Social Lab Research Articles

Virtual Social Labs – Requirements and Challenges for Effective Team Collaboration

In response to the challenges posed by the complex field of food safety, the FOODSAFETY4EU project established four social labs conducting multi-actor co-creation processes. These labs served as platforms for developing and piloting innovative ideas aimed at addressing these challenges. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the lab process, typically held in-person, had to be converted to the virtual space. This means that all workshops, meetings, and collaboration processes and pilot activities solely took place online. This resulted in the novel situation of teams collaborating virtually throughout the entire social lab processes. Virtual collaborations were already on the rise before the pandemic, evidenced by an increase in virtual meetings and workshops. This study examines the requirements and challenges for effective team collaboration in virtual social lab processes. It investigates virtual collaboration, team dynamics, and the use of online tools. Findings reveal advantages such as increased participation, but also drawbacks including technical issues and role accountability. Despite challenges, all four virtual social labs finally succeeded in engaging diverse stakeholders and achieving significant outcomes addressing food safety challenges.

Experiential Learning Labs for the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Era

The post-pandemic era shaped by COVID-19 has compelled universities to reimagine their learning experiences, adapting to new educational requirements and heightened expectations. However, this transformation brings forth novel pedagogical requirements and learning limitations. In today’s educational landscape, learners seek active and relevant learning experiences that seamlessly integrate interactivity, crisis awareness, and global challenges tied to a resilience and sustainability perspective. To address this imperative, our work introduces an experiential learning lab to articulate Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and authentic assessment principles. By incorporating real-world events as study scenarios, higher-order skill challenges, and self-regulated learning in alignment with reflective and practical activities, we aim to enhance students’ engagement and learning relevance. To illustrate practical implementation, we propose a case study methodology regarding an experiential learning lab for operations management education. Specifically, we delve into a case study centred around the Social Lab for Sustainable Logistics, involving a circular economy challenge as a learning experience during the post-COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary results indicate that the experiential learning lab helped to create the learning experience in alignment with intended learning outcomes. However, further instances of such learning experiences are necessary to explore the contribution and applicability of the lab across diverse settings and disciplines.

Down to the bone: a pilot study into the effectiveness of 3D versus 2D learning in anatomy education.

Possessing excellent anatomical knowledge is crucial for every health care trainee, including medical and physiotherapy students. Hands-on sessions in the dissection class form the cornerstone of anatomy education. Recent years increasing student numbers and decreased availability of time within the anatomy dissection room, forces the development of alternative teaching methods to use the dissection class as efficiently as possible. Most alternatives include video recordings and books (2D), but also 3D high-fidelity models (3D-HFM). These are anatomically accurate, morphable and dynamic 3D models that result from scanning cadaveric specimens. It is assumed that 3D-HFM have some learning benefits over 2D-models. Development of 3D-HFM is a cost- and time-consuming task and the effect of 3D learning into anatomy education needs to be further evaluated before it can be properly integrated into the program. Therefore, a pilot study is set-up to investigate the learning effect of manipulable 3D-HFM.
 The pilot study focuses on the effect of using static 2D atlas-type models (2D-ATM) versus manipulable 3D-HFM on learning processes and outcomes when studying and preparing for hands-on osteology of the skull in first-year physical therapy students. 10 students will be randomly assigned into 2 groups (n=5). Students will be invited one-by-one to the Antwerp Social Lab. After having measured their prior anatomy knowledge and spatial ability, students will watch a knowledge clip explaining the basics of the skull. Then, depending on the condition, students are given either static 2D-ATM or manipulable 3D-HFM to study (as if for an exam) the osteology. While learning, students’ eye movements and electroencephalography (EEG) are collected to capture students’ cognitive load. Log data of their actual manipulation of the 2D-ATM or 3D-HFM is collected as well. When finished, students are given a post-test that maps their anatomical knowledge about the osteology of the skull using (1) nominal questions on pictures and x-rays, and (2) more complex questions capturing students’ insight. Finally, a practical test on a physical skull bone is administered that requires students to recognize certain structures and underlying relationships. 
 
 This pilot will form the basis of a broader research into innovation in anatomy education. Further research is needed to investigate to what extent online 3D-HFM are appropriate to improve the learning process and outcome compared to 2D-ATM. These studies should also examine the effect of 3D-HFM can compensate for the decreased time spent in the dissection room.

