CHANGE LAB – Reimagining space for interdisciplinary collaboration

CHANGE LAB explores how introducing and facilitating an environment that fosters interdisciplinary collaboration can contribute to addressing climate emergency in the context of higher education at Linnaeus University. This is conducted in the form an interdisciplinary collaboration space designed to bring students together across disciplines to work on climate emergency challenges. The project investigates how a dedicated space can foster interdisciplinary teamwork, what methods and structures are most effective, and how this initiative can be supported by the educational system of Linnaeus University.

The climate emergency is a complex, systemic issue that requires us to rethink not only how we live, but also how we learn. While sustainability is increasingly integrated into university curricula, students are often confined to disciplinary silos that limit their ability to collaborate with others outside their field. This fragmentation is especially problematic in the face of climate emergency, which requires approaches that are systemic, collective, and interdisciplinary.

Background

Change Lab is an ongoing project that started out of a wish for more collaboration across disciplines, a few months before the thesis, in collaboration with the Sustainability department.

It emerged from a desire to explore how higher education, specifically Linnaeus University, can create space for students to work across disciplines on sustainability-related challenges. It began with interviews and participatory interventions that revealed a shared frustration among students: while many were interested in interdisciplinary work, they lacked the infrastructure, support, and opportunities to pursue it.

Space

At Linnaeus University, there is growing interest among students in collaborating across disciplines, yet there are limited formal structures supporting interdisciplinary collaboration within the education system. The Business Lab, an innovative workspace located at Linnaeus University, which I collaborated with throughout this thesis, presents an opportunity to develop and facilitate the Change Lab concept.

Systemic intervention

With this project, the goal was to intervene into the educational system of Linnaeus University on several levels. On the level of students, I aimed to support student engagement with interdisciplinary collaboration by facilitating workshops. This created opportunities for students to engage with others from different disciplines and also informed my next intervention point. 

On the level of the system, I explored changes to be implemented within. This includes the design of a space for interdisciplinary collaboration, systemic changes within the educational structures, and methods that support interdisciplinary collaboration. 

Together, these interventions shaped a structured framework for fostering and integrating interdisciplinary collaboration within the educational system at Linnaeus University.

Workshops: Intervening on the level of students

The intervention on the student level has been realized in the form of interdisciplinary workshops. These workshops were designed to bring together students from various programs, creating a space for collaborative exploration around the topic of the climate emergency and sustainability in higher education. 

Through the workshops, students from diverse academic backgrounds were able to reflect on their experiences, imagine new forms of collaboration, and try out new approaches to working across disciplines. This offered both qualitative insights and co-created ideas that informed the development of the project.

First workshop

The first workshop was centered around trying out collaboration between different programs, exploring methods of collaboration, as well as interest of students in terms of topics and projects, regarding climate emergency, that they could collaborate on. The focus was put as well on getting students involved in the project and, this way, showing to the university that there is an already existing interest in interdisciplinary collaboration.

Second workshop

The second workshop focused on exploring the relationship between the physical space and other systemic aspects that influence interdisciplinary collaboration, such as institutional culture, power dynamics, and educational structures.

Making space for collaboration

Designing within a university system meant navigating the complexities of institutional structures or organizations. By working closely with students, and university stakeholders, I observed how much potential exists for interdisciplinary collaboration, but with the need for infrastructure and support within the system. 

What I learned is that change can begin through the act of making space, physically, socially, and systemically, for something new to emerge.

“Then Sky alone is left, a hundred blue
Fragments in revolution, with no clue
To where a Niche will open. Quite a task,
Putting together Heaven, yet we do.”
(James Merill, Lost in Translation)

References

Merrill, James Ingram. 1976. Divine Comedies: Poems. New York: Atheneum.