TY - JOUR

T1 - Meeting the challenge of (co-)designing real-world laboratories

T2 - Insights from the Well-Being Transformation Wuppertal project

AU - Rose, Michael

AU - Maibaum, Katrin

N1 - Funding Information: This was not true for the conflict between basic research (as represented by the University) and applied research (as represent - ed by the Wuppertal Institute and the relevant funding program of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF), as was reported in an interview. The interviewee used the measur ing of impact as an example for this conflict: “From a social science perspective, we know that social issues are so complex that we cannot really measure their impact. […] However, the BMBF funding proposals explicitly require an impact measurement” (translated from German). In RwLs where the (external) conditions cannot be controlled and where researchers intervene in the real world this problem becomes even more severe. From the perspective of applied research, however, impact assessment Funding Information: This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under Grant Research for Sustainable Development (FONA), award number 01UT1412A. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Oekom Verlag. All rights reserved.

PY - 2020/10/15

Y1 - 2020/10/15

N2 - As transdisciplinary and transformative research approaches, real-world laboratories (RwLs) come with many pitfalls. Their design and implementation place high demands on everyone involved, which means that realistically, things rarely go smoothly. The following Design Report shares the lessons learned about establishing and adjusting communication and organisational structures in RwLs.What should we take into account when setting up real-world laboratories (RwLs)? In our analysis of the experience of (co-)designing three RwLs within the Well-Being Transformation Wuppertal research project, we examine both the origin of the project proposal and its implementation, from management, communication and inter- and transdisciplinarity to actor dynamics and recruitment criteria for staff. We especially highlight the effects of the initial co-design phase (project proposal) on the RwL’s implementation, focusing on the challenges which arose and how these were addressed.We conducted 19 semi-structured interviews, analysed relevant project documentation and reflected on the research team’s own experiences. The transdisciplinary and transformative dimensions of the RwL approach are the areas where significant lessons were learned. RwLs are unique in their extraordinarily strong need to balance different roles and resources, even as many of their challenges and solutions resemble those which also arise in transdisciplinary research. The uniqueness of RwLs lies in their objective to co-produce not only socially robust knowledge but also tangible real-world change through experimentation.

AB - As transdisciplinary and transformative research approaches, real-world laboratories (RwLs) come with many pitfalls. Their design and implementation place high demands on everyone involved, which means that realistically, things rarely go smoothly. The following Design Report shares the lessons learned about establishing and adjusting communication and organisational structures in RwLs.What should we take into account when setting up real-world laboratories (RwLs)? In our analysis of the experience of (co-)designing three RwLs within the Well-Being Transformation Wuppertal research project, we examine both the origin of the project proposal and its implementation, from management, communication and inter- and transdisciplinarity to actor dynamics and recruitment criteria for staff. We especially highlight the effects of the initial co-design phase (project proposal) on the RwL’s implementation, focusing on the challenges which arose and how these were addressed.We conducted 19 semi-structured interviews, analysed relevant project documentation and reflected on the research team’s own experiences. The transdisciplinary and transformative dimensions of the RwL approach are the areas where significant lessons were learned. RwLs are unique in their extraordinarily strong need to balance different roles and resources, even as many of their challenges and solutions resemble those which also arise in transdisciplinary research. The uniqueness of RwLs lies in their objective to co-produce not only socially robust knowledge but also tangible real-world change through experimentation.

KW - Transdisciplinary studies

KW - co-design

KW - Co-production

KW - Real-world laboratory

KW - roles of stakeholders

KW - transdisciplinarity

KW - transformative research

KW - Well-being indicators

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85095703739&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/50e3a58a-3e59-319e-91cc-3e5d9e9c207c/

U2 - 10.14512/gaia.29.3.5

DO - 10.14512/gaia.29.3.5

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 29

SP - 154

EP - 160

JO - GAIA

JF - GAIA

SN - 0940-5550

IS - 3

ER -