Social labs as good practice for transdisciplinary engagement processes in research and innovation

This article discusses a ‘Social Lab process’ applied in the field of research and innovation as good practice for transdisciplinary processes, and elaborates upon the structure and dynamics of these processes. It sheds light on how engagement processes could be set up for a more inclusive and participant-friendly atmosphere, allowing for meaningful and sustainable outcomes. Supported by data from a qualitative analysis of 19 Social Lab experiences according to the thematic programmes of the European Commission Horizon 2020 research framework programme, this article outlines requirements that need to be taken into account when implementing a transdisciplinary process in a Social Lab. Based on the concept of transdisciplinary research and the experience of this one-and-a-half-year process, the elements of participatory approaches required for successful implementation of a Social Lab, starting with inviting participants to develop small implementation projects (pilot activities) are described. The qualitative analysis of the process documentations highlights the importance of a clear definition of the framework and purpose of the process. Concrete assignments of the lab teams and roles, and the implementation of pilot activities, further proved crucial for successful and sustainable results. On this basis, recommendations for a fruitful participatory process are formulated.

Social labs as temporary intermediary learning organizations to help implement complex normative policies. The case of Responsible Research and Innovation in European science governance

PurposeThis study aims to discuss science governance in Europe and the network of associated nonprofit institutions. The authors posit that this network, which comprises both (partial) learning organizations and non-learning organizations, has been observed to postpone taking up “responsibility” as an issue in science governance and funding decisions.Design/methodology/approachThis paper discusses the challenge of learning and policy implementation within the European science governance system. By exploring how learning on responsible innovation (RI) in this governance system can be provoked, it addresses the question how Senge’s insights in organizational learning can clarify discourses on and practices of RI and responsibility in research. This study explores the potential of a new organizational form, that of Social Labs, to support learning on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in standing governance organizations.FindingsThis study concludes that Social Labs are a suitable format for enacting the five disciplines as identified by Senge, and a Social Lab may turn into a learning organization, be it a temporary one. Responsibility in research and innovation is conducive for learning in the setting of a Social Lab, and Social Labs act as intermediary organizations, which not merely pass on information among actors but also actively give substantive shape to what they convey from a practice-informed, normative orientation.Research limitations/implicationsThis empirical work on RRI-oriented Social Labs therefore suggests that Social Lab–oriented temporary, intermediary learning organizations present a promising form for implementing complex normative policies in a networked, nonhierarchical governance setting.Practical implicationsBased on this research funding and governance organizations in research, policy-makers in other domains may take up and create such intermediary organizations to aid learning in (science) governance.Social implicationsThis research suggests that RRI-oriented Social Labs present a promising form for implementing complex normative policies, thus integrate learning on and by responsible practices in various governance settings.Originality/valueEuropean science governance is characterized by a network of partial Learning Organization (LOs) and Non-Learning Organization (nLOs) who postpone decision-making on topics around “responsibility” and “solving societal challenges” or delegate authority to reviewers and individual actors, filtering possibilities for collaborative transformation toward RRI. social lab (SLs) are spaces that can address social problems or social challenges in an open, action-oriented and creative manner. As such, they may function as temporary, intermediary LOs bringing together diverse actors from a specific context to work on and learn about issues of science and society where standing organizations avoid doing so. Taken together, SLs may offer temporary organizational structures and spaces to move beyond top-down exercise of power or lack of real change to more open, deliberative and creative forms of sociopolitical coordination between multiple actors cutting across realms of state, practitioners of research and innovation and civil society. By taking the role of temporary LOs, they may support existing research and innovation organizations and research governance to become more flexible and adaptive.

