Concept and organization
- Good project and financial management.
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- Forward budget planning. A well-equipped project coordination office is important due to the particularly large amount of organization and communication required. Its tasks cover both content-related and operational activities as well as the provision of funding for practice-oriented or civil society partners. The use of voluntary services must not be overstretched.
- A work, schedule, and cost plan that integrates/promotes co-design by practice-based partners is required as early as the application phase and must respond flexibly to the project dynamics of a Real-World Laboratory.
- The various daily and weekly rhythms of the scientific and non-scientific project participants must be taken into account. The events can mostly be scheduled for evening or weekends.
- Allow time and resources for scientific self-reflection, e.g., for ancillary research events and consolidating collaborations with non-scientific/civil society stakeholders (adapting, replicating, perpetuating real-world experiments) – knowledge gain for process optimization.
- Take a long-term view of the transformative project right from the outset by considering options for making it permanent or transferring it to other organizational and sponsorship models.
- It is important to develop structures and rules for interdisciplinary knowledge networking and management.
- Establish a suitable real-lab space for all project partners (from both the scientific and practical sides) as a location for project meetings and events, so that no one has to feel like a "guest ...".
Communication
- A high degree of internal and external communication is essential, requiring sensitivity and a good knowledge of local conditions, social, and spatial structures.
- A comprehensive press and public relations effort is required to support the project.
- To prevent conflicts and disappointments, clarify interests, motivations, and expectations at an early stage, and define problems and goals together.
- It is also important to find a common language in order to facilitate understanding: it is not uncommon for the same terminology to be used to communicate different ideas. A common denominator is essential for formulating goals.
- The best way to ensure successful collaborations is to build relationships based on trust and mutual respect.
Competencies and qualification
- Other important factors are the ability to take on multi-layered roles, to motivate and moderate project managers, to mediate in conflict situations, to act as neutral intermediaries between different knowledge bearers,
- and to build up competence in participatory, transdisciplinary, and transformative research as well as in participatory science communication throughout the project (capacity building).
- Soft skills, such as social, interpersonal, and methodological skills, are very important in addition to hard skills, i.e., professional skills,
- especially a willingness to think outside the box of one's own institutions,
- as well as the desire to experiment and think differently about the future.
- One also needs a high tolerance level for errors and frustrations, the ability to handle conflicting objectives and interests
- in an open and transparent manner, and the ability to engage in dialog.
Evaluation
- Success criteria measured against the defined objectives must be defined jointly
- Explore the feasibility of ancillary research
- The effect of the change and transformation processes can only be observed several years later, thus the potential to evaluate the project following a significant time lag should be put in place.
- Develop methods and instruments for assessing a project’s societal impact.