An accelerator for participatory research, creating knowledge together
The OpenLab.brussels is a joint venture of ULB-VUB dedicated to participatory research. It mobilises our academic community and public or private stakeholders willing to collaborate on participatory research projects in Brussels.
Participatory research approaches allow any stakeholders to participate in (part) of the research process as co-researchers. More than simply increasing research capacity and data collection, these approaches allow more inclusive and sustainable research with increased societal relevance. It also increases diversity in science and contributes to bridging the gap between researchers and stakeholders.
Missions of OpenLab.brussels
The OpenLab.brussels promotes participatory research as a fully-fledged research method within the universities. It values existing expertise dispersed throughout the institutions and stakeholders involved in this type of research.
The OpenLab.brussels aims to promote knowledge sharing through organizing events (training, workshops, conferences, etc.), the supply of toolkits, and a documentation repository.
The OpenLab.brussels aims to develop active networks within VUB and ULB, with the stakeholders, but also with other participatory research hubs, experts, researchers, and supporting staff working reflectively on a European scale under the aegis of CIVIS and Eutopia.
The OpenLab.brussels offers a support service to foster mutual VUB-ULB (and, by extension, the members of the CIVIS-EUTOPIA networks) participatory research project proposals and their implementation. It makes available to the researchers its infrastructures based in USquare (meeting room, co-working spaces) and its expertise.
In the longer term, the vision of OpenLab.brussels is to become an accelerator for participatory research projects with a interdisciplinary base, infrastructures, methods, and practices that are part of a participatory dynamic.
Interested in joining us? Just contact : openlab@ulb.be or citizenscience@vub.be
Would you like to stay in touch or take part in our initiative at a later date? Fill in our contact form.
Upcoming events
13-14 November 2024 - Conference - Creating knowledge through participatory research
On November 13th & 14th, OpenLab.brussels is hosting an international conference that will bring together researchers and practitioners engaged in participatory research. This event will explore how participatory research empowers diverse stakeholders to actively contribute to various stages of the research process as co-researchers. Beyond expanding research capacity and data collection, this approach fosters more inclusive, sustainable, and socially relevant research outcomes.
Join us for dynamic workshops and panel discussions that will address the challenges of participatory research while showcasing innovative projects from Brussels and across Europe.
The preliminary program is now available — see here.
Interested in attending? Secure your spot by registering here:
Participation is free, but registration is required.
This event is organized with the support of CIVIS and the FWB.
Past events
June 17, 2024 - PhD defense by Kahoual Stiti (AIA-BATir-Ecole Polytechnique de Bruxelles) on the contribution of the potential of digital participation to the awareness and enhancement of an endangered heritage.
On June 17, 2024, Ms. Khaoula Stiti presented the results of her thesis at her public defense, which took place in the OpenLab.Brussels Great Hall at USquare. The subject of her thesis was: “Heritage at the Nexus of Participation and Digital Platforms: Contextual Specificities in Tunis and Theoretical and Experimental frameworks”. Through this thesis, Kahoula seeks to study the contribution of participation via new digital media to an endangered heritage, focusing more specifically on postcolonial heritage in Tunis. She adopts an interdisciplinary approach that shows an apprehension of heritage under different aspects (by tangible and intangible objects, by values, by processes). Three types of actors involved in participatory approaches were identified: financial and political (by actions), institutional (by knowledge), and non-institutional, local (by knowing). This identification made it possible to establish a reading grid which then structured the reflection and enabled a form of problematization of the initial research question. From this identification also emerges a progressive demonstration ranging from the theoretical framework, followed by a field test towards useful specifications for the development of a digital application: P@trimonia 2.0. The approach we've developed using digital tools also highlights the paradoxes of participation in this context of heritage at risk.
May 23, 2024 - Participatory workshop to clarify objectives and actions within OpenLab.brussels
A brainstorming session was organized on May 23, 2024 on the Usquare site to introduce the new OpenLab.Brussels coordination team and to reframe, together, its new objectives and priority actions. The working day brought together different profiles and colleagues from ULB and VUB and was structured around two main moments: firstly, the prioritization of actions identified in our vision document and, secondly, the mapping of resources needed to implement these priorities. Thanks to a productive and focused dialogue between the participants, this charter was modified, completed and specified, taking into account feedback from all parties, as well as their needs and expectations with regard to a place dedicated to the support, valorization and dissemination of participatory research within the Brussels-Capital Region.