Were Social Labs immune to COVID-19? Impacts and benefits

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted higher education worldwide. Higher education institutions needed to adapt very rapidly to the crisis and a new environment, and also needed to revise their role in society. Higher education institutions can contribute to social innovation through research, education and helping to address citizens’ issues and communities’ needs, which is why the creation of social labs by higher education institutions has increased in the last decades. Social labs are spaces where higher education institutions experiment and test new ideas. However, social labs at higher education institutions are still a relatively new phenomenon and have not yet been examined sufficiently. Moreover, it is not fully known how COVID-19 affected social labs’ activities and impacted their establishment. To reflect on the current reality, this article focuses on two research questions: (1) How were social lab activities and partnerships affected during the pandemic? and (2) What impact has COVID-19 had on social labs? To answer these questions, a quantitative survey was conducted, and the data was analysed by quantitative and qualitative methods. The results showed that the biggest challenge lies in organisational processes and human resources management. Yet, it should be noted that COVID-19 also provided opportunities. They are mainly linked with an impulse to develop innovations and increase digitisation in social labs. The study showed that social labs with flexible organisational processes and human resource management were more successful in their adaptation to crisis conditions caused by COVID-19. In summary, this article provides insight into social labs in higher education institutions by bridging an existing knowledge gap in scientific literature, and expands on it by investigating pandemics as having a crisis impact on social lab development.

Teacher educators’ knowledge about diversity: what enables and constrains their teaching decisions?

ABSTRACT Internationally and in Australia, there is growing evidence that graduate teachers feel under prepared to teach diverse groups of children. This study, using a social lab and drawing on theories from Archer and Foucault examined Australian teacher educators’ views on knowledge about diversity and the enabling and constraining factors that influenced their teaching around diversity in their universities. Eleven discourses emerged, revealing knowledge associated with teaching about and to diversity, rather than teaching for diversity. The authors argue that all three facets are necessary for thorough preparation of preservice teachers for today’s diverse classrooms.

The social lab as a method for experimental engagement in participatory research

ABSTRACT How does the Social Lab methodology support participatory research? This paper provides an evidence-based analysis of experiences of 19 implemented Social Labs applying experiential learning cycles on the question of how to induce Responsible Research and Innovation in the Horizon2020 research funding scheme of the European Commission and beyond. It looks at the potentials of Social Labs to allow participation in research and innovation addressing societal challenges and contrasts empirical results with the theoretical conceptualisation of a scientific Social Lab methodology. It discusses drivers and barriers of engagement, and provides evidence for the impacts of experimental engagement on participation in the context of the labs, substantiated by concrete examples from some of these labs.

Nuclear dating: sharing experiences, knowledges and views on Responsible Research and Innovation in the nuclear field

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has been a central pillar of the European H2020 research framework. A social lab organized within the European project NewHoRRIzon explored ways to stimulate further integration of RRI principles (public engagement, open access, gender, ethics, science education) in the nuclear research. Under the title “Nuclear Dating”, a pilot action was designed in this lab with the aim of creating awareness of RRI among Early Career Researchers, providing a venue for experimenting interdisciplinary collaborations and stimulating their reflexivity to the wider social, ethical, and environmental issues surrounding their research. Through a joint effort of organizers and participants, this paper shares insights from this first of a kind event in the nuclear R&D landscape.

Impact of societal and legal context on the blood supply of African-ancestry populations in Western countries: A review of practices and the French example.

In Western countries, blood supply agencies encounter impediments in providing blood groups defined as rare or of interest, notably for sub-Saharan African ancestry (SSAA) recipients. To establish warning levels and anticipate future blood needs, an estimate of the current carriers of rare blood groups, both potential patients or donors, is crucial but complex. Indeed, if the strict needs can be estimated in medical terms, the modalities of blood product collection must be considered from an interdisciplinary perspective, at the interface of biological data and social norms. Here, we aim to understand how legal choices and a set of representations of otherness may influence the supply of rare blood for SSAA populations. After examining these issues, considering different norms and limits that govern French society, we compare this data with those of four Western countries facing the same difficulties (United States, United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands). This work began as part as the reflections of Social Lab, an institutional programme created by the French Blood Establishment (EFS). How can we effectively improve the qualitative blood coverage for SSAA populations? There is no unique solution, but there are many more or less effective answers. Comparison across countries reveals a strong influence of the socio-political histories and ethical choices before technical and medical considerations. We consider that an institutional policy is required to resolve recruitment issues of SSAA donors sustainably. Lastly, we introduce a working group called the EFS Social Lab, which aims to set up a monitoring mechanism for donors and societal trends to make blood donation effective.

