Project Kind
Living Lab
In this project, the campus acts as a real-world environment where students explore challenges and prototype solutions aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the McCusker Institute thematic areas.
The project will involve 40 hours of team work on a campus-based change project.
This may involve working with a campus partner in one of the following domains related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and our McCusker Institute thematic areas:
- Sustainable Campus Systems (Planetary Health, SDG 11, SDG 12, SDG 13)
Examples: energy use, waste reduction, food systems, material reuse. - Inclusive Participation (Active Citizenship, SDG 11)
Examples: accessibility barriers, belonging, participation in university life. - Wellbeing and Human Experience (Connected Communities, SDG 3)
Examples: stress, rest spaces, social connection. - Behaviour Change for Sustainability (Enabling Technologies, SDG 12, SDG 13)
Examples: transport choices, consumption habits, energy awareness.
Deliverables
Each team should produce:
- A clear description of the defined challenge
including a description of the situation, affected users and SDG connection. - A tangible artefact
for example: Behavioural intervention experiment, a new service (e.g. repair café), digital tool, a Zine/publication, reflective installation - Evidence of potential impact
for example: user feedback, observation, pilot testing or stakeholder input.
These should be collated into a handover archive that should include:
- Thematic Area and Campus Partner
- Year, Semester, Team and members
- Problem statement
- Artefact produced
- Evidence obtained
- Next steps and opportunities
Additional Advice
The project must demonstrate a change mechanism, ideally by collecting some real world feedback/date (could be pop-surveys in Kamrbi about an idea or poster etc.) The final artefact need not be a polished or complete prototype. The project should be produced with the idea a future cohort could build upon it.
Get Involved
If you are interested in advancing this project, then get in touch the following ways:
- During Semester: Attend the Living Lab project session (generally about Week 3) to get started
- All other times: Reach out to McCusker.Education@anu.edu.au and let us know that you're interested in the project. We'll connect you up with the project partner. Please include a CV that we can pass on.
