LabClass
Universities build research relationships with people outside the university all the time, but do we truly collaborate? And how can collaboration help us to challenge the silos that we are in – both inside the university and beyond the institution?
LabClass is our flagship training program for university staff. It helps academic and professional staff to engage more powerfully with the community, improve collaboration within the University, and work on powerful co-designed research.
Since the start of 2019, the Sydney Policy Lab has run trainings with more than 350 academics and professional staff from across every faculty. LabClass is an interactive and experiential program that connects participants with colleagues all over campus who are passionate about impactful research.
Sessions equip participants with the tools and mindsets that will see them engage with people from all walks of life, including civil society, policymakers, government, people with lived experience, media and industry. We welcome enquiries about expanding the program to other universities.
The LabSkills series includes workshops between April and June covering public narrative, relational meetings, influencing policy and strengthening co-design.
All staff are welcome to participate in skills sessions and they can be attended as standalone workshops.
The LabWorkshop is an immersive full-day workshop on ‘community-engaged research and collaboration’.
This full-day workshop in July offers a combination of transformational concepts and skills on power, culture, relationality and uncertainty.
The LabWorkshop is accessible to those who have attended two or more skills sessions. To register your interest email Nancy Lee.
LabHubs is a multi-week intensive program on ‘community-engaged research with impact’.
This is an opportunity to develop your existing project or initiative with external partners through training, mentoring and peer support from the Lab over a sustained period of time.
You can submit your application for the intensive program if you have attended two skills sessions and the full day workshop.
To register your interest email Nancy Lee.
Having a cross-section of thoughtful, intelligent people to share ideas with has been inspiring and I hope to see a change in the cultures I live and work in: a change which reflects our shared concerns for research integrity, community engagement and interpersonal respect
What we teach
We train in an approach called the relational method which is both a conceptual and practical journey. Read more about our method here.
Developed from the long tradition of community organising that originated in the United States and from more recent methodologies of co-design, co-production, collaborative ethnography and participatory action research, we deploy practical tools including relational meetings, power analysis, public narrative, the organising cycle, and concepts of action and evaluation that are easily applied but have far-reaching effects.