Game studies, futurity, and necessity (or the game studies regarded as still to come)

ABSTRACT As members of the Critical Approaches to Technology and the Social (CATS) Lab at UC Irvine, we are particularly motivated by this special issue’s call to action. As a collective of interdisciplinary students at various stages in relevant degrees, we are the future of game studies. As such, this question strikes us not as one for speculation, but as a space to commit a set of shared values necessary for game studies to have a future—one that is more equitable, more sustainable, and more transparent. We argue that working towards this future will require an increased commitment to critiquing the relationship between industry and game-making practice; examining the sociopolitical landscape of both game culture and the world; and an attention to the institution of the university itself. Imagining the future in this way is a necessary practice, and a core component to scholarly critique. When we imagine the future, we can work both towards and against it. We do this work as researchers, but also as streamers, makers, critics, and players, each of whom brings our perspective to this special issue to articulate our vision of a critical game studies that strives for equity, sustainability, and self-reflexivity.

Arguedas: Una antropología del encierro: la novela El Sexto

In writing the author does an act of presence along the totality of the work, inseparable moment where the story and the work merge indisputably and the one in which literature dialogues with social sciences. The Sixth tells about the world of the prison which concentrates and materializes everything that is depraved, filthy and vile, in a rotting background where  the escalation of degradation and vileness is represented. It is also a “social lab” that allows a glance to the abyss of “the human thing” where the interaction is given between the bestiality of the prisoners, the cynicism of the guards and the cruelty and brutality of prison practices, where all experience is possible, even the unimagined can be a liberating experience and the unthinkable dwells in the marginal characters, the same ones that go from sadism, abjection and infamy to a “dazzling process of illumination” and a liberating experience. 

Teaching Note—Student Satisfaction With an Integrative Research Learning Environment

ABSTRACT The Social Work integrative Research Lab (SWiRL) provides opportunities for undergraduate students to engage meaningfully with research and allows graduate students to develop mentoring skills. We conducted a survey of alumni (N=20) to learn whether: a) alumni endorsed the benefits of participation and b) SWiRL experiences contributed to professional development. We also conducted a social network analysis (N=16) of current participants to explore community dynamics. The data supported our assertions that participation in SWiRL helped establish the value of research and fostered both leadership development and community. Satisfied alumni were diverse and reported acquiring skills beyond research, including career and identity development. Many of the study participants reported using their skills in their current jobs.

Abstract PO-105: Improving cancer care through inclusive clinical trials: An online collaborative community to improve representation in cancer clinical trials

Abstract Background: Diverse enrollment in clinical trials is a challenge for study sponsors, sites and patients. Non-Caucasians are underrepresented in cancer clinical trials relative to the burden of cancer they experience (1). Clinical trial participation disparities indicate inequities in current treatment options, impede advancements in medical research and drug development and perpetuate inequities in care to tomorrow's patients. Patients, providers, community leaders and researchers must work together to ensure all populations are included in clinical trials in order to produce comprehensive safety and efficacy profiles for potentially life-saving treatments. In a survey by LUNGevity, industry sposors reported having metrics for diversity and inclusion as well as a commitment to expanding site selection to include more minority-servicing sites with trusted community insights and engagement practices (2). A variety of independent resources exists to guide stakeholders and increase the representation in clincal trials; however, there is no common repository for accessing resources, reviewing opportunities for improvment and learning how to implement best practices. A dedicated platform helps researchers and patients answer common questions, such as: 1. Where are clinical trial sites with diverse patient populations? 2. How can community influence research? 3. How can sites, sponsors, CROs and patient advocates address barriers to participation? Methods: The National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF), through its Diverse Cancer Communities Working group, partnered with Medidata's Social Innovation Lab to build a virtual "Collaborative Community" - a moderated, web-based platform to share resources, best practices, and to crowd source solutions for inclusive clinical trial development. The pilot (July 2021) links to NMQF's Lung Cancer Index (3) to help stakeholders visualize lung cancer Medicare claims and other data in the United States by patient demographics and geography, with an overlay of clinical trial sites to help stakeholders find the best collaborators. Results: 20 stakeholders participating in the platform each with roles in clinical trial operations representative of sponsors, CROs, sites and patient advocacy. The pilot is evaluating engagement engagement metrics, including actie views, content sharing, discussion frequency and user-reported impact. Conclusions: Participating stakeholders from multiple areas of clinical development contribute to building capacity and experience within and across organizations that deliver representative clinical trials. Citation Format: Erin Fenske Williams, Mary Stober Murray, Victoria Rollins, Anupama Santhosh, Jeanne Regnante. Improving cancer care through inclusive clinical trials: An online collaborative community to improve representation in cancer clinical trials [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: 14th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2021 Oct 6-8. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-105.

