Campus Living Labs Through an Academic Lens

: From Conception to Adoption to Transformation

Abstract

This thesis critically examines academic perceptions of university Campus Living Labs (CLLs) to advance sustainability in UK Higher Education. Universities are uniquely positioned to drive societal change towards more sustainable futures. Whilst integrating sustainability into universities presents both challenges and opportunities, the emerging 'Campus Living Lab' (CLL) model offers a promising approach, leveraging the university campus to blend research, teaching, and operations for sustainability. Academics, as central stakeholders, play a pivotal role in the success of the CLL. However, there is currently limited understanding of how they perceive CLLs, what motivates their engagement, and how they understand the CLLs role in sustainability. Through semi-structured interviews with 11 academics, this study develops the academic viewpoint on CLLs in three ways. First, it investigates how academics conceptualise CLLs, revealing contested conceptions reflecting disciplinary differences. Yet, recurring, and shared notions around 'boundedness,' 'people,' and 'learning' were identified. Secondly, it investigates the challenges hindering academic adoption of CLLs in Higher Education and offers up potential solutions. Barriers, including rigid workloads and funding constraints, were identified, as well as disciplinary silos and misaligned incentives to adopt CLLs. Despite these challenges, with the right support, academics displayed a cautious, pragmatic optimism towards the CLLs potential for academic adoption. Lastly, the research explores the transformative potential of CLLs as perceived by academics, which was seen to be contingent on authentic sustainability commitment by Higher Education Institutions. This thesis makes an original contribution by highlighting factors shaping academic perceptions of CLLs for sustainability, where it may offer insights to inform strategies for motivating academic participation and planning for their design or implementation in the future.

Date of Award	23 Nov 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Colin Nolden (Supervisor)