Living Labs in Research & Innovation

This workshop will provide participants with information on how a living lab approach can be integrated into the design of a research and innovation project and how this can be used to initiate a living lab.

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.

Thursday, 20th November 2025, 10.00 - 12.00 in person, Bolton St
Thursday, 4th December 2025, 10.00 - 12.00 in person, Aungier St

Thursday, 21st May 2026, 10.00 - 12.00 in person, Room GW302, Greenway Hub

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 are part of our 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. However, they exist in many different forms, and the term can at times be loosely used. In this context, the objective of this workshop is to introduce a shared understanding of living labs that exists in European research. A current living lab definition developed by the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) will be explored, and key concepts and core characteristics will be described. Finally, advice on integrating a living lab approach into the design of a research and innovation collaboration will be shared.

Throughout the workshop, participants will be encouraged to explore how a living lab can work in their research area to enable the impact they want to create.

Facilitators
Helena Fitzgerald, Head of Societal Engagement, Sustainability & Partnerships Teams