Building Partnerships by Infusing Kindness: A Social Worker and Librarian's Shared Journey to Meaningful Cross-Discipline Collaboration

In this column, the authors will examine an innovative approach to library employee training, as well as reflect on their shared experience through the planning, implementing, and revising process. They will articulate the steps taken in development of a training model that uses a social work simulation lab to provide library employees with the opportunity to practice de-escalation techniques instantaneously with actors demonstrating a spectrum of authentic patron interactions, and experienced professionals, spanning librarianship and social work, providing immediate constructive feedback. To this end, the authors will contribute contemplative best practices for application of techniques relevant across the library discipline, as well as offering evidence of the strategies discussed informing progressive modifications to library-specific safety policies and procedures. The authors will also integrate suggested next steps, including complementary training opportunities based on mental health awareness and self-care.

What influences teachers’ support for children’s reasoning about social inclusion in primary school education classrooms?

Reasoning about social inclusion is at the very heart of what it means for children to engage in active citizenship. In this paper, we focus on collaborative argumentation as a core approach to reasoning about social inclusion for active citizenship. We engaged a group of Australian primary school teachers in a social lab conversation, informed by reflexivity theory, to explore their ideas about, and experiences with, supporting children to reason about social inclusion. Teachers overwhelmingly identified a range of personal and cultural emergent conditions that enabled children’s reasoning for social inclusion. Across these enabling emergent properties, an evaluativist view of the nature of knowledge and ways of knowing emerged with respect to teaching social reasoning. These findings suggest that it may be important to pay attention to teachers’ reflexive deliberations about epistemic stances and their view of what enables and constrains such reasoning.

Use of a Simulated Social Network as an Educational Tool to Enhance Teacher Digital Competence

There is a worrying gap between the digital competence that teachers must have to effectively develop their students’ digital competence and the one they actually have, especially in the area related to the safe and responsible use of technology. Further investigation is needed on the use of training activities, methods and tools aimed at enhancing this competence. This article examines, in the context of an online course in MOOC format, the usefulness of Social Lab, a simulated social network, as an educational tool to improve the digital competence of teachers in the area of safe and responsible use of technology.

Laboratories of Culture

ABSTRACT This article situates the theatre laboratory in the history of social innovation and attempts to show how the twenty-first century phenomenon of social labs productively offer modes of thinking that can usefully inform contemporary conceptions of the theatre laboratory. Through an examination of Maketank, a fledgling organization in Exeter, UK, the article proposes a new organisational approach called the cultural laboratory that combines principles of both the theatre and social lab with the aim of extending the theatre laboratory into broader realms of cultural action.

Contextualizing Instruction for Struggling Writers

During the past decade, much reform has taken place within reading and writing developmental education at community colleges. One area of reform has focused on reducing the number of developmental education credits taken while accelerating the students’ literacy growth. This article describes a pilot project where, instead of taking a developmental education reading and writing course, the students co-enrolled in a zero-credit social sciences skills lab and at least one college-level gateway course. The lab focuses on reading and writing in the disciplines. Using classroom examples, the article also outlines the pedagogical approaches used in the lab. This 2018–19 pilot was characterized as promising, using prescribed institutional success metrics; as a result, version 2.0 will be implemented for 2021–22.

Determinants of residents’ support for Tourism development- A Pilot Study

The aim of this pilot study is to test the reliability and validity of the survey instrument designed to measure the residents’ support for tourism. Since the study uses an adapted questionnaire the need to assess the reliability and validity appears to be desirable. The questionnaire was distributed to altogether 70 residents of Huna Valley. Initially the content and face validity was authenticated by field experts and later on the internal construct validity was calculated through various measures. Hence inter-item correlation shows that all the variables are correlated to each other at significant level. Secondly, construct validity results show that all the constructs used by study are reliable and met the level of acceptability. Therefore, the results validated that modified instrument is valid and reliable in the context of the social lab selected i.e. residents of Huna Velly and a full large scale study can be carried out using this instrument.