Methodology Toolkit

This tool addresses the challenge of understanding and implementing living labs in practice. It provides structured guidance and practical tools to help users navigate the complexity of setting up their own living lab.

When the person in charge of a lab and the participants understand that living labs are not physical spaces and should be personalised to their own contexts.

It tackles the difficulty of planning and sustaining initiatives by offering ready-to-use templates such as the Action Plan and Sustainability Plan, which support users in organising their efforts, structuring their strategies, and translating ideas into concrete actions.

Success is measured through the concrete outcomes that the templates help generate. For the Action Plan, it is considered effective if the defined actions were actually implemented, as the template enabled users to plan a clear route of action with specific, tangible steps. For the Sustainability Plan, success is assessed through predefined indicators established during the planning process — if those indicators are achieved, the plan is considered successful. The creation of a shared vision for sustaining actions in the future is also very helpful.

To imagine our universities in the future, linked to the topics of diversity, equality and non-discriminatory practices.

This is a general exercise to help teams think strategically about their universities: what do we have and what do we need?

Gender equality, gender-based violence, and social support.

Drawing on the practices the invited organisations presented, students identified several types of actions with clear potential for adaptation within the university.

Gender equality and gender-based violence, disability and accessibility, and cultural and ethnic diversity at the university.

Several solutions to the three thematic areas arose and were translated into actions to be implemented by the university.

A recurring theme across the Living Labs was the creation of a dedicated student co-creation and rest space inside the university. This method sets out why the space is needed, what it should look like, and the practical steps for moving from discussion to action.

The process is ongoing. The impact will be measured through the students' engagement with the process.

The absence of a feminist perspective in urban planning: a case study of Volos.

Impact can be read on three tiers. Immediate impact: the heightened awareness of participants and the quality and diversity of the resulting map. Community impact: how local residents appropriate the map to build support networks and safe routes. Urban impact: the tangible transformation of the city (better lighting or green spaces) carried out by local authorities. Within a conference we deliberately focus on the first tier — shared learning, collective reflection and a shift in perspective — measured through a comprehensive form.

This method addresses complex social challenges that require collaborative, creative and user-centred solutions. Here it explored how students can work together with a women's shelter supporting survivors of gender-based violence to identify needs, generate ideas and propose practical responses through dialogue, participation and collective problem-solving.

The method had high impact because participants developed two concrete solution proposals addressing the shelter's specific challenges. Success indicators: the number of prototypes or solution concepts created; the relevance and applicability of the proposed solutions to the shelter's real needs; feedback collected from both students and the shelter through evaluation questionnaires; and the continuation of collaboration between students and the organisation after the activity. The highest level of impact would be the shelter's ability to implement or adapt the proposed solutions.

Dissolving the speaker–audience hierarchy.

When members of the audience step onto the main stage and co-create insight with the specialists.

Put into practice what was learned in the Academy and connect it with the audit and the living labs.

Students presented ideas that can later be researched in the living labs.

How to transform the collective knowledge from an equity audit into collective, student-led action — so that evidence becomes change, not just a report.

Success is when every prototype can be traced back to evidence from the audit, and students implement solutions with — not just for — the university, taking on real institutional responsibility.