Annual Sustainable Communities Workshop, Sarasota County Sustainability #SCW #SCW20 pic.twitter.com/IleGWB1rHA
— SH Inspired Planners (@SHIPlanners) October 29, 2020
Dr Leyla Acaroglu will be a speaker at #CFS2020!@LeylaAcaroglu is the founder of Disrupt Design, @unschools and CO Project Farm in Portugal. UNEP has awarded her the title of Hero of the Earth.
— Carbon Footprint Foundation (@C4rbonFootprint) September 17, 2020
She motivates people to change the way of thinking about how the world works✂️🪡. pic.twitter.com/8O4Z2EIGI8
We're elated that sustainability provocateur @LeylaAcaroglu (founder of @unschools, designer, @UNEP champion, @TED speaker) will present at our virtual Sustainability Deep Dive on June 3! Save your seat at https://t.co/zeqzpMY6l4 | #SDD2020 pic.twitter.com/holEMH6oOC
— IDSA (@IDSA) May 29, 2020
TESTIMONIALS
LinkedIn Changemaker @LeylaAcaroglu is on a mission to make things reusable rather than recyclable ✅: https://t.co/NvCySjNaiR #ConversationsForChange pic.twitter.com/HWm3x33G3f
— LinkedIn UK (@LinkedInUK) September 7, 2021