Update: Ecology of work, Europe & active experiments

The last few months have felt like a blur with everything ramping up in work and life. I have half a dozen draft posts, but struggling to find the space and time to actually finish them, and I was reflecting on how that might be because of the range of initiatives I'm actively putting Build energy into.

So this post really aims to point to the lichen-like ecology of what's emerging, recognising some patterns, and sharing outwards so we can keep folding time and space and find opportunities of connection and coherence.

Ecology of initiatives

Monash University is keeping me busy - somehow I've ticked over 3 years now, and hopefully in March we will have figured out a way to not be on another limited term contract. I'm fairly philosophical about organisational realities and short term contracts, but undoubtedly it does impact on the quality of work and commitment you can make in a role. That said, some of the things on the bubble at Monash include:

• Living Labs Infrastructure - this is the main piece of work I've been developing and carrying (part-time) for the last 3 years. It's taken many forms and phases, but essentially has always been considering how to seed and grow a 'relational infrastructure' to support labs across the university - existing and new.
• Campus Electrification Lab - a collaborative effort to get this off the ground at the turn of the year landed this new initiative tied to the university's 15 year program to remove fossil fuel infrastructure, and electrify 3 campuses to enable net zero goals. Alongside this I've built an engagement program with a range of educational units, including re-designing and developing a climate careers unit. We've got a big meeting on Monday to get a broader plan approved, as well as asking for capacity to explore an evolution to a university-wide living lab structure (see above) and a more ambitious future of this work - fingers crossed.
• Supporting new Labs and clusters of activity - whilst this has had to take a back seat to the development of the Campus Electrification Lab, the legacy of spending 3 years building relationships and convening a learning network has meant I am still called on to support a range of people and initiatives, especially in the crucial early stages, such as two Health-focused labs, a sustainable housing precinct lab, and a research cluster setting up to study and advance living labs. I've also been supporting the amazing Global Fund for Community Foundations with early action supporting a global network of people working on alternative futures for vital community development, mutual aid and more - it even took me to Nepal in June.
• Energy Upgrades in Australian Homes - this initiative is an interesting collaborative effort of multiple research clusters working to support program organisers and policy makers thinking about systemic approaches to upgrading the woeful australian housing stock situation (averaging 2.5* energy rating across the country!) with a focus on low carbon futures. My work, with Christoph Brodnik, is focused on learning, prototyping and developing a scope for the online platform which will carry the legacy of the project outputs.
• Reports, articles and documentation - at the tail end of last year, I generated a snapshot of 2 years of activity for Monash Living Labs. Whereas a significant chunk of energy over the last year has gone into multiple re-writings of a report on living labs which is due to be published by the university soon. This is supplemented with contributing to various reports, such as the Net Zero Precincts Stage 3: Activating report, and recently I've been working with Lindsay Cole & Peyvand Forouzandeh on an article in response to a call about 'Real-World Laboratories as Spaces of Sustainability Transformations: A Relational Perspective'. Our article is focusing on renovating lab practice, and it's been a journey working on this together.

As if that wasn't enough, in my spare time, I've also been contributing to a few initaitives, including:

• Upper Yarra Local Development Project - sparked by the native forestry transition, this has been running for a couple of years to cultivate local development initiatives, using innovation working groups to incubate ideas. I've been chairing the Resilient & Renewable Energy IWG, and pitching in on the development of a proposal for a small scale renewable solar, battery & ev charging initiative.
• Climate Transition Innovation Hub - through the Local Development Project I've also been exploring what comes after the project funding, and how we can continue to incubate and launch the initiatives, whilst also building local capacity for innovation in the face of the urgent climate transition. Feels like this could very much come under my Monash role in the future.
• Resilience and Recovery Hub & Training - last year I worked with my local community group, MRAG to gain funding for the first step in our plan to build a resilience & recovery hub in Millgrove - creating an islandable community building with solar & battery install, and training for local residents on community resilience and distributed energy systems.

