Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality.
Log in
- Convenor:
-
Franziska Sörgel
(KIT)
Send message to Convenor
- Chair:
-
Oliver Parodi
(Karlsruhe Transformation Centre KIT)
- Discussants:
-
Marius Albiez
(Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT))
Franziska Sörgel (KIT)
Richard Beecroft (Karlsruhe Institute for Technology)
- Format:
- Combined Format Open Panel
Short Abstract:
The panel discusses the importance of real-world laboratory research in addressing sustainability challenges. This aims to align experimental strategies and data collection with STS perspectives, addressing epistemological and ethical questions and revealing core principles of sustainability.
Long Abstract:
The combined format open panel discusses the role of real-world labortatories (RWLs) in problem-solving, societal action, and knowledge production. RWLs contribute to sustainability transformation by developing and testing innovative solutions for socio-technical and socio-ecological systems, and creating evidence for understanding transformational processes. The panel aims to explore how real-world lab researchers can maintain case-specific logic of transformation while producing data for quality control, comparison, and aggregation. It also explores how experimental strategies and data collection can support transformative mechanisms and provide insights for STS studies.
This panel aims to explore the objectives of knowledge acquisition, the design of real-world experiments, and the methodologies used in technology-related RWLs with the following:
Methods Vernissage (Workshop): This session invites participants to a “methods vernissage“, introducing real-world lab research for all those who are not familiar with it in a highly engaging and hands-on way, making a broad spectrum of methodological approaches visible and tangible. Participants will gain insights into tested methods and foster collaborative exchanges. ( Open call for exhibits in this vernissage is intended.)
Paper Session: The session will discuss new impact assessment and evaluation strategies for real-world lab experiments, focusing on the interplay between methodology for transdisciplinary, transformative, and epistemological purposes. The discussion will be based on empirically well-grounded experience to capture the state of the art.
Dialogue Session: This session invites 4 to 5 papers that highlight how new impact assessment strategies capture the core of the experimental activities and produce data for cross-case analysis, starting by a brief (10’) input about RWL architecture. In a co-creative design process in smaller groups, we will sketch out RWL features that enable an integrated impact assessment and formative and discuss their potential and limitations. (We will ask for a case study on RWL architecture but could provide one ourselves if needed.)
Accepted contributions:
Session 1Sihui Wu (Chair of Work and Organizational Psychology, Department Management, Technology, and Economics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland) Gudela Grote (ETH Zürich) Kim Helmersen (ETH Zurich)
Long abstract:
The architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector is undergoing transformation as new technologies (e.g., software tools, artificial intelligence, robotics) enter the industry and change the organization of work. The environmental and economic effects of these new technologies are already investigated, and there is a general awareness of their transformative impact. However, their social effects – from augmenting human work to full automation – remain largely unexamined. Following the argument that “new technologies should be conceived as social experiments” [1], we combine socio-technical work design theories [2] with value-sensitive design principles [3] to build a social impact assessment tool which accounts for previously overlooked sustainability factors such as worker well-being, required skill sets, and job quality. Inspired by the real-world laboratory (RWL) method [4], we bring developers, implementers, and end-users of AEC technologies together in a transdisciplinary experimental set-up to develop the assessment tool. Design and construction projects by planning firms and general contractors are used as fields of action. Our instruments include workshops where stakeholders co-create and co-evaluate prototypes of the assessment tool, as well as surveys and interviews that generate feedback on the tool's applicability, acceptability, and effectiveness. The study identifies and answers to a real-world problem and provides insights into inter- and transdisciplinary research processes in an AEC context. Additionally, it contributes to the science and technology studies literature by applying the RWL method at the organizational or field level directly intervening and potentially transforming collaborative work.
Jasmin Wiefek (Technische Universtität Berlin) Emilia Nagy (Technische Universität Berlin) Martina Schäfer (Technische Universität Berlin)
Long abstract:
Scientific literature provides various approaches to conceptualize and assess the societal impacts of transdisciplinary research. However, there remains a notable gap in strategies to foster impact orientation of real-world laboratories (RWLs) and evaluate their effectiveness. In this paper session, we propose a framework for designing and conducting formative evaluations of RWLs. Our evaluation approach aims to systematically document achieved effects and shape the strategic direction of RWLs within project management.
By promoting high quality of the transdisciplinary research process and using Theory of Change (ToC) to formulate and reflect on desired effects, our evaluation seeks to establish impact orientation from the beginning of the project. We clarify assumptions about impact pathways and foster a shared understanding among team members regarding the interplay between technical and social elements. Our set of methods encompasses steps from developing project-specific ToCs to continuous data collection and reflection on evaluation outcomes.
We illustrate the application of our evaluation approach with examples from two RWLs that we have accompanied as evaluators. The “Biodiversity Valuing & Valuation” project brings together science and business to develop tools for effective biodiversity management. The “UCKER Warentakt” project aims to introduce new logistics services to strengthen local public transport, reduce car traffic, and improve the supply of goods in a rural area in northeast Germany.
Formative evaluation presents challenges for project participants, including categorizing outputs and effects and understanding their significance for project success. Additionally, we address limitations of our approach, including data quality and the feasibility of data collection.