Impact Report

What two years of living labs, participatory audits and open learning are changing in European higher education — and what we are learning along the way.

Labs4Change set out to make everyday inequalities in universities visible, and to give communities the tools to act on them. This report gathers the evidence, the numbers and the lessons from the project so far.

The project at a glance

100+ Students & staff trained

3 Campuses mapped

6 Participatory audits

3 Living Labs co-created

45+ External actors engaged

Key insights

Five things student-led mapping and the Living Labs taught us about changing universities from within.

Student emotional map of a campus, marked with sticky notes

01

Equality is produced through space

Across TU Dortmund, the University of Thessaly and Mondragon, student teams mapped how corridors, bathrooms, lighting and signage shape who feels they belong. Campuses are not neutral — they are active frameworks of access, comfort, visibility and recognition.

3 campuses mapped with students

University campuses are not neutral environments — they are active frameworks shaping access, comfort, visibility and recognition.
Mapping Equality, cross-campus finding

Campus equality poster produced by the project

02

Symbolic visibility shapes belonging

At Mondragon, students linked visible feminist symbols to a stronger sense of belonging. At TU Dortmund and the University of Thessaly, the absence of explicit equality signals was read as institutional indifference. What a campus shows, it teaches.

15% of university rectors in the EU are women

The absence of explicit equality signals was experienced as institutional indifference.
Mapping Equality, cross-campus finding

Project infographic on care and wellbeing on campus

03

Care and wellbeing are still an afterthought

Campuses are optimised for movement and productivity. Students described a real need for quiet, low-stimulation retreat spaces; rest, privacy and care work remain largely invisible — with bathrooms emerging as the most sensitive space of all.

5 cross-cutting findings across all campuses

Spaces for rest, emotional regulation, privacy or sensory relief are limited or invisible.
Mapping Equality, key lesson

Co-creation session flip chart from a Living Lab

04

Students lead better change

Trained student teams ran the audits and became co-designers of the Living Labs, turning observations into prototypes with — not for — their communities. More than 45 external actors joined the co-creation across the three universities.

45+ external actors in the Living Labs

Belonging requires inhabiting space in diverse, non-normative ways.
Mapping Equality, key lesson

05

Change compounds when each step feeds the next

The webinar set the questions, the Academy trained over 100 change-agents, the audits produced the evidence, and the Living Labs turned it into prototypes — a continuous loop where each work package became the raw material for the next.

100+ change-agents trained through the Academy

The Academy trains future change-agents; the Labs produce real institutional prototypes; both inform each other.
Labs4Change evidence loop

Download the full report

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Note: this preliminary report is currently available in English only.