How should we design a Living Lab?

Living labs can be defined as: “a physical or virtual place where partners and users from open innovation networks further develop and test innovations together” (Endedijk et al., 2024). The use of living labs as dynamic teaching tools are increasingly emerging in geosciences as they can integrate real-world challenges and collaborative learning to engage students in addressing societal issues. However, the lack of a unified definition and diverse methodologies for implementing living labs create challenges in programme development, as well as uncertainty for students about expectations and preparation. A key difficulty lies in distinguishing living labs from traditional natural sciences fieldwork while balancing societal and policy aspects to simulate realistic, interdisciplinary environments.

We are developing a Living Lab course within the MSc programme Water Management for Climate Adaptation, aiming to educate students on the integration of natural sciences and governance in water management. This initiative is part of a broader educational effort linked to the newly established Delta Climate Center in Zeeland, fostering transdisciplinary learning around local water management challenges.

We take a three-pronged pedagogical approach:

• Understanding and learning how to undertake research, including the empirical research cycle and designing a proposal
• Development of skills that are required to undertake a thesis during skills labs, including fieldwork, labwork, modelling and qualitative data gathering.
• Management of interdisciplinary projects in a real-world setting, through creation of an policy report in student teams approaching issues from different perspectives.

In the development of the programme, we have run into some interesting questions including: how can these living labs be placed in a broader curriculum? What is the optimum method for assessment in a Living Lab? How can we choose the best locations for field visits or undertaking research?

We are interested in hearing from others in the session about how Living Labs are perceived, challenges, suggestions or ideas from different experiences.

 

References:

Endedijk, M., Kornet, A., Schipper, T., den Ouden, M. & Schram-Wesselink, N. (2024). Is dit een Learning Community? Een multi-level framework om het concept Learning Communities verder te duiden en vorm te geven in praktijk en onderzoek. TechYourFuture, October, 2024.