Patterns and active edges of experimentation

So the above laid out a snapshot of some of what I'm working on, but within that there are some thematic groups I'm noticing...

Futures

There's been a very strong flavour of futuring in the last year - from the work we were doing on Net Zero Precincts, to participating in and then working with Lisa Grocott to run a Tomorrow Party for our climate careers unit. Whether it's explicit futuring methods, developing a range of scenarios for the future of my living lab work, or giving a tour of the campus to a researcher, imagining it's 2050, to contribute to a research project about human-centered net zero futures.

The active edge of experimentation is mostly in the constant development of new initiatives, which is an ongoing spiral outward of articulating, sharing, adjusting, and looking for pathways forward for the initiative to land.

Relational Infrastructure, Networks & Movements

It's been a clear thread spanning 15+ years now, but this year feels like it's stepping up a notch further. Exploring how the academic and practice literature and practice-based evidence come together through the likes of work with GFCF, Monash Living Labs, in the Upper Yarra, and in the academic paper I'm writing - I feel like I'm going deeper into the framing I shared 2 years back.

The active edge of experimentation is not only in better understanding the various evidence, but also looking at how the theory can be applied through a global network activation initiative, as well as through the Monash institutional context. I've also been exploring what the underpinning systems and processes might look like, with early prototypes up and running, and potentially a collaboration with David Hodgson and Mycelial in the works.

Finance, capital and philanthropy

This year felt like a turning point where I finally accepted that it was time for me to really tune into the finance and capital part of the puzzle. I got to explore this earlier in the year with some bright minds in a webinar, but the learning continues across work and community realms.

One active edge is looking into underpinning model for the regional innovation model in the Upper Yarra, drawing from and adding to my work context of establishing sustainable funding models for labs. Likewise tracking some conversations about the development of community foundations and philanthropy in Australia feels like an important thread too.

Climate, Health, Resilience

The domains I feel drawn to at the moment through work and community hats are very much climate action, health systems, and societal / community resilience. These have been consistent across the last year, and as ever - the intersection of these is one aspect that interests me.

The active edge of experimentation is very much with my work around the Campus Electrification Lab - not only looking at the leading work that Monash is doing with electrification, but also how we can create connections to education, research and partnerships.

Upcoming trip - Europe in October

At the tail end of September I am looking forward to hopping on a plane to Europe - firstly for a conference on living labs, and secondly to spend time with family & friends.

Open Living Lab Days - Andorra (End of Sept - 3 October)

I attended the 2023 Barcelona global gathering of living labs practitioners, and several conversations and relationships have continued to flow from this. They were so useful, I figured it was time to get back to do it again, so I'm heading along to this year's conference in Andorra.

I'll be:

• Providing some capacity building during the Day 0 Learning Lab session.
• Co-facilitating a session "The Edges of University Living Labs" with Helena Fitzgerald and an all-star cast.
• Contributing to a session "Reframing Impact: key value indicators for living labs and social innovation".

Family & Friends - UK (early to mid October)

It's been nearly 7.5 years since I was last back in the UK, and I'm long overdue some time with family and friends back 'home'. I'm not expecting to have much time for other matters, but if you're around London and keen to meet, let me know.

What I've been reading & listening to

Finally, I figured I'd share a couple of bits which I have come across recently which sparked some interest and thoughts...

Podcast Episode: Penny Hagen & Angie Tangaere (Auckland Codesign Lab)

Article: Hexagonal People - A Theory of Civic Coherence

Hexagon People: A Theory of Civic Coherence

Or, Interstitionaries Gonna Interstitate

MediumJennifer Brandel

Systemic Investing for Social Change: A Starter Kit

MIT Sloan & Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP) offer this starter kit for systemic investing: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5387582

Wrap Up

If you made it this far - thank you! If you have any thoughts, questions or things to explore together - let me know.

Contact: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samrye

I'm still fixing the chat on this site!