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Workshops and Courses | Living Lab & Research

Living Lab & Research

Published: 23 Oct, 2024

This workshop will provide participants with information on how the living lab methodology can be integrated into the design of a research project.

To register, please log into your Core HR Portal. If you do not have a Core HR Portal account, please complete this Registration Form or send an email to researcherdevelopment@tudublin.ie.
Time & Venue: Wednesday, 30th October 10.30 – 12.30, in person, Greenway Hub, GW302
                          Wednesday, 26th February 10.30 – 12.30, in person, Greenway Hub, GW302 

Who should attend
Researchers and research-active staff at all stages of their career development.

Course Description
Living labs feature in European funded research calls, most notably in the Horizon Europe Mission on soil which aims to create 100 living labs to promote sustainable land and soil management by 2030. The New European Innovation Agenda includes living labs as experimentation spaces to enable innovative approaches to regulation, and the Joint Research Centre - the European Commission's science and knowledge service - operates living labs on future mobility and digital energy solutions. Living labs with a thematic or sectoral focus address a wide range of research areas including culture & creativity, health & wellbeing, and social inclusion & innovation. City living labs, often linked to smart city initiatives and innovation districts, engage cross-sectoral stakeholders in processes of innovation and campus living labs operate to increase the impact of research and innovation activity through enabling prototyping and real-world experimentation. 

At TU Dublin, living labs feature in the Research and Innovation Strategy and are central to the approach of the Sustainability Team's Campus Decarbonisation, Sustainability Education, Societal Engagement and Sustainability Intelligence functions. Living labs exist in many different forms and the term can be loosely used. In this context, the objective of this workshop is to introduce a shared understanding of the living lab methodology that exists in European research. A current living lab definition developed by the European Network of Living Labs will be introduced. Key concepts underlying living labs and their core characteristics will be explored. Then a collaborative exercise with workshop participants will examine how the living lab methodology can be integrated into the design of a research project.

Facilitators
Helena Fitzgerald and Rebecca Flanagan, Societal Engagement, Sustainabiilty & Partnerships Teams